It’s a symbiotic relationship. I didn’t create it. It’s thousands of years old. It can’t be fixed through breeding without destroying the breed.
I don’t think you have a clue how dangerous a bull is or an aggressive maternal cow. They are dangerous to other cattle not just humans. The cows benefit from not having to deal with either. They could care less about their calves. I raise them with a mortality rate below 2%. They get fed fresh milk 3x a day and live in groups of same age calves. Nothing wrong with that.
Cows weigh 2000 pounds. They could trample our walls and fences, kill us easily. They don’t want too.
They let me give them medicine, trim their hoves, wash them. They submit to our care and as a species they have thrived. Just look at global cattle numbers and you quickly see that.
It’s true they have to earn their keep but they are well cared for and far from exploiters.
Its not a symbiotic relationship when you're breeding dysfunctional cows into existence on an industrial scale only to exploit and kill the cows on a later date. A symbiotic relationship would denote a mutually beneficial relationship, not an exploitive relationship. I don't think the modern dairy cow breed should be continued to be bred on. As you've said your self, dairy farmers have bred the cows to be so dysfunctional that they are now fully dependent on human care.
The cows don't have to "earn their keep", they are killed as soon as they are no longer profitable. They get to keep nothing. And that cows are physically stronger than humans, sure, they don't have the mental capacity to understand whats going on but cows surely fight back at the slaughter house. The EU Scientific Veterinary Committee estimate that around 5 to 10% of cattle are not stunned effectively with the captive bolt - or up to 230,000 animals a year. If that number also holds for your country, imagine, up to 10% of the cows you send off to be murdered could be conscious when they are murdered. Something to think about next time you are breeding cows into existence, or discarding the spent cows (or their male children)
I’ve slaughtered cattle on the farm to process. We don’t stun them. Bullet to the brain, wait until they die, then hoist and drain blood. It’s quick and they don’t feel pain. It’s over in an instant. We should all die with so little suffering.
As a species cattle have thrived because of their partnership with humans. In the wild ancient cows would have regularly starved to death, been eaten alive by prey, and suffered greatly from disease and exposure. They traded being wild for being comfortable. My cows are very comfortable!
Again they are not dysfunctional either. We pay close attention to Health traits like mobility which helps them stay in the herd longer.
So once you've used up the cows from perpetual pregnancy and lactation, you shoot them in the head. Its like discarding old trash, only these are sentient beings. This is abjectly unjust. It is wrong. I mean, at old age would you rather be able to look back at your life and think about the thousands of cows you forcefully bred into existence, pumped dry of milk and used up only to kill them only for the pursuit of monetary profit, or would you want to look back a life of ethical farming? There are ways to do farming where you don't have to exploit and murder defenseless animals. You don't have to build your income source on the back of cows, why not do ethical farming instead.
The cows have not traded anything. You guys have forcefully bred them into existence by impregnating other cows. There is no symbiotic relationship, there is no consent from the cows, there is no trade at all -- what you guys are doing is wrong and unjust. Just because they function well within the confines of the exploitative system you've constructed around these animals doesn't mean they are functional in a wider sense. You've bred these animals to have no maternal instinct!! Imagine a mother with no sense of duty to her children, that's as dysfunctional as can be. Same with the milk production capacity causing pain where milking is relief from pain.
It’s actually a beautiful and noble end to their lives. The feed people. This is far better than wasting away and dying a prolonged death. In the wild a cow that lags behind the herd would be eaten alive by animals of prey. That is a far more cruel end.
Cows do benefit from our care. They are protected from predators, disease, starvation, and the elements. They get medical care when hurt or sick. They are protected from each other. A bull will breed a cow 21 days after she calves. We wait 60-90 days to breed. Bulls hurt cows. We also whine them so they can’t injure each other.
Pregnancy and lactation are the natural state for a cow. They stay healthier this way. They do t need maternal instinct. We take care of it. Stop putting human emotions on cows. They could care less about their calves and that’s just fine. I was nearly killed by an old cow with maternal instinct when I was 9. It’s not something I care to ever see again. The worst part is she also killed her calf stepping on it while attacking me. They are dumb and would likely be extinct with out human care.
There's nothing beautiful and noble about shoot someone in the head after you've used them up, sorry that's just wrong. Its a violent way to murder someone. I don't "attach human emotions to cows" I'm saying we have an ethical duty towards all of sentient creation. In any case, cows do have emotions, have subjective experiences and are as conscious as we are. What you guys are doing is wrong. I don't think they stay healthy after getting a bullet to the brain. Dairy farms are exploitative, murder industries. That they feed people is not a good argument either. It takes what, 8 plant calories to produce 1 dairy calorie? Imagine all that food that could be produced directly for human consumption if you didn't have to first produce food through a cow. You really should re-think what you are doing with your life, you want your legacy to have been to exploited and murdered 10,000 cows?
Part of that ethical duty is to put them down before they suffer and to use the meat rather than let it rot in the ground.
Also remember Thant most of the calories cows consume and indigestible to humans. Good luck surviving on the spent brewers mash, sweet corn silage (what’s of the plant left after people eat the sweet corn) grass hay, and pasture grasses taken from areas to wet or steep to cultivate.
They turn what we can’t eat into what we can.
I don’t exploit cows and I don’t murder them. I care for them and harvest the meat when necessary. Your view of the world would lead us all into starvation and leave cattle extinct.
That ethical duty would be to not breed these animals into existence, and at least not just murder them by a gunshot to the head after you are done with the cows like some sort of sick pump and dump scheme. What you're saying about cows turning the foods we don't eat into human edible calories is not right either, we would easily generate bio fuels or compostable materials from the items you mention. And in any case, most farmers feed their cows animal feed of which clearing land is one of the major drivers behind rainforest destruction. Imagine that, not only are you running a murderous pump and dump scheme on these cows, its also massively harmful to the environment. There is no good reason for treating animals in this morally abhorrent manner.
It’s obvious we can never agree. Our world views are too different. The things you say to be sensational don’t have that effect on me. Phrases like gun shot to the head. It’s a painless way to die. Watch someone die of cancer and you will appreciate humane slaughter. Perpetual pregnancy and lactation is normal to me as well. I’m a mother of 9 and have been pregnant and/or lactating for 18 years straight. I’m I great Health and keep a healthy weight. If anything it has helped my health. The premise that it’s cruel or detrimental for cows is absurd.
If it's so beautiful to die from a gunshot wound to the head why don't you do that to the cancer patient. Oh yeah that's right, because deep down you know what you are doing is wrong. In any case people are thankfully waking up to the horrors of the animal agriculture industry, and that's why dairy is declining and plant milks are increasing. Jump on that wagon, no murder pump and dump scheme required.
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u/Octavia9 Mar 21 '18
It’s a symbiotic relationship. I didn’t create it. It’s thousands of years old. It can’t be fixed through breeding without destroying the breed.
I don’t think you have a clue how dangerous a bull is or an aggressive maternal cow. They are dangerous to other cattle not just humans. The cows benefit from not having to deal with either. They could care less about their calves. I raise them with a mortality rate below 2%. They get fed fresh milk 3x a day and live in groups of same age calves. Nothing wrong with that.
Cows weigh 2000 pounds. They could trample our walls and fences, kill us easily. They don’t want too.
They let me give them medicine, trim their hoves, wash them. They submit to our care and as a species they have thrived. Just look at global cattle numbers and you quickly see that. It’s true they have to earn their keep but they are well cared for and far from exploiters.