Dairy Farming

[Kyle Barker]

im a dairy farmer in tasmania and we dont remove our calves from their mothers and our cows come to be milked if they have extra milk whenever they like maybe once a month or even every day
What if whong with that?

[Tim Gier]

This is an interesting question and I think we should discuss it, so thank you for creating this post. May I ask you a question?

When you say that you are a dairy farmer, do you mean that you make your living by selling milk and other dairy products, or is it something that you do for other reasons?

[Kyle Barker]

we sell a little amount of dairy products but our main misson is to promote safe farming practices like not removing cows from their mums, dehorning, taildocking and selling animals as veal. were just showing you can still be a dairy farmer and keep animals happy with their young

[Tim Gier]

Thank you Kyle, I appreciate your time and response. I'd like to learn more about what your farm does, and what you think about how the big companies are doing it. I guess you think that factory farming is wrong??

[Carolyn Bailey]

Hi Kyle! 

Thanks for posting this here, I am really pleased that you decided to go ahead and post it.

I would be very interested in learning what happens to the babies born to the cows who live with you. Do they all stay with you for the duration of their lives, or do they move on elsewhere?

I also look forward to learning about how you promote safe farming practices and the reaction you might receive from other farmers.

Thanks, Kyle!
 

[Kyle Barker]

all our healthy animals stay on the farm until they are atleast a year old

we promote by having open days for farmers and people intederest but the reaction we get from farmers is ill got poor or we need the milk

[Jordan Wyatt]

Hi Kyle, thank you for your time!

I live in Invercargill, New Zealand, a country heavily reliant on our enormous "dairy" industry.  I'm rather upset that we are involved in such an industry, the sheer scale of it is enormous, the nearby town of Edendale boasts the worlds largest "milk powder dryer" :

 

I personally look after Rescued Hens from a farm, as well as two Bantams, I have to say, I like knowing they now live out their lives as they wish, without being "owned", except of course under our current system of law.  

I think Dr Will Tuttle explains very well why Vegans such as ourselves disagree with keeping other animals as things

"I do not support "humane" animal products, and speak out as best I can against them ...

I do not support “humane” animal products, and speak out as best I can against them, both in writing, and in the lectures I give – there are invariably people who have a friend who has chickens as pets and want to know if it’s OK to eat their eggs,  for example. Even in these situations, I tell them I feel that there is institutionalized violence – it is a form of himsa (violence) to believe that one “owns” another living being.  If the friend “owns” the hen, she (the hen) is being confined against her will, and is not able to live her life as she did for millennia in the jungles of southeast Asia, and is in an artificial, manipulated, inherently abusive environment. Even the most apparently benign situation, if there’s ownership and money involved, are exploitive, in my opinion, and that’s the perspective I express.   ~  Dr. Will Tuttle ""

I appreciate your time Kyle, and I hope to see more from you on ARZone in the future :-)  I've often asked local New Zealand farmers to join me for an interview on my Animal Rights show, a polite discussion about how they feel about the other animals they "own" and "use".

Its always good to hear from others perspective, you never know Kyle, perhaps we'll convince you to start an Animal Sanctuary, and to be Vegan! ;-) 

[Kyle Barker]

our farm take in most unwanted aged cows from tasmania and just allow them to graze and be happy for the remainder of their lives. at the current time we are runnig 120 aged unwanted cows which otherwise would be meat which most have fully reocoved.

[Susan Cho]

Kyle, it's really nice to hear that your cows aren't separated from their young, and that the older cows get to live out their lives w/o being put to work.  There seem to be a number of places that don't dehorn or tail-dock, but even they almost always separate cow & calf, and sell off the older cows.  Like most animal rights advocates, I don't promote even "humane" farming, but I certainly am relieved that not all animals endure the endless misery of factory farms.

I'm puzzled, though, how you can afford to run your farm this way.  Do you have another source of income?  Also, wouldn't the calves be used for beef or milk on another farm once they leave your farm after a year?  And do the older cows come in & eat hay/silage during the winter?

Thanks!

[Kyle Barker]

our farm is more of an educational scorce, the farm isnt our main income because i work in a mine. only very few animals leave the farm but the few that get rehomed go to loving farms. all of our animals which is about 300 get silage fed in a large shed which can be accesed by all our animals at any time

[Kyle Barker]

i have been a dairy farmer for 15 years and just seeing the agony some cows have been in.

our downer cows can live for sometimes between 1 day and 2 months you just have to be patience but if there in pain they may have to be put dow

[Carolyn Bailey]

Hey Kyle!

It was seeing a "downed cow" in a film called "Meet Your Meat" that was the impetus to me becoming vegan.

I can still see that one "downed cow" lying in the mud in dreadful agony today.  

I think if you have individuals who are in pain and have no chance of recovery, you have no choice but to kill them in a way that is considered humane. I don't think anyone can fault you for that, Kyle.

 I think you are amazing for coming into ARZone and speaking with us and asking our advice, and also educating us on what you experience. It's fantastic that we can learn from each other and help each other understand how other people see things! 

[Kyle Barker]

very few of our downed cows are in agony when they go down but the few that are need to be put down

if our animals go down in a muddy area we will euthenase and relocate the animal a dry and clean shed until the animal reocoved. if the animal has a calf we will feed it milk from another animal artificially right beside its mother.then they are still not being seporated