Official industry position here in New Zealand and in Australia seems to be moving away from cutting off Cows tails. Farmers hate them, because these big brave men and women might get flicked with a wet poop covered tail while they suck out her milk.
See Dairy Australia website:
"A campaign to encourage dairy farmers to adopt alternatives to tail docking has resulted in a significant decline in the practice of tail docking dairy cattle in Australia in recent years. Instead most farms use alternatives such as switch trimming (the removal of hair at the end of the tail), effective dairy design, fly control programs and practices that enhance cow and operator comfort. "
Wait, farmers who take away milk from her body are now called "operators" in industry speak? What are they, driving a forklift???
"Dairy" is big business in Australia, and is New Zealands largest industry. Nothing like "old McDonald had a farmer" like we're all taught by childrens books!
"...For example, the picture book,Stories from Mudpuddle Farm (Morpurgo and Rayner 1994), written for children ‘who are just beginning to enjoy reading’, introduces readers to Jigger, the ‘almost-always-sensible’ sheepdog, Mossop the cat, Captain the horse, Frederick the cockerel, Farmer Rafferty, Penelope the hen, Upside and Down the ducks, and Auntie Grace and Primrose the dairy cows. Farmer Rafferty himself is described as ‘usually a kind man with smiling eyes’ (ibid.: 11) who evidently enjoys a friendly social contract and a constructive working relationship with all the other animals. In Mudpuddle Farm, each and everyone has a job to do and old-smiley Rafferty tells the various animals: ‘You look after me, and I’ll look after you’ (ibid). Many of the nonhumans are shown living happily in their family groups, looking after their offspring, another common theme in such publications.
The cosy consensus is maintained as the entirely free-range hens agree to lay eggs for the farmer, while the ever-smiling cows ‘let down their milk for him’ (ibid.: 13).[15] However, if readers were in any doubt, a few pages on they learn that the human animal is actually a little more equal than the others when Farmer Rafferty loses his temper after finding mice on the farm. He asks after the whereabouts of the cat in ‘a nasty raspy voice’ he kept for ‘special occasions’ (ibid.: 20).
The simplest books about animals, such as the Ladybird ‘toddler talkabout’ series, often appear designed to encourage children to count and make approximate noises of different types of nonhuman animal. In I Like Farm Animals (Ladybird 1998) a farm is depicted complete with the seemingly obligatory smiling animal enslaver and the happily grinning animals. All the various animals are pictured together, often with their young; with not a single cage in sight.[16] In fact, readers are told that the different animals have their own ‘homes’ in which they live. Of course, few would ever expect to see a single battery hen cage, or a veal crate for calves, or a pig farrowing crate in these publications for the very young, yet to talk of such animals having ‘homes’ is nothing less than highly misleading.
Books for slightly older children predictably have more complicated narratives. For example, in Nubbins and the Tractor (Sinnickson 1980), the horse in the story is presented as human property, which correspondents with the actual status of most horses. Indeed, when the animal is threatened with being replaced by a newly-purchased tractor, his salvation is based on the possible transfer of his ‘ownership’ from farmer to son. The boy learns that his father is intent on selling the newly-redundant horse and appeals to him: ‘Don’t sell Old Nubbins!’ Although the boy declares that he and Nubbins are ‘friends’, he demands ownership of the horse: ‘Give him to me, and he and I will help you with the work’. When the new tractor breaks down, Nubbins is shown to be quite over the moon at the prospect of being strapped back into his old harness and he blissfully sets off for a day of ‘hard work’. Eventually the boy gets the official ownership of the horse and the book ends with both owner and owned pictured apparently deliriously happy about their master-slave relationship.[17]
If parents want a break from book reading, they can purchase children’s videos such as ‘Fourways Farm’, made in 1997 for Channel 4 Television and narrated by popular actor and radio personality Martin Jarvis. Here, in several stories written for children up to seven years of age, another community of co-operative animals are to be found. All co-operative with the exception of three ‘bad rats’ who are stereotypically depicted as scheming ‘gangsters’ who ideologically declare: ‘We don’t do nice things, we’re rats’. However, all the other residents are demonstrably ‘nice’; the cow, the horse, the duck, the dog, the cat and (another stereotype and slightly less than nice) the typically ‘greedy pig’. All the animals, the title song tells viewers, ‘say hello to the morning sun’, and they all have ‘food to eat’. In Fourways
I'll stick to the soymilk thanks! No shoving of tails up *HER* "uterus" there!
Wellington Vegan Julie Gunn, of radio show "Animal Rights and Wrongs" visited Invercargill. Julie attended our second August 2012 INVSOC potluck :-) Curious Hen demonstrates why she's nicknamed Curious Hen. She calmly walked over to the two of us, and when I suggested Julie move her bag "out of the way", Ms C. Hen cut to the chase!
Curious Hen found the banana stashed inside :-)
Nice Hen :-)
I picked up Curious Hen, and let her stand on the palm of my hand, which she did quite happily. With utter confidence, she moved to standing on my wrist
Secure in her trust in my stability, and her own balance, she proceeded to clean herself without a care in the world :-)
Burt Munro sculpture at Queens Park. Julie had seen "The Worlds Fastest Indian" before, the movie about the local man who went on to be a world speed record holder in his later years.
Inside the Invercargill museum (which is in the shape of a giant white pyramid), the first low budget film Worlds Fastest Indian director Roger Donaldson made on Burt Munro plays, "Offerings To The God Of Speed" . It would have been a dream come true to later make a full feature length movie featuring Hannibal Lecter decades later! :-)
Another geocache, this one is a magnetic fake bolt on a park bench. In the background is a quote "horse dog", some kind of Great Dane (but shaggy? A giant Afghan cross?) :-) Julie is biting into a Chocolate Muesli wheel, made by Dan for our second August 2012 INVSOC potluck :-)
We all loved having you visit us in Invercargill with your brother Willie, I hope you'll visit us (and your uncle who lives here) again soon Julie! :-) You can find Julies radio show online "Animal Rights and Wrongs"
Yellow Hen started laying eggs again today. I noticed because she went, and this is the scientific term, NUTS! At the very last second of the video, she sneezes from the cool water, when the rest of her is burning hot with hormones, its as though shes running a fever.
Hens look for a quiet, secure spot, darting about here there and everywhere clucking. Sometimes you can see their tail feathers bouncing up and down, as they "go into contractions", they "give birth" to each egg after all.
She found this spot after a couple hours of searching, where she sleeps, two metres off the ground. Not an ideal place to nurture 10 eggs into chicks Yellow Hen! Her back is firmly against the brick wall, she is as far back, as "enclosed" as she can be, short of having any long grass, plants to nest in. I always give them their space when they are like this, so they dont panic about being attacked. Her pupils are massive, her comb and wattle (red skin above and below head) are flushed red. They look as though they're on some kind of illicit, flight or fight drug in this state.
There are no male chickens about, no Rooster, so her eggs are unfertilised. After laying them, she is absolutely fine with eating them with the other Rescued Hens.
Amazing to see just how strong the "broody" instinct is, a huge swell of instinct/hormones that makes Hens behave like they've lost their marbles in the search to find somewhere safe and lay her eggs. Their body temperature shoots up, and when they actually have a clutch of eggs, their lower feathers underneath fall out, bare, BURNING HOT skin against the eggs to keep them warm. A Hen will stay on her eggs for about a month, until they hatch. Her instinct/hormones make her put them far above her own needs, she will only leave the nest for ~10 minutes a day in a frantic search for food, water, clucking all the while before rushing back to the nest. Often they seem to have "forgotten" where the nest is in their panic too!
Lucky Hen, when I found where she was, I brought her water in a Marmite jar lid! :-)
She will be ok as the eggs are given to them all to eat, its only when laying the eggs that they get all "crazy", five minutes after taking this video she was back to normal, and enjoying the outside sun with all the Hen Friends.
Chickens naturally eat their eggs, they eat their way out of their own eggs as chicks. This fantastically means that they do not need to eat for the first few days of their fully mobile, active lives, as they're still full! Open eyed, talking, responsive to others and although they sometimes "sway", they are mobile :-)
While "showing her off" at some kind of agricultural fair, they decided "lets Command+P her again, print out another couple", and impregnated her once more.
"The one-month-old holstein friesian calf was the first calf of the season born on Nathan Chilton’s Spurhead farm, near Edendale. Miss Jamaica is the third daughter of champion cow June but the first from an embryo placed in a heifer.
Mr Chilton said he wanted June to have many daughters so had her inseminated with Canadian bull semen in September and had her embryos flushed out in October.
The four fertilised embryos were placed in four heifers but only one embryo held in a heifer called Antigua, named after the Caribbean Island.
June’s great-great-grandmother was called Jamaica, hence the name of the surrogate calf, he said.
Miss Jamaica would have cost him about $1500 but Mr Chilton said the outlay was worth it for a heifer,.
Flushing was quite common in Southland and he knew of about 20 farmers who were doing it.
A Wyndham farmer flushed hoping for a breeding bull, while another wanted heifers to boost milk production.
Higher milk production was the motivation for flushing June, who had a bumper season producing 1108kg of milksolids.
However, Miss Jamaica would be sold if an offer was too good to refuse.
Fertile June was artificially inseminated by another straw of Canada bull semen while she was on the show circuit in Christchurch in November, Mr Chilton said.
‘‘You only have to wave the straw in front of her and she’s in calf.’’
June calved last night and had another heifer that was yet to be named, he said"
**** UPDATE Before Julie returned home to Wellington, we had a great day out together **** We've had THREE potlucks in recent weeks! Our last August 2012 potluck with Justin of Hellhound Hotdogs was just 16 days earlier :-) This potluck, we had LOTS of guests from around the nation. Radio starr (looks good with two rolled Southland r's) Julie Gunn and her brother Willie joined us from Wellington. Alison stopped by on her tour of Southland from Tauranga. Guests from the North Island! Representing the greater South Island, we had Jenny and Jane who drove down from Queenstown just to join the Invercargill Vegan Society for our potluck! :-) What fantastic commitment :-) Katharine, Dan, Russell, Steve, Kerri, Jess, Alison, Jordan, Jenny, Jane, Julie, Willie were in attendance :-) Heres the audio interview recorded at tonights potluck :-) (direct download of audio)
Lemon Cake and Banana Chocolate Chip muffins :-)
Two tables were needed for all 12 guests :-)
Chilli Con TVP, hotdogs for those who missed them last potluck with Justin :-) In the background, berry crunch slices, chocolate delicacies :-)
Roasted vegetables all the way from Queenstown :-) The Burger patties on the right were prepared in Queenstown, then fried here in my very own Invercargill kitchen by Jenny and her trusty frypan :-)
When Julie *doesnt* have a blinding aura around her head.... ....she has fantastic hair :-)
Burritos
Russell's fantastic Vegan meatballs :-)
Vegan meatball with burger patty in the background
Tempeh, chickpea curry
A well balanced meal :-)
Thank you all for a fantastic potluck, I'm so very lucky to have such nice Vegan friends from around New Zealand :-) **** UPDATE Before Julie returned home to Wellington, we had a great day out together ****
