Mary Martin, PhD
August 2010
What you're supposed to be buying into is the idea that if a family owns a farm it is somehow qualitatively different (and of course, better) than a farm that isn't family owned.
My daughter has given me an extra layer of sensitivity regarding the treatment of female animals. As a woman, I always found it offensive that females are forcibly bred, have their children taken away from them and are milked within an inch of their lives. But now I think about all of that being done to my daughter and I must say the disgust I experience at the notion that a family farm is somehow a wholesome place is a bit overwhelming.
I'm not one of those people who thinks family is composed of only humans
or humans who are biologically related. That's one of the reasons adopting
wasn't a stretch for me at all mentally.
The idea of family is currently being used by the dairy industry in a series
of commercials with the tag line: "99% of dairy farms are family owned." You
see midwestern folk in overalls with tired faces. There are children. Girls.
They are proud to be dairy farmers.
Of course, you're supposed to hop onto the following train of thought: These
are good people. Good Americans, just trying to keep their families together
and eke out a living in these tough times. Buying dairy products supports
them.
It doesn't matter to me, but let's for a moment examine the 99%. Ninety-nine
percent of dairy farms are family owned. That doesn't mean that 99% of dairy
products are from family farms, as the average number of cows on each family
farm is just over 100. It's not necessarily the case that buying dairy
likely supports one of the families that comprise the 99%.
What you're supposed to be buying into is the idea that if a family owns a
farm it is somehow qualitatively different (and of course, better) than a
farm that isn't family owned. Families, so the commercials go, don't engage
in untoward aspects of animal husbandry that might hurt the cows. The cows
are walking around green fields, similar to those in the criminally
misleading California cows commercials. The cows' tails swing in the breeze.
The family isn't wealthy and they're not sophisticated, but they're proud of
what they do. And they certainly wouldn't hurt anybody; that's what those
big factory farms do that aren't owned by families.
There's an assumption that a unit known as a family is better to deal with
than, say, a person who is merely a member of a family and who wears a suit
and drives a fancy car rather than a tractor. When it's put that way,
doesn't it sound silly? Families are just as capable of horrendous policies
toward animals as anyone else. Their goal is to make a profit from the
breeding and slaughter of animals. Period. Just ask former cattle rancher
Howard Lyman, who is now a vegan and animal rights activist.
My daughter has given me an extra layer of sensitivity regarding the
treatment of female animals. As a woman, I always found it offensive that
females are forcibly bred, have their children taken away from them and are
milked within an inch of their lives. But now I think about all of that
being done to my daughter and I must say the disgust I experience at the
notion that a family farm is somehow a wholesome place is a bit
overwhelming.
One of the most important things about Deb's blog, Invisible Voices, is that
many of the fortunate animals who end up at Poplar Spring Animal Sanctuary,
where she volunteers, came from family farms.
Yes, factory farms are the stuff of nightmares for nonhuman animals. But so
are family farms. I don't care about scale. If someone owns me, forcibly
breeds me, takes my kids and ends my life, it's a living hell for me.
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