Tragedy, Comedy, and Dairy Irony
An Animal Rights Article from All-Creatures.org

FROM

By Robert Cohen, NotMilk.com
May 2011

[Ed. Note: Some good news. In California as of 2009, Cows in California Can No Longer Be Routinely Tail-docked.]

Today's commentary is regarding cow comfort. Without a tail, flies fly unhindered to the delightful bouquet of feces....forget for a moment that the essence of bovine fecal material taints every quart of milk sold in America.

Tragedy, Comedy, and Dairy Irony

Because animals are property, we consider as 'humane treatment' that we would regard as torture if it were inflicted on humans.
- Gary L. Francione

Tragedy: Many dairy farmers routinely chop off the tails of newborn calves, making them unable to swat away flies from the rear-most region of their feces-encrusted bottoms... forget for a moment that the essence of bovine fecal material taints every quart of milk sold in America. Today's commentary is regarding cow comfort. Without a tail, flies fly unhindered to the delightful bouquet of feces.

Dairy Irony: The May 10, 2011 issue of Hoard's Dairyman (The National Dairy Farm Magazine) contains an ad for a chemical product which kills nuisance flies attracted by cow odors. The product is called "QuickBayt" and the add on page 339 of the May 10th issue claims: "QuickBayt is a cold-blooded nuisance fly killer."

Now, for the comedy.

Comedy: On page 328 of the May 10th issue, Hoard's reports the results of an experiment in which three different categories of fly repellents (water, chemical repellent, and acid) were tested for their effectiveness in doing a better job than the natural tail (fly swatter) cows are born with.

Researchers found: "Commercial teat dips claiming to repel flies actually do the opposite... The investigators found that all three (products) actually acted as attractants rather than repellents."

I read the May 10th issue and wondered, how could Hoard's print an ad which claims that such repellents are effective, and then publish the truth that they are not? Seems to me that Hoard's will lose one very unhappy advertiser.

And the cows with no tails and with no way to combat biting flies?

They suffer one more indignity and torture in their painful lives before their gruesome deaths. Having their jugular veins and carotid arteries sliced in slaughterhouses becomes their relief as a dairyman's final solution.

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