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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