Re: RC: Fw: Re: Tree-hugger

[Lynne Glazer <lynne@glazer.org>]

At 9:28 AM -0500 3/15/00, CMKSAGEHIL@aol.com wrote:
>In a message dated 3/14/00 4:51:24 PM Pacific Standard Time,
>fasterhorses@gilanet.com writes:
>
><< The only dairies I've been around that I'd agree with you about are small,
>  private ones.  The big commercial ones are disgusting.  Just driving near
>  one on a hot day makes one car sick with the smell - not quite as bad as
>  feed lots but almost. >>
>
>Lif, your example with the dead calf is indeed a rarity in the dairy
>industry.  While the calves are indeed not a particularly "useful" commodity
>in the dairy, getting the calf delivered rapidly and with as little trauma to
>the cow as possible is a MAJOR priority, as lowered milk production is a
>sequelae to a calving problem.  An unhealthy uterus (be it due to inflamation
>or infection following a complicated calving) interferes with both the
>hormonal regulation of lactation as well as the general health of the cow,
>both of which are dollars down the drain to the dairyman.  Dairies that don't
>take good care of their cows don't stay in business very long in the
>competitive market.
>
>Heidi
>

I'd have to agree with Heidi about care of dairy stock.  I live less 
than a mile from what was for years the largest concentration of 
dairy cattle in the US, yep, in SoCal.  Had many friends in the dairy 
preserve, who have all moved to central Calif where there is more 
space, pasture even, and no housing tracts.  They took very good care 
of the cattle, because it was their livelihood.

Fortunately the prevailing wind blows away from my house, but 
occasionally perceptible is the unique "eau de dairy".   The density 
of cattle was the problem down here, methane-r-us, and now the two 
cities that have annexed the preserve are having to clean up the land.

Dead calves are left on the side of the road, for weekly pickup, a 
service the dairies paid for.  It's not an everyday sight.

I once felt obligated to deliver a calf where I boarded my horses. 
The mother seemed indifferent to her live calf's plight, half in, 
half out.  I ran to get rags when the calf proved too slippery to 
pull out.  By the time I returned, she'd laid down and smothered the 
poor thing, but stayed down for me to pull him out.  That was work!

Lynne

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