Don't you just love those California Happy Cow commercials? The ones where the cows are out in the beautiful, lush, green pastures chatting about how lucky they are to be in the Golden State? I used too.
…until a warm spring day in April when I witnessed an injustice that has changed my way of thinking, eating and life. It happened while my mother and I were heading home from Hughson, CA (a little central CA town east of Modest) to Sonora, which is some 40 miles away. It was just outside of Oakdale, when I stopped my car near the fence of a dairy after spotting a cow and her two newborns. My mother and I wanted to enjoy the event.
The babies were no more than 10 minutes old. Mommy was gently cleaning them. One finally struggled to his tiny feet, while the other, still weak from birth, just lazed in the sun. Out of nowhere came a farmer on a tractor pulling a small trailer with high wooden sides.
He nonchalantly strolls over and snatches up the wobbly newborn, hauls it back to the tractor and literally hurls the infant over the trailer sides so carelessly that its little head got hung-up on the wooden side rail. Mr. Could-Care-Less gave a quick flick to the calf's head and over the rails it fell, a loud thunk as it hit bottom. He then snatches up the second newborn who hasn't made it to its feet, jerks it up and again throws it over the trailer sides. My mother and I were horrified. And before we could jump out of my car, the farmer was off, leaving a trail of dust in the air.
I never knew how the process of milking cows worked, so once I got over my shock and headed home, I searched my computer for articles on dairy cows. We learned that calves are taken from their mothers ASAP after birth. OK, but does a farmer or caretaker have to do it so inhumanely? These are the "happy California cows" we see in commercials?
It was sickening. I do not understand why dairy owners treat their money-makers in this way. Is it really necessary? I think NOT.
I now understand why my daughter-in-law is a vegan. And I too have QUIT eating animals, or wearing it. See why when you visit here.
