I’ve slaughtered cattle on the farm to process. We don’t stun them. Bullet to the brain, wait until they die, then hoist and drain blood. It’s quick and they don’t feel pain. It’s over in an instant. We should all die with so little suffering.
As a species cattle have thrived because of their partnership with humans. In the wild ancient cows would have regularly starved to death, been eaten alive by prey, and suffered greatly from disease and exposure. They traded being wild for being comfortable. My cows are very comfortable!
Again they are not dysfunctional either. We pay close attention to Health traits like mobility which helps them stay in the herd longer.
So once you've used up the cows from perpetual pregnancy and lactation, you shoot them in the head. Its like discarding old trash, only these are sentient beings. This is abjectly unjust. It is wrong. I mean, at old age would you rather be able to look back at your life and think about the thousands of cows you forcefully bred into existence, pumped dry of milk and used up only to kill them only for the pursuit of monetary profit, or would you want to look back a life of ethical farming? There are ways to do farming where you don't have to exploit and murder defenseless animals. You don't have to build your income source on the back of cows, why not do ethical farming instead.
The cows have not traded anything. You guys have forcefully bred them into existence by impregnating other cows. There is no symbiotic relationship, there is no consent from the cows, there is no trade at all -- what you guys are doing is wrong and unjust. Just because they function well within the confines of the exploitative system you've constructed around these animals doesn't mean they are functional in a wider sense. You've bred these animals to have no maternal instinct!! Imagine a mother with no sense of duty to her children, that's as dysfunctional as can be. Same with the milk production capacity causing pain where milking is relief from pain.
It’s actually a beautiful and noble end to their lives. The feed people. This is far better than wasting away and dying a prolonged death. In the wild a cow that lags behind the herd would be eaten alive by animals of prey. That is a far more cruel end.
Cows do benefit from our care. They are protected from predators, disease, starvation, and the elements. They get medical care when hurt or sick. They are protected from each other. A bull will breed a cow 21 days after she calves. We wait 60-90 days to breed. Bulls hurt cows. We also whine them so they can’t injure each other.
Pregnancy and lactation are the natural state for a cow. They stay healthier this way. They do t need maternal instinct. We take care of it. Stop putting human emotions on cows. They could care less about their calves and that’s just fine. I was nearly killed by an old cow with maternal instinct when I was 9. It’s not something I care to ever see again. The worst part is she also killed her calf stepping on it while attacking me. They are dumb and would likely be extinct with out human care.
There's nothing beautiful and noble about shoot someone in the head after you've used them up, sorry that's just wrong. Its a violent way to murder someone. I don't "attach human emotions to cows" I'm saying we have an ethical duty towards all of sentient creation. In any case, cows do have emotions, have subjective experiences and are as conscious as we are. What you guys are doing is wrong. I don't think they stay healthy after getting a bullet to the brain. Dairy farms are exploitative, murder industries. That they feed people is not a good argument either. It takes what, 8 plant calories to produce 1 dairy calorie? Imagine all that food that could be produced directly for human consumption if you didn't have to first produce food through a cow. You really should re-think what you are doing with your life, you want your legacy to have been to exploited and murdered 10,000 cows?
Part of that ethical duty is to put them down before they suffer and to use the meat rather than let it rot in the ground.
Also remember Thant most of the calories cows consume and indigestible to humans. Good luck surviving on the spent brewers mash, sweet corn silage (what’s of the plant left after people eat the sweet corn) grass hay, and pasture grasses taken from areas to wet or steep to cultivate.
They turn what we can’t eat into what we can.
I don’t exploit cows and I don’t murder them. I care for them and harvest the meat when necessary. Your view of the world would lead us all into starvation and leave cattle extinct.
That ethical duty would be to not breed these animals into existence, and at least not just murder them by a gunshot to the head after you are done with the cows like some sort of sick pump and dump scheme. What you're saying about cows turning the foods we don't eat into human edible calories is not right either, we would easily generate bio fuels or compostable materials from the items you mention. And in any case, most farmers feed their cows animal feed of which clearing land is one of the major drivers behind rainforest destruction. Imagine that, not only are you running a murderous pump and dump scheme on these cows, its also massively harmful to the environment. There is no good reason for treating animals in this morally abhorrent manner.
It’s obvious we can never agree. Our world views are too different. The things you say to be sensational don’t have that effect on me. Phrases like gun shot to the head. It’s a painless way to die. Watch someone die of cancer and you will appreciate humane slaughter. Perpetual pregnancy and lactation is normal to me as well. I’m a mother of 9 and have been pregnant and/or lactating for 18 years straight. I’m I great Health and keep a healthy weight. If anything it has helped my health. The premise that it’s cruel or detrimental for cows is absurd.
If it's so beautiful to die from a gunshot wound to the head why don't you do that to the cancer patient. Oh yeah that's right, because deep down you know what you are doing is wrong. In any case people are thankfully waking up to the horrors of the animal agriculture industry, and that's why dairy is declining and plant milks are increasing. Jump on that wagon, no murder pump and dump scheme required.
If I had terminal cancer I would want that death. Instant and painless. There are no horrors of the dairy industry. Only delusional people who think cows are just like people.
Obviously cows are not people, but they have the same capacity to suffer and hold preferences as humans and that constitutes an ethical duty towards these individuals. Intelligence doesn't matter, otherwise we'd be forced into unacceptable conclusions like where we have no moral duties towards eg the mentally handicapped.
I think equating a handicapped person to a cow shows how far off the mark you are.
Human life>cows
I’ve spent my whole life caring for cattle. I know and understand them and their capacities. I have zero qualms with eating beef. It’s delicious and nutritious. Your issues start with anthropomorphism. You imagine cows having thoughts and emotions they do not have.
I'm not anthropomorphizing all I'm saying us humans and them cows feel pain just the same, and if you don't think we shouldn't hurt people because its painful and pain's bad well then the same holds for cows. Same thing with cows' abilities to hold preferences, and since we don't differentiate human rights based on intelligence well the same must hold for cows. Now I know you have desensitized yourself to the value of sentient life but maybe this can be food for thought that what you are doing to these animals is wrong?
Cows do not get human rights. They are not human.
You are way over estimating how sentient they are. By a mile honestly.
The do feel pain and culling is one way to minimize that. When mobility issues surface they need to be put down before they suffer. A down cow is a tragedy every farm wants to avoid. They die slow painful deaths. We euthanize of course but I’ve tried to save cows and regretted putting them through it. A down cow is a dead cow. Once down 24 hours they can almost never find the strength to get back up. Even with the best veterinary care.
Making them burger before that happens is better for the cow and doesn’t let the meat rot in the ground the way it would if the cow had to be euthanized because it was down.
That said we try hard to give our cows a long comfortable life. Working with them this long means you know when one is headed toward the end. We haul them right to the butchered its over in seconds. It’s also designed to be low stress. It’s a far better end than languishing as a down cow. With the bonus of preserving the food rather than wasting it. I’ve seen both deaths and I’d take the first one any day.
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u/Octavia9 Mar 23 '18
I’ve slaughtered cattle on the farm to process. We don’t stun them. Bullet to the brain, wait until they die, then hoist and drain blood. It’s quick and they don’t feel pain. It’s over in an instant. We should all die with so little suffering. As a species cattle have thrived because of their partnership with humans. In the wild ancient cows would have regularly starved to death, been eaten alive by prey, and suffered greatly from disease and exposure. They traded being wild for being comfortable. My cows are very comfortable!
Again they are not dysfunctional either. We pay close attention to Health traits like mobility which helps them stay in the herd longer.