A rambling about Facebook and people's stupidity.

[SMonroe1990]

So I am part of this group on facebook that has to do with finding animals homes in the state I live in. This poor woman is being attacked in this group for posting pictures of a calf that was born today that she is trying to sell. People are giving her crap just because it is already taken from it's mother which is part of a dairy farm. Am I the only one that think these people attacking her are wrong? I have been looking into possibly getting a cow next year and everything I read says the reason they are separated within 24 hours is to ease the stress on both the baby and the mother. I also don't think these people realize that by buying milk from the store that the farm from wherever it came from is doing the same thing. I just feel like sometimes people don't realize how much work it takes to run a dairy farm that gives them the milk they buy at the store, or how much effort goes into raising the chickens for the eggs they buy from the farmers market. I will admit I am new to raising chickens and thinking about farm animals but I have always known how much work it takes and that doesn't bother me one bit. I would never tell someone who works on a dairy farm that they are being cruel for doing something like taking a calf from its mother. Unfortunately it is a part of life and if you run a dairy farm that is used for selling milk to provide for grocery stores or what not you have to do what you have to do. I know it would be much more traumatic for me if I chose to give up a baby of mine if it happened later rather than right after giving birth. I'm sure with animals it is much the same. Sorry for anyone who has read this and does not agree with my point of view. In my opinion while farm animals make wonderful pets for the short amount of time they are with us, they are food for me ultimately. I am trying to create a way to self sustain my family in case it ever comes down to us needing it. If my DH wasn't unemployed right now and I had the money I would already have my small farm going. I have already started with chickens and plan to expand in the future. And please if you are going to reply to this I do not mind constructive criticism, but do not try to label me as an advocate for animal abuse as that is not true.

 

[chooks4life]

lol, I see your point of view, and hers, and theirs...

About the only time you could label her irresponsible or cruel is if she willingly sells to someone she knows has absolutely no idea of either how to cull it quickly and humanely, or raise it properly. Unfortunately I see some of those around, who have absolutely no care for their animals... You see adverts depicting sheds or basements full of trendy miniature goat kids or lambs with pretty coats, bred specifically to be taken from their mothers instantly, bottlefed until sold as a pet, and the condition of them is shocking, it's clear they are just a moneymaking commodity without ethics involved. I see the same in quite a few backyard breeders of toy dogs, unfortunately.

Too many folks get cute babies they have no idea how to raise because "aww, they were taken from their mother, surely we can wing it and learn as we go"... And then it's "aww, it's sick, what's wrong? Can't it live in a suburban backyard? Aww, it died." And unfortunately people advertising photos of them are not necessarily encouraging the most responsible people overall to step up and take the animal, not that you can really place too much blame on them. But really, what farmer tends to go looking on Facebook for pretty baby animals to hand rear? That's more likely to attract a certain kind of buyer, one who is often simply acting out of sentiment rather than with a background or situation that enables them to actually give the animal what it needs.

If you're a responsible animal owner you go into the situation of obtaining an animal with an idea of how to look after it, not just because it was an impulse decision provoked by cuteness, lol... However, this is not said to criticize her or even ignorant wannabe animal owners, everyone has to start learning somewhere and I'm sure that's not her intention in advertising it there, I expect she hopes to find them nice loving homes. Good luck to her, that's hard enough at the best of times.

People buying calves that age generally have setups to care for them, though, and I'm not sure advertizing pretty photos on Facebook is going to secure the best owners, regardless of their intentions. It's one of those catch-22's.

I had one tiny baby goat given to me which had been snatched from his feral mother and bunged into a backyard to subsist on grass, water, and under a tiny shelter. The little thing would still have been on colostrum, he was so young. Needless to say he was in a horrifically decrepit state when I got him a month later and he didn't live long afterwards, he was too far gone. And yet those people who snatched him didn't know better, they thought they were doing good enough by him. Sorry, I'm not trying to be critical here, but the 'cute baby animal' market has some tragic collateral.

Anyway... I understand your rant, and I think best to just ignore them, there are numerous trolls on FB, certain topics seem to always attract rabid hateful sorts. I have a FB account to keep in touch with family who don't live near me, but man, I seem to spend a fair amount of time blocking people there lately... There is absolutely no point reasoning with them. Just block and ignore, IMO.

Best wishes.

 

[sourland]

Just another example of people being totally removed from the reality of where our food comes from and knowledge of totally acceptable husbandry practices.

 

[SMonroe1990]

Yeah I became part of the group just in case something came up and I was looking for a cat or something, when I joined it I did not expect to see pictures of baby farm animals on there. I guess sometimes it surprises me still how people can attack someone like that for it being animal abuse because that's what they think when in reality it isn't. I mean the first thing I thought when I saw the picture was that I was wishing I had the set up and stuff to go buy the calf. Unfortunately though I do not and if I did I would have been on my way to meet the person today and take it. But whatever. I almost want to delete facebook all together. The people I keep in contact with have my cell phone number I don't really need it for much else, it's just a whole lot of drama.

 

[Mother-Rhodes]

I had a facebook page for awhile and yes, there is a notable amount of stupidity written on the site. I found it to be time eater, it pulled me into a life of nothingness. It started as a way to share pics with my family and keep in touch with friends...them it blew up. A younger classmate found info on another class mates family printed the pics and physically posted them around town with threats written all over them...yes she was unstable and was removed from the nursing program. That incident really made me wonder how much info is put out for people to just find and use in harmful ways. there were other things but that was the clincher. I dissolved the page and never logged in again.
ther groups there are are very loyal to there beliefs almost cult like. i decided it wasn't for me.
Alot of people don't understand where there food comes from or what it takes to get it to the table...

 

[SMonroe1990]

Wow. That's horrible that that happened. I never thought of their groups as being cult like but that is a good comparison. The fact that people don't take time to do their research before posting cruel comments like they do is what has me most upset. I wish people would educate themselves. But it is what it is I suppose.

 

[blondi61189]

I have to admit I had cows growing up and our neighbors out separate their calves out day one while my.grandfather allowed his to wean naturally... When I get my own cows I would most likely follow in my grandfathers footsteps simple because that's what I think is more humane..it was great watching the mamas and the calves and all the games and antics but if your watching the bottom line taking the calves away earlier is more economical. Attacking her isn't going to get your point across especially if you.haven't done any research and are talking out of your butt. But I also wouldn't argue that "its less stressful" its not the best way but it certainly isn't animal abuse either

 

[rebelcowboysnb]

But really, what farmer tends to go looking on Facebook for pretty baby animals to hand rear?

I run a group on FB with over 2K people that is set up just for buying an selling livestock. Lots of farmers on there buying...
https://www.facebook.com/groups/146170952137330/

I would be shocked if someone made comments like that on my group... Read threw it an see if you can find anything other than nice people. I think I have had it going for about 2 or 3 years an had maybe 5 things flagged an most of those were spam...

 

[SMonroe1990]

blondi if I ever had my own cows I would probably do it that way also, but this was on a dairy farm where they harvest the milk. rebelcowboy I will have to take a look at your group. I have no doubt that there aren't nice people out there, but I guess I just couldn't believe that people would attack her like that. chooks4life, don't you just love how the internet works and things just disappear?

 

[chooks4life]

Ok two of my posts have now been deleted, what on earth? They were not in contravention of any rules and yes I know for sure they posted. Any mod like to comment on why they're deleting them?