Look at this load of carp I was sent

What a load of bullshit. Fuq them. This makes me so angry

breeding animals for the purpose of eating them is simply inhumane.. we do have other options.. just because farming animals is based in tradition doesn't make it right.. do we condone slavery in the same way? seeing as it is a practice also based in tradition.. the answer is no, we don't.. this whole industry needs a good shake up.. a big problem is that australian farmers do quite well nationally and internationally.. so as usual it mainly comes down to economics

Oh this makes me so angry as well. There is absolutely no proof whatsoever that EVERY dairy farmer in Australia treats every single one of their bobby calves as if they are royalty before sending them to a slaughter house.

I've seen footage of them beating the bobby calves, cramping them into confined spaces with other calves and pushing them out the back of trucks where they can fall and become injured!

Not only that, has anyone here heard the CRIES from mothers and calves when they are separated? I grew up on a small farm, where my parents bred cattle, and after the calves were over a year old they were then sold off to become steers or dairy cows etc. When the mothers were separated they would cry for days. Especially when they'd only been separated by a paddock before they were taken to the market! It's almost heartbreaking to hear. Some mothers would run away trying to find their calves by running through fences. Their cries would keep me up at night because they wouldn't stop crying.
Not only this, but the heartbreak of a mother calf having a stillborn is also awful. You can tell that they are psychologically disturbed from the trauma of losing their baby.

Don't get me wrong, we did treat our cattle very well. They had an enormous amount of land to roam, and plenty of feed ALL the time. If the land seemed to be low on feed, we would buy in hay bails for them to eat. We also had a huge dam that the cattle drank out of which was tested and was safe, and we also had troughs set up around the paddocks too, and shade for them. Although I do know that once the cows left, they probably weren't going to have a good life. We never killed or ate any of our cattle.

Anyway, back to my point. A bobby calf that is taken away from it's mother at only 5 days old is going to suffer extreme psychological trauma, along with it's mother. Imagine taking away a newborn human baby away from it's mother? It's the most inhumane thing ever!

Anyway, there's my rant. I could rant more, but I think you get my point. This angers me so much!

Have you seen the comments left on the Animals Australia and the Animals Australia Unleashed Facebook pages?
Their arguments make no sence what so ever, they seem to miss the point by miles.
This is one womens argument:
"ADOPT A REAL CALf

I am a dairy farmer, and I would like to clarify a few things. Firstly, only male calves are Bobby calves, nearly all females are reared for replacement or export. Dairy farmers need to concentrate their efforts attending to the mother cow recovering and rearing the female calves. A modern dairy cow produces too much milk for a single calf, maybe forty litres per day.

The real problem is, their is no market for a male dairy calf, so they end up at abotoirs, not at five days of age, not five weeks, not even five months, maybe at twenty four months if they meet Jap Ox specifications.

Animal welfare organizations are ever ready to criticise farmers, but usually short on practical solutions. So I challenge you to initiate the solution. Start rearing these calves and develop the markets. And to give you a start, I will gift you all of my calves for twelve months.

Encouraging your supporters to substitue a wonderful natural nutritious product like milk with a super processed artificially coloured and flavoured vegetable oil (soy milk) is no solution at all."

SO many things wrong with that... 1st of all, I'm pretty sure we all now that only males are bobby calves and I don't see why that's relavent to begin with?

2nd - "Dairy farmers need to concentrate their efforts attending to the mother cow recovering" No animal is more important than the other, they all deserve to be "attended to" and we all know that dairy cows are NOT in good health since being forced to give birth idealy once a year.

3rd - "The real problem is, their is no market for a male dairy calf, so they end up at abotoirs, not at five days of age, not five weeks, not even five months, maybe at twenty four months if they meet Jap Ox specifications."
Who cares WHEN they end up at abotoirs, they shouldn't be there in the first place!

4th - "So I challenge you to initiate the solution. Start rearing these calves and develop the markets. And to give you a start, I will gift you all of my calves for twelve months."
Umm... And do what with these calves exacly? I'm totally lost on this point, maybe someone can explain it for me?

5th - "Encouraging your supporters to substitue a wonderful natural nutritious product like milk with a super processed artificially coloured and flavoured vegetable oil (soy milk) is no solution at all."
Cows milk is wonderfully natural and nutritious but ONLY for a baby cow, NOT humans and there are more option out there for dairy free milk than just soy milk, I can easily make my own almond or cashew milk at home and that has no artificial colours of flavours and IS wonderfully natural and nutricious.

Anyways, this particular person posted the exact same comment on about 5 or more different posts on the same page. Eurgh. But being as immature as I am, I posted a short reply underneath all her post. If she is trying to flood us with her irrelevant bullshit arguments, then i'll flood her with my arguments (Hopefully not irrelevant bullshit like hers!)

And the part about the dairy cows producing TOO much milk just for one calf isn't a reason to go and kill a bunch of animals and the only reason they are producing too much milk is because of the way we have used, abused and bred them all these years.

*sigh* I guess it's just all about the money to them!

What a load of crap!! i read through the dariy australia page and saw a few lies in there

1) " Dairy farmers must ensure bobby calves being transported for sale or slaughter are:

-at least five days old (unless consigned direct to a calf rearer)
-fit and healthy
-have been adequately fed within six hours of transport"

Ive been to the muiltiple bobby calf sales and when i bought Bugsii from the sale she was a day old and Bambi was 3 days old.  ive seen calfs that are under 5 days old, majority of calfs at any sale at any given time are 2-4 days old. i even saw a new born bobby calf at the auction and he was auctioned off to a local abbitor buyer

70% of the calfs at the sale are not fit or healthy, Bambii for instence needed vetenariy assistence when she arrived home, she couldnt stand, anemic, skin and bones, kept going in and out of conscience. One calf at one sale i went to was so sick he was pulled out of the auction taken down the back and shot.

When i got Bugsii i had to sign forms to say i bought her legally and i had to get her previous owners to sign it and they said she has never been fed since she was born, and Bambiis owners said she only has a drink when she was forst born, when i got her she was 3 days old .

"Our commitment includes ensuring our calves are provided with a safe, healthy environment for the whole of their lives" ive seen dairy cows and calfs in horrific conditions, Broken hocks, anemic, skin and bones, Calfs literally dying and this is only at the sale - you dont want to see what ive seen happens on dairy farms

what a crock of shit! this was probably written by one of the many pen pushers in these industries.

What a load of bullsh*t.

Speaking of replies, I just received a reply that I put on my facebook status:

"Thank you for your interest in the welfare of bobby calves. Like you, we care about how all of our animals are treated and work hard to ensure their well being on and off the farm. The ethical management, transportation, handling and marketing of bobby calves is a priority for the industry"

They're the morons....

It's really not hard to see through this is it?
Love all your responses to that facebook post, Gracie - it was driving me nuts!

And Shanii, you illustrate a great point - not ALL dairy calves that go to slaughter are male. So when they say the females are used to replace the herd ...ummmm .... Why did Shanii have to rescue them then?

And of course Edgar's Mission rescuing Maid Marion too http://www.animalsaustralia.org/features/three-lucky-calves-their-story.php

In fact Dairy Australia's own figure's show that 20% of the calves killed each year are female! That's a great stat to have up your sleeve!