Perspective.
We had just come into her space to take her calf. It has been less than a day since he has been born. She looks at us, looks at her calf, and watches us with frightened understanding. As we approach her calf she stamps and snorts, but knows what’s about to happen is inevitable because she’s been through it before. She is watching her paddock mates, all also new mothers, being herded to the calf pens. She has no choice but to follow, and eventually lead, her calf as we get him up and drive him towards the pens. 10 minutes later, her calf has been taken away and she is bellowing, trying to find him. A day later, that calf is dead, having been shot because he was male and there isn’t a veal market in the area. She stays at the calf pen every day, twice a day after milking, for 4 days to bellow for and try to find her lost calf. Eventually, she understands he’s gone and is forced to give up.
Next year, she goes through the whole process again. And again the year after. Again and again, until she can no longer give the farmer good quality milk, or can no longer make the walk up to the dairy parlour, and is trucked to slaughter.
This is the reality of dairy. I only experienced it for a few weeks, yet it is their entire life. You have the power to stop it. Please go vegan.
