BC considers making dairy cattle handling code of practice law

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The size of the farm operation many times does have a direct affect as to how animals are treated . On a smaller operation most dairy farmers will know each cow by name , pet them and can stand among them and they will walk over to see their owner . He also works directly with the animals on a daily basis . On the bigger operations most owners are more concerned about the money and have hired help with no skin in the game that do the work and don't care about the animals the same . On large operations the cows are nkown as a number by the neck or ear tag . Many times smaller is better .

As a small dairy farmer for over 30 years,you respect the animals,care for them,even name them but they are there for a purpose and its not as pets! They are there to be milked for money and possibly sold for beef at the end of their milking days.In the end we are just as concerned about making money as the big guys, we just maybe take a more personel/hands on interest in it than the owners of the larger operations.
The video only confirms what l have thought for years,you can teach anyone how to milk or run a large Dairy operation like the one in BC but you can't teach someone how to have compassion and respect for the animals they work with,that has to be instilled in an individual from an early age.The old saying that patience is a virtue never seems to cross some young people's minds.

These young men should never have been working with cows the same way some people should never own a Dog or Cat.I find it a little ridiculous for the Animal Rights people to be calling for video camera's in dairy barns when there has been so many dog and cat abuse stories over the years and l don't recall ever hearing about a demand to put video camera's in pet owners homes?

Some people are not allowed to own pets which are animals . Same could and should happen for working animals also . To use the excuse on the fact that an employee did it is not and should not be condoned . The owner of the operation is ultimately responsible .

You simply can't group farm animals and pets together but l realize many non-farm people will try to do exactly that.
No one condones animal cruelty but training hundreds of cows to walk into their milking stations is not like training the family dog! Patience is required but its not always enough.Certainly these young men in the video crossed the line but there has been far worse pet abuse that has not made national headlines like this case.

I fully support ALL farms across Canada having a MANDATORY National Code of Practice for dairy cattle. It is very obvious, that too many bad apples in the farming industry cannot and do not regulate themselves properly. The milk marketing board included. The Chilliwack video is just one of many videos of dairy cattle being grossly abused. Graham Lloyd, let me ask you this, if you believe dairy farms are not subjecting their cattle to abuse, what do you have to hide? Why would you not want to put live streaming cameras in the barns so that anyone can check in and watch 24/7? If Jeff Kooyman, owner of Chilliwack Cattle Company, is so sure this was an "isolated" incident, and he knew nothing about it, then he should have nothing to hide in the future, correct? Lastly, the law needs to be changed that processors like Saputo CAN refuse to take milk from farms where their is abuse.

Even if the owners did not know of the precise abuse depicted in the video (which is highly unlikely) could they not see the wounds on the animals? Do vets not regularly inspect the cows in an operation of this size? If not, then I believe the owners are lying about their lack of involvement and something needs to change to ensure that wounds and injuries are addressed and investigated. There are some lousy, cruel people in this world and a lot that think it doesn't matter if it's "just an animal" being abused.

The owner (s) should have their quota stripped from them with no compensation . They should have to gift the would be funds from the sale of the quota and the cows to some charity that can prove that even it is worthy of the dollars .

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