This is one such story.
A farmer posted a video of a baby calf being born. Someone misinterpreted what happened, in this case probably intentionally, and started to spread the lie.
The caption on the photo read: “I became a vegan the day I watched a video of a calf being born on a dairy farm. The baby was dragged away from his mother before he hit the ground. The helpless calf strained his head backwards to find his mother. The mother bolted after her son and exploded into a rage when the rancher slammed the gate on her. She wailed the saddest noise I’d ever heard an animal make, and then thrashed and dug into the ground, burying her face in the muddy placenta.”
Thankfully, this blogger is telling the rest of the story:
“Let’s talk about what really happens. This is a dairy calf, in order for us to have milk, the cow will have to have been bred and calved. Cows start producing milk during late gestation and continue to lactate several months post calving. Second, calves aren’t “dragged” away as soon as they hit the ground. The calf has to ingest the mother’s colostrum. (Colostrum is “first milk,” it’s full of antibodies which protect the calf until it can start producing it’s own antibodies.) If colostrum is not ingested from the cow within the first 12 hours the calf will die. Then in the case of a dairy calf, it will be removed from it’s mother after about two days so she can be milked.
After the calves are removed from the mothers they are given a replacement milk to meet their nutritional needs. Think of this like feeding a baby a bottle made from formula. While my parents never had dairy calves, we sometimes had bottle calves when a cow wouldn’t take to her calf or didn’t produce enough milk to feed her baby. Bottle calves, like all babies, have to be fed more often and require lots of attention.”
Finish reading here (and share with any of your friends and family that have fallen for this one).
A lot of people have never set foot on a farm, so how in the world would they know the difference? With all the animosity directed at farmers and ranchers today, it is to be expected. And precisely why it is so so so important that we make sure the truth gets told.
Image courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net.
