Today I have followed the release of the damaging video footage that documented abuse of dairy calves and heifers at Conklin Dairy Farm in Plain City, Ohio. Like many of you, I watched the savage abuse against defenseless calves, heifers and cows in horror.
First, the footage brought tears to my eyes. Then a pit deep to my stomach. But then it began to make me mad as hell. First, I am angry at the young man shown in the video. The actions against the animals that are documented as his in this video are inexcusable and demonstrate a lack of compassion for life of any form. No matter what the Union County justice system decides is his punishment, I fully believe the Creator will have a final judgment for him one day.
Second, I am angry for the erroneous message this video sends, that wrongly implies those who work in agriculture in our state, and especially in animal husbandry, are callous, disregarding of animal welfare and abusive, when nothing could be further from the truth. The farmers of our state care deeply for the creatures they tend. They worry at each new birth, each sign of poor health and they sweat the details that are required to improve the nutrition, care and management of their animals. They love the animals they tend - or they would certainly not be in business very long.
In the dairy industry, farmers strive for less stress to their cows, which helps them improve milk production. In today's dairy industry, milk producers are already hanging by a thread, so they are doing all they can to help increase their milk production and retain what little profit they can. That is why you may have seen studies that showed cows that were able to stand on modified waterbed mattresses were more comfortable and produced more milk.
Cows that are afraid, stressed or injured will produce less milk.
Cows that are injured cannot be sold for a profit.
To abuse these animals is to sabotage your very livelihood as a dairy farmer.
To abuse these animals makes no logical sense, and to imply that this is routine animal husbandry is absolutely asinine. To suggest that we should abolish the dairy industry because of the actions of one individual is like saying we should close all churches because there are abusive priests, or to close all schools because a teacher had an affair with a student.
But the biggest reason that I'm mad as hell is that common sense did not intervene regarding the horrific actions the video depicted. How can a human being watch these unspeakable abuses go on for more than a month and not turn them directly in to authorities? Why release the video publicly without working to stop the abuse first? By not going directly to authorities, the videographer is in essence an accessory to the crime, an enabler for the crimes to continue unhindered for more than a month. In my mind, that lack of action shows the video maker's real motive - and it is not the welfare of these animals.
I hope you're as mad as hell too. It's about time for someone to stand up for the animals. But I'm here to tell you, that someone is not those who want you to become a vegetarian and shut down dairy farms. As this video shows, many of those individuals are more concerned with promoting their agendas than with the welfare of animals. Please keep this in mind as you watch the development of the Ohio Livestock Care Board. The board should be allowed to develop its policies using the process that the good citizens of this state approved last year - not coerced into the political agendas of organizations outside our state.
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The reason the person with the video did not stop the abuse is obvious. It was to prove that it was not an isolated incident. Like it or not, unsupervised incidents such as this most likely occur on a regular basis. Maybe if the owners deployed cameras on their property or walked the lots themselves more often this would not happen. I'm mad too, but you cannot leave your expensive herd in the hands of a moron and get my sympathy.
ReplyDeleteExcellent Post!
ReplyDeleteI'm made as hell about the video, but so pleased that you're sharing your feelings about it.
ReplyDeleteThanks for speaking out!
Robin
Thank you for your comment. OK I can understand documenting more than one instance of abuse. But to continue for more than a month, and then to just release the video publicly without attempting to go to authorities first to me does not show a primary interest in protecting the welfare of the animals, but rather grabbing the public's attention, which is an entirely different agenda.
ReplyDeleteFarmers should stop complaining about MFA (the folks that made the video) and just denounce the horrible actions of the Conklin Dairy workers and owner. To complain about the people who were brave enough to go undercover and tape this violence is counterproductive and pointless. It makes you look defensive and actually increases the "guilt by association" factor.
ReplyDeleteYou put my feelings into the perfect words! Thanks for the excellent post!
ReplyDeleteFarmers ARE denouncing the actions of the farm workers! We do not treat our animals like this, and we don't allow our workers to treat our animals like this. Our animals are part of our family. The reasons we complain about MFA is because they are hypocrites. They claim to care about animal welfare and do nothing to stop it. All they care about is giving farmers a bad name.
ReplyDeleteAt the top of this page is a "Report Abuse" button. How ironic. Seems that’s exactly what many AG people don’t want.
ReplyDeleteIt boggles my mind Connie that you are more angry with the whistle blower than you are with the pathetic excuses for a human beings who torture defenseless animals.
You better get your houses in order there in AG land. Stand up against this cruelty. The light that has been shed on the whaling industry, the research labs, the fur industry, dog fighting etc., is finding its way into the heartland. The light that is finally being shed on the amish puppy mills is now finding its way toward you. You’re reputations & livelihoods are at stake. Whether its in the dog fighting ring, or down on the farm, cruelty to animals will not stand. Will the phrase “down on the farm” become synonymous with animal cruelty? Its up to you.
Thank you to everyone who has posted comments.
ReplyDeleteI guess I thought I made it abundantly clear that I am very angry at the abuse shown in the video. I in no way defend the personnel - he should get much more punishment than the current law allows and again will face a final judgment with the Creator one day.
And yes, absolutely abuse should be reported. But I thought the whole point was to protect the animals. Period.
If I were in the situation of the videographer, however, it would not have taken 24 hours for me to turn over to the prosecutor the evidence of abuse that was presented - I could not have in good conscience allowed it to continue for more than a month. My objective would have been to protect the animals. Period.
But that would not have made a sensational news report, and that is why the way this video was handled and released makes me angry.
There is absolutely no one in the agricultural community that I have talked to, listened to or read about who finds the abusive actions in the video acceptable. This issue is exactly why I believe it is very important for the Ohio Livestock Care Board to be allowed to carry out the mission the Ohio voters gave it in last fall's election! The agricultural community and the general public must work together on this - not be coerced by organizations outside our state with a political agenda.
It doesn't matter what the agenda of the videographer was, the dairy farmer, Gary Conklin, gave them the opportunity to publicize this disgusting abuse. MFA knows the power of the internet and used it well, but the dairy farm supplied the ammunition. We should all be thanking MFA for what it did. Ohio has very poor laws protecting farm animals. Farmers should be calling for better laws now, instead of lobbying against them. The Billy Greg's of this world need to be stopped and animals protected from these sadists. Conklin Dairy management should be held accountable for what their workers did.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that he was willing to do those things to those poor cows in front of another worker shows that the acceptance of violence against the cows was pervasive and accepted. Gary Conklin has a lot to answer for.
I am not saying Gary Conklin was abusive, but he permitted an atmosphere of permissiveness that allowed a sadist to routinely abuse cows. Billy says it was only one cow. OMG, if that was just one cow, the poor thing. He admitted abusing cows he didn't like until they were shipped because of mastitus, abusing cows so their heads swelled up like balloons. Only one cow, no, he is a liar as well as a sadist.
Thanks Connie for this excellent post!
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that these sadistic acts are deplorable and the ones responsible need to be punished in this life and the next.
We are also in agreement that the undercover investigator could have handled the case differntly, I am sure law inforcement would have worked with them to make sure that they had enough evidence. If they felt differently then they still should have made sure that the local humane society was informed as they have as much authority to investigate and arrest animal abusers in Ohio.
In the end, I am relieved that these cows will now be able to rest and not worry about what will happen tomorrow.