Abuse on Dairy Farm No Anomaly

In the aftermath of Mercy For Animals' recent undercover video at a dairy farm, some people are wondering if abuse in animal agribusiness is the norm. Perhaps, they'd like to believe, it's an anomaly.

Here's what Mercy For Animals says about it:

Although many of the abuses documented at Conklin Dairy Farms are sadistic in nature, numerous MFA undercover investigations at dairy farms, pig farms, egg farms, hatcheries and slaughterhouses have revealed that violence and abuse to farmed animals – whether malicious or institutionalized – runs rampant nationwide.

You can search "Digging Through the Dirt" for "undercover investigations" and see for yourself the kinds of abuse this organization and others have revealed: chickens living with mummified corpses of other chickens, pigs being hanged by a forklift, sick cows being pushed by a forklift for transport to slaughter.

But let's pretend for a minute that all farmed animals have an idyllic life -- playing outside with their friends; exploring on their own; not being castrated, dehorned, de-tailed, branded. You get the idea.

Even if they lived this way (which they don't), they are still murdered. No farmed animals in agribusiness get to live their normal lifespan. Far from it. Why are they murdered? One word: MONEY.

These murders take place every day. In fact, 10 billion land animals are killed each year in the United States for their flesh (or because they don't produce enough milk or eggs to be profitable). It's a common, everyday occurrence.

But sometimes their murders make headlines. Such is the case with a story Business Week reported yesterday. Although instead of referring to it as murder, it's called "culling" or "herd reduction."

U.S. dairy farmers plan another round of herd reductions in a bid to bolster milk prices, according to the National Milk Producers Federation.

The number of animals targeted for slaughter wasn't specified. In the nine previous culls since the summer of 2003, more than 480,000 dairy cows were sent to processors, a federation official said.

Cows, pigs, chickens ... they're commodities to agribusiness. They're inventory that they need to liquidate. These animals aren't valued for who they are, only for how much money they can bring in. As I told a dog rescuer yesterday, farmed animals are like breeder dogs at a puppy mill -- only they're treated far worse.

(Photo of an employee at Conklin Dairy Farms stomping on a calf's neck courtesy of Mercy For Animals.)