This is me! I’m Sarah – nice to meet you. And yes, as the title suggests, I did grow up on a farm. A dairy farm to be exact. And it was as picturesque and idyllic a childhood as you could imagine. Lots of time spent outdoors, playing with my siblings, largely left to our own devices.
We got to interact with calves when they were born and see cows in their ‘natural habitat’. We would help out our dad on occasion, there were always sheep around during winter that my dad looked after for a farmer in the mountains when it was too cold up there for the sheep. We had lots of farm cats that become pets, and eventually dogs and horses over the years.
I never thought anything of farming, other than the fact that it was my dad’s job. And he may as well have been going to an office for all I knew. Farming has always been in my family.
It’s only now that I am vegan, and I’m looking back that I have begun to realise a lot of truths that weren’t obvious to me before. And that likely means that they aren’t obvious to you either. I started to think, if I didn’t make this connection while living on a farm and actually witnessing it, how does anyone else have a hope to realise what is actually going on every time we make a purchase.
So I have decided to share, in bitesized portions, what I learned growing up on a farm.
- With dairy farming, it doesn’t matter the size of the farm or how local it is. The process is still the process. Cows need to be made pregnant in order to make milk.
- On dairy farms, calves are commonly taken away from their mothers within 24 hours hours as it’s deemed ‘better’ to stop them getting attached.
- Male calves are useless to the dairy industry so are either sold for veal, sold to be raised for beef, or disposed of shortly after birth.
- A dairy cow will often be artificially inseminated as it’s deemed a more efficient method. That is another term for forced impregnation carried out by a human.
- Dairy cows are routinely impregnated to keep up with the rates of production required to meet the demand.
- A cow carries her calf for around 9 months – the same as a human. Dairy cows ‘cry’ for their children when they are taken away.
- Antibiotic use is commonplace on farms small and large. They are often used as a preventative measure to stop cows getting ill, rather than to cure illness
- Dairy cows still become meat. After their ‘service’ as a dairy cow is over. They are slaughtered for cheap meat such as mince.
If anything of these facts disturb you, the good news is, we no longer have to buy from this industry. There are so many alternatives available. When I first went vegan, I had to try a lot to find one I liked. And also, it takes a while for your tastebuds to adjust, but once they do, it becomes so easy.
Check back here for more info on my personal experiences growing up on a farm.
FGGV x
Farm Girl Goes Vegan 