Get Big or Get Out, worse case senario

[goodcompanion]

Hard to get into someone’s mind for doing something like this, but I wonder if shooting the cows wasn’t as much an act of mercy as of despair, or of trying to make a statement. Without the farmer, they’d be auctioned off quick and cheap and become cogs in the machine that crushes the 50-cow dairy farms of the nation. Or maybe I’m reading too much into it.

[Carl Russell]

goodcompanion;14973 wrote:

Hard to get into someone’s mind for doing something like this, but I wonder if shooting the cows wasn’t as much an act of mercy as of despair, or of trying to make a statement. Without the farmer, they’d be auctioned off quick and cheap and become cogs in the machine that crushes the 50-cow dairy farms of the nation. Or maybe I’m reading too much into it.

This is what intrigues me about this event. It is hard enough to try to understand the desperation that motivates a person toward suicide, but killing 59 cows takes a lot of work. The shear commitment to keep going, reloading, and no doubt he had a few that he had to shoot twice. To maintain resolve. For what? When he was gone why would it matter if the cows were alive. He knew it was going to beyond his control. He must have had some reason beyond his own emotional well-being. Obviously his animals were a huge part of who is was, but that is just a huge undertaking.

I am sorry to say this, but from all accounts this man was well-liked. But maybe he had another side, and this was all really worth it to him BECAUSE he knew it would be hurtful to others, precisely because of the scale.

Even still I would lie to know if there is some way for folks to assist the family.

Carl

[dominiquer60]

I am sure that the NY Farmnet (a not for profit that helps any farmer/ ag worker with emotional, financial and legal assistance) is giving Gweneth a good deal of attention. Perhaps they can help her with a business plan or finding a displaced or young farmer that could help manage the farm for or with her. If I hear of anything else I will let you know, she is in good hands. I have received help from Farmnet and I am grateful that they have received funding for another year, they are a true asset.

Meanwhile here we are thinking that the public should be concerned for the dairy farmer that has been raised in a system where the price of their product is out of their control. Then ABC comes up with a poorly timed story about factory dairy farms and tail docking. http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/animal-rights-us-dairy-industry/story?id=9658866.
These large scale practices are something that I don’t support every time a better option is available for purchase. However the timing stinks and ABC failed to recognize that there are many farms that treat their cows better than that.

Erika

[Author]

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