Aft
Monday, July 24, 2006
Saturday, July 01, 2006
Equipped
Read this article first.
This is the kind of stuff all farmers in America should be a part of. btw, these farms respectively milk 1200, 2000. 2000, 600, and 800 cows.
Of all the proportially bad media large farms get, most people think them to be nothing more than a (large) den of vipers. As fractured as agriculture is, the last thing we need is misinformation to a public who is ignorant to begin with.
This large farm/small farm dichotomy is a farce. A mere nostalgic figment. For small farms to view large farms as the enemy is ridiculous and couterproductive. Regardless of farm size hormones, bST, mastitis, cull cows, manure spills, debt, and greed are ubiquitous. The economic system in which we live, fostered small farms in the 1940s to get bigger (from 20 cows to 60 cows, which is a 300% expansion). So why is it such a stretch to imagine it would allow large farms to get larger? To find fault with the system in which large farms operate, undermines the the system in which all farms survive.
Just like great grand-daddy bought his first tractor, grandpa bought his first bucket milker, and dad bought his first straw of semen, and so I will buy my first RFID tag for cows. There's a progression here that undeniable. Our ancestors adopted technology, and so should we. Sure, at the time a tractor was just as contraversial as artificial insemination, but we've accepted both as no-brainer tools in the dairy business.
This is the kind of stuff all farmers in America should be a part of. btw, these farms respectively milk 1200, 2000. 2000, 600, and 800 cows.
Of all the proportially bad media large farms get, most people think them to be nothing more than a (large) den of vipers. As fractured as agriculture is, the last thing we need is misinformation to a public who is ignorant to begin with.
This large farm/small farm dichotomy is a farce. A mere nostalgic figment. For small farms to view large farms as the enemy is ridiculous and couterproductive. Regardless of farm size hormones, bST, mastitis, cull cows, manure spills, debt, and greed are ubiquitous. The economic system in which we live, fostered small farms in the 1940s to get bigger (from 20 cows to 60 cows, which is a 300% expansion). So why is it such a stretch to imagine it would allow large farms to get larger? To find fault with the system in which large farms operate, undermines the the system in which all farms survive.
Just like great grand-daddy bought his first tractor, grandpa bought his first bucket milker, and dad bought his first straw of semen, and so I will buy my first RFID tag for cows. There's a progression here that undeniable. Our ancestors adopted technology, and so should we. Sure, at the time a tractor was just as contraversial as artificial insemination, but we've accepted both as no-brainer tools in the dairy business.
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