God Sent This Calf to Convince You to Kill the Others

No, really. This is what some dairy farmers want you to believe -- and seem to sincerely believe themselves. Recently, a calf on a Connecticut dairy farm was born with a marking on his forehead resembling a cross, so instead of sending him to the slaughterhouse to become veal, which is what happens on all dairy farms to all other male calves and some female calves (i.e., when the latter aren't needed to be new baby/milk-producing machines, replacements for their worn out, destined-to-be-hamburger mothers), the dairy farm owners are sparing this one, at least temporarily.

From L.A. Unleashed:

They hope that his prominent cross marking will bring attention to the plight of struggling dairy farmers.  "I think he may be here to open people's eyes and get a message across," farm owner Brad Davis told Fox 11 News of Green Bay, Wis. "Maybe something for farmers? For the dairy farmers possibly that there is hope and the answers are still coming."

Oh boy. Dear dairy farmers, you clearly don't realize how ridiculous this sounds. The dairy/veal industry requires the brutal killing, after excruciating lives the vast majority of the time, of millions of calves and their abused, exhausted mothers each year. And you're suggesting that this calf is here to (and should be spared slaughter so that he can) send a message about the farmers' plight? About the so-called plight of the industry that, every day, rips babies like him away from their mothers immediately after birth and that, if he didn't bear a mark resembling a religious symbol, would have dragged his wobbling body off to the killing floor while he was still a baby, just like the others? He's here to convince people to consume more dairy and fund more suffering and killing of those just like him?

Think about this from your own religion's point of view, dairy farm owners. Let's say there's a baby -- we'll call him Jesus -- and he is born in a town where soldiers are taking all the other male babies from their crying, distraught mothers as soon as they're born and slitting their throats. And after this baby is born, he's ripped from his pleading mother's arms too, but taken to the ruler's home instead of being immediately killed. And the ruler announces that God made this baby special, but not to serve as a messenger of peace or to encourage them to rethink killing all these babies. No, the ruler announces, he is a sign that people should keep killing all the other babies who don't look special like him -- indeed, kill even more!

Completely nonsensical, right? Right.

If you're the religious type, and peace and love are supposed to be tenets of your religion, maybe if a baby animal is born with a birthmark that reminds you of one of your religion's symbols, you shouldn't assume it's a sign that you and others should kill more babies like him. Maybe, instead, you should take the opportunity to sit down and examine how the practices of unnecessary killing and causing unnecessary suffering -- because no one needs the milk of cows except the baby calves for whom the mothers' bodies produce it -- do not fit with your religion. And then you can take that calf and his mother and drop them and the others off at a sanctuary on your way to start a veganic vegetable farm instead.

Oh -- and the struggling baby-killing, mother-abusing dairy industry? Don't lose any sleep over it, readers. It's getting 350 million more of your tax dollars to stay afloat, on top of the hundreds of millions in subsidies it already gets annually.  So even when the milk prices do rise again, the prices will still be ridiculously, artificially low via your taxes. And the blood on the killing floors will keep flowing steadily.

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Photo by Flickr user kiwinz