On a recent Press Junket to Woodlands Dairy in Humansdorp (See: https://mynmb.co.za/30-years-of-choosing-good/) we had a very early start to catch the milking process on the Grass Ridge Dairy Farm in Oyster Bay.
Set the scene – I am vegan and on a press junket to a dairy farm and processor and everyone knows that I am vegan. No, it was not like that scenario of; “How do you know someone went to Grey School?” “They tell you!” the giveaway was probably the big fat label on my food packaging: VEGAN.
We arrived at Rufus Dreyer’s dairy farm, Grass Ridge before 6:00 am and the team were already hard at work ushering the 2 100 odd cows onto the milking turntable.
Rufus’s herd exceeds the average South African cow herd size of 450 by a large margin and he appears obsessed with making sure that his animals have a wide variety of grazing in their open air camps.
But, to the turntable we must go for a reality check.
Yes, it is quite disquieting to see the cows herded onto the turntable for milking and the first smell that hits you is the ammonia excrement combination from thousands of cows voiding their bowels with gay abandon as they travel on the circus ride. Price of the ride? More that a few liters of milk!
On the trip away from Grass Ridge I was asked the inevitable question; “As a vegan what comments do you have on what you have just witnessed?”
Here Goes:
One would not be human if one did not feel a bit of disquiet or empathy for these magnificent creatures enslaved for our drinking pleasure.
I am realistic enough to realise that I cannot change the world of animal slavery with harsh words and protests so am happy having my own quiet crusade by easing their burden one liter of almond milk at a time.
My reasons for going vegan are heavily more biased towards being selfish – I want to live a longer, better, healthier life and frankly the less vegan’s there are the better for me – let the carnivores die before me.
As a someone who hunted ethically (no langkamp, no vehicle, no shot unless I am 100% sure, gut and work the animal all myself and waste nothing) for many years I understand that the process of food sourcing and preparing is a burden for many of our population so know that change will come slowly for many and not at all for some.
Most disquieting of all is that consumers (consciously or unconsciously) create these animal farms through their insistence on having ‘luxuries’ and items like milk on demand or exotic fruit from distant lands. For it is the big corporations that see the demand and fill it. In the process there is continual pressure on farmers to produce faster, better and cheaper. Surely this is not sustainable?
The bottom line is: The moo cows on Rufus’s farm appear to be much better off than some of the farms we have seen depicted mistreating their animals and I know that change takes long so all good in the hood.
