A New Problem for Farmers/An Old Problem for Animals

In "A New Problem for Farmers: Few Veterinarians" (NYT), Pam Belluck reports that, well, there aren’t many vets for animals raised and slaughtered for food. I always thought it was ironic that we even had vets for food animals. Their job is to keep the animals alive until they can be killed at the scheduled time. It’s the perfect job for an animal welfarist: try to minimize suffering within an institution that creates suffering of some kind at each part of its process.

The old problem I refer to in the title of today’s post, is that animals (particularly animals created for food), are merely things, property. They are machine-like investments, and when they cannot be fixed, they are shut down, killed. I went through Belluck’s article several times, for any hint that the animals were anything but things, but I found none. Her language has emotion only when referring to the people, and the animals are investments.

Let’s deconstruct:

• The first story in the article is about a Holstein cow with a complicated breech birth. Her owner, Becki Benson, said, "I worked on her till I was just exhausted." Poor Mrs. Benson. ‘Wonder how the cow felt. "But I ended up having to take the cow to a butcher shop, where she got processed for hamburger." At least she referred to the cow as she, while nonchalantly speaking of her demise.
• Money is an important factor for students in veterinary school, as treating cats and dogs pays much more than treating large farm animals. Tembra Gatlin, a vet school student said that when you do a C-section on a cow, you get only $50, but "[d]o a C-section on a Chihuahua and you get $300. It’s the money. I hate to say that." At least she doesn’t enjoy saying it.
• Money is also an important factor for farmers, who don’t want to pay much to treat their animals. A cattleman by the name of Mr. Armes said, "That old cow–at some point economics kick in and you say if she’s going to cost $1,500, I can buy two cows for that, so I should have shot her."
• The vet shortage is so bad that often there is no one available to help a farmer, who then has to attempt to resolve the issue at hand. "You either eat your mistakes or you bury them," he said. Again, no mention of suffering, and now the animal is reduced to being called a mistake.
• Dr. Dennis M. Brewster switched from farm animals to dogs and cats because he couldn’t find a vet to help cover emergencies. "I just didn’t want to face all of these dear people and tell that that I could not come to their farm for an emergency . . . . Now, some farmers have had to make hard decisions. They’ve had to kill cows for things that we used to fix." Those poor, dear . . . people.
• Large animal vet Dr. Becky Myers "half killed" herself and a cow broke her hand. I’m sure the cow is entirely killed by now.
• Cattleman Mr. Benson said, "The fact that there’s nothing you can do, you accept it as a business expense now. You didn’t used to. If you have livestock, sooner or later you’re going to have deadstock." EXACTLY. That’s what farming is all about, vets or no vets.

I was hoping that the vets would say that all they ever wanted to do since they were kids was help animals. I thought for sure I’d hear of their love for all creatures great and small.

I was also hoping that at some point a farmer would address the fact that the animals suffer without vets. Not the farmers, not their investments, but the individual animals. But there was not even a hint of compassion.

Go to the flash presentation at Peaceful Prairie, click on the menu, then click on Animal Minds for gorgeous photos and descriptions of the inner lives of some of the animals people will eat for their next meal.