Hello everyone. This blog is slightly different to normal as it directly addresses some issues raised in the media, rather than my usual more light-hearted posts. If you don't agree with my point of view, please read to the end and listen to what everybody has to say. If you are completely against what I'm saying, then please just skip past this blog post. I may lose some followers and readers over this, but I really don't care. This is something I feel quite strongly about.
***I do NOT want there to be any hateful comments towards anybody who has kindly contributed to my blog, nor do I want anybody causing arguments or individually messaging/spamming these people. I will allow discussion but if anything gets aggressive, I will just remove comments and block any offenders.***
Recently, there has been a lot of hate on farmers by vegans and vegetarians, as well as attempts to sabotage local game shoots (I will leave a link here to an article published back in August)
I have grown up in the rural countryside and have loved every aspect of it. My house is surrounded by fields, farms and moorland, meaning that our neighbours are sheep, cows and pheasants! From an early age, I understood that these animals were the food on our plates. It was something I'd accepted and I felt happy knowing that farmers and gamekeepers put all their time and effort into ensuring these animals lived a happy, free-range life. As I got older and went to a bigger school with new people, I discovered that a few people were vegetarians and didn't like to eat meat. That was fine with me because it was their opinion. None of my friends who were vegetarian ever tried to persuade me to turn vegetarian or bully me because I ate meat. But recently, it's almost become 'normal' for people to verbally attack farmers, gamekeepers and meat eaters because of their lifestyle, as well as spreading lies about the industries. This is something I strongly disagree with as meat eaters don't hassle vegans and vegetarians about their diets. These people want to start arguments and spread lies for no reason, which is actually quite harmful to the industries.
I've seen so many lies surrounding farming on social media and it makes me so angry to think that people can get away with it!
I decided to write this blog to explain the truth about farming and shooting and put some of those rumours straight. I'm very grateful to everybody who has contributed to this blog and I will link them all below.
"The one thing that frustrates me the most about the Vegan vs Farmer war is the lies that are spread! I have no problems with vegans eating what they do, however I do have a problem when they are going out of their way to forcefully persuade everyday people to stop eating and drinking both dairy and meat products. At home we don't use cubicles, a common method used to house cows. Our cows are in an open yard during winter. They are allowed both in and out and are free to eat when they please. During summer, our girls are taken out in the field with access to freshly grown kale and have the option to come in when they please if the weather is poor (which in the UK isn't an anomaly!) There have been huge misconceptions over the past year regarding the dairy industry, for example a quote from C Newkey-Burden's piece in the Guardian called Dairy Is Scary said "She [the cow] would generally only have a maximum of two litres of milk in her udder at any one time, but rapacious farmers may force her to carry 20 litres or more." You cannot force a cow to produce more milk, you can improve a cow's lactation production and milk yield by providing the best conditions and ensuring they are healthy.
I would love for a vegan to just LISTEN to what we have to say and to come and see these so-called "cramped and disease-ridden" farms.
If anyone wants to know anything else about dairy, please let me know." -Darcy, Northamptonshire. (@girlintweed on Instagram)
Darcy is from a sheep farming background and her other half has a dairy farm. Find her blog here.
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"I have grown up with a farming background and have worked with both cows and sheep. Currently I work on a dairy farm and the most irritating thing about the whole vegan argument is the lies created to make us farmers look bad. Vegans think they know all about farming because they see one video on the internet and suddenly become experts. Don't get me wrong, in any business there are bad people and bad practices, but you cannot generalise that and say all farmers are like that. It definitely isn't justified calling all farmers rapists and murderers, in fact, it is far from it. Dairy farmers like myself are up early every morning to milk, feed up, look after the cows and we don't finish until everything is done correctly. That means we work long hours and miss out on social events so we can look after animals. Where I work, we look after the dairy cows very well. If a cow gets lame, she gets her foot done to make it better. If she's ill, she gets given medicine, which does cost a lot of money. The calves are very well looked after too. If you keep a dairy cow with her calf, she gives 30 litres plus a day and a calf cannot drink all of that. If she isn't milked, she can get mastitis and become very ill and be in a lot of pain.
In summer, the girls go outside and happily graze grass to their own content. In winter they are kept inside with soft beds and cubicle sawdust to keep them clean. Twice a day during milking whilst the girls are in the parlour, the cubicles are swept over and bedded up. The passageways have automatic scrapers to keep the floor clean and feed is provided from a mixer wagon to supply their needs for milking and keep them healthy. Clean water is provided all the time and they even have a brush they can scratch themselves on.
Farming is a community with hard working families and vegan lies will not break it up. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion and can eat what they want to eat, however if you're going to create arguments and spread lies about farming, just visit one and see what really goes on and get your facts right!" -Callum, Wensleydale, North Yorkshire. (@spency64 on Instagram)
Callum is my boyfriend and it's clear to me how much he loves his job and takes pride in making sure the 'girls' are well looked after.
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"Something that I see pop up on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram all the time is this image of a farmer carrying some newborn lambs- staged in such a way that people who aren't familiar with farming are quick to assume that the lambs are being taken away from their mothers. This is not the case! It is rare that a farmer will leave their lambs in the same pen they were lambed in. The farmers need a way to move both the lambs and the ewes and the easiest way to move lambs with a ewe is to carry the lambs and allow the ewe to follow. We are not separating ewes and lambs- the lambs just aren't that quick to catch on with directions so it's more logical to move them around yourself! I think the stigma around the dairy industry and the separation of calves and cows gives many people the false impression that all farm animals are separated from their mothers at birth, when actually with pigs, sheep and beef cattle it is generally not the case. The only sector I am aware of this happening is in the dairy industry where I can assure you that the calves are properly nourished with milk replacement- possibly a more reliable feeding method as we can be sure that they are being fed and they have had enough!" -Katie, Worcestershire. (@woesofwellies on Instagram)
Katie is hoping to become a large animal vet and has spent lots of time finding work experience lambing, milking and rearing alpacas. She has her own herd of pygmy goats and is a Worcestershire Young Farmer. Find Katie's blog here.
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"The most amazing thing about farming is knowing how it has come on from using shire horses to tractors. Knowing you are doing good in the world and providing people with the food they eat inspires you to keep going despite negative comments. Without farmers, we wouldn't have vegetables, meat, dairy or alcohol. We live and work to provide the animals withe the best possible care ever and they are not at harm." -Caitlin (@caketin0101 on Instagram)
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"As someone who follows a lot of farming related groups on social media, I see a lot of vegan messages about dairy farming. I rather admire that these people have such a compassion for animals (I myself am an animal lover), but what I don't like to see is misinformation spread as facts and used in arguments against our industry. One of the most common arguments is that milk is filled with 'blood, puss and antibiotics'. I can honestly say that this isn't true. I've seen first hand the testing and filtering that milk has to go through before it is sold in the UK. Not a single cow on antibiotics can be milked into the main tank, but is milked into smaller tanks and used back for calves or simply pumped away. My husband has been dairy farming his whole life and truly cares for the animals. We don't want to see any of them suffer and hope that they can life their life to the fullest. I think one of the general misconceptions around the industry is that it's cruel to keep them indoors, and whilst I used to agree with this, I learnt that this is not the case. Yes, it's not nice for them to be inside all year round and they enjoy being turned out in the summer when the grass is green and tasty, but when it's wet, cold and muddy and they're all inside on nice warm beds with food and shelter, they're definitely happy, and I know that's where I'd rather be!" -Jordan, Yorkshire (@jordan.e.parker on Instagram)
Jordan and her husband Alex have a dairy farm in Yorkshire where they milk Holstein, British Blue and Hereford cattle.
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"Growing up on a sheep farm as a child was great. We got to experience lambing, help herd the sheep, watch as they were sheared in their pens and got to help take care of them daily. My family used to have around 200 sheep, these were kept in their pens at night and let out into large fields after being fed. We would come up a few times a day to check on them, feed them and make sure they were shut away at night. As the years went on we had fewer sheep, which only meant they were kept better and had the best care we could offer. I loved lambing season in the spring, we would spend our whole weekends feeding, checking and playing with the lambs and the cade lambs (orphan lambs) would come and chase us as we always had milk for them. Dad would go up in the morning, afternoon and evening and numerous times at night to check up on the sheep in lamb to make sure they were all okay and assist if any of them were struggling. Then after a few months of roaming the fields, the lambs would be split from their mums and taken to a market, which I never wanted to see, but nevertheless I knew they had a great start in life and keeping all the ewes well at all times is something we take great pride in. One thing I read from PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) is that the sheep's wool is ripped from them, they are covered in blood, are in pain and are cruelly treated. Now, this really annoyed me, as it is actually cruel to keep their fleece on them during the hot summer and to leave it untidy. If left on and not maintained, it can become very heavy and the sheep can struggle. Shearing itself is perfectly safe for both handler and sheep, at worst they get nicked with the shears if they move but I have never seen a sheep in pain from this. I am aware some PETA campaigns make farmers out to be wicked and treat animals badly by showing videos of the minority (although I might add that some of these videos shown are not even in this country), but all the farmers I know take great care in looking after their livestock and make an honest living from this. Support British Farming! "-Hannah, Leicestershire. (@hhcountryphotography on Instagram)
Hannah grew up on a sheep farm and is a Midlands based photographer and interior designer.
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"Being a gamekeeper's girlfriend is not exactly fully hands on but I thought I'd share my view on what gamekeeping seems to involve and the passion that goes into it all year round.
When Tom first started I was surprised at how much effort and dedication goes into keepering! I had visions of it being more of a 'feed them and leave them for the day, release and then hope they come back for feed and shoot days' type of job. How wrong I was!
The amount of effort and dedication to keep the birds healthy and happy at all times of the day is much more of a priority than I ever expected. There's always someone on the rearing field, day or night, checking the gas lamps are at the right heat, that waters are working and clean, making sure the younger birds are run in for the night to stop them getting a chill.
It's non stop and when you're not on the rearing field, you're building pens, setting drinkers up, feeding, strimming gun rides or of course in the shooting season, out beating in what ever the weather throws at you.
Of course in killing animals for meat there's a lot of controversy. I feel more so with game than for example beef or poultry, which seems to be more publicly accepted. In all honesty, prior to experiencing keepering for myself I didn't fully understand it and wasn't sure if I agreed with it, and I've always loved and grown up in the country, so you can imagine a townie's view!
I always imagined caged in birds just being released to be shot dead by tweed wearers, almost like battery hens. Now having seen what goes into it, from day old chicks, to weeks roaming free but choosing to come back to feed, to finally being correctly shot, picked up by a gun dog trained not to damage the bird and finally being promptly delivered from the field to freezer before eventually ending up on your plate, I have had a huge change of opinion. Something I feel many others could have if they were more open and understood the honest passion for game that keepers have and if the field to fork journey was more openly talked about, with honest facts to educate more people, it could hopefully change a few minds!" -Megan, Yorkshire. (@_the_girl_in_green_ on Instagram)
Megan is a paramedic and country lifestyle blogger. She is also a photographer (M J Photos)
Find Megan's blog here.
Thank you so much to everybody who contributed, I am really grateful to everyone for taking the time to share their experiences for this blog. I'll leave a list of everyone below.
- Darcy (@girlintweed)
- Callum (@spency64)
- Katie (@woesofwellies)
- Caitlin (@caketin0101)
- Jordan (@jordan.e.parker)
- Hannah (@hhcountryphotography)
- Megan (@_the_girl_in_green_)
Thanks for reading!
Charlotte x
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