Play Nice Random Chat Thread IV

[Hojuman]

Artificial insemination is very often used these days. The process has been used for a long time now so it's surprising that you would even see a bull on a farm any more.

l watched some show recently and they got the bull to mount another male to " catch " the sperm. Funnily enough it was a Michael Palin train trip through Qld. and he had a stop off in Rockhampton.

Do things differently up there

 

[Gasometer]

Artificial insemination is very often used these days. The process has been used for a long time now so it's surprising that you would even see a bull on a farm any more.

Why? It’s expensive for smaller Cattle properties.Those two Bulls are 5 kms apart on different properties

 

[Gasometer]

Um yeh.

Watch Dominion to see the horrors of some farms

 

[Val Keating]

Haven’t had the chance to read the articles you shared yet Sopwiths North, is it the same with Pigs?

 

[D23D]

l watched some show recently and they got the bull to mount another male to " catch " the sperm. Funnily enough it was a Michael Palin train trip through Qld. and he had a stop off in Rockhampton.

Do things differently up there

It was actually Griff Rhys Jones Hoju.
i too was surprised that they used a young male as I’ve seen it before done with cows and then the last second grab with the artificial vagina.

just so you know Hoju, the poor young bull was actually from nsw
Nttawwnsw!

 

[koshari]

You only need one Bull to do the deed

There are two Farms I see that has 1 Bull for about 30 Cows.

practically speaking you need a few unless you go the AI route. depending on the size of the farm some farmers may rear half a dozen or so. from that they are traded with other dairies or go to ones that dont care to raise them for heard improvement. alternatively you can trade a bull with another farmer.

 

[Hojuman]

It was actually Griff Rhys Jones Hoju.
i too was surprised that they used a young male as I’ve seen it before done with cows and then the last second grab with the artificial vagina.

just so you know Hoju, the poor young bull was actually from nsw
Nttawwnsw!

Haha ! Getting my North Korean Palin mixed up with my Aussie GRJ !

Poor young bull looked pretty happy by the end. Was waiting for him to light up.

 

[D23D]

Haha ! Getting North Korean Palin mixed up with my Aussie GRJ !

Poor young bull looked pretty happy by the end.

I was very surprised by the young bull.
All I can think is that the cow eventually gets pissed off paraded in front of the old bull but gets no action. Where the young fella is probably quite grateful

 

[Horace]

Here’s a random thought. Ive wondered about where are all the bulls? Whenever I go to the bush there’s thousands of cows but barely any bulls. The ratio is way off. Shouldn’t it be about 50/50? I saw a video of what happens in factory chicken farms, how they sort the male chicks and female chicks (it’s pretty gross tbh).

Anyone know if they do something similar with cows and bulls?

edit I’ve attached the chicken sorting video. Don’t watch it if you’re triggered by watching how our food is treated.

The reason there are very few bulls is because on a beef property, the majority of bull calves are castrated (become steers) and are fed by their mothers and grown on until they are around 9 to 10 months old, then sold as vealers. Most are bought by butchers however a fair proportion are also bought by other farmers and grown on and sold as steers/bullocks from 2 plus years of age. Steer vealers around 9 to 10 months produce the best quality beef.

Beef heifer calves, by and large suffer the same fate, grown on until around 9 to 10 months, however some of the better bred heifers are kept on for replacement cows.

If the bull calves were not castrated then bedlam would ensue once they started to feel their "oats". I hate to think what any farm would be like if it was a 50/50 ratio. You can't teach animals the same standards of behaviour as you can (allegedly) teach humans. Suffice to say there would be a lot of "riding" taking place!

On a dairy farm the majority of calves are sold at 3/5 days of age, as bobby calves. Some heifers are kept and reared as replacements, but it is rare for a dairy bull calf to be reared on unless it has good/stud breeding and ends up as a replacement for its father or perhaps more likely, depending on the breeding, sold to other dairy farmers.

The sale of bobby calves is a truly dreadful part of dairy farming and one that I am very glad I am well clear of and have been for many years.

 

[Sopwiths North]

Haven’t had the chance to read the articles you shared yet Sopwiths North, is it the same with Pigs?

Pigs are similar to dairy in that females spend their lives confined - either to gestation crates when pregnant, or farrowing crates when nursing. Piglets get taken away at about 3 weeks old, males are castrated, and piglets go off to get fattened and slaughtered for meat. Mom pigs are impregnated again, and their cycle of confinement continues. So, as in cattle, the majority of males are sold for meat, the females kept as production machines until they wear out, far sooner than their natural life spans.

https://www.farmsanctuary.org/learn/factory-farming/pigs-used-for-pork/

And of course, everything I'm talking about is factory farming, which is where the bulk of our meat comes from.

Again, it's not the farming and eating of meat that I am so against, it's the mass suffering caused by our industrialised way of producing meat in this "modern" age.

We need more small-scale farms and ranches. We need to support more locally produced food. I know I've said it before, but we have become so disconnected from our food, and that doesn't serve us, or the animals we eat, or the planet.

 

[BogBot]

The vast majority of cattle and sheep in Australia are grass fed. Where I live AI is common in dairy and stud cattle/sheep producers. But plenty of farmers still buy bulls and rams.

 

[Val Keating]

The reason there are very few bulls is because on a beef property, the majority of bull calves are castrated (become steers) and are fed by their mothers and grown on until they are around 9 to 10 months old, then sold as vealers. Most are bought by butchers however a fair proportion are also bought by other farmers and grown on and sold as steers/bullocks from 2 plus years of age. Steer vealers around 9 to 10 months produce the best quality beef.

Beef heifer calves, by and large suffer the same fate, grown on until around 9 to 10 months, however some of the better bred heifers are kept on for replacement cows.

If the bull calves were not castrated then bedlam would ensue once they started to feel their "oats". I hate to think what any farm would be like if it was a 50/50 ratio. You can't teach animals the same standards of behaviour as you can (allegedly) teach humans. Suffice to say there would be a lot of "riding" taking place!

On a dairy farm the majority of calves are sold at 3/5 days of age, as bobby calves. Some heifers are kept and reared as replacements, but it is rare for a dairy bull calf to be reared on unless it has good/stud breeding and ends up as a replacement for its father or perhaps more likely, depending on the breeding, sold to other dairy farmers.

The sale of bobby calves is a truly dreadful part of dairy farming and one that I am very glad I am well clear of and have been for many years.

Thanks Horace . I imagine rams share the same fate.

 

[Val Keating]

Pigs are similar to dairy in that females spend their lives confined - either to gestation crates when pregnant, or farrowing crates when nursing. Piglets get taken away at about 3 weeks old, males are castrated, and piglets go off to get fattened and slaughtered for meat. Mom pigs are impregnated again, and their cycle of confinement continues. So, as in cattle, the majority of males are sold for meat, the females kept as production machines until they wear out, far sooner than their natural life spans.

https://www.farmsanctuary.org/learn/factory-farming/pigs-used-for-pork/

And of course, everything I'm talking about is factory farming, which is where the bulk of our meat comes from.

Again, it's not the farming and eating of meat that I am so against, it's the mass suffering caused by our industrialised way of producing meat in this "modern" age.

We need more small-scale farms and ranches. We need to support more locally produced food. I know I've said it before, but we have become so disconnected from our food, and that doesn't serve us, or the animals we eat, or the planet.

Yeah factory farming is gross

 

[Sopwiths North]

The vast majority of cattle and sheep in Australia are grass fed. Where I live AI is common in dairy and stud cattle/sheep producers. But plenty of farmers still buy bulls and rams.

Being grass fed is the norm for a part of the time for beef cattle, but they all eventually end up being packed in at feed lots for months on end, to be fattened before being shipped off for slaughter. Not having a go at you here BogBot, just filling in that there's more to the picture than just the part they spend eating grass. But yeah, at least they get that part.

My brother asked me a few years ago why it was so hard for animal activists to get a law passed here in Canada that would see animals be recognized as individuals with rights, rather than as human property. He was asking in reference to some of the rather sizable roadblocks that come up with respect to prosecuting cruelty to dogs in particular. I told him that if we were to give our most beloved of species, the dog, the legal right to their own lives, then where would that leave us with respect to farmed animals? It's a can of worms we wouldn't be able to close. So all animals remain our "property". That's what works for us, in our dominion of them.

That being said, within our Canadian animal cruelty laws, which oversee what suffering we are allowed to willfully cause to another species, dogs and cats are miles ahead of other animals with respect to what harm we're not legally allowed to inflict. If a person did to just one dog what is done to billions of cattle, pigs, and chickens every single day, they'd see criminal charges and several years in jail.

And saying that animals farmed for food are "lower" than dogs in any way, as relevant, deserving, and feeling life forms is inexcusable. Aside from the fact that we all suffer equally - which is what matters - pigs in particular, are one of the most intelligent species on the planet. Higher on the list than dogs. And they rate on a par with us humans when it comes to emotional intelligence and empathy. Bit of irony in that.

 

[ferball]

Short version is; yes, male calves are not as valuable as female calves, so they're killed.

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/environ...cheaper-to-kill-male-calves-than-to-rear-them

Where are all these dairy farms?

Around here it's all beef so males are castrated and go to market when they are ready.

Used to be a massive dairy industry here but it's long gone.

I know people who get males from dairy farms, rear them and send to market once they're big enough. But that's a small percentage of the total number.

 

[ferball]

The reason there are very few bulls is because on a beef property, the majority of bull calves are castrated (become steers) and are fed by their mothers and grown on until they are around 9 to 10 months old, then sold as vealers. Most are bought by butchers however a fair proportion are also bought by other farmers and grown on and sold as steers/bullocks from 2 plus years of age. Steer vealers around 9 to 10 months produce the best quality beef.

Beef heifer calves, by and large suffer the same fate, grown on until around 9 to 10 months, however some of the better bred heifers are kept on for replacement cows.

If the bull calves were not castrated then bedlam would ensue once they started to feel their "oats". I hate to think what any farm would be like if it was a 50/50 ratio. You can't teach animals the same standards of behaviour as you can (allegedly) teach humans. Suffice to say there would be a lot of "riding" taking place!

On a dairy farm the majority of calves are sold at 3/5 days of age, as bobby calves. Some heifers are kept and reared as replacements, but it is rare for a dairy bull calf to be reared on unless it has good/stud breeding and ends up as a replacement for its father or perhaps more likely, depending on the breeding, sold to other dairy farmers.

The sale of bobby calves is a truly dreadful part of dairy farming and one that I am very glad I am well clear of and have been for many years.

Heaps of riding takes place anyway, even amongst females. It's a dominance thing as well, I think.

But it would be mental if all the males still had their nuts.

 

[ferball]

Being grass fed is the norm for a part of the time for beef cattle, but they all eventually end up being packed in at feed lots for months on end, to be fattened before being shipped off for slaughter. Not having a go at you here BogBot, just filling in that there's more to the picture than just the part they spend eating grass. But yeah, at least they get that part.

My brother asked me a few years ago why it was so hard for animal activists to get a law passed here in Canada that would see animals be recognized as individuals with rights, rather than as human property. He was asking in reference to some of the rather sizable roadblocks that come up with respect to prosecuting cruelty to dogs in particular. I told him that if we were to give our most beloved of species, the dog, the legal right to their own lives, then where would that leave us with respect to farmed animals? It's a can of worms we wouldn't be able to close. So all animals remain our "property". That's what works for us, in our dominion of them.

That being said, within our Canadian animal cruelty laws, which oversee what suffering we are allowed to willfully cause to another species, dogs and cats are miles ahead of other animals with respect to what harm we're not legally allowed to inflict. If a person did to just one dog what is done to billions of cattle, pigs, and chickens every single day, they'd see criminal charges and several years in jail.

And saying that animals farmed for food are "lower" than dogs in any way, as relevant, deserving, and feeling life forms is inexcusable. Aside from the fact that we all suffer equally - which is what matters - pigs in particular, are one of the most intelligent species on the planet. Higher on the list than dogs. And they rate on a par with us humans when it comes to emotional intelligence and empathy. Bit of irony in that.

They spend a lot less time on feedlots around here.

Farmers are tightarses.

It's usually less than a week at the nearest abbatoir.

They do buy grain and use hopper bins everywhere but rate of growth for grass is insane at this time of year and there are heaps of Seeds on some pasture grass species.

 

[Mordecai]

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Things are looking very bad now that Russia has broken with opec and pumping out oil.

 

[Gasometer]

practically speaking you need a few unless you go the AI route. depending on the size of the farm some farmers may rear half a dozen or so. from that they are traded with other dairies or go to ones that dont care to raise them for heard improvement. alternatively you can trade a bull with another farmer.

I saw two Bulls.

 

[koshari]

I hate to think what any farm would be like if it was a 50/50 ratio. You can't teach animals the same standards of behaviour as you can (allegedly) teach humans. Suffice to say there would be a lot of "riding" taking place!

there would also be a hell of a lot of time required for maintaining fencing.

 

[koshari]

Pigs are similar to dairy in that females spend their lives confined - either to gestation crates when pregnant, or farrowing crates when nursing. Piglets get taken away at about 3 weeks old, males are castrated, and piglets go off to get fattened and slaughtered for meat. Mom pigs are impregnated again, and their cycle of confinement continues. So, as in cattle, the majority of males are sold for meat, the females kept as production machines until they wear out, far sooner than their natural life spans.

https://www.farmsanctuary.org/learn/factory-farming/pigs-used-for-pork/

And of course, everything I'm talking about is factory farming, which is where the bulk of our meat comes from.

Again, it's not the farming and eating of meat that I am so against, it's the mass suffering caused by our industrialised way of producing meat in this "modern" age.

We need more small-scale farms and ranches. We need to support more locally produced food. I know I've said it before, but we have become so disconnected from our food, and that doesn't serve us, or the animals we eat, or the planet.

yet as i have experianced recently personally all levels of government make it extremely difficult for small scale artisan farming to to exist let alone be viable. we are just getting into a year of taking over our land and have only just got through the red tape to actually let a contract out to build a track, dam and pad to place a machinary shed on. you really have to wonder just who the authorities are set up to support.

if only local councils were as efficient as approving permits as they are at pushing their 1st rate notice out!

 

[koshari]

I saw two Bulls.

there are 6 young bulls being aggisted in our corner paddock atm but in april they will be going, 4 to willow grove and the other 2 to a few other farms. they are a bit of a pain because they push up against the electric fence standoffs, i think iam gonna need to replace the standoffs in that paddock with the gallagher hot tip ones.

 

[Snake_Baker]

Bull jizz is serious bucks.

I'd consider a career in jerking them off if I could get 50% of the generated proceeds.

 

[Horace]

there would also be a hell of a lot of time required for maintaining fencing.

Indeed. Back in our dairying days we usually had around 4/5 Jersey bulls all in the one paddock and shut away from the cows. They very rarely saw eye to eye and after a bit of muscling up, at least one would get forcibly ejected. There was one bull in particular seemed to enjoy being the bull evicted and it seemed to coincide when a few, shall we say "frisky females" were not far away. When we returned him to the paddock, he usually had a few cuts and tears from the barb wire, but invariably he also had quite a sparkle in his eye and on balance of probability, 9 months and 10 days later, the frisky female/s would deliver!

Our usual response was to repair, plus add another barb wire to the fence, but boys will be boys and it wouldn't be long before they'd be at loggerheads again and at least one would end up being ejected.

Since those days better electric fencing units represent a more satisfactory way of keeping bulls contained, when they need to be shut away to preserve proper calving patterns.

 

[King Corey]

I'd consider a career in jerking them off if I could get 50% of the generated proceeds.

Sorry but Gerard Whately already has that market monopolised.