Many people are far removed from agriculture and view the relationship between the farmer and animal as distant one. That couldn't be further from the truth. Agriculture revolves around the compassion and connection between the farmer and the animal, a commitment to sustainability and humane practices. It's an age old connection that continues to this day, although usually far removed from daily life of the urban and suburban consumer. The only thing standing in between this gap is experience, a voice, or an image.
I think that is the biggest thing that concerns me about the rhetorically-driven advertisements of chains like Chipotle or Panera bread; without human experience driving your decisions, you are left to trust the merits of the content creator. When the purpose of the content creator is to increase sales through product differentiation there could be an inherent problem.
So please let me introduce you to farmers you might not hear about in media or advertisements who represent the vast majority of US farmers and ranchers.
Meet Manuel. He's a hard-working and compassionate dairy worker here in the United States. He daily monitors all the cattle in the herd to make sure they are healthy and is present for nearly every birth at the farm. There is a quiet joy he portrays when slowing down his day to make sure that each newborn calf is fed. You can see the compassionate and tender touch and heart he has for his animals.
When Manuel sees a sick calf or a sick cow, he probably isn't concerned about the Chipotle and Panera advertisements that demonize the use of antibiotics. Instead, he makes note of the cattle, observes them, and uses antibiotics as needed to make sure the cattle are healthy and comfortable. When a cow is given antibiotics, she is isolated from the rest of the herd to prevent the spread of any sickness but also to prevent her milk from getting into the food supply. Instead, she is milked separately, and her milk is given to the newborn calves like the one you see above.
The sick cow is monitored and treated daily. Her milk is tested and when she is clear according to USDA standards, she is put back in with the other herd to continue producing high quality and safe milk.
Perhaps one of the oldest photographs I still have, this image is of a rancher who has a family history of raising his beef cattle while improving pasture lands. His family has installed watering systems that are safe and beneficial to wildlife in the area, including migratory birds. He weekly rides his pastures with his horse to monitor grazing patterns and herd health. He described himself not only as a rancher, but as a steward of the land.
Unlike what people may have you believe, his ranching doesn't hurt the land...it improves it for not only his cattle but for the local fauna as well. The Bureau of Land Management states that proper grazing of cattle on public and private land are vital to preventing severe wildfires.
This is also one of the oldest photographs I have from my work in California. This is Mary, a tender-hearted dairy woman out of the Central Valley of California. She was constantly in the nursery of her newborn calves making sure they were healthy and happy. In this photo, she brought up a bucket and just sat down to be with the calves. The calves were just as eager to be near this tender-hearted woman. This is the face of the dairy farmer - wise, experienced, kind, and caring.
Thank you for reading. I always look forward to a great discussion about the hard working American farming and ranching families.