2011 National Holstein Convention - Home

the slide-show on the home page is interesting, but i have NO idea what all those rows & rows of barrels are -
dozens of big wooden barrels laid on their sides, with burgundy fabric draping the center of the barrels
like an enormous cummerbund on a sommelier's waist. strange.

Holstein-Friesians are THE popular dairy-breed in the USA, sadly - i say sadly because the breed has been
seriously warped in favor of dairy attributes, & the breeds' other traits neglected.
they are referred to as Holsteins, not H-Fs which they ought to be - & passing any dairy herd is like
reading a 1960s newspaper, more than 90% of dairy-herds are black & white, no other colors.

Holsteins are not as devoted to their calves as they used to be; that's to reduce the period when the cow
goes off her milking-let-down & off her feed, when she's separated from her calf - who after all
is the one creature most responsible for the mother lactating, isn't that so? Let's give some credit to the baby,
& some consideration, too.

this reduced maternal-bond means that cows are less-likely to defend the calves, if dogs or other predators
get into a pasture; the cows defend themselves & their herdmates, or flee & leave the calves to save themselves.

Dairy Supplies - Udder Supports
Picture 202.png

many Holsteins now have such massive tanks of udders that they need bras to support them; the ligaments
Nature gives them are insufficient. Barn sills & other barriers have to be minimized to reduce the odds
of some poor cow treading on a teat, or ripping or bruising her enormous udder painfully, or bacteria
entering the udder from the sill, door-frame, gate-stopper, or other objects.

i feel sorry for the poor dears - they are fermentation-tanks with milk-vats hanging from their abdomens,
dairymen see nothing but yield & input-co$ts when they look at them, not an entire cow - family connections
like her bond to her calf, or her attachment to herdmates, are just complications & ignored, or even better,
minimized or removed altogether.

__________________
terry pride, APDT-Aus, apdt#1827, CVA, TDF
*wolves R wolves, dogs R dogs, + primates R us.*
tmp, sept-2007