They’ve been spat at, told they need a bullet and threatened with an angry mob outside their house – and they’re from both sides of the bobby calf debate.
Whether you’re a farmer or an animal rights activist, there’s someone ready to argue and, in some cases, threaten.
The debate has turned toxic and the cause could be an ideological impasse, an unsettling dose of reality, or a group feeling unfairly branded with the actions of its worst.
Cambridge herd manager Caitlin Bennett is a perfect example. The farmer said she was disgusted by what she saw in the Farmwatch footage, which aired first a week ago on TVNZ’s Sunday programme.
But that didn’t stop a couple of women spitting at her and calling her a calf killer in Cambridge on Monday.
They didn’t know if she was a dairy farmer or not, she said.
“I was just wearing gumboots. They just assumed and started abusing me.”
She also was abused on Facebook after she said Farmwatch footage didn’t represent all farmers.
“I got called a cow. I got told to die, told I’m a slave labourer, that the dairy farmers deserve the drought,” she said.
“I don’t know anyone who treats their animals like that. And if they did, I would have been yelling at them anyway.”
If there were a way to avoid slaughtering bobby calves, she would be all for it.
“I would donate my bobby calves right away. But unfortunately, there’re not many options and not many people are offering to put these calves on the back lawn, are they?”
On the other side of the abuse onslaught is Waikato vegan Lynley Tulloch, who has been threatened with the prospect of an angry mob at her door.
She featured on Sunday with her Starfish bobby calf rescue operation, is a Save Animals From Exploitation (Safe) spokeswoman and a university lecturer.
And because she won’t back down from her view that dairying should be phased out, she’s been called a national disgrace and told she needs a bullet. She also says opponents have accused her of breaking the law.
“It’s become a real battleground on both sides, really,” she said.
Tulloch said they’ve reached an ideological impasse and, while she’s tried to keep away from the name-calling, not everyone has.
“I’m trying to make a case which is rational and sound and not trying to get into a slinging match with people.
“In a democratic society, we should be able to voice an alternative view.”
Waikato University agribusiness professor Jacqueline Rowarth said a lack of understanding is part of the problem.
Town dwellers might not realise what it takes to produce food, or that there are different industries within dairying.
“What dairy farmers are feeling is it isn’t even they who were actually portrayed as the really bad people in the footage and that they’re copping flak unnecessarily,” Rowarth said.
“It’s just really dreadful when the industry gets let down by a bad aspect.”
People also need to consider what the alternatives were – for example, putting a stop to milk production.
“Farmers are in livestock because they like them, so they’re not going to be treating them badly,” she said.
Waipa District Mayor Jim Mylchreest echoed Rowarth’s sentiments. He said assuming all farmers mistreat their animals based on the footage is as ridiculous as blaming all Muslims for the actions of Isis.
“Those media reports on what was going on isn’t farming – it’s straight out cruelty to animals,” said Mylchreest, who has what he calls a “toy farm”.
“Anybody understands that’s not right. You don’t need to be a farmer to know.”
A combination of opposing points of view, cute bobby calves and social media have all helped fan the flames of debate, Kiwi television personality Te Radar said.
“It definitely has turned toxic. You’ve got essentially two real extremes there,” he said.
“In the middle you’ve got a whole lot of people who, I suspect, for the first time have been exposed to how their dairy products make it to market.
“What we want is some sensible discussion in the middle ground.”
Te Radar – real name Andrew Lumsden – grew up on a Waikato farm and loaded up bobby calves in his youth.
It was a grim job, he said, but also a reality of the dairy farming model that many people aren’t familiar with.
“It’s part of that disconnect with food. People go to supermarkets and they don’t think any more about picking up a bottle of milk than they do about picking up some laundry liquid,” he said.
“Without [bobby calves], you don’t have a dairy industry. And those people promoting this, that is what they ultimately want.”
He’d seen some misguided comments on social media, including a person saying he wouldn’t buy any more New Zealand milk and another suggesting bobby calves should go live on a beef farm.
By: Libby Wilson
Source: NZFarmer.co.nz