OT: Disturbing vid coming out from Fair Oaks dairy (Harbaugh former spokesman)

Submitted by Snake Eyes on June 13th, 2019 at 11:27 PM

Fair Life milk had the coach in commercials a couple years back.

Now there are accusations of abusive treatment to their cows and unsanitary practices.

Warning: video is upsetting.

 

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Mgofarmer

June 14th, 2019 at 12:42 PM ^

No “factory farms” existed ten years ago, they also do not exist today.  The word was made up and pounded into the lexicon by animal rights activists to scare consumers of large scale operations.  It has also become a marketing weapon of companies who wish to brand themselves as “healthy” and “ethical”.  The correct and accepted industry term is Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation (CAFO).  Not quite as catchy though. 

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Harbs

June 14th, 2019 at 11:43 AM ^

This is dumb.  A couple of Vegans got hired, shot footage, edited it to fit their need and here we are.

VEGANS AND HIPPIES SUCK ASS IN EVERY GALAXY.

 

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Arb lover

June 14th, 2019 at 11:45 AM ^

Abuse is always horrible but this is obviously faked. What's the reason to treat dairy cows like that? 

Abuse at slaughterhouses is probably rampant, they want to get the cow to walk up the ramp to show it's well enough, and the animal is about to die so there's no "protect the investment" thought. 

Here, acting this cruelly (and I didn't watch the video so tell me if I'm wrong) not only serves no purpose but it could likely harm the long term investment. A cow that stops producing milk just lost a lot of value. Employees would absolutely report that type of behavior on a dairy farm at a minimum so that they were not later blamed.

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Jukey Smoot

June 14th, 2019 at 2:23 PM ^

It looks like some of this info was shared above, but while I think we can all agree the acts in the video were atrocious, there are these points to consider before blacklisting the company:

Fair Oaks is separate from Fairlife - Fairlife is a milk type (lactose-free, cold-filtered) that gets its milk from multiple suppliers. Fair Oaks, the farm where the abuses took place, is a major supplier, but is not the Fairlife company JH appeared for.

As mentioned above, 3 of the 4 employees pictured committing abuses were reported for their acts and fired in the winter. Obviously better oversight could have helped, which Fair Oaks has taken great steps towards, including live video feeds of all areas where calves and cows are handled.

The 5th person, a truck delivery driver, works for a 3rd party who delivered cattle, and while Fair Oaks could not fire him, he is permanently barred from the premise (the firm behind the deliveries may have been too, but I cannot recall exactly).

This is not all to absolve an industry that puts a lot of power over helpless animals into likely disenfranchised low-paid worker hands, which likely and leads to animal abuses. But looking at all the fall-out, it seemed that Fair Oaks and Fairlife are actually trying their best to clean up that "agri-business" system and be more ethical in their practices. I thought the knee-jerk reactions were pretty unfair given the circumstances. I'd be open to learning more about similar steps other farms have taken to clean up the industry, as I don't think demand for dairy will lessen enough to avoid the pressures for these abuses to take place unless distinct actions are taken by suppliers.

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