Thursday, August 7, 2008
One cow still missing...or you can’t outsource a horse
There was a cow incident in a nearby town recently where a couple cows died of undetermined natural causes. Maybe eating some poisonous plant... and the report I heard on the radio ended by saying one cow was still missing. I do think it’s sweet that the local AM news sees fit to mention when one little bovine soul goes missing... but the truth is we have a lot more than one cow missing around here.
A couple years ago I got interested in raw milk, but had trouble finding local dairy farms that might sell it - dairies in our state are only allowed to sell unpasteurized milk “over the farm gate.” Someone commented to me that a lot of farms just do horses now as it’s more lucrative. At the time I figured it had something to do with the economics of the dairy industry and bulk buying of milk and something or other... didn’t think about it too hard. But it’s starting to sink in now that this is part of the bigger picture of industrialization of agriculture.
The job of raising cattle for dairy or beef is being concentrated into large operations that then truck their products around the region or country. You don’t need a dairy farm in daily delivery distance from your house anymore - especially with refrigerated trucks. And yet the horses are still here.
Why horses? Horses aren’t a commodity, they’re a service. If you want your kid to take riding lessons, or want to board a horse somewhere, you do those things near where you live. You can’t outsource a horse.
Photo credit: Can’t a cow eat its lunch in peace?
