What do people think happens to the petting zoo animals once they are no longer friendly, or young and cute? I bet they don’t have a retirement farm for most of them either.
[QUOTE=RodeoFTW;8636082]
http://bennersfarm.com/index.html
It’s clearly not a working farm. It’s a tourist attraction.[/QUOTE]
Oh, I dunno, Rodeo.
Here in Maine, all the working farms have troops of Morris dancers cavorting in the pastures.
:lol: :lol: :lol:
(What an awesome thread.)
[QUOTE=wireweiners;8635761]
My brother showed steers in 4H. Show steers are very pampered animals and their owners spend a lot of time feeding, grooming and handling them. So there is an attachment. So one year bro had the grand champion steer at the local show and was interviewed by a reporter from the local paper. She asked him how he could eat an animal he’d spent so much time with. Bro told her that he was such a fine steer and he cared so much about him that he couldn’t let a stranger eat him.[/QUOTE]
Your brother sounds like a very smart and caring young man! That was a brilliant response.
Because one woman started a campaign and a bunch of others followed her screaming fit that makes the whole educational thing ineffective?
That is like saying because one person failed calculus we might as well stop teaching it because the educational program is ineffective.
[QUOTE=RodeoFTW;8636029]
You can do that in a farm community/group/culture, though. Not city people. Why is that so freaking hard a concept to understand?[/QUOTE]
I turn that right around: if you eat meat you eat Minnie’s every day. Why is that so freaking hard a concept to understand?
You want the people who raise animals for food to change what they do because city people don’t like it. No.
“City people” or whoever is that ignorant need a reality check. The farmers are not asking them to change their behavior - “city people” aren’t being forced to name their steaks, or raise their own hamburger and bacon. Yet the city/suburban people are insisting that these homesteaders change their behavior and don’t name their hamburger. Nor treat their hamburger while alive kindly, I guess. Would they prefer the farmers be mean and horrible to the animal because it’s going to be food one day? That must be it. “They were nice to it. How can they eat it?” What are they supposed to do then?
wait, what??? He’s being threatened. HE is being bullied and threatened.
[QUOTE=Red Barn;8636079]
Kids following Minnie’s adorable antics on the Benner Farm, on the other hand, not only failed to realize that their “new farm friend” was a beef animal to begin with, but somehow continued to miss this crucial point for two solid years.[/QUOTE]
that isn’t a problem for the Benners. That is a parental discussion issue.
[QUOTE=myhorse;8636084]
Unless they said specifically that the cow was the farm mascot and never to be eaten then there was no fraud. People like the woman and her followers are a lot of what is wrong with our country. Everyone thinks they have a right to decide how everyone else is running their lives. What their morals should be, their beliefs. It is hysterical to me that acceptance is shoved down our throats, by the most un-accepting people. Why should this or any other person have to explain anything to anyone? The farmer may open his farm to tours ect., however, they do not need to consult with the public on how to run it.[/QUOTE]
yep yep yep
[QUOTE=Lynnwood;8636067]
Rodeo I TOTALLY understand what you are trying to say. What I disagree with is that further pandering to their ignorance is not the way to solve the problem.[/QUOTE]
Yes Yes YES.
Exactly.
It is pretty simple…If you do not want to see a Moo that will some day become dinner then do not visit this place. If you want to see a Moo that will some day become dinner and other such farming stuff then visit this place.
If you do not want your kids to know what their burger looked like before it was a burger, do not visit this place.
If you do not want your kids to see cute moo photos on social media then block them from seeing them.
The list could go on, but there is no reason to continue, you get the point.
Not sure why it becomes anymore than that?
There is no reason to bully the farm owner and insist his Moo be taken away, etc. The farm owner certainly did nothing that makes it OK to threaten him and his family.
I would usually stay out of this sort of thread. I’m really scratching my head over the turn this conversation has taken.
[QUOTE=RodeoFTW;8635564]
Food animals have to be anonymous to the public eye or people do get upset.[/QUOTE]
Where? Says who? Does USDA inspect farms’ marketing campaigns, social media sites, and external communications? Think about what ramifications such a belief or law would have on anyone who owns an animal for any purpose.
[QUOTE=RodeoFTW;8635581]If they were seriously calling the cow their ‘friend’ and gushing about how much they loved her on social media to get attention, they pretty much deserve the heat they’ve been getting (outside of death threats).[/QUOTE] :disillusionment::disillusionment:WHAAAAT? 
Why not? Who says they can’t? Where is it dictated how to communicate about one’s animal?
Wait, fraud?! I think I’m really, really confused.:ambivalence:
And for those who think this doesn’t apply to us horse owners…just wait until the “city folk” want you to be a “Pet Parent” to your horse (or dog, or gerbil…etc).
This issue with a working farm is just the tip of the ice berg.
Look at the NYC carriage horses and the poor farmer Joshua Rockwood who was arrested for animal cruelty…
http://www.bedlamfarm.com/2016/01/12/joshuas-great-victory-its-over/
Watch your backs ladies…(or is it girls)…we’re next on the radar.
[QUOTE=RodeoFTW;8636086]
Then other people can say whatever they want about it; boycott, petition, and whatever else they feel like because that’s a right, too. 
You can’t have it both ways.
The impression people had was that the cow was a mascot. Why they’d keep a beef animal for over 20 months is beyond me.
If you look at the website, it’s clearly agritainment. Kids camps, “mommy and me” classes, music concerts, arts & crafts, animal petting, etc etc. There’s very little about it that screams working farm and nothing beyond ‘we keep animals for self-sufficiency’ to give people any kind of impression that the animals they are paying to love on and enjoy with their kids are going to be eaten. Just a lot of ‘come see the new baby animals!’
You can put out a product and people don’t have to like it.[/QUOTE]
I think the farm owner clearly wanted to have his cake and eat it too. I looked at the website and didn’t see anything clearly stated that this was also a working farm. It IS presented as a fun way to spend a day or a weekend petting baby animals or planting vegetables.
I think we can talk till the cows come home about how ignorant city/town people are these days about where our food comes from, but the emphasis from the webpage definitely was NOT about trying to explain sustainable farming to its visitors. Instead, it was come out and have fun petting baby animals, winding ribbons around a Maypole, and other rural fun things.
After looking at the website, I can see how some of the visitors might feel betrayed or misled. This in no way, shape, or form justifies threats to the farmer, but I would agree that the language used by the website was misleading and in no way reflected the circle of life and death of a working farm/ranch.
[QUOTE=betonbill;8636563]
After looking at the website, I can see how some of the visitors might feel betrayed or misled. This in no way, shape, or form justifies threats to the farmer, but I would agree that the language used by the website was misleading and in no way reflected the circle of life and death of a working farm/ranch.[/QUOTE]
and so…don’t go back. Tell your friends that it’s unsavory, but to do what these people are doing? No. Just no.
[QUOTE=JanM;8636148]
What do people think happens to the petting zoo animals once they are no longer friendly, or young and cute? I bet they don’t have a retirement farm for most of them either.[/QUOTE]
Face it. If the proprietor of a petting zoo told the public what actually might happen, they’d be out of business. That’s where the “forever home” concept comes into play.
The majority of people really don’t want to know about things like this.
[QUOTE=betonbill;8636612]
Face it. If the proprietor of a petting zoo told the public what actually might happen, they’d be out of business. That’s where the “forever home” concept comes into play.
The majority of people really don’t want to know about things like this.[/QUOTE]
Same as if a riding stable dumbed dumbed their lame school horses at a meat auction. People can do that but it doesn’t make it right. Would you want to ride there?
[QUOTE=RodeoFTW;8636086]
Then other people can say whatever they want about it; boycott, petition, and whatever else they feel like because that’s a right, too.
You can’t have it both ways.
The impression people had was that the cow was a mascot. Why they’d keep a beef animal for over 20 months is beyond me.
If you look at the website, it’s clearly agritainment. Kids camps, “mommy and me” classes, music concerts, arts & crafts, animal petting, etc etc. There’s very little about it that screams working farm and nothing beyond ‘we keep animals for self-sufficiency’ to give people any kind of impression that the animals they are paying to love on and enjoy with their kids are going to be eaten. Just a lot of ‘come see the new baby animals!’
You can put out a product and people don’t have to like it.[/QUOTE]
As to the age of the heifer, that is a normal time 1 1/2 to 2 years to slaughter a grass fed or not pushed for top gain beef animal, especially if you want flavorful beef.
Agritainment IS a legal, sustainable and educational addition to a ranching or cropping enterprise. It is part of modern farming if the farmer can stand dealing with the public. It keeps farms in farmers ownership and provides a profit center that is not dependent on mother nature. A working farm is one that pays.
Agritainment is part of that; for some farms a big part of dependable income.
Agritainment is not fraud, or ‘using’ animals to ‘bilk the public’.
People who want to see animals, learn about animals, pet animals… and are willing to pay for that plus entertainment and group activities exist. The farmer is filling a market desire.
Now if when asked, the farmer had said “Oh, Minnie will be a part of the farm for as long as we can keep her alive”
-THAT would have been fraud.
They do mention in their newsletters about selling animals in the fall.
Perhaps they should give prices and dates the animals will be sold so the ‘rescuers’ have the opportunity to purchase the sale animals?
Realistically, no. The objectors want the working meat animal part of the farm to shut down completely, no meat animals, period.
[QUOTE=RodeoFTW;8636641]
Same as if a riding stable dumbed dumbed their lame school horses at a meat auction. People can do that but it doesn’t make it right. Would you want to ride there?[/QUOTE]
You are comparing humanely slaughtering a meat animal to selling off a horse into the low-end auction misery route.
Apparently you do not see a difference between them?
I do like seeing well cared for meat and dairy animals, bright, healthy, vigorous and comfortable in their surroundings. If they are amenable, I would pay to let my children pet them. That is a concept the County and State fairs have used for over 100 years.
He doesn’t have to listen to them. But if his business model is “entertaining the public” and not actually raising livestock and selling the meat, well, he put himself into a particular bind.
He wanted to have his cake and eat it, too.
If he was smart, he wouldn’t have allowed people to become attached and invested in his future steak dinner.
[QUOTE=D_BaldStockings;8636678]
You are comparing humanely slaughtering a meat animal to selling off a horse into the low-end auction misery route.
Apparently you do not see a difference between them?
I do like seeing well cared for meat and dairy animals, bright, healthy, vigorous and comfortable in their surroundings. If they are amenable, I would pay to let my children pet them. That is a concept the County and State fairs have used for over 100 years.[/QUOTE]
No, I’m not. I’m comparing public believes one reality and the business plays out another. It’s only considered a bad thing to us because we don’t consider horses food.
As a kid I was under no delusion that the cute baby animals at petting farms died of old age after not being cute anymore.
A farm animal is meant for food once it grows up, end of story. I grew up in the suburbs so not on a farm.
This farmer operates a working farm that also does tours to educate the public. This mother and her group of equally delusional people need to grow up. You cant not eat every cow some kid becomes attached to. They where breed and raised for meet not to be cute and cuddly.
Also on the facebook/website argument. Are you going to advertise sending the cute fluffy animals to be turned into food? No you are not! too many crazy people out there (as per this situation) so reducing the amount of hate mail by not advertising the use of the animals online is a good idea.
