June is a busy month with many activities that will allow us to provide the general public a little more access to our cattle operations. June is Dairy Month with many activities such as Dairy Breakfast and Farm and City Days and for beef operations there are farm tours and breed association events. These are wonderful activities to highlight the care and dedication that is given to our animals. The interest of the general population in THEIR food supply is at an all-time high. Unfortunately, the availability of misleading information and outright deceptive information about production agriculture and livestock production is also very abundant. In addition, I take issue with advertising by some in the feed and food industry which contributes to the consumer’s confusion by implying that one a product is more wholesome or safer than another that is produced by a different production processes. I challenge you to take the opportunity to open the door a little wider to be even more transparent on your management practices. We need this to continue to gain the trust and support of the general population. If we fail to explain the technology we use, we run the risk of losing access to that technology.
Scenes of bottle calves, children petting calves and viewing the maternity pens are all great heartwarming images. With the attention to animal antibiotic usage by the government and some activist groups I challenge you to include the sick pen in farm tours. The general population needs to understand that animals do get sick and injured even under the best care we can provide. They also need to hear the message that most of non-ionophore antibiotics are primarily used for treatment and prevention purposes. Farms loosing these tools will only increase animal suffering. Describe the health challenges a new mother, new born and infant can face. Yes, I purposely did not say cows and calves. Remember your audience. When you tour the weaning or receiving pen make a comparison of the health challenges for the calves to when children first go to kindergarten or pre-school. Most moms will remember how strep throat, ear infections, cold and flu worked their way through the class.
Another stop on the farm tour needs to be the farm office and medicine room. The FARMER is still the most trusted individual to the person making the food purchasing decisions. Open the office and show the detail of records that are required and needed in today’s operations. Don’t forget to show the treatment records, sample vials and antibiotic screening test most farms use to test a treated cow before her milk can go back into the food supply.
My next suggestion for a farm tour stop is the most daunting. Open the medicine cabinet and/or refrigerator! If you doubt the wisdom of this move, think about it. If the handling and condition of medicine bottles in your cabinet is not something you would show your neighbors, you may want to get organized. This is an opportunity to be transparent. If you have prostaglandin or GnRH, explain the need to use fertility treatment on some animals to help them get pregnant. The most frustrating misconception is that many consumers think that there are antibiotics in food. Explain again that all milk and meat is tested before it goes in the food supply. Also point out that many of the bottles used for animals are classes of antibiotics that are not used in human medicine. All the products are needed to help keep animals productive and healthy. Antibiotic discussions are taking place and a tour is a good time to join the conversation on your terms.
What if you are not hosting the Dairy Breakfast or farm tour? Look to social media to share your story. Think about a Facebook page or blogging your operation. Facebook has more users than many individual countries combined. LeCows Dairy has a Facebook page that covers the dairy life of a Kentucky dairy farm. If you want to see what others are doing here are a few people active in social media that I asked for permission to give them a plug. Dairy Carrie has a blog www.dairycarrie.com where she is “Just blogging my way through my very dairy life! Food, farm, fun and all the above…” . Another Wisconsin producer shares her dairy experiences through a blog at www.moderndayfarmchick.com. Both individuals have active face book pages as well.
My last suggestion is a little tongue and check. Show the tour your calves or cows licking on one of the CRYSTALYX® blocks designed to deliver nutrients and relieve stress of transition cows and calves. Town folk will think it is great you are giving the animals a candy treat that they love to eat. You can smile while you think about all the scary sounding nutrients being delivered such as calcium carbonate, copper sulfate, zinc amino acid complex, selenium, chromium and thiamine to name a few. CRYSTALYX® Brand Supplements are a proven technology to conveniently supplement livestock with the goal of better health and production, but I am sure these too could be described in a scary way.
Enjoy June and take the opportunity to share a little more about your operation.
