Being a Carnivore vs. Animal Abuse

I paint calves, cows, cattle, showing as much as possible the personalities and individual qualities of each cute face.  I am asked off and on if I am vegan or vegetarian.  Overall I stay away from this topic because it has nothing to do with my work and I don't wish to have anyone like or dislike it based on my personal eating habits.  I will say I agree with a recent blog post I read in that I don't feel one has to be a vegan or vegetarian to care for the welfare of animals.

Have you seen any of the various undercover animal abuse videos?  I refuse to watch personally.  It's not imagery I wish to have floating around in my head.  There is no doubt in my mind that what they show is horrifying and sickening, but is what they show really a representation of typical ranch reality?  Is it necessary to watch, or even make such things available for others to see?  Is it educating the public on the cruelty of being a carnivore, or is it using a sick,  rare and uncommon incident to push an agenda?

Now I am just offering some food for thought, open to comments, but before you do leave a comment, consider the writings of The Ranch Wife about her first hand experience as a rancher that raises animals for food, after watching 30 seconds of a recently circulating video:

"Maybe my thinking is wrong, but I wouldn't want anyone to see what I just did. Not for fear of repercussions, but for the heartache it causes.
My question is this....if the undercover person taking the video is supposed to be helping the welfare of these animals, Why didn't they take the pick-axe and sledge hammer out of the person's hands BEFORE they bludgeoned the calf to death ?????????????????????????????????????? Just a thought.
I know that calves get sick. I know, all to well, that some sick calves die. I also know that I've never seen a rancher take a pick-axe to a dying calf.


I have seen them give one last ditch effort at doctoring and inject medicine into an already dying calf that costs them a small fortune per dose. They know full well, it's not going to save them, but they try everything.     I've also seen a ranch wife bring numerous calves into her house just to keep their ears from getting frost bit. Imagine that, calves inside someones house, they care that much about the welfare of animals.
    I've also seen a ranch wife load up her own baby in a car seat, in the middle of a snowstorm, and drive through the herd to find that one calf that was just born at the wrong time. She then moves the car seat over to make room for the 100+ pound calf she's about to pick up and put in the truck. Even though she's still not supposed to be lifting anything that heavy so soon after her own delivery.
    I've seen a rancher say, "he's dead, you might as well hit him in the head", then he bends down and does CPR on a dying calf while sucking the gunk out of his lungs to attempt to clear his airways. He doesn't hit him in the head.  The calf literally dies in his arms. He then broods about it for hours, wishing there was something else he could have done."

What The Ranch Wife is saying makes sense with what I have seen in the people I've met that are ranchers.  These are often my biggest fans, because they love how realistic my paintings of cows and calves are, and they do love and appreciate their animals.  


The key points I appreciated from The Ranch Wife are:

"If you want to be vegan, vegetarian, or carnivore, that's your choice as a free American. My husband fought for this country for you to have that right. It's also my right to express myself by telling you to not lump me into the same category as the idiots in the video.
 
Contrary to popular belief, you can be a carnivore and still CARE about animals. 
    You don't have to be vegan to CARE about animals.
    You don't have to be vegan to fight for an animals life and well-being.
    You don't have to be vegan to nurse a sick animal back to health.
    You don't have to be vegan to cry when an animal dies in your arms.
    You don't have to be vegan to be angered when you see videos of animal abuse."


You can read the post in it's entirety on The Ranch Wife blog.

National Cow Appreciation Day?? How did I miss this?

 Well as you might guess, in my world EVERYDAY is cow appreciation day, however for the rest of the country, apparently it's July 15th ( or 9th or 14th, I found conflicting evidence on the internet, but July was constant!)

A blogger from L.A. has posted a collection of people hugging cows in honor of the celebration, some of them are guaranteed to make you smile!  This is my personal favorite of the bunch,

check the rest out here.

The fast food restaurant Chic-fil-a  jumps on the bandwagon, (or did they actually start it in the first place?) by rewarding people who dress up like a cow on July 9 with a free chicken sandwich meal.  I don't know about you, much as I admire cows I would rather throw down the $5.

Cow Tipping or, You Can't Keep a Good Cow Down

Leigh Rubin has gone and done it again, made me laugh with yet another bovine funny!
You can now engage in the interesting act of cow tipping, in the privacy of your own home yet.
Presenting the cow bop bag, tip him and he comes right back, complete with a full color booklet
with 30 of Leigh's cow related cartoons.  Love it!

About Leigh Rubin and Rubes Cartoons

Denise Rich, Bob Dylan, Farm Aid

Denise Rich is an artist, her birthdate is May 24.  Bob Dylan's birthdate is May 24, and he's an artist.

                                                             "Horse"  Bob Dylan 2010

Denise Rich is learning more about American Farmers every day.  Bob Dylan is one of the founders of Farm Aid, helping to support American Farmers.
Farm Aid started as an idea at the Live Aid Concert when Bob Dylan said on stage, "Wouldn't it be great if we did something for our own farmers right here in America?"

You can read all about Farm Aid, what they do and why on their website here.

"There are no more farmers...." Quote from an interview with The Barefoot Farmer

 If you read much about farming in America, you can't help but have Monsanto enter the picture.
Genetically altered seeds are the topic of much conversation.  I'm working to be as informed about the food I buy as possible, gathering information here and there on the internet, and found the viewpoint of Jeff Poppen, known as the Barefoot Farmer, to be quite thought provoking.

Barefoot, dreadlocks (including his beard) and of the opinion that "there are no more farmers" because dumping chemicals on the ground doesn't count as farming, Jeff has a lot of interesting viewpoints, as written in this interview on Portrait of a Farm blog, you can read the entire interview at the link below:

STEWARDS:: Red Boiling Springs, Tennessee: Jeff Poppen, Long ...: "We heard of Jeff Poppen as 'the Barefoot farmer' when we were in Asheville and were told that we should really try to meet this amazing ma..."

 Feel free to comment about your opinion of Jeff's ideas.

Van Ommering Dairy, one of my 'go to' dairy farms here in San Diego

Meet Ben and Jerry, two calves from our local Dairy Farm, owned by the Van Ommering family.
This is the farm where I first fell for cows, on a trip with my daughter's kindergarten class to see where
milk comes from and visit their yearly event not to be missed, Oma's Pumpkin Patch .
Not only do they have a yearly pumpkin patch, with a hay maze and cotton seed mountain, petting zoo,
but local San Diego county kids can have a farm birthday party.
.







I owe a lot to the Van Ommering family for putting up with my many visits to take reference for paintings.
Here's Dave Van Ommering taking time from his busy schedule to help me corral a few of the girls together for a special reference photo I needed to get.  Thanks again Dave!

What's cuter than a cow? A miniature cow!

Miniature cattle are becoming more popular than ever, a lot of ranches are downsizing as a means of
cutting costs.  I don't know if it's the wave of the future for beef farming, but I do know I want one for a pet!









 Mini Hereford Mom and Baby, a commissioned painting from a client photograph
of her Miniature Herefords.
The Herefords are 20"x30

99 percent of California Dairy Farms are Family Owned

 Some time has passed since I did the commissioned paintings for the California Milk Advisory Board.
The focus has gone from the immensely popular
"Happy Cows" to the source and roots of dairy farming, which is the California Dairy Farmers.  The name even changes from Real California Cheese to Real California Milk.  It's an interesting fact that when I tell people I'm from San Diego, California and my main focus for my paintings is cows, most look surprised as if I should live in Wisconsin to find cows to paint.  They are in for a real surprise because in fact, California is the top dairy state for milk production, followed in order by Wisconsin, Idaho, New York
and Pennsylvania.

Another interesting fact is that 99% of California Dairies are family owned.  You can meet the farmers and their families, meet the cows in a series of beautiful mini documentaries that show the families, the farms and make me want to live on one here.

(Artwork shown is graphite and charcoal study for one of the six paintings I did for the California Milk Advisory Board.)

An adopted Mustang, Bureau of Land Management Wild Horses and Burros vs.

 A friend of mine has horses and often rescues, rehabilitates and re-homes them.  This is a Mustang she adopted from one of the BLM Wild Horse and Burro events.  Her name is Sadie.
I understand there is controversy over the wild horses, and whether or not the Bureau of Land Management is handling it well, or if they should handle it at all.  I don't know enough about either side to take a stand, but am interested if you'd care to comment and share your view.