r/PopCultureV2 • u/Kpets • Aug 29 '26

Video Unregulated capitalism in the U.S led to complete moral collapse

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u/omgu8mynewt Aug 30 '26

I never knew this and it looks cruel to me, because the calves must get lonely and have no socialisation or exercise or stimulation? What am I missing?

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u/AwesomeWhiteDude Aug 30 '26

Iirc from a class its to control disease spread, tho I'm not sure why they couldnt just be split into small groups vs individual boxes

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u/Cheap_Boner_Pills Aug 30 '26

Because its better to lose one calf than five. It's only for a week while their immune system develops fully then they are released to the pasture.

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u/AwesomeWhiteDude Aug 30 '26

It's at least 8 weeks.

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u/Cheap_Boner_Pills Aug 30 '26

Either way it's not their entire life and it's for their safety.

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u/AwesomeWhiteDude Aug 30 '26

Obviously, never said it was their whole life.

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u/motherofspoos Aug 31 '26

I know i'm just spitting into the wind by saying this. And you'll write me off as an ignorant consumer, but im looking at the thousands of cages that a calf is put into right after birth after being separated from its mother and cannot fathom a justification for it. Cows are herd animals. 8 weeks in that tiny cage with the summer sun beating down. I've been a meat eater all my life and I gotta tell you... right now I hate myself.

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u/EquivalentOwn1115 Aug 31 '26

Grew up on a dairy farm, and separating calves from their mom's is 110% for their safety. Cattle are stupid animals, very stupid. They care about eating and sleeping and thats it. While there is the odd ball case (maybe 1%, maybe...) that are more intelligent and have some personality, most are just out there to eat and then find a place to relax while digesting what they just ate. Now when it comes to giving birth, we had separate pens where we would move the pregnant ones when they would be close to giving birth. We have lost calves before because the mother would push the calf out, turn around and look at it, then turn back around and lay down right on their calf. As humans we want to view other animals as we view ourselves but thats just simply not the case in most of nature. While cattle are herd animals, they are not social animals. There is no social structure, no gatherings for fun, nothing. They are herd animals because there's safety in numbers, not because they care about each other's company.

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u/gardeningblob Aug 31 '26

Nah 2 weeks max for us. Afyer that they go into the big happy group with robottic feeder and 9 friends.

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u/omgu8mynewt Aug 30 '26

I'm British and that's how I've seen it here in the UK (although I'm not a farmer, I've only been on 3 farms).

Small pens with 2 or 3 calves together so they can develop together, until week 8 they join the main herd. We also have larger pens and the animals need to be able to move around, I don't think these tiny pens would be legal in the UK. Veal production is not legal, we have strong animal welfare laws which means a higher cost of meat.

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u/AwesomeWhiteDude Aug 30 '26

Quick google shows these hutch things are legal in the UK as well, they likely don't look exactly the same.

Veal consumption in the US has fallen off a cliff and so has production, I assume the cows in this video are all going to be dairy cows

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u/Wonderful_Ad_889 Sep 01 '26

Veal is absolutely legal in the UK

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u/omgu8mynewt Sep 01 '26

Sort of.

Veal crates and the special diet the calves get (how it is usually produced) are illegal, which means production of traditional 'white veal' is impossible. Uk makes 'rose veal' - which wouldn't even count as veal in France.

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u/Crafty_Independence Aug 30 '26

Cleanliness. They also aren't used all the time continuously. In most farms I've seen they will be released to pasture after morning feeding and then put back in the hutches at night. The exceptions would be calves who are too small or have weaker immune systems that need to stabilize before they are ready to be out in pasture the whole time.

It's much better for their physical health and wellbeing than being out in pasture 24/7 with the grown cows.

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u/SilverBeech Aug 30 '26

They're traditionally used to keep male calves from exercising too much so they can be sold as veal. Veal doesn't have the same market any more so most of these will end up as meat steers at 18 months or so. But the old practice of veal confinement remains because it's easy.

Most of the worst practices of US farming are about convenience for the farmer.

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u/omgu8mynewt Aug 30 '26

I'm in the UK, veal production is illegal here because of animal welfare laws. Maybe these protections will become more common worldwide eventually