Cuddling cows
OPINION: Years of floods and low food prices have driven a dairy farm in England's northeast to stop milking its cows and instead charge visitors to cuddle them.
Farmers, criticised for sending bobbies off to processing plants, have been urged to look at beef calves as the industry edges towards a 'no bobbies policy'.
However, beef calves have been selling at local saleyards for as little as $10 each, making farmers question whether anyone who thinks they can replace bobby calves with more beef calves has thought this through.
There's also a push by Fonterra and others for bobbies to enter a value stream but farmers are finding it difficult to find a processor which is fully staffed and operating at peak.
The industry needs to stop, take a deep breath and rethink the whole campaign around the future of bobbies.
