Anybody Watch "Sunday"?

I wish I hadn't. That dairy farmer on the Hauraki Plains, needs to reduce his cow numbers by at least 100 (Milking 600 cows) and better feed the ones he's got. Wet winter acknowledged. It was bad here too, but, I have seldom got so disgusted about the state of those poor jerseys being asked to calve in such a state, and it all comes back to adequate feeding during the winter and on the rising plain of nutrition they require to calve in good condition. it wasn't any surprise to see him having calving problems and needing to resort to hip cradles to lift a downer cow. His hard stand was a joke. Likeable though the farmer was, by contrast, the female farmer whom Cameron Bennett described as "Just along the road, had her cows in good condition, her calves looked good and weren't being fed with a stomach tube, and the cows looked contented and well fed.
If 600 cow dairy farms are the future of New Zealand, then it's time to go back to smaller farms, better management of livestock, and a stop to damaging the image of NZ primary industry!

So did the programme not do what it was advertised as doing: telling the dairy farmers' side of "the story"?

I wondered if they'd cover the contentious issues raised by earlier programmes regarding the 'cruelty' of separating cows and calves and all. Did it?[strike][/strike]

No I don't think so Ruth, when he used the hip lifters there could have been a more in-depth explanation, it wasn't explained why he choose to wait 24 hours before assisting at a difficult birth, no explanation why chains were used to pull a calf out and it has been lost on some elsewhere that the calf was stillborn (complaints that it was allowed to drop onto concrete). Its been pointed out the crew visited the dairy farm in winter, whilst Jasmin's farm was in summer/better weather. However both were brave to put themselves up for public scrutiny regardless.

Yes, it did show calves being taken away from cows and the farmer acknowledged that the cows will follow the trailer and then call for the calves for a couple of days. This was followed by a clip showing calves being put on to a feeder so it somewhat obscured the fact that 1 of the calves shown would be on the side of the road soon. They also discussed the treatment of bobby calves and the farmer said he had never seen such treatment himself. It didn't show any calves being loaded for the works.
I felt the farmer came over as hard working and genuine but didn't shine the best light on dairy practice. The other thing that surprised the presenter was that the farmers wife went to work everyday to make ends meet. Even 600 cows didn't support the family fully.

The interesting thing was the female farmer had moved to once a day milking and said that the reduced cost of problems with mastitis etc more than offset the drop in milk production. It might be a case of less is more.

Ruth wrote: So did the programme not do what it was advertised as doing: telling the dairy farmers' side of "the story"?

I wondered if they'd cover the contentious issues raised by earlier programmes regarding the 'cruelty' of separating cows and calves and all. Did it?[strike][/strike]

Yes they covered calf separation, they also covered homekill, calf club and hired overseas labour. It was the state of the cows on the big farm I have issue with. They were nothing but walking skeletons.

Cameron Bennett had a go at putting on the cups at jasmines farm, on clean teats that had been sprayed with a shower head type nozzle, while when he put cups on the other farms cow, it wasn't clear any attempt was made to wash the teats first, and it appeared they were covered in shit. A lot of his cows had the ends of their tails missing. Not docked as was the practice some years ago, but no usable fly swat on most of those thin cows.

That's probably pretty common though, so would be a good reflection of the reality of dairying.

What was the previous programme - it was a "Sunday" too, wasn't it? - and was it also done by Cameron Bennett?

Ruth wrote: What was the previous programme - it was a "Sunday" too, wasn't it? - and was it also done by Cameron Bennett?

last one i saw was about the Selwyn river and the pollution of the water down stream.

I meant the one on bobby calves and so on. I heard through a film/TV grapevine that CBennett was looking to present "the other side" of that and wondered if he had done so with this.

Didn't see that one, but the issue of throwing them on the trucks and the trucking of bobby calves issue has to do with the truckee. Bobby calves need to be out at the gate at a prescribed time for pick-up, and be in a secure pen that is sheltered and covered. They also have to be no younger than 4 days old. Taking them off the cow before sending them away is probably silly, as changes of food and feeding is the thing that upsets their tummies and can give them scours. Better to get them in the day or night before and send them off.

Ruth wrote: I meant the one on bobby calves and so on. I heard through a film/TV grapevine that CBennett was looking to present "the other side" of that and wondered if he had done so with this.

The farmer presented came across as a worker & family man who didn't have an axe to grind type of fellow, but I think the explanations could have been better/more indepth, perhaps someone being with the farmer to ''translate'' why this or that happens.

Mind you I have just had a European city based relative come to stay and I was scratching my head with some of her questions, it made me realise how far removed the generations are becoming from farming and where their food actually comes from and who it is that grows it.

(but yes he should have been peered reviewed before allowing the media to enter his property, I thought the cows were well under where they should be for post calving).

I had hoped that Mr Bennett would have found someone sensible to do that translation for him, so he could ask pertinent and sensible questions which would demystify the whole thing for the ignorant. There were so many unrealistic and uninformed assumptions made in the previous programmes, confusing actual cruelty with ordinary day-to-day practice. I'd like to see the reality of dairying shown, with explanations of the "normal" practices so that those who don't know what goes on can judge it on the ordinary, not the extreme. I suspect that some of the ordinary would be a real surprise on its own, but it ought to be understood by the people who consume dairy.

The programme seemed a bit of a set up. Showing the big farm in bad light, very wet and boggy early spring conditions while the smaller farm was definately in summer mode which on most farms paints a far better picture. Yes his cows were very skinny, but it looked like a small amount of filming was done in better weather and the cows looked in way better condition. Both farms did not make ends meet needing 1 person to work off farm. The big farm had the wife working at the local 4Square (most likely during school hours as the kids were quite young) where as the smaller farmer had the husband out working 10-11 hour days as a builder. Does this mean that the smaller farm, while lower input is far less viable. Not great examples of farming in my opinion and I have seen a few farms in my time.

Yes crossed my mind about setup. I visited a couple recently, 1 milking 3000 cows once a day. Completely different set up in a harsh winter climate as well. Quality of cows was a lot better. I think they struck this farm at the worst possible time. That's media for you, then the farmer chose to show himself in a bad light at times. He had the choice.

the main difference I noted was the corpulent look of the conventional farmer and the lean profile of the enlightened one! It was the opposite with their cows.....