First off, I've decided to stop drinking milk. No particular reason for mentioning it on here, other than the fact that making a public declaration means I'll be more likely to stick to it. It all started when I stayed at the house in Warkworth with the family that rescued me from a night of kipping in the stables with the horses. The house was pretty much in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by hills and farmland. All night, some bulls in a nearby field were bellowing and it really started to get to me, they sounded so unhappy. And so we got to talking about dairy farming... and thats when it all changed.
I guess I just thought that cows eat grass and produce milk - end of. Nope apparently not. They only produce milk while they're lactating, like all mammals. And they only lactate if they give birth, common sense yeah? So to get maximum milk yield from a normal black and white dairy cow, they snatch their calves when they're just a few days old, sometimes only 24 hours after giving birth. Then they milk the cows daily, ignoring the bellows and cries as they grieve for their lost babies, until the milk dries up.. at which point they are mated and get pregnant again, and the whole cycle starts again.
As for the calves, well I read that the lucky ones are the boys that are killed within a few days of being born, as they are no use except for cheap quality veal. The unlucky boys who go onto become "quality veal" are put into crates for the first 8 weeks of their sorry lives where they can't move, as any kind of muscle development in the baby changes the pale colour of the veal meat and knocks 20% off its value. They never see the light of day and are killed while they are still babies. The girls will probably go onto be dairy cows, and so will be fed milk from fake teats until they are ready to enter the dairy cycle. Apparently a cow left alone in a field to chew grass and live a happy life would live 21 years, but they rarely pass 3 years as a dairy cow.
Shocking horrible stuff, I don't know how I've made it this far in my life as a vegetarian without this sinking in. As this is my blog and you don't have to read it, I'm not going to apologise for using this opportunity to rant and preach! More info here for anyone that might care: http://www.factoryfarming.org.uk/dairy.html. What is also shocking is how dairy products are in Everything! Its proving really hard to exclude it, no more chocolate, yoghurts, even some crisps have milk protein in. I could never have done this whilst in Peru, but I'm gonna give it a good go now.
Onto other topics, for those that are still reading, hehe. So all the time I was in South America, particularly the last couple of months, so many things were happening that I can only now explain as the Universe conspiring to line things up for me. It might sound mad, but it was definitely happening! As one girl I met put it, travelling like this when you're open-minded and open-hearted, is like being in another dimension. You collide with other people who are just the right people for you to meet at that time, and everything seems to have a purpose.. its fate at work big time. Actually her theory, which I like, is that its not all happening TO me, I'm subconsciously making it happen. Either way, its crazy and thrilling. Since arriving in New Zealand, I've been worried that Life has forgotten about me, or maybe won't be able to find me amongst all these people! I resigned myself to having an easy holiday type experience, and hope that I remembered all the lessons I learned about myself and my life while I was in Peru.
So yesterday I picked up my campervan (which by the way is WICKED http://www.flickr.com/photos/15572145@N04/2361587783/) and looked forward to 3 weeks of solo travel. No chance Life or the Universe is gonna have chance to talk to me now, as I probably won't talk to ANYONE at this rate!
But it always finds a way. Today I was driving my little van, singing away, and it was a while before I realised I'd taken a wrong turn. Instead of heading down the coast, I was heading inland back to a town I visited yesterday! But before I had time to correct my error, I drove past a flapping black thing at the side of the road and was screeching to a halt and legging it back in a split second. A big wild black bird had been hit by a car I guess, and seemed to have broken its leg. I wrapped it in pillow cases (went prepared) and put it in the van. No chance of going back the way I meant to go now, as the bird was priority. So I carried on towards the 'wrong' town, figuring I'd find a vets somewhere to drop the bird off. The roads started to look familiar, and I suddenly had a flashback of a place I'd passed yesterday called "SPCA"... though I had no idea what it was or even if it was actually in this town or not. Next second, I passed a sign that said "SPCA - Animal Care"! I pulled in and took the bird in to see if they could help. Well guess what, its also a dog shelter. I got talking to the woman there, she was saying how busy she always is and there's all these dogs that need rehoming etc. I blurted out, "do you need any help for a few days?" and she said yes! So I'm going in tomorrow morning to help in another dog shelter, and all cos of that bird! Just goes to show, Life always has a way of tracking you down as long as you're listening to what it has to say.
As for the bird, it went to a nearby vet and they're going to call me to let me know if it makes it. Fingers crossed x
