A vegan activist has taken a hit at Aussie dairy farmers claiming it’s time to put an end to the “cruel and abusive” industry and focus on plant based alternatives that don’t “exploit animals”.
Speaking out in response to a young South Australian farmer’s heartbreaking message about the closure of her family farm, Joey Carbstrong said farmers should move on because dairy is becoming “obsolete”.
On Sunday, Fleurieu Peninsula resident Casey Treloar took to social media to share the devastating news of her farm’s collapse, claiming one-dollar supermarket milk prices contributed to its downfall.
The heartbroken farmer, who followed her father into the industry, struggled to hold back tears as she explained her family is only getting around 38 cents a litre for their milk, which is “completely unstable”.
While many sent messages of support to Casey, Joey appeared somewhat pleased that another farm had been forced to cease business.
“What I found interesting is that she considered herself a cow person which is really bizarre seeing as all of those cows go to the slaughter house, the boy calves are all killed at a fraction of our lifespan, all separated, taken away from their mothers,” Joey said in the YouTube video.
“It’s a horrifically cruel and abusive industry, even if the dairy farmers don’t see it that way, it is for the animals.”
Although Joey said he wasn’t in any way trying to attack Casey, he claimed she had been indoctrinated into the industry and had exploited animals. According to the activist, vegans are not going to stop campaigning any time soon as they work to protect the “true victims” of the industry.
“We are going to change the world, that’s how activism works,” Joey continued. “We see an injustice, the dairy industry, we look at it from the victims perspective, not the farmers, although they are victims of conditioning, they are not the true victims like animals.”
He then went to suggest dairy farmers get a new job and leave dairy farming behind once and for all.
“Why don’t you just move industries?” he queried. “You’re going to have to move industries anyway because dairy is going to become obsolete.”
The video, which was first published on Monday, has since received thousands of views with many other passionate vegans calling out in support of Joey. His fellow activists echoed his comments, claiming if farmers really did love their animals, they wouldn’t be working in the industry.
“It’s prime time for dairy farmers to start jumping ship to veganism. Jump or sink, but don’t complain,” one person commented.
“Cry me a river lady. So happy the dairy industry is struggling. Thank you to all the intelligent, compassionate people buying plant based alternatives,” another wrote.
A third added: “If you loved the cows you’d leave them and their children alone”.
Joey’s message comes only days after Casey shed light on the collapsing dairy industry and the dire situation that led to the downfall of her family’s farm.
“We can’t really afford to keep going anymore,” the heartbroken farmer said in a video published on Facebook. “We are forever the optimists that the industry will get better but for our family, we’ve come to a point where we can’t do it anymore.”