10/24/2026
Bottle🍼calf mania & puppy calf mill producers !
I truly fear for the Highland breed and just cattle in general! This disturbing, growing trend of intentionally pulling calves to sell as bottle calves needs to STOP✋️
With a gestation of 9 months, similar to that of humans, most cattle are very maternal creatures, caring and nourishing for their calves sometimes right up until their next calf is born, not at 3 months!
While there are occasions of rejections or mastitis, the majority of these calves being pulled to sell as bottle 🍼 calves are being done so out of pure greed!!
The latest business endeavors are pay to play bottle feeding & cow cuddling experiences being sold to the public from $25-$100pp, then when the calves outgrow their cuteness factor, they're replaced with the next babies stolen from their mamas as the next ca$h calf!
The biggest perpetrator of this are the puppy mill "Mini cow" producers, mass producing calves
and weaning them younger & younger, which essentially malnourishes them to starve & stunt the calf's growth, causing them to remain smaller! These are Not reputable breeders, they are are opportunists who have convinced their new to cattle, cult followers that stealing calves from their mamas is perfectly normal & accepted practice, and selling them as young as possible, making them think they stay tiny!
Every state in the U.S. has animal welfare regulations that prevent the sale of puppies & kittens before 8 weeks, yet somehow its ok for livestock? I'm not one for more government regulation, but this bottle calf practice is nothing short of inhumane! As stewards of these animals we care for, we need to help educate the public, that this practice of bottle calves on hobby farms is not the norm, but the exception! The dairy industry is one of those exceptions, where the commodity is milk🥛, and transitioning those calves to a bottle 🍼 has been standardized practice since the industry's inception!
Bottle calves are also very fragile and can die overnight with absolutely no warning, particularly for those inexperienced with cattle!
The myth that bottle feeding makes calves friendlier is absolutely untrue! Any calf that is handled, spent time with, and worked with, will be just as friendly, but will have been given the benefit of proper cattle manners & social structure taught to it by its mama and other herd members!
Please help educate the public that stealing calves from their mama's is Not normal practice done by Reputable breeders and please dont support those places that offer bottle feeding experiences for profit!
Thanks for coming to my TED 🍼 talk!
