Farm Journal magazine runs a monthly advice column. Here is an excerpt from a letter in the latest magazine:

"Slowly I see the traits of my father rearing their ugly head in me. I also bring my frustrations home to my wife and daughter, and even if I'm just in a bad mood, it hurts them. I also take out my pent-up frustration on the cattle and use them as scapegoats for my unhappiness."

It's extremely rare for a rancher to admit to abusing animals. I shudder to think what this guy to doing to his animals - it must be pretty bad considering that ranchers consider their animals as nothing more than cash on the hoof. :whip:

if you like to read about ranchers can i recommend this book to you:

Mad Cowboy: Plain Truth from the Cattle Rancher Who Won't Eat Meat by Howard Lyman and Glen Merzer (ISBN: 0684845164)

Synopsis
The former cattle rancher whose appearance on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" sparked a lawsuit against both him and Winfrey exposes the hazardous practices of the cattle and dairy industries.

Mr. Lyman is the reason I went Vegan. He spoke at a nearby library and I bought his book, which he autographed! It was very enlightening for me.

That's sad to think they abuse the cattle, they already put those poor animals through enough. :cry:

Mad Cowboy is a great book.

Poor cattle... I live in the country in a rental house that's on a cattle farm (NOT our farm, thankfully), so I get very close to the sweet little things. At least the man who owns them treats them well, but I still don't approve.

Amusingly, they seem to be getting him back lately... he's been attacked by them a couple of times this past week, almost like a cattle revolt.

no animal or human deserves to be treated badly because some guy is having a bad day. in my opinion anyone who does that is a coward. my stepdad hit our dog so hard she hid in the corner of the garden cowering with her belly as low to the ground as it could get. i hate him so much. hes a COWARD and so is this guy. luckily my mother is leaving him!

thank you for this post