bitwins

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Farmers are opening up windows to their lives.. and the public is throwing rocks through them

Disclaimer: the purpose of this post is not to discuss why farmers are opening up on social media (ie for their own economic benefit or whatever other malicious thing you believe they are out there doing). this post is also only in reference to livestock farming, as farmers tend not to get death threats over what form of tillage they choose to use or how their crop rotations are organized.

This morning a link popped up on my facebook to an article by a farmer titled “New Etiquette Lessons: “Please Call the Vet…” “Please Mind Your Own Business”

The article revolves around a farmer who has chosen to open up their life and work on their farm to the public eye, and they pay a price that all producers are familiar with: public scrutiny. Livestock farmers who choose to share their lives often do so because they always hear the call that people need to understand where their food comes from.

In my mind, this issue can be summed up very easily: farming is a profession, but it is not respected by the public as such.

To be a farmer, one does not need a degree, but the amount of knowledge required to run a farm is immense. People with no background in agriculture, who attempt to “throw it all away” to farm, jump into a deep pool with no knowledge of swimming. If these people do not have an immense savings or business plan in place, they often will fail at this endeavor. Similarly, small community gardens can fall to shambles without the knowledge, or time, of someone with horticultural experience. I’ve seen that firsthand.

Raising livestock is a lifestyle filled with tough decisions, heartbreak, intuition, and judgement calls. As a profession, a farmer needs to survive off of the decisions they make in management. A livestock farmer requires thorough medical and nutritional knowledge to run their operation, and while veterinarians, nutritionists, and contractors, pay an important role in these operations, a farmer cannot rely on these professionals to the point of bankruptcy. A farmer’s end goal is to provide the public with food products that they want to buy, and can afford, and in this mission they need to balance their expenses to pay their feed bills, and their own bills. In this process, the farmer knows when to call a vet, when to treat an animal themselves, or when to euthanize an animal.

The farmers who have thrown themselves to the wolves by posting their day-to-day business on social media, are offering a free service to the consumer interested in education. These farmers love to hear comments, questions, and concerns, but the public eye has no right to scrutinize these people as if they know nothing.

Farmer Tim on Facebook shares cow hoof maintenance and other day-to-day practices on his dairy farm (A proper question is to ask if the cows dislike it, if it hurts them, what happens if this is not done. Accusations, and baiting? Not so welcome.)

Taranaki Farm in Australia shares their livestock rearing practices with a mostly respectful public.

Polyface Farm in Virginia offers support for the budding entrepreneur with innovative practices, lessons, and tours.

There are many more farmers on social media. Of course the attacks tend to be related to animal welfare or use. And as I’ve said before, livestock welfare is not intuitive to someone who doesn’t work with livestock. Please, feel free to interact with these farmers and raise your concerns with them, but do so in respect of their profession, because they are more knowledgeable than you may want to give them credit for!

#AHHH #resource #do not lose

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GOD ALSO! sometimes i hear ppl talking shit abt people they’re supposedly friends with after school and im like ??????? I hate this petty high school bullshit grow the fuck up

not to vaguepost or anything but my class … rly likes to complain abt our instructor …

and they have every right to because they feel they aren’t getting their money’s worth from their education. but man … can they complain a little less … idk rudely ?

#I haaaaate this course so much

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not to vaguepost or anything but my class ... rly likes to complain abt our instructor ...

and they have every right to because they feel they aren’t getting their money’s worth from their education. but man ... can they complain a little less ... idk rudely ?

#Like i dont like my teacher too but you wont catch me attacking his person ? #also ... it’s partly their fault for taking everything our teacher says blindly #critical thinking ... very scarce in this program

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imma say it. “kung fu panda” did more for body positivity and saying that  you can be fat and still be healthy and liked than ANYTHING any beauty companies trying to get your money.

#kung fu panda #my fave movie in 2008 ... #i legit wrote on my house's wall... i <3 kung fu panda #still love it... thanks for making my fat ass feel valid

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'Beautiful' dinosaur tail found preserved in amber

The tail of a feathered dinosaur has been found perfectly preserved in amber from Myanmar.

The one-of-a-kind discovery helps put flesh on the bones of these extinct creatures, opening a new window on the biology of a group that dominated Earth for more than 160 million years.

Examination of the specimen suggests the tail was chestnut brown on top and white on its underside.

The tail is described in the journal Current Biology.

“This is the first time we’ve found dinosaur material preserved in amber,” co-author Ryan McKellar, of the Royal Saskatchewan Museum in Canada, told the BBC News website.

The study’s first author, Lida Xing from the China University of Geosciences in Beijing, discovered the remarkable fossil at an amber market in Myitkina, Myanmar.

The 99-million-year-old amber had already been polished for jewellery and the seller had thought it was plant material. On closer inspection, however, it turned out to be the tail of a feathered dinosaur about the size of a sparrow.

Lida Xing was able to establish where it had come from by tracking down the amber miner who had originally dug out the specimen.

Dr McKellar said examination of the tail’s anatomy showed it definitely belonged to a feathered dinosaur and not an ancient bird.

“We can be sure of the source because the vertebrae are not fused into a rod or pygostyle as in modern birds and their closest relatives,” he explained.

“Instead, the tail is long and flexible, with keels of feathers running down each side.”

Dr McKellar said there are signs the dinosaur still contained fluids when it was incorporated into the tree resin that eventually formed the amber. This indicates that it could even have become trapped in the sticky substance while it was still alive.

(Read the rest of the article here.)

#science

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Yamato: I’ll have a large coffee.

Kakashi: I’ll have a small.

Yamato: *i have clearly made a mistake. the large coffee is going to be too large. Senpai made the right decision, of course, big shocker there. Senpai’s small coffee will the perfect temperature until the last sip but mine will likely be cold by the time i’m finished, unless i chug it. and i can’t chug hot coffee; it will burn my tongue and give me heartburn. i’ll have to choke down cold coffee and you know what? i deserve it*

#my boyfriend .... #i lov him... #naruto

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anime guy: *literally beats the shit out of another guy til he almost dies*

the guy that got beat up: thank u we are friends now

anime guy: yeah

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Finding a fresh new daydreaming plot is honestly the best feeling.

#god ...... #yea

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Even LGBT people are afraid to create LGBT rep half the time because you fucking goblins critique things with LGBT rep so harshly that the second it does something that you personally don’t like it gets treated even worse than the shows that have absolutely no rep in them.

Demonizing every show that is earnestly trying to provide the rep we’ve been lacking is NOT THE WAY TO GET BETTER REP

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me fantasizing about making a thing but not actually making it but I’m having a great time just fantasizing about it so it’s ok

#kadfkjafkahdf #yea

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The Hargreeves family as John Mulaney quotes.

#tua #diego's .....

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Frozen 2: Everyone is in Hell

#god. ...

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rb this with your ethnicity/where you’re from + at what age you got your ears pierced

#phil #the same day i was born #i think it's free that way in the phil? here it isn't

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I wept working 25¢ over minimum wage at McDonalds

#fuck rich people

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my anxiety: if I do not Produce and Achieve I will Die

my depression:

#worm

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It’s okay to be bad at things. If you like drawing, but none of your art is aesthetically pleasing to anyone, keep doing it. If you like singing, but you can’t hit any of the right notes, keep doing it. If you like dancing, but you don’t have a good feel of the music, keep doing it. Don’t stop doing the things that you love just because you aren’t good at them and don’t ever let anyone shame you for it.