Welcome to the five-star cow farm

VINCENT PARNIS

Mar 18th 2010, 20:13

@ Joseph Cauchi
Are we looking for domestic animals, living in lovely envirmonent or we all go back to the bush so we are free.
Snowy/heavy rain in most Countries do not allow cows to stay outside, grounds are frozen/ muddy, nothing grows, nothing to eat. Cows are in all best Countries kept inside for better conditions.
Cows do not need to run, jump, or try to get injured, but cows need 3 main things:
Sleep on comfortable and clean place, so they sleep on clean mattress, as we human beings sleep.
High quality nutrition adlib 24hrs a day in a total mix ration, not just grass.
Right temp enviorment, coming from proper shelter/modern housing. This proper housing is found from the US/Canada to Israel, from Scandinaviarland to Malta.
Bovines seen outside in other Countries are the young stock, non producing, under 2 years, or the low production cows.
Judgement is not done by us human beings but by the same animal. These Cows are happier than ever before, clearly seen by their calm/friendly temperament, between each other and with us humans. Even more they love everyone to pat them. I wish human beings have same friendly reactions between ourselves.

John Farrugia

Mar 18th 2010, 15:50

An interesting idea...Well, in the industry, cows actually are MPR's, to use a previous acronym. It is a nice gesture to give them a bit of comfort at least. Nothing compared to grazing in the fields of course, though we can't afford that now, can we...

Joseph Cauchi

Mar 18th 2010, 15:28

@Mr. Philip Zammit,

An animal kept 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and 365 days a year in a confined space with hardly any movement whatsoever, cannot be considered as acceptable!

Are cows in Europe kept in this manner or not grazing on the vast expanse of land, which unfortunately in Malta we do not possess?

These are no longer “animals” but have been turned to milk-producing-robots (MPRs)!

How about you stay in those conditions, only just for a few hours, not year after year after year?

Is this the NATURAL HABITAT provided by the CREATOR for these animals?

JC

A. Gauci

Mar 18th 2010, 13:53

I honestly wish I was a cow in this farm now. They're being treated very very well! How can you not be happy with hay all day long, a mattress and a massage as a cow?

Neil Sant

Mar 18th 2010, 13:39

If I were a cow I'd moove in immediately to stop the Government from mooching off my taxes!

J Theuma

Mar 18th 2010, 12:10

How much for a 2 nights stay? ;)

Charles Micallef

Mar 18th 2010, 09:55

Is this 'five star facility' now registered with the MTA? and how many inspections do they conduct annually?

Philip Zammit

Mar 18th 2010, 08:12

@ Joseph Cauchi

You speek of animal cruelty and the cows having no dignity, so i presume you are a person who doesn't drink milk or use milk in cooking. If it isn't for farms like these that keep the standards implied by the health sector there wouldn't be enough milk for the whole population.
So Mr. Cauchi, I advise you that before you write something down on a paper or more and more on the internet, you check if this is helping the country and the population. We need this boost.
To my knowledge the cows aren't being subject to animal cruelty. They are being kept in a well organised and well kept farm. I hope you don't imagine us going back to the old days, like when you hear the milk man in the streets yelling so you will whip out a steel jar and let him give you milk straight from the cow. If you wish that so the farms wouldn't need to hold all these cows 'captive', please advise the government, maybe they agree!!!

David Gatt

Mar 17th 2010, 23:01

This is great news for animal lovers like myself.

Peter Shaw

Mar 17th 2010, 16:55

Like a cow, I too am being milked regularly, by the utilities bills.But I dont get a mattress and a massage!

Mark Galea

Mar 17th 2010, 12:45

Looks great. It feels good to see a farm run so professionally. I do find it a little hard to believe, though, that children (in the U.K at least) have no idea where milk comes from. So we have a young generation who are 'professionals' on the porn industry (this according to a documentary I saw recently where 80% of U.K. children between 11 and 16 years watch porn regularly), but who think that milk is produced like soft drinks. Good heavens! What next?

M Camilleri

Mar 17th 2010, 12:25

Cows are being treated better than the people on this island.. Their owners given grants by the government to invest in massage and matresses.. The government should give a similar grant to citizens so that we get a free mattress and massages

Joseph Cauchi

Mar 17th 2010, 11:25

Yes, it’s a very well organized cow-farm; Congratulations to the Vellas!

However, where is the DIGNITY to these animals?

These animals have been reduced to just mere M.P.R.s!

i.e. “MILK PRODUCING ROBOTS”.

Is this fair and humane for these animals to be locked (imprisoned) for 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and 365 days for the rest of their earthly life, in those tight enclosed pens, with hardly any bodily movement allowed?

Isn’t it this ANIMAL CRUELTY?

Animal Welfare?

Wishful thinking, perhaps!

JC.

Sabrina Borda

Mar 17th 2010, 11:24

Good to improve conditions no matter how fractional. I wonder if there is any remote chance.... will we now start to drink real good local milk.

Mario Tabone

Mar 17th 2010, 09:27

@Eric Gahn
Cows have no choice , they have to stay and produce milk but you and anybody else who thinks its not good enough on the island have a choice.......LEAVE !!
Why is it that people seem to have great pleasure in turning any news into a detrimental comment against our country. You might think its funny or clever but trust me its not.

Josef Laspina

Mar 17th 2010, 08:45

@Giancarlo Refalo
What you are writing verges on the ridiculous as Northern European Countires have millions of cows grazing on extensive wide open fields - they are very happy cows indeed and produce all the methane in the world. Being strict with our cows will only make them unhappy - they produce a millesimal fraction of all their European counterparts who graze on vast expenses of land. To improve the quality of the meat in Japan they also give their cows beer to drink. Good luck farm owners for good meat and nice 'bnien' milk.

jackie laferla

Mar 17th 2010, 08:06

i would like to know the moral of the lesson for these schoolchildren's outing to the milk factory. I think it is great that these working cows are being treated with kindness. But it is conditional kindness. Be nice to them so they will produce more and better milk. Please take these same children to a dog/cat/turtle sanctuary where animals are treated with kindness and compassion because it is love that drives people to be kind to them. Let us teach our children that ALL animals deserve a dignified life regardless of what they give us back in return.

Joe E Galea

Mar 17th 2010, 07:45

This is really a good news. Well done and good luck to Family Vella

Angi Brumwell

Mar 17th 2010, 07:43

Congratulations!Happy cows give better milk too and, although I guess Malta is often too hot for cows to be outside a lot ,green fodder is still important- a new study printed here (in Switzerland) in yesterdays newspaper,showed that cows fed only on grass gave lower yields but the milk was of a much higher quality.But whatever, we should support those farmers who try their best.

Eric Gahn

Mar 17th 2010, 07:40

It is a consoloation that at least cows are feeling good, comfortable and happy on this island. Most citizens are not.

rita cachia

Mar 16th 2010, 22:01

farmers works 7 days a week

rita cachia

Mar 16th 2010, 21:18

x razzet ghandkom haqkom u veru tiehdu hsiebu good luck minn qalbi

VINCENT PARNIS

Mar 16th 2010, 21:17

Well done all Vella Milk producers, Michael, Saviour, Brian, Charles and Kalcidon.We Maltese citizens have to be proud from such successful investment by the local fresh milk producers, even if we may have nothing to do. Wherever there is something success, alot and several other persons and families benefit. This isone of these examples, thanks to the huge investment by the milk producers, other families working in some way in thischain, benefit from more employments, overtime, and more over satisfaction of working to contribute to everyone's dailyliving.I was on site, and I must admit I enjoyed the minister, going in the same level as the school children, finding time toshare this moments with them. Sometimes we parents now adays do not have time enough to share such time/experience with kids. These school kids had their eyes shining with joy, they never been such close to mother nature whom every dayprovides us with fresh milk. I would have done the same as the Minister, share such time with children, forget aboutother political issues, and contribute to our one Country, Malta.

Giancarlo Refalo

Mar 16th 2010, 21:09

@ Ian Fenech,

pray WHERE do you expect the cows to graze freely? Damage to the environment is much worse if a cow can graze freely in a pasture, it depletes plants which contribute oxygen to he system and releases large quantities of methane. What cows eat depends partially on the moisture content of the food, and it is proven that a cow will eat less dry hay than it will fresh grass. Although the methane they release into the atmosphere isn't too controllable at least we can limit the damage to the carbon cycle.
Also, it is Beef Cattle that are usually allowed to graze. Milk cattle is mainly maintained on a dry feed.
Whoever drinks milk or eats beef is a bit of a hypocrite if they comment negatively on this article!
Vegetarians have every right to comment as they have every right to their opinion.
Well done Vella Dairy Farm.

Justin Azzopardi

Mar 16th 2010, 20:13

Well done Vella Farm!! It's great to see a great effort in an area in which this is not easy at all. Maltese should be proud of their own successes and follow this pride through to the shelves in the shops - something that is unfortunately not frequently seen.. Keep it up!

Charles J. Buttigieg

Mar 16th 2010, 18:40

Cows? More like milk machines. And we boast about it?

Gerard Cassar

Mar 16th 2010, 18:23

is there any need of a fully blown Government Minister to be present when school children visit a modern farm as if everything happened through his action. School children are to be left out of politics. This should be told to Minister Pullicino.

Jay Zammit

Mar 16th 2010, 18:10

to J.Debono; you're right about the hand massages they give the cattle in Kobe, Japan - but the beef itself is actually called "Wagyu Beef" - Kobe is just the namesake.
If you have never tried it - you should, it's unbelievable - especially if you're a meat-lover! It's marbled to perfection.

Jesmond Micallef

Mar 16th 2010, 17:17

Nice to see these lovely animals well looked after, even though I'd rather see them grazing "free" out in the open. The way we treat them is indeed reciprocal.

Well done to Vella Dairy Farm. I hope you will continue with your efforts in this very important area.

Stephen Spiteri

Mar 16th 2010, 17:08

Well done to the Vella family. Your investment is a great example to Maltese businesses.
@A Camilleri, of course they see daylight, they are not cooped up. They are also free to roam in their pens. Everything is according to EU standards, so nobody can complain or criticize anything.
@A Camilleri, and I Fenech - the idea of cows grazing in green pastures is sadly a well gone myth, except in Switzerland. Nowadays in Europe you only see shepp grazing (and ones bred for meat or wool, not milk) on land which the EU subsidizes farmers to keep fallow instead of sowing with crops. They are put there for keeping grass level low and fertilizing it, nothing else.
The pictures we used to see on 'Peter and Jane' are over and anyway, the diet fed to the cows now is far richer than what they can come across in our fields - nettles and thistles ?

J. Debono

Mar 16th 2010, 16:39

Seems like the idea comes from Japan, where they do the same but hand massages, to produce what is the most expensive beef on Earth - kobe beef.

john fenech

Mar 16th 2010, 16:34

Well done for utilising EU funds to modernise and at the same time be in line with the EU directives and keep the animals in a suitable environment. Other farms and dairy industries that are in need to regulate should follow this example soonest.

Ian Fenech

Mar 16th 2010, 16:23

yeah not bad, if you consider living in a cubile to be a great life..................
Gone are the days where cows were free to roam.

a.camilleri

Mar 16th 2010, 15:47

sounds great FIVE STAR COW FARM, but i would like to know if these COWS ever see daylight or graze outside, or is it like battery hens?
love to know the answer.

Isobel Mcgonigle

Mar 16th 2010, 15:38

Love it,hear so much about animal cruelty,this is brilliant,Well done Mr Vella,full marks Malta

Stefan Spiteri

Mar 16th 2010, 15:22

P. Camillei Your right think they are being better served than human now a days...

M Tabone

Mar 16th 2010, 15:07

What an excellent example. Very professional and deserves full promotion. Unfortunately, much need to be accomplished to remove/reverse the nuisance of older farms in residential areas. The worst and most irritating is when farm owners or authorities justify their negative externalities on the basis that such activity prevailed prior neighbourhood. But this is ridiculous and false. It depends on the original size of the farm and also on the legality of the farm structure, practices and density. Some farms existed for decades but the devil is in the detail… most simply don’t have the necessary permits. Well done and hope that this example leads many others to follow suit. This is happening thanks to Government and the EU. Enforcement still need to be strengthened as this industry impacts the wellbeing of others, being locals and tourists.

P. Camillei

Mar 16th 2010, 14:19

Not bad being a cow!! ;-) Facebook's farmville is influencing reality!