New Year, New Me?

"New Year, New Me" - Well.... if that was true this post would have been up two months ago, but my procrastination skills from my undergraduate days have returned, and this time with a vengeance.

Zipping back to Canada over the holidays was a nice break from my Scottish reality, but to say it was completely relaxing would put my sanity into question. I was back on the family dairy farm after all. 

Term Two is Glasgow started abruptly with Animal Ethics our first week back. After weeks of having relatively idle academic thought, we were confronted with our morality in a matter of minutes. Not only did the ethics course challenge the people we were sitting around the conference table in the Graham Kerr Library, it also made us intimately aware of the people we used to be, and the life experience that inevitably led to our ethical growth. 

I've put together the crashiest of crash courses for everyone's ethical undertaking. It's hard to know exactly where to begin with concern to animal ethics because, historically, the value that man placed on animals was typically a reflection of that animal's monetary worth. The attitudes towards animals and their treatment evolved over time, beginning with a politcal foundation (establishing animals as property), and continued as mans' understanding of the natural world increased with the help of science. 

By the late 18th Century, "The Age of Enlightenment" saw the development of ideas and scientific theory based on reason, and a gradual movement towards the notion of animals as sentient beings that had a capacity for pleasure and for pain - the notion that animals could feel. Two moral philosophies emerged at this time, the first being the rights movements  (eg. French Revolution; American Independence), and the second was the development of Utilitarianism. Jeremy Bentham, who is considered the founder of modern utilitarianism, based utilitarianism on the principle that the measure of right and wrong could be derived by achieving the greatest amount of happiness for the greatest number, and the balance of costs versus benefits. It wassuch thought that the concept of unnecessary suffering was wrought, and Bentham's emphasis on the interested of a being (versus its rights) challenged mans' treatment of other sentient beings. 

"The question is not, can they reason? Nor, can they talk? But, can they suffer?"
                                                                                            - Jeremy Bentham

In fact, utilitarianism ideas led to the first law for the protection of animals in England and Wales in 1822 - "Ill Treatment of Horses and Cattle Bill". Not surprisingly, this bill provided protection for animals, ie. livestock, that held value in society, and did not pertain to how the owner of an animal could treat said animal. In addition, the bill did not provide protections for dogs, poultry or bulls, which was thought to be due to the popularity of cock fights, dog fights, and bull baiting at the time it was passed. 

It wasn't until 1911 when the first comprehensive general law relating to cruetly in animals was passed in the UK - "The Protection of Animals Act 1911", which was used until 2006. 

But back to animal ethics!! Ethics deals with our values, of what we consider good versus bad, right or wrong; it embodies how we ought to behave. The decisions that we make every day have moral dimensions, and even though we may not realize it, the decisions we make have ethical implications. Ethics is made up of five predominant frameworks that play a role in guiding one's ethical stance, and all of these views assume that at least some animals (ie. sentient beings) have moral standing, we have a duty towards them. 

The Contractarian View is focused on the concept that our ethical obligations originate in the mutual agreements (or contracts) we have with others. Mutual cooperation is in everyone's best interests, and through our cooperation agreements/contracts are born. Thus, bringing ethical obligation into being. Non-human animals, however, cannot enter into contractual arrangements, and therefore, in the general sense, we have no ethical duties towards them. 

The Utilitarian View as aforementioned, concerns itself with maximising human and animal well-being. The greatest good for the greatest number. A utilitarian will not only consider what is right and wrong, but also consider better and worse. All sentient being have interests, and therefore, humans and non-humans deserve equal consideration. 

The Animal Rights View is grounded on the foundation that it is unacceptable to treat a sentient being as a means to achieve a goal. No benefit can justify the violation of an animal's rights and dignity. 

The Relational View is based on the concept that our morality grows out of our relationship with animals. Our relationship with them defines our duties towards them. 

The Repsect for Nature View upholds that we have a duty to not only protect individual animals, but the species in which they belong. This view emphasizes preserving species, genetic integrity (as nature intends), ecosytems, and other collective entities. 

For more insight into these five frameworks I've included an additional post - "More Ethics". 

Let' us consider the ethics of dairy farming... (in a nut shell)

The utilitarian view should stand out as the driving framework for most dairy farmers, and it is likely that utilitarian views start developing at a relatively young age for anyone that has grown up on a farm. (For those of us who had the pleasure of being dragged across the ground by our 4H calves, the relational views may have also started to develop.)

Because we are exploiting (yes, exploiting) dairy cattle to provide dairy products for the world, we are constantly weighing the costs and benefits of our operations. For example, when considering how to implement a new practice on your farm, or renovate, a number of questions should cross your mind. How will a new management practice or barn renovation impact my bottom line? What will it cost me, what will be the benefits/returns? Will it impact my employees? How will it impact my dairy cows?

If the last question didn't cross your mind, I'm sorry to inform you that you are not very utilitarian, and you should kindly excuse yourself from the dairy industry. 

Utilitarian practices should find the balance between human and animal benefit. Always. As dairy farmers, we can't uphold strong animal rights views. That concept flies out the window each time you pull on your rubber boots, but this is not a bad thing. The animal rights view doesn't need to raise the alarm. A utilitarian, by definition, will want the best for his or her cows, within his or her means. Upholding good animal welfare practice, at its core, means trying to uphold... you guessed it, the Five Freedoms, and create a life worth living for your cows. 

My experience in the dairy industry has shown me time and time again that farms are not created equal. Each farm will have its strengths and its weaknesses. However, regardless of how old your barn or parlour is, if you have 25 cows or 250 cows, I've learned that animal welfare always begins with the farmer. One simple word sets a great farmer apart from a bad farmer - Respect. Be kind to your cows. Respect them. I implore you to ask yourself - Have your cows had a life worth living?

This brings about the perfect opportunity to introduce the hybrid view. If you haven't already guessed, my animal rights and relational views tend to seep into my utilitarian ethical perspective, and I can't thank my parents more for instilling a love of cows in me that makes me want them to have a life worth living. It's hard for anyone to abide by one ethical framework 100% of the time, which is why the concept of the hybrid view/framework allows us to navigate life's contradictions. Everyone's hybrid view will be distinct, but contain elements of each of the five frameworks. 

Anyone interested in their own ethical stance should check out:  http://www.aedilemma.net and take the ethical dilemma quiz. You will have to create an account, but this allows you to take the quiz again to see how your ethical views change. 

Animal ethics rolled over us quite quickly, and before we knew it, we had emerged from the fray, morally improved, more ethical people... well, hardly. Morality continues to change and develop throughout our entire lives, but it never hurts to self-reflect and challenge your own beliefs. Learning more about animal ethics not only teaches us about ourselves, it also allows us to better understand the perspectives of others, which could be the difference between shipping milk today, and shipping your cows tomorrow.