There are (at least) 12 dairy cows on Twitter, thanks to a robotic milking machine and collaboration between the University of Waterloo and Buttermine Farms in Brant, Ontario. The cows have RFID chips that lets the machines track them, and they get to milk themselves (we’ve talked about problems with some RFID-based systems in the past, but not one for milking – yet.)
And it’s cute and fluffy and edumacational and, of course, doesn’t come close to telling the whole picture. Unless we start seeing tweets like “Raped” and “Just watched my son head out to be killed for veal” (though the bios do mention when many last gave birth.) Hell, I’d be happy just to see some mention of manure output, which averages around 140 pounds per day for a lactating cow, apparently, which would seem to be double or triple the amount of milk that’s being produced.
There’s probably some kind of research potential for activists here, tracking the output of an individual cow over the course of the year (the project’s scheduled to run 12 months) assuming all output is being broadcast, or possibly a bot that retweets milk output with other fun facts like the poop stuff mentioned earlier.
What would be some more valuable Twitter enabled farming systems that could actually effect change? Any ideas? Leave ‘em in the comments…
(Via BlogTO)
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someone should make a twitter acount telling the truth about the lives of dairy cows
Well, you could always “follow” them and then reply or send messages about how it felt to have their offspring ripped away from them or if they’re aware the pollution their excrement is causing.
Another reason to go vegan:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bamalibrarylady/4373890727/
Buccaneer candy bar is vegan bar similar to a Three Musketeers Bar. They also make a vegan bar called “twighlight” that is the vegan version of the Milky Way bar.
You may now thank me. Or gain 10 pounds. Or both. Or make jokes about the other “Twilight” the one with vampires
WOW. I’m so getting some of them!!
I have had these. Many times. Using my psychic powers, I predict I will have them again. My gift is my curse…
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