Bontragers/Bowers/Helferichs 10: Where In the World Is Allison Bon-Diego??

[LanaBanana]

It's very odd to me that the newest blog post made a point of saying "playing with Micah+Tucker" and not including the Bowers grand kids. I started to wonder if the those two couples moved to where ever the Bowers are moving, but Cassidy posted on her Insta story about enjoying Falls in Iowa. She also wiped her page. Even if they don't want their kids on social media anymore (which I can totally respect), they could have just said "playing with grand kids."

[usedbicycle]

Could someone who is familiar with livestock farming explain the setup in this picture? It looks like they calves are raised on a short chain tethered to a kind of doghouse, alone. Makes me kind of sad... but maybe this is the standard way of doing it and I feel hypocritical criticizing farmers since I eat beef.

 

[JermajestyDuggar]

5 minutes ago, LanaBanana said:

It's very odd to me that the newest blog post made a point of saying "playing with Micah+Tucker" and not including the Bowers grand kids. I started to wonder if the those two couples moved to where ever the Bowers are moving, but Cassidy posted on her Insta story about enjoying Falls in Iowa. She also wiped her page. Even if they don't want their kids on social media anymore (which I can totally respect), they could have just said "playing with grand kids."

I have a feeling the Boners couples don’t want to be on the blog. I bet it’s paranoia fed by Curtis Bowers. 

[browngrl]

10 minutes ago, usedbicycle said:

It looks like they calves are raised on a short chain tethered to a kind of doghouse, alone. Makes me kind of sad... but maybe this is the standard way

The dairy industry is not so nice.Just to get milk the cows have to get pregnant and then their babies are taken away shortly after birth. If I think about it too much,  I feel sick to my stomach thinking about how it must feel for a mom to have their new born taken away against their will (and cows are pretty intelligent so I suspect they do feel). Anyway my half assed compromise is to  minimize my consumption of dairy which is pretty much limited to a tiny bit of cheese now and then. 

[Jasmar]

Before my daughter’s (and my) health got too bad, we had a few dairy goats. On our small scale, there was always plenty of milk to leave the kids on the moms and still have enough to drink and sell to a few people. Industrial farming is so awful, though. It’s really heartbreaking.

[browngrl]

32 minutes ago, Jasmar said:

Before my daughter’s (and my) health got too bad, we had a few dairy goats. On our small scale, there was always plenty of milk to leave the kids on the moms

I love cheese so I was hoping this was the case so I could justify keeping a small amount of dairy in my diet. I'm hoping that by sticking to small local businesses that my impact won't be too awful. 

[Themanda Duggar]

4 hours ago, usedbicycle said:

Could someone who is familiar with livestock farming explain the setup in this picture? It looks like they calves are raised on a short chain tethered to a kind of doghouse, alone. Makes me kind of sad... but maybe this is the standard way of doing it and I feel hypocritical criticizing farmers since I eat beef.

 

I think this is how you turn calves into veal.

[zee_four]

16 hours ago, Themanda Duggar said:

I think this is how you turn calves into veal.

You are correct 😞 I'm not anti meat eating at all though growing up my mom was more or less vegetarian and rarely fed us meat. My dad is the opposite, the Polynesian diet has a lot of pork, breakfast, lunch and dinner is possible. I cook for my dad and I try to add some healthier earth based items, he eats his veg if its corn, peas, green beans, poi, etc.

Growing up in a prime elk hunting area, I'm okay with regulated sustainable hunting to keep populations in check and eco systems healthy, if and only if the entire animal is utilized for food and other items. I abhor trophy hunting with a passion. 

On my mom's side of the family, she grew up in a tiny farm town of 500 in SW Ontario about 3 hours NW of Toronto closer to Detroit and right next to the 2nd largest old order Mennonite population in North America. Some of our cousins own/grew up on a pig farm and I remember helping bring the bugs to the butcher in a red wagon. Once I found out what it was for I was the only cousin who opted out because I was so upset, I was the super shy super sensitive super caring little girl and wasn't chastised but I did get the lesson first hand.

Then later I learned about factory farming which disgusts me, though I also understand how factors forced farmers to have to farm large scale for corporations or lose their farms entirely, which is a different issue for a different time. But I was grateful for what I learned when I visited my mom's family on various working farms.

Small scale humane farming is okay with me but veal us unnecessary, its unnecessary to take the calfs away from their mothers, just to have more milk to sell and then to keep them tied up, in little sheds to create a luxury food item.

Veal... it is especially cruel.

 

[Black Aliss]

20 hours ago, Themanda Duggar said:

I think this is how you turn calves into veal.

No, veal calves actually have it much worse. They are kept in cages where they cannot move at all. These are dairy calves who are young enough they need their mothers for warmth as well as milk. They get these little huts away from their mothers and are fed a synthetic milk replacer.

Small organic dairy farms are marginally more humane.

[anachronistic]

I’ve never liked the taste of meat, with the exception of baloney and bacon. When I was around 8 it occurred to me that it was much easier to declare myself a vegetarian and not eat meat at all than to argue with my parents over ‘trying’ meat once again. Around the same time I saw a whole pig roasting on a spit on a class field trip to Plimoth Plantation and made the connection and that may have also contributed to my stopping all meat. Over the years it’s also become an environmental issue for me, but I’m a hypocrite because I still eat a fair bit of dairy, never lost my taste for cows milk and will eat fish every few months. 

One of my favorite kids, when they were 4-5 was eating fish sticks and asked where they came from. Without thinking, I told him that they came from fish, like bacon comes from pigs. His eyes got huge and he said,

”Bacon comes from pigs?”

”Yes,” I told him.

He thought about this a while. Then he asked, “Where does broccoli come from?”

Still makes me laugh over a decade later. Also, it proved that our frequent trips to a community farm had taught him….very little. Oops.

 

[zee_four]

20 hours ago, Black Aliss said:

No, veal calves actually have it much worse. They are kept in cages where they cannot move at all. These are dairy calves who are young enough they need their mothers for warmth as well as milk. They get these little huts away from their mothers and are fed a synthetic milk replacer.

Small organic dairy farms are marginally more humane.

I stand corrected with my post. I'm not as familiar with dairy farming.  I have seen those hutches used for veal production but that doesn't mean that's what it is in this case. Since they run a dairy farm they could be using them to protect female calves or to house male calves for veal production. But like you said it's likely the former. Thank you! 🌞

[IsmeWeatherwax]

My youngest and myself have been vegetarian/vegan for the last 2.5 years. Unfortunately even with me doing my absolute best my son has become severely anaemic. He is 13. He loves all fruit and veg and even tolerates my love of fresh spinach in everything! After blood tests et al the doctor believes its diet based. So he is on iron supplements and back on red meat only, got another blood test in 2 months to see if thats fixing the problem.

Im just really chuffed I got to have a steak! I agreed with the child to only buy organic free range local farm beef, which is fine, its just really expensive so it wont be on the menu more than once or twice a week. I have point blank refused to buy chicken or turkey, I just can't bring myself to contribute to that whole factory farming cruelty that goes on. Which isnt a problem as theres no iron in white meat.

In the last few years I have discovered that meat production is an extremely emotive subject, and one conversation thats best avoided, like politics and religion.

[JermajestyDuggar]

The Bontragers posted about the Bible bee. I looked on the Bible bee website and I don’t see a single Bontrager as a finalist. But I’m pleased to see many females and people of color. I bet that chaps the asses of the some of the more racist and sexist fundies.

[SisterCupcake]

2 hours ago, JermajestyDuggar said:

The Bontragers posted about the Bible bee. I looked on the Bible bee website and I don’t see a single Bontrager as a finalist.

There's not - although Rebecca was a participant but didn't become a finalist. I'm ashamed to admit I watched the playbacks of each semi-finalist group on YouTube, mostly just to see who from the past years is still around, who has outgrown their weird speech habits, and who tries to do interesting recitations like they're on stage in the closest thing they'll ever get to theater. The littlest ones are cute, the older ones are not so much. And the kid from Georgia who has a strong Southern accent until he begins recitation when he turns into an English lad is just...odd.

[Themanda Duggar]

On 11/20/2021 at 2:59 AM, IsmeWeatherwax said:

My youngest and myself have been vegetarian/vegan for the last 2.5 years. Unfortunately even with me doing my absolute best my son has become severely anaemic. He is 13. He loves all fruit and veg and even tolerates my love of fresh spinach in everything! After blood tests et al the doctor believes its diet based. So he is on iron supplements and back on red meat only, got another blood test in 2 months to see if thats fixing the problem.

Though I am not vegetarian any more, I was for most of my life (nearly 35 years), including when I was pregnant and having my iron levels checked regularly.  I used herbs to supplement iron, and my levels were consistently perfect.  Vitamins almost always made me throw up, so I needed other options.  Feel free to message me if you want more information.

Also, vitamin C significantly enhances iron absorption, and cooked spinach is a better source of iron than raw spinach, though I don’t remember why that is.

I fully agree with you about factory farming.

[Black Aliss]

On 11/20/2021 at 2:59 AM, IsmeWeatherwax said:

My youngest and myself have been vegetarian/vegan for the last 2.5 years. Unfortunately even with me doing my absolute best my son has become severely anaemic. He is 13. He loves all fruit and veg and even tolerates my love of fresh spinach in everything! After blood tests et al the doctor believes its diet based. So he is on iron supplements and back on red meat only, got another blood test in 2 months to see if thats fixing the problem.

Im just really chuffed I got to have a steak! I agreed with the child to only buy organic free range local farm beef, which is fine, its just really expensive so it wont be on the menu more than once or twice a week. I have point blank refused to buy chicken or turkey, I just can't bring myself to contribute to that whole factory farming cruelty that goes on. Which isnt a problem as theres no iron in white meat.

In the last few years I have discovered that meat production is an extremely emotive subject, and one conversation thats best avoided, like politics and religion.

Yes. We are omnivores, in part because I think animal protein is actually good for people, and mainly because I see large scale crop farming as being much more environmentally damaging than small scale animal farming. We used to raise our own poultry and I would like to do that again, but my plate is already too full these days. Our meat comes from a local farmer who posts videos of the piglets romping around in the forest doing their pig thing and from a friend in Wyoming who keeps her cattle on pasture for their entire life cycle.  Both of them use a slaughterer that comes to their place, instead of terrifying the animals by trucking them to a slaughterhouse. It's all far more humane than what happens to the small mammals who are killed by crop farming equipment. And the upside to it being expensive is that we eat much smaller portions, rather closer to what the USDA recommends than the 7-8 ounce or more that people typically consider a serving. The other nice thing about pastured animals is that I will willingly eat organ meat, even the liver, because I don't have to wonder what nasty stuff got stored in that organ.

And still, it's not a topic I readily bring up with my vegetarian friends, who finger-wag at me if I just so much post a photo of a dish that contains eat.

I hope your son recovers quickly.

 

On 11/20/2021 at 9:42 AM, SisterCupcake said:

And the kid from Georgia who has a strong Southern accent until he begins recitation when he turns into an English lad is just...odd.

Maybe because he's reciting from the KJV he thinks it sounds more accurate with an English accent?

Edited November 23, 2021 by Black Aliss

[IsmeWeatherwax]

Thank you @Themanda Duggar @Black Aliss once we have the next blood test we can re-evaluate the diet, I intend to have much beef stew and steak in this period, just in case lol Yes he has a glass of orange juice with his tablet and I hide spinach in everything!  We do have pernicious anaemia in the family and his neutrophils were just scraping thru at the high end of low. 

Im trying to remain positive while we wait.   

[ifosterkittens]

@IsmeWeatherwaxif you are interested in an iron supplement recommendation I highly recommend ProFerrin. It is a heme iron supplement, and more expensive than other iron supplements, but for me it has been fantastic. I  have taken just about every iron supplement on the market, and this is my preference. My mom's go to meal for iron when I was a kid was steak and spinach pie. Good luck!

Edited November 23, 2021 by ifosterkittens

[usmcmom]

Did anyone else see Allison’s family photos on Instagram?  The top she is wearing makes me wonder if she is pregnant. It’s a more loose-fitting top than she usually wears recently, even considering she is just a few months postpartum. 

[browngrl]

17 minutes ago, usmcmom said:

The top she is wearing makes me wonder if she is pregnant.

Compared to the photo she posted back in October, she does seem "fuller". It could just be the cut of the top/photo angle or a big meal but with fundies I am never surprised to hear they are pregnant.

[JermajestyDuggar]

I wouldn’t be surprised if Allison was quickly pregnant after birth like her sister. But she doesn’t look pregnant in those photos. If she is pregnant, she’s probably not really showing anyway. I’m going to guess 16 months between her 1st and 2nd babies.

[IsmeWeatherwax]

Thank you @ifosterkittens! I will keep an eye out for that supplement. I made a nice steak pie last week but I didnt think to add spinach! I will be making it with spinach next time, yum!

[Black Aliss]

6 hours ago, IsmeWeatherwax said:

Thank you @Themanda Duggar @Black Aliss once we have the next blood test we can re-evaluate the diet, I intend to have much beef stew and steak in this period, just in case lol Yes he has a glass of orange juice with his tablet and I hide spinach in everything!  We do have pernicious anaemia in the family and his neutrophils were just scraping thru at the high end of low. 

Im trying to remain positive while we wait.   

Has he been tested for h. pylori? Doctors always assume people with anemia are vegans, but my doc was being super thorough when I told her I'd been turned away at the blood mobile, even though my iron levels have always been very high. So she ordered an endoscopy and a colonoscopy, even though I was technically too young for the latter. Turned out I had a raging h.pylori infection that prevented my body from turning iron in my diet into a usable form for my body. I needed a couple of weeks of iron infusions while the meds did their work in knocking out the infection.

[IsmeWeatherwax]

@Black Aliss wow I did not know that! No they certainly weren't looking for that. I will mention it at the next blood test. Thank you!

[IsmeWeatherwax]

The Bonts have posted that their tour starts shortly. Many many dates are available if you wish to book them... Not as popular as they used to be?