Gene

Gene is a beautiful Friesian steer – he was rescued from a dairy farm at just 6 days old. Gene is a ‘bobby calf’, a waste product of the dairy industry.

For dairy cows to produce a continual supply of milk they have to be pregnant or have just given birth, their unwanted calves usually sent off to slaughter in the first few days of their lives. The milk from the mother cows is then used for human consumption. Most bobby calves are not as lucky as Gene, around 700,000 are slaughtered in Australia every year. If you would like to help little guys like Gene, switch to dairy-free items when choosing your groceries!

If you haven’t guessed already our darling Gene is named after Gene Baur, co-founder and president of Farm Sanctuary in America, the first sanctuary for farmed animals. It was founded in 1986 and is now the largest and most effective farm animal rescue and protection organisation. They have rescued thousands of animals and have 3 different sanctuaries – one in Watkins Glen, New York and two in California.