Claim #1 Evidence
Is this true? Can being a twin calf explain away the fact that Sophie was a 3 month old calf that was only 67 pounds instead of the expected 250-300 pounds? And does this explain the lice, hoof rot, and wounds on Sophie's body?
'>
Sophie the day she arrived at Life with Pigs (April 22)
The first place to look is with the experts that Scott Braglio should trust. The North Carolina Extension office states clearly that a twin calf will only be 10% lighter than a non-twin calf at weaning. But at 67 pounds, Sophie was 88% lighter than a normal calf at 3 months of age. So, even if Sophie was 50 or 100 pounds heavier, she'd still be vastly underweight. So, unless Braglio Farms left Sophie suffering for months, there is no explanation for why she was so emaciated after the first few days of being abandoned by her mother.
Additionally, the Braglios have yet to show pictures of the mother or the alleged twin, so it is unclear if even that much is true. The mother and brother/sister seem like a key piece of evidence in this case. What Sophie's twin looked like at 3 months would play a key role in establishing how neglected Sophie was at the time she arrived at Life with Pigs.
In his racist and homophobic bent rant recorded on March 10th, Scott Braglio asserted that part of the problem was that Ryan Phillips of Life with Pigs doesn't have experience with cows or twin calves. Sadly, for Braglio, Ryan's primary experience has been with a twin calf that he raised from the time she was 3 days old after being surrendered by a dairy farm that had twin calves and discovered the female calf of the male-female pair would be infertile. While, being separated from her mother created difficulties, at no point was this calf ever underweight. And by three months was well over 200 pounds. So, Braglio's assertion that twins are difficult to raise for anyone including someone without experience falls flat due to Phillips' previous experience successfully raising such a bottle calf. And the fact that the North Carolina Extension confirms this by stating a 10% loss in body weight at weaning does not conform to Braglio's story.
And, it hopefully goes out saying that while this is Braglio's top excuse for why Sophie was in the condition she was in, being a twin fails to bear any connection to having lice, being coated in wounds, and having hoof rot. These all point to neglect on the part of the farm and farmer. These are all easily prevented conditions with minimal costs and effort being applied to the care of a herd. More on this later.
Additionally, Braglio's claim of being a twin causing Sophie's condition does not explain how Phillips and the Life with Pigs' team was able to cure Sophie of lice and increase her weight by 18 pounds in one week. That is exactly the kind of growth rate that should be expected from a calf. And in this case, Sophie increase her total body weight by 26%. She still had a long way to go to cease looking emaciated, but Sophie was headed in the right direction. If Braglio Farms had been doing their due diligence in regards to Sophie's health, she would never have ended up 200+ pounds underweight, and this assertion is supported by the vet letter provided by Phillips' large animal vet that saw Sophie.
Additionally, the Braglios have yet to show pictures of the mother or the alleged twin, so it is unclear if even that much is true. The mother and brother/sister seem like a key piece of evidence in this case. What Sophie's twin looked like at 3 months would play a key role in establishing how neglected Sophie was at the time she arrived at Life with Pigs.
In his racist and homophobic bent rant recorded on March 10th, Scott Braglio asserted that part of the problem was that Ryan Phillips of Life with Pigs doesn't have experience with cows or twin calves. Sadly, for Braglio, Ryan's primary experience has been with a twin calf that he raised from the time she was 3 days old after being surrendered by a dairy farm that had twin calves and discovered the female calf of the male-female pair would be infertile. While, being separated from her mother created difficulties, at no point was this calf ever underweight. And by three months was well over 200 pounds. So, Braglio's assertion that twins are difficult to raise for anyone including someone without experience falls flat due to Phillips' previous experience successfully raising such a bottle calf. And the fact that the North Carolina Extension confirms this by stating a 10% loss in body weight at weaning does not conform to Braglio's story.
And, it hopefully goes out saying that while this is Braglio's top excuse for why Sophie was in the condition she was in, being a twin fails to bear any connection to having lice, being coated in wounds, and having hoof rot. These all point to neglect on the part of the farm and farmer. These are all easily prevented conditions with minimal costs and effort being applied to the care of a herd. More on this later.
Additionally, Braglio's claim of being a twin causing Sophie's condition does not explain how Phillips and the Life with Pigs' team was able to cure Sophie of lice and increase her weight by 18 pounds in one week. That is exactly the kind of growth rate that should be expected from a calf. And in this case, Sophie increase her total body weight by 26%. She still had a long way to go to cease looking emaciated, but Sophie was headed in the right direction. If Braglio Farms had been doing their due diligence in regards to Sophie's health, she would never have ended up 200+ pounds underweight, and this assertion is supported by the vet letter provided by Phillips' large animal vet that saw Sophie.
