It’s funny that for as long as I’ve been involved in animal agriculture, people have always thought they knew better than me how to take care of my animals. Sometimes they were right, when I was first starting and learning how to care for animals. I took their advice in the form of suggestions from those more experienced than me; this was the entire point of 4-H: learning to be responsible for something and learning the skills to do so successfully. Interaction with adults, public speaking, leadership opportunities, they all came second to the basic concept of learning new things and sharing my learning with those around me.
More often in my later years, they’ve been wrong. As early as middle school on the local junior fair board, I’ve had to deal with accusations of animal neglect when people failed to load their rabbits up on feed all day. Of course, we all know what happens to people who load up on food all day, so it ought to be common sense that it’s not good for a rabbit to stuff itself either, right? And if you think that they self-regulate, you’re absolutely wrong. In most cases, the animal will eat as much as it can because naturally this makes sense for it. But because its energy is not being taxed in survival all day, it needs far less energy as well and overeating can quickly be the end of it. Is it abuse of children when parents tell them to eat broccoli or restrict the amount of chocolate they can eat?
Of course, as time has rolled on, I’ve interacted with stronger personalities and less educated personalities, both categories of which have either embraced an open mind, allowing me to share my knowledge of proper animal care with them, or they have continued to allow ignorance to dominate their intellect and illogically argued that farmers have no idea what’s best for animals and only keep animals to exploit them. I’ve heard recently from people that being defensive of farming makes it look like we’re trying to hide or justify something when most people would’ve never thought to believe the ridiculous stories that circulate anyhow. This may be true, but I think there’s a spark of pride in the role we all play in feeding the planet that makes farmers naturally defensive of the accusations which are backstabbingly snaked about in the underground of the animal rights movement. And I have never shied away from an argument about whether or not we properly care for our animals.
I’ve often wondered what it is that makes animal rights activists so antagonist towards farmers AND their animals. Are they really so ignorant as to believe their own lies about farmers’ exploitative nature? Animals have survived and prospered for centuries in this “exploitative condition”, it’s a shame we can’t just ask them for their official vote of approval. After all, their domesticability is what led us to settle down and take care of them in the first place. It wasn’t us that hunted them down and forced tameness upon them over the years. (Sidebar: have you ever tried to forcefully tame anything? It doesn’t work.) Or maybe the root of this is that the animal rights activists are actually jealous of the good relationship we have with animals based on hard work and mutual respect. If so, all they had to do was ask. We’re more than willing to share our experiences with those who respect our profession, those who don’t spend every waking moment trying to falsify video and abuse animals themselves to get farmers in trouble.
Feedstuffs recently shared an interview with one of the stars of Food, INC., an animal rights leaning “documentary” on the nation’s food system. I’ll try to upload it to my blog for a while if I can, but there were some very striking quotes that came out of it which I wanted to emphasize. When investigated for their dairy cows waiting at the gate to come in for milking, in good weather and right on their internal schedule as always, the investigator told Salatin that he “didn’t have an animal problem; you have a people problem.” The animals were doing just fine, functioning as they’re well adapted to do, but the neighbor down the road thought she knew what was going on and called in abuse when there was nothing further from the truth.
“This notion that we can have life without death is ridiculous.” and “This notion that you can divorce life from death is … a silly, childish, ignorant notion.” More and more people are making money and garnering attention because of such profoundly obvious statements. I touch on this topic often and my favorite organization to bring this up is still the Zac Brown Band in their commentary on the death that comes about from harvesting vegetables. Salatin goes further to say that if you think death is just a one-way street, he suggests laying naked in your garden for three days to see how nature treats you. That’ll be a harsh reminder of the fact that life requires the death of the living. This simple balance is even in Disney’s Lion King, but people still fail to acknowledge it. Death as a part of life doesn't mean that we should cast off efforts to improve that quality of life, but it does mean we should stop looking for ways to bypass what is fact.
But farmers know this, among all the other things they know. And they take it into consideration every day when they are out planting the fields, killing the weeds, treating the animals and feeding them. Life costs life to feed life, but it is our responsibility to help feed the world. And farmers are willing to risk damage to themselves for the sake of the animals, those same animals which will eventually meet their end in the food chain. This is because farmers truly care for their animals, as well as take care of them. They do this even though they know that one day the animal’s life will come to an end to feed them. Animals benefit from this care and protection from disease and predators, and in turn eventually sacrifice their life in exchange. This is the balance that is life.
Showing posts with label Dairy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dairy. Show all posts
Monday, June 27, 2011
Monday, April 25, 2011
Vicious
I searched long and hard, deep within for a one-word title to cover the recent Mercy for Animals video release. This video has been festering in my mind and buzzing in conversation for the last week and for good reason. What you see on the video (which I will not include here, you can Google it yourself) is vile and disgraceful for cattle farmers everywhere. But the story doesn't end there.
Vicious is a word that we use to describe dangerous or sick animals, heart-breakers that we meet at the bar and is also an appropriate description of Mercy for Animals. Credit this organization for always fighting for animal rights like a dog in a corner, yet they're also always on the offensive. They are viciously dishonest as well and based on the lies and falsification of previous movies released (which drives some states' new legislation to prosecute "undercover filmers"), I doubt the honesty behind the depiction of cruelty at the farm. There are thousands of animals on the farm, and over a month there are only 3 minutes of video. Of these 3 minutes, the actual headliner of calves being beat in the head only consisted of a half-dozen calves, our of thousands. Three minutes of video footage for a month of investigation.
But in this day in age, it's not good enough to be right and a good animal caretaker almost all of the time. Almost only counts with horseshoes and hand grenades; it's not enough to have great employees except one who slips up and has anger issues or fails to follow instructions. And that's fine. With food as cheap as people are used to having it, they can afford to get picky and in this day and age, mistakes like what happened at E6 are inexcusable; we've come a long way and it's good of consumers to encourage farmers to tighten their own ranks and to police those who aren't quite as committed to ensuring their employees follow regulations and care standards that are already in place on farms and in this case just weren't followed.
Mercy for Animals goes much further than just helping to make sure that animals are properly cared for and that mistakes are reported. The French defined "vicious" just a little bit different when I was over there, referring to it as more "perverted". I stipulate that this is the true definition of Mercy for Animals. I think it's perverted that they are willing to infiltrate farms, deny care and consideration to animals and even partake in abuse themselves in an effort to convince America to go vegan. It's perverted to be encouraging farm workers to abuse animals and to rig video footage in an effort to convict someone for animal abuse. It's perverted that they get away with this farce unpunished and that so many people blindly accept their lies as the truth.
I can't tell you often enough that farmers care about their livestock and they are more infuriated by this poor care in their fellow farmers than the public can ever be. They fight an uphill battle every day against the one or two bad apples in the crowd, in addition to activists who are willing to personally abuse animals in order to get national attention (within minutes of my posting this, their searches will have already logged me as one more person to have talked online about this - check out socialmention.com), and in addition to the hard work farmers put in every day to feed you safely. They will keep producing wholesome food and will keep honestly caring for their animals in the best ways that personal experience and science have shown them to do. Life's about choices. You can believe the activists who abuse animals and blame it on other people, or you can believe the farmers who have been doing this for more generations than the stock market has been in existence and who genuinely care about the animals in their possession - the choice is all yours.
Vicious is a word that we use to describe dangerous or sick animals, heart-breakers that we meet at the bar and is also an appropriate description of Mercy for Animals. Credit this organization for always fighting for animal rights like a dog in a corner, yet they're also always on the offensive. They are viciously dishonest as well and based on the lies and falsification of previous movies released (which drives some states' new legislation to prosecute "undercover filmers"), I doubt the honesty behind the depiction of cruelty at the farm. There are thousands of animals on the farm, and over a month there are only 3 minutes of video. Of these 3 minutes, the actual headliner of calves being beat in the head only consisted of a half-dozen calves, our of thousands. Three minutes of video footage for a month of investigation.
But in this day in age, it's not good enough to be right and a good animal caretaker almost all of the time. Almost only counts with horseshoes and hand grenades; it's not enough to have great employees except one who slips up and has anger issues or fails to follow instructions. And that's fine. With food as cheap as people are used to having it, they can afford to get picky and in this day and age, mistakes like what happened at E6 are inexcusable; we've come a long way and it's good of consumers to encourage farmers to tighten their own ranks and to police those who aren't quite as committed to ensuring their employees follow regulations and care standards that are already in place on farms and in this case just weren't followed.
Mercy for Animals goes much further than just helping to make sure that animals are properly cared for and that mistakes are reported. The French defined "vicious" just a little bit different when I was over there, referring to it as more "perverted". I stipulate that this is the true definition of Mercy for Animals. I think it's perverted that they are willing to infiltrate farms, deny care and consideration to animals and even partake in abuse themselves in an effort to convince America to go vegan. It's perverted to be encouraging farm workers to abuse animals and to rig video footage in an effort to convict someone for animal abuse. It's perverted that they get away with this farce unpunished and that so many people blindly accept their lies as the truth.
I can't tell you often enough that farmers care about their livestock and they are more infuriated by this poor care in their fellow farmers than the public can ever be. They fight an uphill battle every day against the one or two bad apples in the crowd, in addition to activists who are willing to personally abuse animals in order to get national attention (within minutes of my posting this, their searches will have already logged me as one more person to have talked online about this - check out socialmention.com), and in addition to the hard work farmers put in every day to feed you safely. They will keep producing wholesome food and will keep honestly caring for their animals in the best ways that personal experience and science have shown them to do. Life's about choices. You can believe the activists who abuse animals and blame it on other people, or you can believe the farmers who have been doing this for more generations than the stock market has been in existence and who genuinely care about the animals in their possession - the choice is all yours.
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Hastings Dairy
If you have a minute or two and are curious about what a dairy farm really looks like when not criminalized and propagandized by animal rights activists, take a look at this video. I've been on a lot of dairy farms and can say that this video is an accurate representation of how dairy farmers strive to care for their animals. The great new facilities are a plus too, but this is a good video to watch.
Monday, October 25, 2010
Milk producers behind the times
I'm currently trying to correct a huge publishing error on Blogger.com which merged 2 of my blogs together into something less than intelligible. Hopefully this works...
I know this is one of the more controversial subjects that I touch on, but the Gateway to Animal Welfare has once again uploaded discussion about tail docking dairy cows and it is time people realized that this is an issue which simply isn't going away.
Tail docking started in New Zealand in the 1960's as a way of limiting urine splash onto milkers' faces and thus preventing the spread of leptospirosis to dairy farmers, presumably passed from bovine to human. As it turns out, further research by Mackintosh in the 1980's found that the incidence of Leptospirosis is much stronger correlated to previous worker health and their exposure to rodents while on the job.
That being said, the question presumably follows, "Why are we still docking cows?". Well, the assumptions began to stack up that docked cows would be cleaner around their udder, healthier (less mastitis), and would be producing a higher quality milk. Research since has proven none of these to be true. In fact, not only is there little discernible improvement in the health of cows or the quality of milk, but the cows are further prevented from avoiding flies since they have lost the ability to swat them with their tails as found by Eicher in 2000-2002.
Folks, this research is nearly 10 years old and yet we have made minimal steps towards ending tail docking as a practice in the US dairy industry. You know that I'm an advocate of the dairy industry and livestock agriculture but this is a concerning subject to me. The debate should not be on whether or not the docking is harming the animals. Since this is not providing any gain to the farmer beyond milker relief from tails (which can also be aided by trimming switches), then why are we going to the effort to remove tails from cows that can put them to good use and will be able to retain their natural appearance. This is far different from the case of sheep which will suffer diseases with an intact tail. Dairy cows need their tail and we aren't getting a thing out of taking it off. It's time that the national dairy industry and organizations supporting them begin serious discussions about voluntarily removing this as an industry practice before someone from the outside comes in and makes it happen like they did in California.
It's up to us to be responsible for caring for our animals. If we don't take charge, someone less knowledgeable will take it away from us.
I know this is one of the more controversial subjects that I touch on, but the Gateway to Animal Welfare has once again uploaded discussion about tail docking dairy cows and it is time people realized that this is an issue which simply isn't going away.
Tail docking started in New Zealand in the 1960's as a way of limiting urine splash onto milkers' faces and thus preventing the spread of leptospirosis to dairy farmers, presumably passed from bovine to human. As it turns out, further research by Mackintosh in the 1980's found that the incidence of Leptospirosis is much stronger correlated to previous worker health and their exposure to rodents while on the job.
That being said, the question presumably follows, "Why are we still docking cows?". Well, the assumptions began to stack up that docked cows would be cleaner around their udder, healthier (less mastitis), and would be producing a higher quality milk. Research since has proven none of these to be true. In fact, not only is there little discernible improvement in the health of cows or the quality of milk, but the cows are further prevented from avoiding flies since they have lost the ability to swat them with their tails as found by Eicher in 2000-2002.
Folks, this research is nearly 10 years old and yet we have made minimal steps towards ending tail docking as a practice in the US dairy industry. You know that I'm an advocate of the dairy industry and livestock agriculture but this is a concerning subject to me. The debate should not be on whether or not the docking is harming the animals. Since this is not providing any gain to the farmer beyond milker relief from tails (which can also be aided by trimming switches), then why are we going to the effort to remove tails from cows that can put them to good use and will be able to retain their natural appearance. This is far different from the case of sheep which will suffer diseases with an intact tail. Dairy cows need their tail and we aren't getting a thing out of taking it off. It's time that the national dairy industry and organizations supporting them begin serious discussions about voluntarily removing this as an industry practice before someone from the outside comes in and makes it happen like they did in California.
It's up to us to be responsible for caring for our animals. If we don't take charge, someone less knowledgeable will take it away from us.
Monday, October 4, 2010
Update
Brief updates from my inbox as I run off to lunch with Amanda and then class.
Now that the rBST labeling debate is nearly irrelevant, the legal powers that be have declared form Ohio laws to be overruled. Great?
Also, at Humboldt University in Germany, they have declared that agriculture is being neglected, and "the world is running out of time." Listen up, world leaders, we cannot continue to just expect that agriculture will continue to provide. We must support, and we must support beyond trade sanctions or tax breaks. Agriculture needs protection and investment.
Now that the rBST labeling debate is nearly irrelevant, the legal powers that be have declared form Ohio laws to be overruled. Great?
Also, at Humboldt University in Germany, they have declared that agriculture is being neglected, and "the world is running out of time." Listen up, world leaders, we cannot continue to just expect that agriculture will continue to provide. We must support, and we must support beyond trade sanctions or tax breaks. Agriculture needs protection and investment.
Monday, September 27, 2010
Updates from my Inbox
Today I'm going start off with a great article about a pig raising family from Seth at Farm Bureau and the Our Ohio magazine. Farm Bureau has been trying to use the magazine to capture more of the stories of Ohio farmers and share them with the people around us. If the magazine sent to more than just Ohio Farm Bureau members I think that the idea would be even more successful, but that's why you can read them online for free.
Along those same lines, check out this California site where they have videos of different farmers in California.
In other dairy news, Idaho is now the 3rd largest in dairy production, and research in Texas is trying to improve summer cow fertility. Heat has been found to damage follicles and thus negatively impact reproduction on dairy farms. While this is something we already knew, these people are researching to remedy this. I
t's nice to see that the government is finally interested in fixing the decline in veterinary assistance in the rural US. Also, DDGS is now getting classified as a non-hazardous shipment.
Finally, after talking with our new bow-hunter for the property yesterday about how he thought that the cattle in the world were the primary reason for global warming and environmental destruction, I thought this article was rather timely. Even though the quantity of GHG's emitted by the livestock industry is in question, there is no doubt that they are working as hard as anyone to reduce it.
Along those same lines, check out this California site where they have videos of different farmers in California.
In other dairy news, Idaho is now the 3rd largest in dairy production, and research in Texas is trying to improve summer cow fertility. Heat has been found to damage follicles and thus negatively impact reproduction on dairy farms. While this is something we already knew, these people are researching to remedy this. I
t's nice to see that the government is finally interested in fixing the decline in veterinary assistance in the rural US. Also, DDGS is now getting classified as a non-hazardous shipment.
Finally, after talking with our new bow-hunter for the property yesterday about how he thought that the cattle in the world were the primary reason for global warming and environmental destruction, I thought this article was rather timely. Even though the quantity of GHG's emitted by the livestock industry is in question, there is no doubt that they are working as hard as anyone to reduce it.
Monday, August 16, 2010
World food reserve
This was actually a new thought to me. I didn't realize that we tracked our carryover food supply. The media keeps harping on the need for increased food production, and cases like Russia's recent sufferings are obviously a key example right now. If you haven't read enough, or if you're curious about the carryover numbers, read on. On the flip side, we're expecting record production here in the US so it looks to be a good year for most farmers. Good luck out there as you start into the harvest this fall.
Reading this, I didn't realize that we hadn't already required HACCPs in food processing. It's getting to be an older concept by now and you would think everyone should have adopted it. I know we talk about it in class the last couple years as if its just another thing from a different decade.
Finally today for my nutrition-minded readers, this is a interesting read summarizing the Four-state Dairy Management and Nutrition Conference.
Reading this, I didn't realize that we hadn't already required HACCPs in food processing. It's getting to be an older concept by now and you would think everyone should have adopted it. I know we talk about it in class the last couple years as if its just another thing from a different decade.
Finally today for my nutrition-minded readers, this is a interesting read summarizing the Four-state Dairy Management and Nutrition Conference.
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Grandin weighs in on Conklins
I would like to congratulate this vegetarian website for their use of Temple Grandin in an article discussing animal abuse on dairy farms.
Grandin's opinion on this issue is somewhat moderate, in indicating that while this is not the case on an average farm, there are staffing issues that are leading to mistreatment of animals. I would agree that there are animal welfare improvements that belong in the farms of today and tomorrow. This vegetarian website should be commended for even venturing to provide a moderate viewpoint on such a volatile topic.
Grandin's opinion on this issue is somewhat moderate, in indicating that while this is not the case on an average farm, there are staffing issues that are leading to mistreatment of animals. I would agree that there are animal welfare improvements that belong in the farms of today and tomorrow. This vegetarian website should be commended for even venturing to provide a moderate viewpoint on such a volatile topic.
Friday, July 2, 2010
Everybody wins...
... for now.
As I sit and watch the Nederlands as they are down to Brazil at the half, I thought that I would take a minute to attach more articles relating to the HSUS and Ohio Agriculture compromise which will be the defining leader in animal welfare decisions and discussions for the next few years in Ohio. Time will tell how the board takes this agreement and puts it to use, and time will also be the indicator as to how honest HSUS's intentions truly were, but for now we have a respite from the sharp debate and the wording in the document shows potential to be a reasonable way to use the care standards board to truly function as they were intended to per last years election results and to improve animal welfare in livestock production within the state of Ohio.
For more opinions, please read the OVMA, Ohio Pork Industry, Ohio Dairy Producers and Wayne Pacelle's (HSUS CEO) opinion on the issue.
As I sit and watch the Nederlands as they are down to Brazil at the half, I thought that I would take a minute to attach more articles relating to the HSUS and Ohio Agriculture compromise which will be the defining leader in animal welfare decisions and discussions for the next few years in Ohio. Time will tell how the board takes this agreement and puts it to use, and time will also be the indicator as to how honest HSUS's intentions truly were, but for now we have a respite from the sharp debate and the wording in the document shows potential to be a reasonable way to use the care standards board to truly function as they were intended to per last years election results and to improve animal welfare in livestock production within the state of Ohio.
For more opinions, please read the OVMA, Ohio Pork Industry, Ohio Dairy Producers and Wayne Pacelle's (HSUS CEO) opinion on the issue.
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Dairy News Update
I'm drawing these today from my ADSA update.
First is an update on animal welfare issues and video releases as they currently impact the dairy industry. Included is further discussion about the Conklin Farm as well as the Willet Farm in New York that was recorded in January and used at the beginnings of a tail docking ban for the state of New York.
In my opinion, tail docking should be voluntarily banned in the US. It is a popular move which would be widely accepted and appreciated by the public, furthering the interests of dairymen nationwide whilst having no significant impact on milk quality, milk production, or animal/worker health. I have included this search to help you get started on reading research related to this issue. Mind you that unless it comes from a university site, the other searches have been bought by rights groups to promote their activism. Try to restrict your search to those university sites which include peer reviewed articles.
Secondly, I include this article about some preliminary research into the documented effects of organic food. Not to spoil a good read, but basically, there's no evidence to support that it has any positive impact on you except costing you more money and impressing your self-conscious friends. If you aren't interested in those two points, then probably just pass. Also note the comment about the poor quality of the research. Well, that runs both ways, so obviously the jury's still out, but you should definitely take the current proclamations of improved food quality with a grain of salt.
This trend of misinformation about healthy foods appears to carry over into beef as well.
First is an update on animal welfare issues and video releases as they currently impact the dairy industry. Included is further discussion about the Conklin Farm as well as the Willet Farm in New York that was recorded in January and used at the beginnings of a tail docking ban for the state of New York.
In my opinion, tail docking should be voluntarily banned in the US. It is a popular move which would be widely accepted and appreciated by the public, furthering the interests of dairymen nationwide whilst having no significant impact on milk quality, milk production, or animal/worker health. I have included this search to help you get started on reading research related to this issue. Mind you that unless it comes from a university site, the other searches have been bought by rights groups to promote their activism. Try to restrict your search to those university sites which include peer reviewed articles.
Secondly, I include this article about some preliminary research into the documented effects of organic food. Not to spoil a good read, but basically, there's no evidence to support that it has any positive impact on you except costing you more money and impressing your self-conscious friends. If you aren't interested in those two points, then probably just pass. Also note the comment about the poor quality of the research. Well, that runs both ways, so obviously the jury's still out, but you should definitely take the current proclamations of improved food quality with a grain of salt.
This trend of misinformation about healthy foods appears to carry over into beef as well.
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Milk exempt from oil rule
Thank goodness this got exempted. Protecting around milk storage would've been absolutely ridiculous!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)