Expert: Dairy farmers should be ready to counter criticism - AgMinute for March 2, 2015

Communications professor Robert Gass recently gave dairymen some pointers on countering criticisms of milk production. Click here for the full story

Animal cruelty — Idaho AgMinute for Jan. 31, 2013

Idaho lawmakers expect to have to deal with more proposals addressing animal cruelty this year, an issue that resulted in a lot of debate and heated rhetoric last year.

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AgMinute for May 2, 2012

Rep. Ken Andrus, the chairman of Idaho's House Agricultural Affairs Committee, may seem an unlikely critic of the state's new felony penalty for animal cruelty, given that he wrote much of the bill. But Andrus believes the new law lacks teeth and won't deter ballot initiatives that could be onerous for agriculture.

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AgMinute for March 20, 2012

An animal welfare bill backed by Idaho's livestock industry appears to have achieved one of its key objectives: to stave off the Humane Society of the United States' involvement in a proposed ballot initiative that addresses the state's animal cruelty laws.

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AgMinute for Feb. 10, 2012

The Idaho Senate ag committee on Feb. 9 accepted a bill that would add a felony provision for animal cruelty to state law, a day after a House committee rejected similar legislation.

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AgMinute: Jan. 13, 2012

Several major farm and livestock groups in Idaho still haven't decided whether to support proposed legislation that would add a felony provision for animal cruelty to state law. But the Idaho Cattle Association, which is behind the proposal, is confident those groups will come to support the effort. The proposal would make a third conviction for animal cruelty a felony in Idaho, which is one of only three states in the nation without such a provision.

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AgMinute: Dec. 23, 2011

An animal-rights group deeply involved in agricultural issues is again under fire for its fundraising efforts. HumaneWatch recently launched a TV ad campaign accusing the HSUS of deceptive practices. HumaneWatch was created by the Center for Consumer Freedom, a “libertarian consumer watchdog,” according to senior research analyst Justin Wilson.

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Podcast: Klamath Basin battles, federal sugar cuts, and Idaho wheat wins

The Capital Press devotes much of this week's front page to spending by the Humane Society of the United States. Other highlights from the paper include the ongoing Klamath Basin saga, producers and processors worried about legislative threats to the federal sugar program, and the development of new export markets for Idaho's wheat crop.

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A word to the wise

Robert Minch, a crotchety ol' real estate broker from Red Bluff, Calif., who briefly wrote a column for my Sunday supplement when I held down the Redding Record Searchlight's bureau there, later reclaimed his familiar Friday spot on the Red Bluff Daily News' editorial page.

You might get a kick out of some words of advice he passes along to his readers today:

If you are so inclined to donate to the Humane Society of the United States, be advised that this organization does not own, operate, or directly control a single animal shelter in our country, despite a budget of over $100 million! Tsk, tsk.

Beef forum kicks off bull sale week

In Red Bluff, Calif., this morning, ranchers and others piled into the Don Smith Pavilion for a pancake breakfast and forum on the use of antibiotics in beef cattle, all to kick off the five-day Red Bluff Bull and Gelding Sale.

The forum featured Eric Moore, a Kansas-based veterinarian for Intervet Schering-Plough Animal Health, who was there to explain why some treatments work to combat bovine respiratory disease while others fail. Despite the fact that antibiotic use has been "under attack," it all falls under strict regulations by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and U.S. Department of Agriculture, he said.

"If you see this Rx sign on a product, that's a prescription product," Moore told the gathering. "There are laws that govern using this product."

Activities at the Tehama District Fair grounds continued this morning with sifting and grading of calving-ease and range ready bulls in the pavilion.

For my story on the antibiotics lecture, check back at CapitalPress.com soon.

Grandin: 'Open up' to the public

From the California Farm Bureau Federation:

Renowned animal scientist Temple Grandin told livestock ranchers today to “open up the door” to the public, to show how ranchers care for their animals. Grandin, a professor at Colorado State University who has become famous for her animal welfare research and her personal history of autism, spoke to the California Farm Bureau Federation Annual Meeting in Monterey.

Grandin described Americans as “hungry for information” about what happens on farms and ranches. She urged farmers and ranchers to fill that information gap, and to use the Internet as a tool for demonstrating their animal-care practices. For example, she commended a California egg farm that has begun streaming live video of its chickens online.

“Most of the public is just curious,” Grandin said. “We need to be opening up the door and showing the things that we do.”

That includes, she said, showing everyday farm activities such as dishing up feed or putting out bedding for dairy cows.

“What you would consider mundane, normal stuff, the public wants to look at that,” Grandin said. “Put it up and show it. It doesn’t have to be some fancy thing. If you don’t know how to put it up on YouTube, your kids will know how to put it up.”

Grandin has developed animal-welfare auditing programs for restaurants and food retailers including McDonald’s, Burger King and Whole Foods, and has created animal-handling systems designed from the animal’s point of view, to help them remain calm as they’re being moved to market.

“When I first started, I thought I could fix everything with engineering,” she said. “What I’ve found is I can only fix half of things with engineering; the other half is management.”

Grandin encouraged farmers and ranchers to observe their animals carefully, adding that “good stockmanship pays” in improved animal health, milk production and meat quality.

The California Farm Bureau Federation works to protect family farms and ranches on behalf of 81,000 members statewide and as part of a nationwide network of more than 6.2 million Farm Bureau members.

'Help your neighbor, not a turkey'

Alyson Cunningham writes in the Salisbury, Md., Daily Times:

For the last five years, Marissa Filderman has adopted a turkey for Thanksgiving.

But she's never interested in raising the feathered fellow.

The 24-year-old vegetarian is focused on saving that turkey from its inevitable holiday fate.

So each year, she adopts a foul from Farm Sanctuary, an organization which rescues abused farm animals and works to stop and expose cruel farming practices with shelters in Watkins Glen, N.Y., and Orland, Calif.

Around Thanksgiving, the sanctuary has a special turkey fundraiser that allows people to sponsor a turkey for $30 or a flock for $180.

According to the Farm Sanctuary's website, the organization has saved more than 1,000 turkeys in 24 years.

It's all too much for Troy Hadrick at Advocates for Agriculture, who responds:

As we approach Thanksgiving we think about all the things we are thankful for. Our family is thankful for the food we have to eat. But for too many families there isn’t much food to be had for the holidays. It makes it even harder to accept when we have people in our society giving money to animal rights groups to feed turkeys when that money could be used to feed their neighbors. Please support your local food banks so those less fortunate than you can enjoy Thanksgiving rather than a turkey.

You mean the HSUS had to hire a reporter to write a hit piece?

Blogger Troy Hadrick at Advocates for Agriculture is appalled that the Humane Society of the United States apparently hired an "independent investigative reporter" to do a hit piece on lobbyist Richard Berman, whose Center for Consumer Freedom advocates protecting consumer choices.

Continue reading.

Report: Pigs at risk from people

From Reuters:

There is a growing risk that pigs will catch the new H1N1 flu strain -- commonly known as swine flu -- from humans, German researchers said on Thursday.

Widespread transmission from people to pigs could mix up virus strains further, leading to unpredictable changes in the disease.

There have already been a handful of suspected cases of humans passing the current pandemic H1N1 virus to swine. The latest German research confirms it is infectious to pigs and can spread rapidly.

The researchers' findings are consistent with what we've been hearing from producers for the past three months -- more of a concern that pigs would get the disease from people than vice versa. That concern led to Oregon State Veterinarian Don Hansen's controversial guidelines directing that a certain distance be kept between people and swine at fairs.

For more on these subjects, check next week's Capital Press.

'Will politics and social agendas phase out U.S. livestock production?'

From the Cattle Network:

How would you react to non-farm folks imposing rules on your livestock production? It is one thing if those rule makers were from your own state, but what if they did not even live in your state, much less have no economic interest in livestock production? That is what has happened in some western states, and may well happen soon in Ohio and in the not-to-distant future in other Cornbelt states.

Methods of livestock production, honed over the years by enterprising farmers and university researchers, have become controversial with the help of the Humane Society of the United States which has turned to the political route to pursue its agenda. Noted Ohio State University economist Luther Tweeten says the HSUS plans a referendum in 2010 that will impact the Ohio laying hen industry and its 27 million birds. In the June issue of the OSU Ag Manager newsletter Tweeten says Ohio agriculture has a major stake in the outcome of the HSUS effort.
[ See:
http://ohioagmanager.osu.edu/~ohioagmanager/news/index.php#

animal_welfare

]

AND........

The threat of a referendum, if Ohio agriculture does not cooperate with HSUS plans to change livestock production, is backed up by forced changes that occurred with Proposition 2 in California. That new law makes it a misdemeanor for anyone to confine livestock in ways that are typical of 21st Century production.

Tweeten says it is important to recognize that nearly everyone supports humane treatment of animals, but at issue is what constitutes humane treatment. He says the HSUS proponents believe legislation will enhance animal welfare, provide healthier food because animals will contract fewer diseases and will reduce soil, water, and air pollution. On the other hand, confinement philosophies are associated with protection of animals from temperature extremes, predators, soil-borne diseases and parasites. He believes the general public has looked to science-based research to narrow the differences, but only with partial satisfaction.

How's your animal welfare-approved burger?

Coming soon to a burger joint near you:

Hut's Hamburgers in Austin, Now Serving Animal Welfare Approved Texas Longhorn Burgers from HMIT Practioners Bandera Grassland
Hut’s Hamburgers, an Austin tradition since 1939, has added that iconic symbol of Texas-the Longhorn-to its menu. Animal Welfare Approved Bandera Grassland of Tarpley, Texas is supplying the restaurant with pure Texas Longhorn beef from cattle that are direct descendants of the Iberian cattle brought by the Spaniards in the 1500s. The Animal Welfare Approved seal is an assurance to consumers that cattle from Bandera Grassland have been treated according to the highest welfare standards.

Like they say, don't mess with . . . animal welfare.

Illinois Legislature considers bill to ban tail docking

Looks like there is a bill to ban tail docking of dairy cattle in Illinois, similar to one in California.

Check out the link from Feedstuffs. Here's the link to the proposed bill in Illinois, Senate Bill 1336. Here the link to the proposed bill in California, Senate Bill 135. Any other states have tail docking bills out there?

It's doubtful these are the only two.

Thanks to Sara Long on Twitter @rosamyst for the head's up on the Illinois bill.

State bill to restrict antibiotic use in cattle

From the California Cattlemen's Association:

Senate Bill 416 was introduced last week by Sen. Dean Florez (D-Shafter), and, if passed, would prohibit schools from serving meat treated with antibiotics; prohibit the registration of any antibiotic preparations; prohibit use of antibiotics for non-therapeutic and prophylactic use in any animal raised for the human food supply, and; require state and local governments to give preference to meat supplies produced without medically important antibiotics as feed additives.

This bill, in conjunction with the Florez-chaired Senate Committee on Food and Agriculture’s March 17 hearing entitled Addressing the Public Health Impacts Resulting From the Non-Therapeutic Use of Antibiotics in Our Food Supply: Are We Creating a “Superbug?has understandably precipitated industry-wide concern.

CCA is working very hard with other animal agriculture groups to ensure a scientific approach to this policy issue, as well as a solid scientific basis for our arguments against claims (predominantly Humane Society claims) that agriculture is in any way responsible for antibiotic resistance in humans.

CCA will continue to apprise producers on the status of this issue. Should you have questions, please do not hesitate to contact Dawn Clover at dawn@calcattlemen.org or (916) 444-0845.

Update 3/12/09: For the Capital Press story on the bill proposed by state Sen. Dean Florez, click here.

Horse adoption update

Early last week I wrote a post about all the wild horses the Bureau of Land Management recently put up for adoption that went unadopted. In it, I took a shot at the Humane Society of the United States for not using its large war chest to step up to care for those animals.

In the interest of fairness, I wanted to point out a piece that ran in the Feb. 6, 2009, Capital Press in which Oregon's senior director for the Humane Society of the United States, Scott Beckstead, talks about an Oregon horse shelter his group operates (and other issues). Here's the link.

BLM tries practically giving away wild horses and can't

The Bureau of Land Management put 362 wild horses up for auction over the weekend in Utah, but only 8 of them found new homes. Total revenues from the auction: $725. That's less than $91 a horse. (Read the full story from The Salt Lake Tribune here.)

So, where was the Humane Society of the United States? Why wasn't that organization there to offer salvation to the majestic mustangs with bloodlines extending back to the Spanish conquistadors?

The HSUS spends a great deal of time, energy and money telling agriculture-based businesses how they should operate and has attracted a fair amount of press in recent years with their undercover investigations. One of their current campaigns is to ask the public to urge Congress to pass the Conyers-Burton Prevention of Equine Cruelty Act, which would restrict transportation of unwanted horses to other countries for possible slaughter to be used as food.

All horse slaughter facilities have already been closed down in this country.

If the Humane Society of the US really wants to care for horses, maybe they should invest in them. According to the organization's 2006 tax exempt filing with the IRS, it had $225 million in assets, including $127.8 million in investments in publicly traded securities and $43.6 million in savings.

The organization could have adopted the whole string of 362 horses with more than enough left over to feed them with just it's cash savings.

Heck, even Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of Humane Society of the US, might have some discretionary income out of his $207,000 salary (not counting nearly $27,000 in additional benefits) to adopt a few of the horses himself — assuming he hasn't had a raise or pay cut since 2006.