Posted on 12/04/2016 10:55:15 AM PST by Mariner
WASHINGTON — All hogs in Massachusetts will be able to stretch their legs and turn around in their crates and all hens will be able to spread their wings under a law passed in November by voters in the state.
Laws like this one, which strictly regulate how farm animals are confined, are becoming more common across the U.S., as large-scale farming replaces family farms and consumers learn more about what happens behind barn doors. Massachusetts is the 12th state to ban the use of some livestock- and poultry-raising cages or crates, such as gestation crates for sows, veal crates for calves or battery cages for chickens, which critics say abusively restrict the animals’ movement.
The restrictive laws have taken hold so far in states that have relatively small agriculture industries for animals and animal products and fewer large-scale farming operations. But producers in big farming states see the writing on the wall. Backed by state farm bureaus, large-scale industrial farmers are pushing for changes that would make it harder for states to further regulate the way they do business.
North Dakota and Missouri adopted amendments in the last few years that enshrined into their constitutions the right of farmers and ranchers to use current practices and technology. Legislatures in many states, including Indiana, Mississippi, Nebraska and West Virginia, considered proposed amendments this year. And Oklahoma voters rejected a similar amendment sent to them by the Legislature in November.
(Excerpt) Read more at lacrossetribune.com ...
I am fortunate enough to be able to buy pastured eggs, free range beef, lamb and pork.
But not everyone can afford such luxury. Some buy two cartons when they see large eggs on sale for $1.79, because, besides hamburger it's the only protein they can afford.
And I've been there too.
This type of stuff throws the baby out with the bathwater!
We farm, everyone we KNOW farms or keeps animals of some sort for food, fun and profit. Animal abuse, especially when it’s your LIVELIHOOD, is NOT rampant.
Yes, at times, there IS abuse, but that usually comes with an elderly farmer who cannot take as good of care of his animals as he should, or has gone a little batty.
And then, there are the animal hoarders, which is really sad.
I can see addressing THOSE issues, but forcing people who ALREADY do right by their animals is, well, status quo for Mother Government. *Rolleyes*
Grrrrr!
Tough one. Nothing more chilling than seeing tiny veal calves tied up and force fed until they are slain very young.
Father was a dairy farmer. He raised crops, pigs, chickens and milk cows. They were all treated humanely and free range. My mom was often chased all over the fields when she walked us kids around the farm. We did not have veal calves.
Yes. A pet owner who kept a dog or cat in a cage 24/7 with no room to turn around would be cited. Why should a pig or chicken farmer be treated any differently?
As someone who spent time on a farm long ago, I agree with you. There is very little abuse on family farms. The problem is with the so-called factory farms. They are quite different than the family farms of old.
This will be right after the hogs and chickens all vote for the dimocrats...right? IDIOTS!!
The same people who cry real tears over a hog or chicken not being able to run free are very often proponents of butchering babies on the day they were to be born. The devaluing of human life is an outrageous affront to God.
“There is very little abuse on family farms. The problem is with the so-called factory farms. They are quite different than the family farms of old. “
A modern factory farm has only barns and cages. They are driven by getting the most production at the least cost. They are truly “factories”.
And, they are not owned by individuals. They are owned, often, by the branded meat company (Foster Farms, Tyson, Hormel etc.) and operated not by farmers but by Ag graduates from UC Davis or UofTexas etc.
And their salary is dependent upon reducing costs and increasing production.
Well said.
Have you ever watched a big sow lay down wrong and smash her new born litter to death? I have, and it is heartbreaking. It is too dangerous to enter a pen with a postpartum sow -— even if your goal is to save her pigs. Pigs do kill farmers. The confinement pens for birthing pigs can and sometimes do have a place, until the pigs are a few days old and learn to get out of the way of the sow. Which is worse -— a comfortable fed/watered sow who just can’t move around much for a few days, or 5-15 newborn pigs dying crushed under the weight of a sow???
Many of the products you mention actually taste better. That’s why I pay more for free range meat, it tastes better and has far more Omega 3s from feeding on grass.
I buy eggs from pastured hens for the same reason. And grass fed milk.
Good, responsible husbandry is just old school farming. And it produces the best of foods.
IF you can afford them.
This is about as even handed an examination of farming restrictions as you will find in a general interest newspaper.
“North Dakota and Missouri adopted amendments in the last few years that enshrined into their constitutions the right of farmers and ranchers to use current practices and technology. Legislatures in many states, including Indiana, Mississippi, Nebraska and West Virginia, considered proposed amendments this year.”
“...Farmers acknowledge that some people who do not spend much time on farms may object to some of their practices. But they say that they do not abuse animals and that their practices are the most efficient and safest way to keep up with demand for food.”
“...“Our nation’s ability to protect its food supply can be threatened by unnecessary regulations driven by activist agendas, often by people who’ve never set foot on farmland or have no idea what it takes to produce a crop...”
I buy cage free eggs, now that they’re available. I don’t eat any red meat and feel physical pain at even the thought of baby calves chained up, barely able to move, and deliberately fed an iron poor diet so that they get scours and have diarrhea running endlessly down their legs. How can anyone eat the meat of animals raised under such conditions? They must be ignorant “me first” monsters. Sows should not be kept caged down so they can’t move. Surely there are other ways to house them so that their young are not crushed. I refuse to eat foie gras, the product of ramming a pipe down the throats of ducks and geese and pumping corn into them to produce an abnormal swollen liver. What the heck is WRONG with people? We were given animals to use, not to abuse. Let the “people” who eat animal products which are results of such cruelty choke on them. That would be just.
More importantly:
1. If a Lib is pushing for “change” then it’s probably a misunderstood crusade based on no facts or merit or it’s an outright lie to push an Alt-Left agenda.
2. If the press is reporting on it then it’s poorly researched and totally misconstrued propaganda to push a leftist agenda.
Ipso facto: these “welfare laws” have nothing to do with farming and are probably more about reducing the food supply by increasing cost.
I agree. Frankly, I want lots of cheap meat. There is a line which once crossed will make meat too expensive for the average person.
Having grown up on a family ranch, too and I live in a rural area now-you are absolutely right-you do not see the kind of abuse the article describes on small family ranches and farms, because livestock is not cheap to buy, and is at least a part of your livelihood, even if you just have a few chickens and sell or barter the eggs they lay-they have to be taken care of properly or they do not live long enough to really produce income. Everyone free ranges chickens, goats and everything else around here just like we all grow our veggies organically-which means we buy and barter healthy natural food from local markets and each other-most of us are natural living types-not into taking any drugs or eating processed or factory farm food, believing it is unhealthy...
I’m guessing these laws are made for the huge “factory farms” where the animal abuse is practically standard procedure-the livestock is treated with pretty much the same regard the owners would have for crated items on shelves in a warehouse, because they have no real connection-they don’t live there and see the livestock every day-they have no real responsibility for it other than profiting from it by whatever means produces the highest return-they don’t care what is healthy for the animal-or for the humans who buy and consume the meat-look at all the recent cases of E-coli contamination of meat from factory farms...
Agree. This is a BS issue.
Free range and organic food is all that is locally available here-you buy at the local non-chain grocery, butcher shop, farmers market, etc-locally produced food is cheaper-no army of in-house employees to harvest, slaughter, package, inspect and no trucking company to transport it miles to the supermarkets-if you insist on going to the chain supermarket in the city to buy organic/free range meat and produce, then you are going to get ripped off on the price, because it didn’t come from a factory farm, and the townies who consider it trendy have a good deal more income to spend on food than someone out here who is an independent contractor/small business owner, etc. Big chain markets charge what the market will bear...
I don’t have a big problem with this.
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