Replies

Most people are completely removed from agriculture today and this causes many issues, some real serious. I grew up on a ranch and lived around farms so I grew up with it, but the thing is everyone I knew had a connection to agriculture. The town kids I went to school with had a relative or friend of the family that had a farm or ranch and they at least visited. Now almost no one has any connection if they are under 50.

Those with no agriculture background have no clue how tough the average farm animal really is or anything about them. They relate to them as if they were children since that is how they now relate to dogs and cats.

This seems meaningless...does it matter if they have a pig scramble at the fair? No it really doesn’t but the reason is disturbing. Pigs even baby pigs are tougher than nails. You are not going to hurt one with a pig scramble or greased pig contest or anything like that. Keep a pig hydrated and cool and they will deal without an issue.

My girls used to rodeo and one of the events is goat tying. People would feel bad for the goat, obviously people who had never dealt with goats and again had no clue how tough they are. I used to shut them up by telling them goats used in rodeo would have already been eaten by someone if they weren’t picked to be used in rodeo.

The real danger is the same people who don’t have a clue make other decisions like reintroducing wolves in an area where livestock is raised. Restricting water use because of a bait fish, or some conservation issue that isn’t even true. Putting so many regulations on people with livestock it becomes more trouble than it is worth to raise livestock. Those same people actually hate farmers and ranchers and fishermen who produce our food. They will happily put them out of business over a turtle or some bait fish. It is working, many ranchers and farmers have been put out of business. Many kids inheriting agriculture businesses don’t want the hassle they saw their parents live with so they sell and do something else.

Most of the family farms and ranches that sell are subdivided and that land is taken out of production forever. You can’t put these farms and ranches back if you wanted to at a later date, they are quickly covered in houses and businesses. It is a viscous cycle. Those that remain in business openly talk about selling and ending all the heartache and stress from environmental groups and others that make it their life’s work to harass people out of business.

I truly hope people wake up before they go to the grocery store and the shelves are empty.