Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Federal Approval Near for Opening of Horse Meat Processing Plant in New Mexico
NY Times ^ | April 30, 2013 | AP

Posted on 05/01/2013 4:31:41 AM PDT by iowamark

The southern New Mexico plant that has been fighting for more than a year for permission to slaughter horses will open soon, unless Congress reinstates a ban on the practice, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said Tuesday.

In a telephone interview on Tuesday, Mr. Vilsack said his department was working to make sure the process was handled properly for the opening of what would be the first domestic horse slaughterhouse in six years.

“We are going to do this, and I would imagine that it would be done relatively soon,” he said.

The Valley Meat Company sued the Department of Agriculture last year, asserting that inaction on its application was driven by emotional political debates and that the delays had cost it hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The department reinspected the plant last week.

“It will open unless Congress restores the ban on horse slaughter that they had in place,” Mr. Vilsack said. “If that doesn’t happen, then we are duty bound to do what needs to be done to allow that plant to begin processing.”

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Extended News; News/Current Events; US: Iowa; US: New Mexico
KEYWORDS: horsemeat; mred; tomvilsack; vilsack
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-54 next last
To: liberalh8ter
Horses have been food for ever. It is just that in this country we have been become very rich.

Thus we have taken only to eating what we consider the choicest meats.

That really only happen in the less hundred years or so.

21 posted on 05/01/2013 6:58:42 AM PDT by riverrunner
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: liberalh8ter

Hate to break it to you, but horses don’t get fattened up for slaughter. And most horse owners I know support slaughtering horses, because there are too many unwanted horses living in miserable conditions or turned loose.

Right now, horses going to slaughter are trucked to Mexico, where the quality control is...mexican. It would be far better for the horses to be shipped less, and killed more humanely.


22 posted on 05/01/2013 6:59:09 AM PDT by Mr Rogers (Liberals are like locusts...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: iowamark

Well, it’s about time McDonalds just comes out and...nevermind.


23 posted on 05/01/2013 7:01:07 AM PDT by CodeToad (Liberals are bloodsucking ticks. We need to light the matchstick to burn them off.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: iowamark

Without local processing plants it only makes it more expensive to put down a horse.

Last horse I put down cost $250. Many people simply go to the auction house and sell their horses for $50-$100 to the meat guys, who drive them across the border where the horse is slaughtered without ANY regulations.

Raising the price of disposal does not help the quality of a horse’s life. It often leads to neglect or even abandonment.

And most of the horses get slaughtered anyway in Mexico or Canada, in very inhumane conditions.


24 posted on 05/01/2013 7:01:26 AM PDT by Alex in chains
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: liberalh8ter

You don’t have to restrict a horses movement for it to get fat. Just put a round bale of hay in front of it and it will stand there all day long eating.

Most breeds get fat very easily.


25 posted on 05/01/2013 7:01:26 AM PDT by Alex in chains
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: reformedliberal

Deer get a lot more activity than horses. Deer have to search for food, water and shelter, often times over a territory of a square mile or more depending on where their food is in comparison to their water and shelter.

Humans on the other hand confine horses in fences and bring their food and water to them.

Although I am a horse lover, I would like to try horse meat sometime.


26 posted on 05/01/2013 7:01:26 AM PDT by Alex in chains
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: CodeToad
Coming in May: the all-new Kentucky Derby Happy Meal!

Be the first out of the gate, gallop on over to your local McDonald's and saddle up for a thoroughbred entry that's sure to be first in the Winner's Circle!

27 posted on 05/01/2013 7:10:01 AM PDT by andy58-in-nh (Cogito, ergo armatum sum.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 23 | View Replies]

To: tiki
You're approaching this from the angle of unwanted horses being slaughtered as a humane act and the meat is then rendered for use. Instead, look at this as an introduction of horse meat to the American diet and then consider that horses will be bred and raised TO be slaughtered for the meat. As the market for horse meat increases, the market will reward the breeders whose animals are the tastiest. As with cows, the cross breeding that produces a well marbled meat will become the standard.

In the beef industry, the cows are pastured to a certain age at which time they go to market - usually at about the 8 month to 1 year mark. The cows are then sent to the feed lot where they are grain fed for a period of time so as to fatten them up. They are held in small areas and the weight is put on them slowly, so as not to create a fatty meat but more to encourage the marbling that is inherent in their cross breed.

As Americans become more comfortable with eating horses, the same can be expected.

28 posted on 05/01/2013 7:12:11 AM PDT by liberalh8ter (The only difference between flash mob 'urban yutes' and U.S. politicians is the hoodies.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18 | View Replies]

To: Alex in chains
The fat needed to tenderize the meat is the fat you need within the tissue, not surrounding it. That takes time. In the meantime, the horse will need to be confined with other horses awaiting the same fate and cannot be treated for parasites and flies. We're talking about an animal that isn't dumb as a stump.
29 posted on 05/01/2013 7:26:05 AM PDT by liberalh8ter (The only difference between flash mob 'urban yutes' and U.S. politicians is the hoodies.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 25 | View Replies]

To: Mr Rogers
Please see my post #28. As far as horse owners go, I am one, have been all my life. I've trained and shown horses. I live in an equestrian community. You will not find one person here who supports this, I guarantee it.
30 posted on 05/01/2013 7:28:34 AM PDT by liberalh8ter (The only difference between flash mob 'urban yutes' and U.S. politicians is the hoodies.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 22 | View Replies]

To: tiki
The guy I know who has been sending them to slaughter in Mexico just feeds them like you would a normal horse until he gets a truck load.

Ask him if they're slaughtered immediately or if they're held in a feed lot.

31 posted on 05/01/2013 7:31:02 AM PDT by liberalh8ter (The only difference between flash mob 'urban yutes' and U.S. politicians is the hoodies.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 20 | View Replies]

To: liberalh8ter

Odd. I haven’t met any horse owners who reject slaughterhouses in the US.

Why do YOU want horses to be shipped to Mexico in trucks, and killed inhumanely without inspectors there?


32 posted on 05/01/2013 7:31:22 AM PDT by Mr Rogers (Liberals are like locusts...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 30 | View Replies]

To: liberalh8ter

Horses will never be raised for slaughter. They are too expensive and fragile compared to cattle, and aren’t bred to gain maximum weight for the least food.


33 posted on 05/01/2013 7:32:32 AM PDT by Mr Rogers (Liberals are like locusts...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 28 | View Replies]

To: Mr Rogers
Why do YOU want horses to be shipped to Mexico in trucks, and killed inhumanely without inspectors there?

I'm opposed to the BLM rounding up horses to begin with. How much land does Fedzilla have?

34 posted on 05/01/2013 7:37:01 AM PDT by liberalh8ter (The only difference between flash mob 'urban yutes' and U.S. politicians is the hoodies.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 32 | View Replies]

To: Mr Rogers
Horses will never be raised for slaughter

Think again. They will become a commodity once eating them goes mainstream.

35 posted on 05/01/2013 7:39:22 AM PDT by liberalh8ter (The only difference between flash mob 'urban yutes' and U.S. politicians is the hoodies.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 33 | View Replies]

To: liberalh8ter
"I'm opposed to the BLM rounding up horses to begin with."

I'm not. However, we are not discussing BLM mustangs going to slaughter. If you don't understand that, then I doubt you really know squat about horses.

"They will become a commodity once eating them goes mainstream. "

Nope. Not economical. Horses couldn't compete with cattle. Again, if you don't understand that, then you don't know much about horses.


36 posted on 05/01/2013 7:49:15 AM PDT by Mr Rogers (Liberals are like locusts...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 34 | View Replies]

To: Mr Rogers
Oh, okay.....I know nothing about horses. A lifetime of horsemanship and I know nothing.

Do you realize a grade horse after weaning can sell for less than a Heifer? Also, horses were a form of personal transportation and then for fun, they were raced. That's not now its own industry, correct? Showing horses isn't its own industry, correct? Polo? <==== not its own industry?

But then again, I know nothing.

37 posted on 05/01/2013 7:56:28 AM PDT by liberalh8ter (The only difference between flash mob 'urban yutes' and U.S. politicians is the hoodies.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 36 | View Replies]

To: liberalh8ter

Nope. You sound like someone who knows nothing about horses. Sorry.


38 posted on 05/01/2013 8:02:38 AM PDT by Mr Rogers (Liberals are like locusts...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 37 | View Replies]

To: Mr Rogers
Okay Mr. Rogers. I cede to your obvious authority on the subject. Just because you declare it so. Don't let facts get in the way, just make your own declaration.
39 posted on 05/01/2013 8:09:53 AM PDT by liberalh8ter (The only difference between flash mob 'urban yutes' and U.S. politicians is the hoodies.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 38 | View Replies]

To: Mr Rogers

Diets change....I have eaten horse meat in Italy...sweet is what I remember..its just another protein...and available if we chose to eat it...


40 posted on 05/01/2013 8:10:56 AM PDT by Youngman542012
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 38 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-54 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson