Posted on 03/20/2013 4:00:28 PM PDT by ilovesarah2012
About eight miles outside of Roswell, N.M., a shuttered cattle farm is getting ready to reopen its doors. Only this time, the Valley Meat Co. won’t be killing cows. It hopes to be the first U.S. farm to start slaughtering horses for human consumption.
Not far behind could be plants in Missouri, Iowa and Oklahoma.
Across the country, companies are applying for permits with the U.S. Department of Agriculture to kill horses for food – a practice Congress ended in 2007. The measure to stop the slaughters, though, lapsed in 2011 and now companies are clamoring to get back into the game.
“We’re getting ready,” Valley Meat Co. attorney A. Blair Dunn, told FoxNews.com.
But it hasn’t been an easy road, with public opposition still strong to the idea of horse-slaughter resuming in the U.S., though the current plans would be geared toward exporting the meat to other countries.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
The irresponsible breeder is responsible for the large numbers of unwanted horses, and they are not breeding them for slaughter. They are breeding them out of ignorance and misguided dreams that they are magically going to make a silk purse out of a sows ear. Unwanted horses piled up everywhere while the slaughterhouses were closed, irresponsible horse owners could not or would not feed or euthanize- and that was with many horses being hauled to Mexico to slaughter. The slaughter market has never been high enough to make money breeding for slaughter work in the US, costs too much to care for a horse to the size they want. Horses are bred in the US for many reasons but not for slaughter, they go to slaughter in this country when the reason they are bred for is not working out, they become to aged or too crippled.
Horses go to slaughter here because some shallow people want a cheap way out so they can get another, better, faster one.
That’s the fact.
Slaughter is being argued as a miracle cure for a lot of problems it has never cured before and never will.
***What you’re saying is all myth. ***
Since I live and worked with horsemen on a daily basis I guess they lied when they said their horses were then so worthless they could not give them away. Same happened to the Emu farmers about 15 years ago.
When horse people aren’t spending thousands for a new saddle, you can convince me that they can’t afford a few hundred bucks to put a horse down, or don’t have time to find it a home, or better yet.... keep what they’ve committed to and used up all the useful life on, until it is time.
If it colicked they would pay to put it down. If it broke a leg they would pay to put it down - because then they wouldn’t have a choice.
It’s all about choices.
This is a poor time for anyone to get into the horse slaughter market in this country.
If Meat Plant Opens, Europeans Would Not Accept U.S. Product
The market for US throwaway horses is disappearing *anyway*.
Irresponsible horse owners are seldom the same ones paying thousands for a new saddle; irresponsible horse owners are usually the same type as irresponsible dog and cat owners. Those people think emotionally that they want animals, and will not educate themselves as to what is involved with actually having animals. When reality hits them the animal is the one to suffer.
Take any city of any size and find out how many dog and cat owners don’t get their animals spayed or neutered, don’t get them shots or adequate vet care. When their animals outgrow their cuteness or get bred many simply dump them. Others starve them in the backyard while allowing them to breed to any other dog/cat available with no thought to what will happen to the puppies/kittens. Many don’t budget for anything beyond food for their animals, so can’t pay a vet bill if needed or pay to get animals euthanized. Now think about the same type of people getting horses instead of dogs and cats. That is the reality.
To say the same people that are buying saddles that cost thousands of dollars are the ones who starve horses is the same as comparing those that spend hundreds of dollars on a dog bed to the people that let their dogs run in the streets or starve in the back yard.
Just as there are good and bad owners of dog, cats, other pets; there are good and bad owners of horses and other livestock. So far there are no good solutions for bad owners of dogs, cats, etc, there seems to be no good solution for bad horse owners either.
What is your solution for all the unwanted horses?
By the way, the irresponsible owners do not even take a coliced horse to a vet, many have such little knowledge of a horse they don’t know colic when they see it. Nor do they generally take one to the vet for a broken leg or any other reason and would never, ever pay to get one put down.
From the comments, it appears one solution is to train them to become hunter/jumpers, or dressage ornaments.
Some of them... yes. :-) All some of them need is a little marketing and a chance.
Others need more help, and some undoubtedly need to be humanely put down. That’s what I plan to do. Help with them. All of them. That’s what I’ve been doing. I belong to 3-4 different private groups and networks that help horses in my area. Work with those who need new homes, work with those who need humane treatment, work with those who are taken by law enforcement for neglect. There are groups all over the country who do that. If they are overworked in this economy, then maybe consider helping them! :-)
Tammy, you seem to want me to come up with a solution that means there will be no more irresponsible people in the world. I’m afraid I can’t guarantee that... but I do know this horse slaughter idea doesn’t solve them either.
Sale of horses to slaughter in this country is evil for the sake of convenience for a small percentage of them and I don’t have to endorse that. Most people actually do right by their animals and won’t miss this option. We’ll deal with the rest. It would help if we could fix this economy!
I live very remote so hard for me to join any type of group, but over the years we have rescued more horses than you can imagine. We have several right now in fact. I do help out others by donating money for feed or helping them find homes for horses. Your experience may be different but I have found individuals that care do more actual horse rescue than many groups. Some groups are shady and their interest is not always the horse.
I am glad you are going to be involved in helping horses; many sign petitions, voice how terrible things are but never actually do anything to help the horses.
You are right that there is no real answer for bad owners, but wanted you to see the reality of the situation, large numbers of horses are unwanted just as large numbers of dogs and cats are unwanted. Many dogs and cats are euthanized because people breed them without reason or just too lazy to keep them from breeding- same with horses.
Rescue is great when possible, but there really are not homes for all the unwanted horses. Count your blessings each time you are able to save and find a good home for a horse.
I bet not more than I can imagine... but I’ve been involved in the issue for some time. I’m always glad and impressed by people and groups who are actually willing to help.
There actually are homes for most of the ones going to slaughter. As the market in recent years has shifted from pet food (they won’t buy horse any more) to human consumption, the kill buyers are looking for younger, healthy horses to slaughter. They are benefiting now, not from an actual glut of unusable horses, but a poor economy that has dropped the sales prices for even good sound horses down into the affordable range.
On edit... human consumption overseas of course... not here.
And even overseas, not for long.
Rui.
Just did my last skiing of the season I think Sunday; getting a bit spotty.
Have a herd of elk in my back yard I am looking at. Need a suppressor for my Weatherby.
“Actually, horses are much different from cows or “anything else”. Horses are not raised as meat animals in the US, they are raised as service and companion animals. As such... They have a lifetime of untracked veterinary medical treatment— much of which would disqualify them from entry to any meat market.”
This meat is for export.
>> The people who don’t want horses slaughtered for food are the ones responsible for torturing and starving those same horses.
Faulty premise: The horses can be killed and buried. The horse meat doesn’t need to be authorized for human consumption.
Glad you brought that up ~ here we have a big animal bred up from far smaller animals ~ and now we should treat it like we do all big animals ~ and we have people who imagine that big animal is like a little Bijon Fries or something ~ yap yap
Get something straight. Starving horses are being neglected, they are not the ones headed to slaughter, particularly slaughter for human consumption. Slaughter buyers don’t want bones, they want nice healthy fat ones - heavy ones... the bigger the better.
The existence of slaughter as an option has not, and will never, have one effect on people who are neglecting animals. Slaughter as a necessary solution to neglect is a myth... and a red herring.
So what? Who cares if it's poison?
See my link above this thread... The EU is going to stop buying it. They don't need it, the demand for horse meat in Europe is crashing due to recent scandals. It is not a delicacy, but rather a cheap meat source eaten mostly by an older generation.
Only thought is maybe we intend to poison China with it until they wise up? Not sure who they intend to sell it to.
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