Prop 2 Fears

California livestock vote raises fear in Iowa
By PHILIP BRASHER • pbrasher@dmreg.com • November 10, 2008

Washington, D.C. — Sponsors of a California ballot initiative that sets new welfare standards for livestock are pledging to push those changes nationwide.

That's just what livestock interests in Iowa and nationally were worried about. They contributed millions to a campaign to defeat the measure, which would effectively ban the use of sow stalls and hen cages. Farming interests in Iowa contributed about $300,000 to the campaign against the measure.

The measure won't take effect until 2015, and it's not clear how quickly and widely those standards could be adopted nationwide, industry officials say.

"It's too soon to say what's going to happen," said Kevin Vinchattle, executive director of the Iowa Egg Council, the trade organization for Iowa's egg industry, which is the nation's largest.

California is the sixth-largest egg producer, and if farms there shrink, "that's a lot of egg production that's going to have to be picked up somewhere else," he said. California has no significant hog industry, so the measure primarily affects egg operations. Read More

The livestock industry needs to be preparing for more initiatives and propositions that HSUS will be submitting for a state election near you. Here is what we know right now, HSUS want to abolish animal agriculture, they have been very effective in painting agriculture in a negative light, and we have not been able to convey our story to the public. The public is not very interested in hearing about sound science; instead they want their emotions appealed to. There are many lessons to be learned from the passage of Prop 2 and it’s up to us to use this knowledge and apply it in future votes.