The inside scoop on the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade debacle

This past week some of you may have seen the news coming from our home state of South Dakota about how farmers and ranchers were upset with the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade float that the state of South Dakota sponsors.  The state tourism department had put out a press release announcing Joan Jett was going to be on the float this year. 

For those of you who aren’t aware, much like the SD Department of Tourism, Joan Jett is a a card carrying PETA member. She has been featured in ads supporting meatless Monday’s and claims ranchers abuse their livestock, destroy the environment and poison people with the food we produce. Tourism is a big part of our state’s economy-the second largest industry in our state, agriculture. 

This set our wheels to turning. First, a call was made to the Department of Tourism to talk to someone about this decision.  It’s important to find the source of the information, we don’t want to hang people out to dry. We want to know the reason behind the decision and get the accurate information out. We always encourage the people we work with to find the source and not just go off on a witch hunt.

Second, we posted the information on our personal Facebook page. We felt this was a local issue and didn’t release it to everyone. We encouraged our friends to also contact the Tourism department. We didn’t want anyone fired, we wanted to make sure people understand why this has a negative impact on our number ONE industry in the state.  Our tax payer dollars were going to support someone who is actively trying to stop what our family does. 

Some within agriculture were upset that we gained the attention to this issue, because it hit all the major news sources including CNN, MSN and FoxNews plus some entertainment channels.  But that is what agriculture has been doing for years, just letting PETA say what they say about us and not doing anything.  That approach really hasn’t worked well for us has it?

In the end we got it changed, but it’s because people came together and shared their voice. So share your voice and make positive change. 

HSUS Attempting to Override NJ Gov Veto

Animal rights advocates push N.J. Legislature to override Christie's veto on pig crates

Gov. Chris Christie vetoed a bill in June that would have prohibited the farm practice of placing pregnant pigs in gestation cages. (EPA)

Brent Johnson/The Star-Ledger 
on September 17, 2013 at 11:16 AM, updated September 17, 2013 at 3:33 PM

TRENTON — A coalition of animal-rights advocates today urged the state Legislature to override Gov. Chris Christie’s veto of a bill that would ban the “cruel” farm practice of keeping pregnant pigs in gestation crates.

The Humane Society of the United States announced it is launching a $150,000 television ad campaign in the state to educate voters on the issue.

“All animals deserve humane treatment — especially if they’re being raised for food,” Humane Society President Wayne Pacelle said during a teleconference call this morning. “If animals are being raised for food, by God, we have to make sure they are not suffering in the run up to their slaughter.”   READ MORE

HSUS is targeting the state of New Jersey with an emotional based campaign to override a veto by Gov. Chris Christie.  He vetoed the bill based on science not emotion. HSUS is once again attacking a state with very few families that raise hogs. It is our duty as people in agriculture to reach out to New Jersey residents and share the real story of how livestock is raised. How??  Social Media! It’s another place where Team Ag can work together.   -Stacy

My November Column

Every month I write a column for the Dakota Farmer magazine.  I've really enjoyed writing it over the last couple years.  Last months column was pretty special for me.  I've had several people tell me that this has been their favorite article I've written.  Take a look and tell me what you think.


Click here to see the magazine article.

The cable news channel CNN ran a story on their website this summer that raised the question “Does 4-H desensitizes kids to killing?”.  As a former 4-H member for 13 years and the parent of a first year 4-H member this certainly caught my attention.  Over the course of those 13 years I spent countless hours leading, washing, combing and clipping on calves.  I did everything I could to make them as comfortable and healthy as possible.  So how could anyone ever believe that this somehow desensitizes kids?  

According to the story, some believe that 4-H helps desensitize youngsters into having no emotional attachment to animals raised for food.  A few of the commenters even tried to claim that this was some grand conspiracy by the meat industry to keep them in business.  Apparently by forcing these kids to sell their livestock to be processed somehow turns them into greedy, uncaring people and will lead to a life of mistreating the animals in their care.  

The truth of the matter is that it teaches kids about responsibility and how life works and is sustained.  We just capped off our 4-H year with a trip to Rapid City, SD for the Western Junior Livestock Show.  It’s a tremendous show that our son was very excited to be part of.  For his first year in 4-H he decided to show a bred heifer named Morgan.  All summer and through the fall he learned how to care for his calf.  He probably put a hundred miles on his bike just going back and forth to the barn to check on her.  In the end his hard work paid off when he proudly marched his well-behaved heifer into that show ring with a grin on his face.  

While we were at the show I tried to figure out how all of the hard work each one of those kids had put in that summer could somehow be a bad thing?  I didn’t see any desensitized kids.  What I saw were hard working, polite young people, working with their families and their fellow 4-Her’s to learn responsibility and proper livestock care.  

I also couldn’t help but think what a better place our world may be if every kid had a “Morgan” in their life for just one summer.  Morgan will be in our herd for the next several years but like every cow on the ranch her time will come to an end.  However, the lessons she taught our son will last forever and for that I’m grateful.  

Pet Shelters Suffer from HSUS Campaigns

Humane Society in the doghouse over budget

Written by

Sergio Bichao | Staff Writer

www.mycentralnewjersey.com

Perhaps you’ve heard of the Humane Society.

No, not the Plainfield Area Humane Society. Or the Associated Humane Societies, which operates at Popcorn Park Zoo in Lacey.

This is the Humane Society of the United States, the national animal-advocacy organization that counts 11 million people as members and rakes in nearly $100 million a year in grants and donations. While it may share part of the name with several local animal shelters, just a fraction of the Humane Society’s coffers trickles down.

In New Jersey, the organization donated $21,178 to 10 shelters and animal groups in 2009 and 2010, according a report released last week slamming the Humane Society for not giving more money to local groups.

Nora Breen, director of Second Chance for Animals, whose volunteers support the Franklin Township Animal Shelter in Somerset County, said it was “disappointing” that more money isn’t going to local groups.

“In a small organization (people who donate) can be guaranteed that the money we raise from them goes directly to help the animals,” she said. “We don’t pay salaries to any volunteers. When you get into these larger organizations, you don’t know where the money is going.”

Second Chance received $2,000 in 2009 from the Humane Society.

But the Associated Humane Societies, which runs shelters in Newark, the Forked River section of Lacey and Tinton Falls, was not as fortunate.    Read More

Local shelters that actually do care for unwanted pets continue to be harmed by the HSUS and their intentionally confusing fundraising campaigns.  If you really want to help these pets please inform as many people as possible about this.  Your local pet shelters will thank you.  -Troy

How Animal Rights Activists Harm People

Slaughtering Indonesia's cattle trust

David Leyonhjelm

Published 1:50 PM, 16 Aug 2011 Last update 1:50 PM, 16 Aug 2011

The government’s decision to halt live cattle exports to Indonesia, without prior warning, deeply disturbed Indonesia. Australian beef accounts for 25 per cent of the country’s meat and is a vital source of protein for millions of Indonesians. There are also thousands employed in feedlots, abattoirs and downstream processing, and Indonesia had considered Australia to be close enough to form part of its own food security.

In addition, the Australian government has long had a policy of supporting neighbouring countries that are members of global animal health organisation OIE as they progressively implement its standards of animal handling and welfare. Indonesia is such a member.

The export ban undermined all that. Many in Indonesia now regard Australia as an unreliable supplier, and there are strong indications the country will seek to diversify its sources by importing cattle and beef from other countries while renewing efforts to become self-sufficient in beef by 2014.

Read More

This is a great example of what kind of damage animal rights activists can cause.  I don’t want to see livestock being mistreated but I really don’t want to see people suffering from hunger either.  These extreme activists weren’t concerned about fixing the problems that occurred, they saw this as an opportunity to do damage to the family farmers and ranchers that raised livestock.  Along the way they damaged the families in Indonesia that rely on the beef they raise to feed their families.  Livestock play an important role in feeding hungry people.  It’s just unfortunate that many animal rights activists fail to realize this.  

Shelter Closing Due to Association with HSUS

Second Chance Rescue Center Closing Its Doors

Published: July 22, 2011, 6:08 AM

SIOUX FALLS, SD - A Sioux Falls animal shelter that recently fired its executive director and has faced financial troubles is closing. 

Second Chance Rescue Center announced Friday morning it could not overcome challenges it was up against and has decided to close its doors Sunday, July 24. 

In May, the organization announced it had fired its founder and executive director Rosey Quinn, but wouldn't say why, and that the shelter was going to head in a new direction. The organization's Board of Directors said that would involve a transition from a rescue center to an adoption center and a name change. 

The shelter also was involved in controversy over the past several years, including the large dog raid in 2009 where 172 dogs were taken from Turner County dog breeder Dan Christensen. The charges against Christensen were dropped when a judge decided Quinn acted illegally in obtaining a search warrant.    Link

Second Chance Rescue in Sioux Falls learned the unfortunate lesson of what happens when you work with a group like the HSUS that is more concerned with ending livestock and pet ownership rather than animal welfare.  As is the case in most animal welfare issues that HSUS is associated with, the animals end up suffering worse.  The HSUS convinced this shelter to lie to a judge in order to get a warrant to seize a group of dogs.  When the truth finally surfaced the judge order the dogs returned and now the Sioux Falls community has one less animal shelter.  

Animal Rights Group Allowed Abuse to Continue

Games over Indonesian animal cruelty videos cost animals' lives

EXCLUSIVE by Simon Benson

From: The Daily Telegraph

June 17, 2011

ANIMAL rights groups withheld film evidence of shocking animal cruelty in Indonesian slaughterhouses from the government for three months - before launching a major publicity campaign.

The RSPCA said it had considered the "ethical" dilemma of refusing the government access to the footage until the ABC's Four Corners highlighted the abuse two weeks ago, and admitted its actions meant thousands of animals would continue to be slaughtered between the time it discovered the brutal killings and when the footage was finally made public.

But the RSPCA said it feared the government would have done nothing had it been shown the footage earlier.    Read More

As has been the case with so many undercover videos filmed by animal rights activists, their political motivations were more important than actually stopping the abuse.  For months they were aware of this cruelty yet refused to inform authorities about it.  And now their solution is to end live exports, not how to improve facilities that handle the cattle or better training for those that work in them.  This is like ending the production of cars to prevent traffic accidents.  Their true motivation is to eliminate animal agriculture which explains their actions.  -TH

SDSU Students Study Unwanted Horse Issues

SDSU students outline unwanted horse problem

Steve Miller Journal correspondent | Posted: Sunday, January 30, 2011 9:00 am | (2) Comments

The number of unwanted horses in the United States is growing by nearly 150,000 a year since the closing of the last U.S. slaughter plants, and no single, easy solution is in sight.

Those were some conclusions of a study conducted by students in South Dakota State University’s animal and range sciences department.

Ten students presented their study Friday to a small audience at Rushmore Plaza Civic Center during the Black Hills Stock Show & Rodeo.

In 2006, the year before the last three horse slaughtering plants closed in the United States, about 105,000 horses were killed, said first-year graduate student Kathy Koch of Crofton, Neb.

The plants were forced to close after Congress eliminated funding for federal inspection of horse meat for human consumption.

Since then, thousands of unwanted U.S. horses have been going to slaughter plants in Mexico and Canada.

An outright ban on the sale or transportation of horses for slaughter is pending in Congress.

Koch said there are now about 170,000 unwanted horses each year.

She said that even if all 432 adoption facilities in the country could take 50 horses each, only 21,600 horses could be adopted, leaving a net of 148,400 unwanted horses.    Read More

The issue of unwanted horses continues to grow.  While many of the animal rights activists think everything is fine and refuse to engage in real discussions of how to handle so many unwanted horses, there plenty of people in agriculture that are looking at a real problem and offering real solutions.  There seems to be plenty of people that think we live in a world where nothing ever dies and life is always happy and easy.  The real story is this, the only way life can continue to exist on this planet is if something dies every day.  The success of life depends on death.  We have the ability to use these livestock as a resource that not only assists us in their life but also in their death.  There's nothing wrong with using horses to feed people.  For thousands of years we have relied on livestock to benefit our lives and that still holds true today.  The cruelest thing we can do for these horses, to mother nature and to ourselves is waste this natural resource.  

Talking Agriculture with Mike Rowe

Last weekend Stacy and I had the privilege of meeting with Mike Rowe.  If you haven't heard of Mike you've probably been living under a rock for the past six or seven years.  He's practically become the face of the Discovery Channel with his hit show Dirty Jobs and along the way he's also become the face of the American worker. 

Through his experiences doing Dirty Jobs across the country he's come to realize and appreciate that everything we have is either grown or mined from the earth.  Along with that his appreciation for the people that do that work has grown.

Out of that the mikeroweWORKS.com website was born.  It's a site dedicated to educating people about the importance of skilled trade workers, including farmers and ranchers.  Through that Mike happened to find my youtube video where I dumped a bottle of Yellow Tail wine on the frozen ground to tell people that they had made a donation to the world's wealthiest animal rights group, the Humane Society of the United States. 

Our work with the Farm American project also caught Mike's eye and they featured a blog post of mine about the program on their site.  When it turned out that we were all going to be in Atlanta at the American Farm Bureau Federation meeting we were able to finally meet in person. 

Mike and his team were very interested to hear about our efforts to advocate for agriculture, including our work with the Farm American program.  Mike gets a lot of requests to be spokesman.  In fact he was the most sought after spokesman in the world in 2010.  His name has been thrown around many times in the world of agriculture as someone that would be a great spokesman for our industry.  But Mike can wisely see that we don't need a single spokesman, we need lots and lots of advocates for agriculture.  Mike isn't an expert in food production, not the way that farmers and ranchers are.  So while he is certainly willing to help share the story, ultimately we are the ones that need to be doing it. 

Mike also highlighted the efforts of the Farm American program as a great way for farming and ranching families to spread their message.  He was impressed by the unselfish efforts of Furniture Row to start the program because it was the right thing to do, not as a way to pay for a race team.  When you explain to someone all of the things we could do with Farm American to tell the story of agriculture it starts sounding too good to be true.  One look at the race car proves the intentions of Furniture Row though.  There's not a single mention of Furniture Row on the car.  That really caught the attention of Mike as it has with so many others. 

We are really looking forward to a continued partnership with Mike and his team at mikeroweWORKS.com to tell the story of agriculture.  Mike is a genuine guy who was a pleasure to meet and visit with.  He's certainly a friend of every hard working American and as he put it, a big fan of "chewing and swallowing".  It was a real pleasure to spend a few hours "chewing and swallowing" with him last week. 

You've heard me telling you to be an advocate for agriculture, now hear it from Mike Rowe.

Summit of the Horse

U.S. NEWS
JANUARY 5, 2011

Horse Slaughter Is Reconsidered
Animal-Welfare Groups Are Joining Ranchers in a Push to Revive an Industry That Died in 2007
By STEPHANIE SIMON

Less than four years after the last equine slaughterhouses in the U.S. closed down, an unlikely coalition of ranchers, horse owners and animal-welfare groups is trying to bring them back.

The group, gathering in Las Vegas this week for a conference called Summit of the Horse, aims to map out a strategy for reviving an industry that slaughtered as many as 100,000 horses a year in the U.S. before it was effectively shut down by congressional action in 2007.

Advocates say the slaughterhouses could bring an economic boost to rural areas and give owners who no longer have the means or inclination to care for the horses an economical and humane way to dispose of them.

"We believe that humane processing is absolutely a moral and an ethical choice," said Sue Wallis, a Wyoming state lawmaker who organized the event.

Animal-rights supporters have been lobbying Congress for a ban on exporting horses for slaughter. They've had no success—but even if a ban did pass, some activists say, it would do little to ease suffering, as owners desperate to shed responsibility for their animals might simply abandon them to starve. Hiring a veterinarian to euthanize and dispose of a horse can cost hundreds of dollars. Horse-rescue groups take in some unwanted animals, but they don't have the resources to care for them all.


"Every day, I'm turning horses away. I feel like I'm playing God, because I have to pick and choose," said Whitney Wright, director of Hope for Horses, a rescue group in Asheville, N.C. She worked to shut down slaughterhouses but now would like to see a few reopen under strict guidelines for humane handling.

Read More

There is no doubt that there is an over-abundance of horses in this country. The availability of a domestic harvest facility would greatly reduce the suffering that is currently taking place. The Summit of the Horse is currently taking place where discussions about this very thing are taking place. While animal rights activists like to spend their time mocking those of us who raise livestock and provide food for this country, we are having the serious discussions that need to take place.

Fallout From Pacelle's Comments Continue

Michael Vick wants a dog? Try Cujo

Tamara Dietrich
December 26, 2010
dailypress.com

I love dogs. They improve our lives, and lengthen them. They make us happier people.


Who doesn't deserve that?

As one animal lover/activist told me recently, "Nobody should be denied the companionship of a loyal pet."

But that same animal lover/activist also has this bumper sticker on his vehicle: "Help stop dog fighting. Neuter Michael Vick."

Harsh? Only if you forget the deeper, sordid picture of Vick's Bad Newz dog fighting ring in Surry County, which wasn't just some gentleman's sporting club where wagering was committed as well-muscled, athletic pit bulls tussled in a ring together, and may the better dog win.

This was a blood sport — emphasis on "blood" — in which dogs were maimed, crippled and ripped apart.

A judge ordered him not to own a dog while he's on probation, but apparently Vick has begun to reflect on how wonderful a family pet can be.


"I think just to have a pet in my household," said Vick in an interview with NBC News and The Grio.com, "and to show people that I genuinely care, and my love and my passion for animals, I think it would be outstanding."

His advocate, Wayne Pacelle, president of the Humane Society of the United States, thinks so, too.

"I have been around him a lot," Pacelle told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, "and feel confident that he would do a good job as a pet owner."

Unless Pacelle is willing to give Vick his own personal family pet with no conditions, oversight or reservations — then forget it.    Read More

Wayne Pacelle and the HSUS continue to show how out of touch they really are with their endorsement of pet ownership for convicted felon Michael Vick.  This isn’t sitting well with anyone and Pacelle is hearing about it.  This probably one of the biggest blunders Pacelle has ever made for his factory fundraising machine.  It shows where their priorities are when they still don’t want livestock used for food but they think Vick should own a dog again. 

Pacelle, HSUS Says Vick Should Have Dogs Again

Humane Society president open to Michael Vick owning dogs again


By the CNN Wire Staff

(CNN) -- The head of one of America's biggest animal protection organizations said Thursday that Michael Vick, who served prison time for his role in a deadly dogfighting operation, should have the opportunity to bring a dog home -- in due time.

Humane Society President Wayne Pacelle told HLN's Jane Velez-Mitchell that the Philadelphia Eagles quarterback shouldn't get a pet immediately and should have to meet certain milestones whenever he does. But Pacelle, whose group has worked with Vick in public outreach efforts, said that it would be wrong to close the door to his ever having a dog again.

"He's been going through counseling, he's been speaking to kids twice a month, and he needs to interact with animals," said Pacelle. "If he continues to hit these markers, then if his daughter wants a dog two or three years down the line,... I'm saying that we should be open to that possibility."    Read More

So Pacelle and the HSUS continue to try driving animal agriculture out of this country yet he has no problem letting Vick own dogs again?  Vick forced dogs to kill each other and farmers and ranchers are using livestock to help feed the world and Pacelle thinks the farmers and ranchers are a bigger threat?  The reality bus left HSUS long ago but things like this continue to remind us how out of touch they really are. 

NE Gov Tells HSUS To Stay Out

Nebraska governor on HSUS: ‘We’re going to beat them’


December 9, 2010 by Ken Anderson
BrownfieldAgNews.com

The governor of Nebraska is sending a strong message to the Humane Society of the United States—if the animal rights group goes after the state’s livestock industry, it’s in for a fight.

“The Humane Society of the United States is anti-agriculture and they’re out to destroy animal agriculture—and if they want to come to Nebraska, we’re going to fight them and we’re going to beat them,” Heineman says. “Agriculture is the number one industry in this state. It’s what makes our economy so strong. I’m going to stand tall and this is a fight we won’t shy away from.”

In an interview with Brownfield after his speech to the Nebraska Cattlemen’s group in Kearney, Heineman made it clear that compromise is not an option.

“In Nebraska, no deal, no compromise—we’re going to stand up, we’re going to beat them,” he says. “They’d be better off going somewhere else because they’re going to lose if they stay in Nebraska.”

HSUS has recently become more active in Nebraska, hiring a state director and holding a town hall meeting in Lincoln.     Link

It’s great to see our elected leaders stand up for their constituents against the lying bully that is the HSUS.  Their efforts to eliminate animal agriculture are more apparent than ever and it’s being noticed.  I would think it must be getting tougher for Pacelle to continue trying to sell his group as just an animal welfare group.  You don’t see politicians coming out against worthy charities, just the fraudulent ones. 

Truth About HSUS Revealed Again

The Humane Society of the United States is not what you think


By: Ron Arnold 12/02/10 8:05 PM
Wahington Examiner
OpEd Contributor

If you donate to the Humane Society of the United States for supporting the homeless doggies and kitties in your local animal shelter, you've likely been suckered by one of Big Green's most notorious propaganda mills.

HSUS is a radical no-meat, anti-hunting, anti-gun octopus that spends millions swallowing other animal groups whole, but habitually gives less than 1 percent of its annual revenue to a few selected local shelters. It's not that they can't afford it -- they raked in $101.6 million last year alone.

HSUS got so big because of CEO Wayne Pacelle's takeovers of the extremist Fund for Animals and the respectable Doris Day Animal League, in what he calls "corporate combinations."

That, and his ability to create high-profile projects like disaster relief crews that swoop stranded cats and dogs from flooded housetops while the TV cameras watch -- then quietly dump them on nearby shelters without so much as a dime's worth of support.

Pacelle gets the credit, the grunts get the critters.    Read More

There are more people every day that are learning the truth about the HSUS.  While they continue to claim that they aren’t anti-meat or anti-ag, one only has to look at their suggested recipes to see what their true goals are.  That’s where the rubber meats the road.  But while we have made great strides in exposing this group we must continue to do more.  There are still too many people that think this group actually cares for pets.  Nothing could be further from the truth. 

More Farm American Coverage

I have really appreciated all of the media coverage of the Farm American project.  A big thank you to Vicki Myers from Progressive Farmer/DTN for this article. 

Ag Warrior


Cowboys, Farmers, Furniture and NASCAR

Victoria G. Myers Progressive Farmer Senior Editor

Mon Nov 29, 2010 08:31 AM CST

Troy Hadrick is looking for $22 million. That's what it will cost to build a campaign to promote America's farmers and ranchers on NASCAR's pit row. And when you hear Hadrick talk about the program, $22 million begins to sound like a deal.

The no-nonsense rancher from Faulkton, S.D., has a face you might remember. He countered a contribution Yellow Tail wine made to The Humane Society with a YouTube video that went viral. It was a simple, straightforward image of the young rancher pouring a bottle of the wine out on the ground, with cattle in the background. The reaction had Yellow Tail backpedaling on its donation soon after the video was posted.

Since then, Hadrick and his wife, Stacy, have become well-known advocates of the American farmer and rancher. They travel and speak across the country with one goal: letting average consumers get to know a real rancher. It's a rewarding pursuit.

"It's amazing to watch it happen, when consumers meet a farmer or rancher. It's like the lightbulb goes on and they see we are human and that we do care," says Hadrick.

The rancher says for too long media and organizations he considers anti-agriculture have worked to fear monger and dehumanize people who produce America's food. He points to terms like "factory farm" or "big ag," which he says have a goal of "making us faceless and cold."    Read More

A Film About Beef

Here's another great video by a student filmmaker talking about the beef industry and sharing what she learned.

A Film by Katie Griffith from ExploreBeef on Vimeo.

The Care Package: Cattle Welfare in the West

Three student filmmakers were recently given full access to makes short documentaries about the beef industry. As we travel across the country speaking about agriculture I continue to tell people they shouldn't ask Google about where their food comes from. They should ask the farmers and ranchers that grow it. These films offer an opportunity for everyone to learn about beef industry directly from the people involved.

Here's the first of three films I will be posting.

The Care Package: Cattle Welfare in the West from ExploreBeef on Vimeo.

Will HSUS/Ohio Deal Continue?

New Ohio ag director will review animal care deal

By JOHN SEEWER
TOLEDO, Ohio

Ohio's next agriculture director plans to take a closer a look at a deal arranged by the outgoing governor and animal rights activists that would bring tougher laws governing farm animals.

The agreement calls for a ban of certain crates and cages and prohibiting strangulation as a form of euthanasia for sick or injured animals.

"There are a lot more unanswered questions," James Zehringer, a former poultry farmer who's been a state lawmaker the past three years, said during an interview with The Associated Press.

His biggest concern is that the proposed regulations could make it too costly for new farm owners who want to get into the business by forcing them to make changes to existing farms.

"We want to grow agriculture," he said. "Ohio is losing 700 farms a year."   Read More

This could get interesting.  Now Ohio may have the political leadership to stand up to the falsehoods and threats coming from HSUS.  The question will be whether or not anyone will follow their efforts.  In order for the OLCSB to operate properly, they can’t be constantly under threat of a ballot issue from the HSUS.  While the HSUS will never b e worried about what’s best for livestock, farmers and ranchers have no choice.  It’s our duty to properly care for them, regardless of politics. 

HSUS Tries Fooling Nebraska Livestock Producers

Humane Society: Not ‘anti-ag'


By Leslie Reed
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

LINCOLN — The Humane Society of the U.S. has no plans to conduct a petition drive in Nebraska aimed at treatment of farm animals, the group's president and chief executive officer said here Sunday.

But Wayne Pacelle said his group still will continue to work to eliminate tight confinement practices on farms and ranches.

“We are not anti-agriculture,” Pacelle said. “We want animals to be able to stand up, lie down and turn around. That is not a sweeping agenda.”

Some of the agriculture representatives said they remain wary of Pacelle's group, despite his conciliatory tone.

Mark McHargue, a Central City, Neb., pork producer and a director of the Nebraska Farm Bureau Federation, said he remains skeptical of the HSUS's motives. McHargue said he uses gestation crates to house pregnant sows on his hog farm. He said he believes the crates are a humane way to handle animals that would fight and harm one another if they weren't restrained. Working without the crates also would increase his cost of production.

“You heard a lot of frustration and anxiety tonight about what's happened in other states,” McHargue said. “There's no reason to think that what happened in other states won't happen in Nebraska.”   Read More

These farmers and ranchers that believe the HSUS is a friend to them really struggle with reality.  One look at the recipe section on their website shows you what their true goals are.  Never once does it say anything about eating meat, milk and eggs grown in certain conditions.  It states that using animals as a source of food is cruel.  I’m not sure how Pacelle can say that he isn’t anti-ag with a straight face.  The only way he can keep his professional fundraising organization afloat is to keep creating one crisis after another directed at agriculture. 

Help Your Neighbor, Not a Turkey

Turkey adoption program keeps flocks off dinner tables

By Alyson Cunningham The (Salisbury, Md.) Daily Times


DEWEY BEACH, Del. — For the last five years, Marissa Filderman has adopted a turkey for Thanksgiving.

But she's never interested in raising the feathered fellow.

The 24-year-old vegetarian is focused on saving that turkey from its inevitable holiday fate.

So each year, she adopts a foul from Farm Sanctuary, an organization which rescues abused farm animals and works to stop and expose cruel farming practices with shelters in Watkins Glen, N.Y., and Orland, Calif.

Around Thanksgiving, the sanctuary has a special turkey fundraiser that allows people to sponsor a turkey for $30 or a flock for $180.

According to the Farm Sanctuary's website, the organization has saved more than 1,000 turkeys in 24 years.

Read More

As we approach Thanksgiving we think about all the things we are thankful for. Our family is thankful for the food we have to eat. But for too many families there isn’t much food to be had for the holidays. It makes it even harder to accept when we have people in our society giving money to animal rights groups to feed turkeys when that money could be used to feed their neighbors. Please support your local food banks so those less fortunate than you can enjoy Thanksgiving rather than a turkey.