EU's Medical Research Ability Threatened

Crucial medical research 'threatened' by EU animal welfare plan
Mark Henderson, Science Editor

Important medical research into conditions such as autism, Parkinson’s disease, strokes and Aids will be “closed down” if a European Union directive on animal experiments is passed in its current form, leading scientists said yesterday.

Vital studies of brain and cell function that promise new therapies for serious disorders would be blocked by the proposed regulations, turning Europe into a “scientific backwater”, a coalition of research organisations warned.

The directive also threatens the capacity of European countries to defend against a flu pandemic, it was claimed. It would bring hens’ eggs, which are critical to the production of flu vaccines, under the scope of vivisection regulations, creating costs and bureaucracy that could drive vaccine manufacture out of Europe. Read More

Being able to utilize animals in drug research has led to millions of human lives saved. But there is still work to be done. It seems everyday we get closer to finding cures for all kinds of different diseases that cause unnecessary suffering. Animal rights groups don’t place any more emphasis on humans than animals, so they would just as soon see a human child suffer as a lab rat. We must retain our ability to do vital medical research which requires the use of animals under very regulated conditions already.

HSUS Tampering With ACMA Awards

HSUS plots to vote Underwood in as ACMA Entertainer of the Year

Amanda Nolz
March 24th, 2009

Yesterday, was informed of the most recent HSUS plot, and I thought I would fill you in on this scandal, as well. Last week, I wrote about endorsing Rachael Ray as an outstanding advocate for the beef industry. I believe we need to thank the celebrities that support our industry, and today, I have provided a perfect opportunity to do just that. Now is your chance to stand up against HSUS and Carrie Underwood and endorse a country singer The Academy of Country Music Awards that holds the same values that we do. If the following message moves you to take action, head to and vote for PRCA member and team roper, George Strait! It only takes a minute to register, but that minute will be well spent fighting HSUS and their sneaky schemes!



The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), the most radical animal “rights” and anti-hunting organization in the country, has been quietly trying to get Carrie Underwood voted Entertainer of the Year via the Academy of Country Music. The problem is, a large percentage of country music fans are also gun owners and hunters who do not like Carrie Underwood’s active support for HSUS. And HSUS knows it.

Underwood and American Idol have already listed HSUS as a beneficiary of the proceeds of one of her songs and now HSUS is enlisting their radical animal rights supporters to vote for her in the Entertainer of the Year contest. But they are trying to keep it quiet. In an e-mail sent out to supporters by Kathy Bauch, the HSUS Senior Director for Corporate Relations & Promotions, she asked people to vote for Underwood, but added, “Feel free to distribute this to friends and family, but please don’t post to lists, twitter, etc.–anything that would identify that HSUS is urging people to vote for her, or it could just breathe life into the opposition.”

Oops, too late! Perhaps someone should tell the folks at HSUS that e-mails are not exactly the most secure way of communicating their “secret” agendas. Please share this with every meat-eating, freedom loving American you know and then VOTE!!!

I doubt there is a coincidence that a couple weeks ago Carrie Underwood decided to donate the proceeds of one of her songs to HSUS and now HSUS is trying to secretly have their members stuff the ballot box for her. Most of the people that listen to country music eat at least once a day, so why don’t we all vote for someone who is involved in agriculture like George Strait. Underwood has made it very clear that she wants animal agriculture to be eliminated. It takes just a few seconds to register and vote.

Campus Vegans Focus on Animal Rights

No meat please, we're vegans

SPARC advocates for animal rights, cruelty-free lifestyle
Sarah Ewald
Staff Writer
NCSU

Published: Sunday, March 22, 2009

Chicken or beef? Most students make this choice daily for their source of protein, but some opt not to go this route. These students are vegans and vegetarians, and make their choices a bit differently.

SPARC, a student group at the University, stands for Students Promoting Animal Rights Collectively and currently has 14 members, according to the group’s Facebook page. As of spring 2008, there were 38 active members, and 187 others on the listserve who attend events. Most of the members are vegetarians or vegans.

Irena Rindos, a 2008 alumna in natural resources policy and administration, is a former member of SPARC. Rindos said the member base has fluctuated from year to year, but there has always been a core group of dedicated members.

SPARC was started in 2002 by Jared Milrad, a 2006 graduate in wildlife management, along with some of his vegan and vegetarian friends. Their main goal was to bring more vegetarian and vegan-friendly options to the dining halls.

Rindos said the group has succeeded in this endeavor.

In 2007, SPARC’s mission was changed to focus solely on animal rights. Read More

It always really bugs me when vegetarians or vegans that I talk to say they did that because of the abuse livestock suffer. The problem is that when I ask them if they have ever visited a livestock operation, they answer is almost always no. They are making these dietary decisions based on PETA videos and HSUS propaganda. When those of us in agriculture don’t get out and tell the real story of animal husbandry, this is where the information comes from.

Environmentalists Battle Each Other

March 24, 2009
Environmentalists in a Clash of Goals
By FELICITY BARRINGER

WHITEWATER CANYON, Calif. — As David Myers scans the rocky slopes of this desert canyon, looking vainly past clumps of brittlebush for bighorn sheep, he imagines an enemy advancing across the crags.

That specter is of an army of mirrors, generators and transmission towers transforming Mojave Desert vistas like this one. While Whitewater Canyon is privately owned and protected, others that Mr. Myers, as head of the Wildlands Conservancy, has fought to preserve are not.

To his chagrin, some of Mr. Myers’s fellow environmentalists are helping power companies pinpoint the best sites for solar-power technology. The goal of his former allies is to combat climate change by harnessing the desert’s solar-rich terrain, reducing the region’s reliance on carbon-emitting fuels.

Mr. Myers is indignant. “How can you say you’re going to blade off hundreds of thousands of acres of earth to preserve the Earth?” he said.

As the Obama administration puts development of geothermal, wind and solar power on a fast track, the environmental movement finds itself torn between fighting climate change and a passion for saving special places. Read More

It’s an interesting situation that these environmental groups are facing. The old saying of careful what you wish for is starting to come into play. They have been very vocal about all the things they wanted done for energy production yet now when they have the chance to see it come to fruition, they are facing arguments from their own. I have noticed this seems to be the problem with most of the ideas you see from animal rights and environmental groups. They propose these grand ideas but seldom will they work well in reality.

March Blizzard

Here in western South Dakota we are in day 2 of a pretty decent spring blizzard. It's hard to tell exactly how much snow has fallen because of the wind blowing so hard. Winds were clocked near 80 mph last night. I would guess we have easily had over a foot of snow and maybe closer to 18 inches. Anyhow, our priorities were trying to get cattle fed this morning so the blog didn't get much attention. Tomorrow we will be back on track though. If I get time, I will post this afternoon. Take Care.

Troy

NYT Makes Modern Agriculture the Enemy

March 22, 2009
Is a Food Revolution Now in Season?
By ANDREW MARTIN
ANAHEIM, Calif.

AS tens of thousands of people recently strolled among booths of the nation’s largest organic and natural foods show here, munching on fair-trade chocolate and sipping organic wine, a few dozen pioneers of the industry sneaked off to an out-of-the-way conference room.

Although unit sales of organic food have leveled off and even declined lately, versus a year earlier, the mood among those crowded into the conference room was upbeat as they awaited a private screening of a documentary called “Food Inc.” — a withering critique of agribusiness and industrially produced food.

They also gathered to relish their changing political fortunes, courtesy of the Obama administration.

“This has never been just about business,” said Gary Hirshberg, chief executive of Stonyfield Farm, the maker of organic yogurt. “We are here to change the world. We dreamt for decades of having this moment.”

After being largely ignored for years by Washington, advocates of organic and locally grown food have found a receptive ear in the White House, which has vowed to encourage a more nutritious and sustainable food supply. Read More

The New York Times continues their assault on food production again this week. This time they are telling their readers that any food other than organic is bad for you, anyone that raises anything other than organic is evil, and apparently “Food, Inc.” is now being considered a factual documentary. This newspaper has made it very clear they are against any type of modern food production systems. And even though the author made mention of the fact that organic can’t feed this world, he chose not to address the problem.

Idaho Legislature Considers Horse Problems

Let them be slaughtered for food, says an Iona lawmaker who wants Congress not to ban the practice.

IDAHO - Last fall, federal workers discovered 17 domestic horses abandoned on Bureau of Land Management land in Owyhee County. This year, the agency discovered 21 horse carcasses illegally dumped in Gem County.

With cases of horse neglect, cruelty and abandonment rising as the economy weakens, "I would like Congress to back off of this and let market forces take effect the way they always were," said Rep. Thomas Loertscher, R-Iona.

Loertscher has drafted a nonbinding memorial calling on Congress to remove any prohibitions on horse slaughterhouses "so that horses that are no longer useful or people just can't afford them, that there is a market out there for them to be processed."

He acknowledges: "It's not a pleasant subject."

Several bills have come before Congress in recent years to ban horse slaughter and the exportation of horses for slaughter. None passed.

Now, Rep. John Conyers, D-Michigan, is trying again. Read More

Quite frankly I have been amazed that so many states have taken on this problem of unwanted horses. But when the bills start coming in for the care they have to receive that will catch a government’s attention. If only there were some animal rights groups that could donate just a small portion of their nine figure budgets to operate shelters, then maybe we wouldn’t be having so many problems either.

Sow Housing Science Inconclusive

Issue Date: March 23, 2009 Issue 12 Volume 81
Sow housing science inconclusive

By SARAH MUIRHEAD

THE science does not currently exist to allow for rigid decisions on which type of housing is in the best interests of dry sows in commercial pork production, an international task force organized by the Council for Agricultural Science & Technology (CAST) has concluded.

The use of individual gestation accommodations (IGAs) for dry sows in commercial pork production is an issue that has raised much debate, and since public perceptions and misconceptions of welfare issues have the potential to dramatically affect swine production, CAST undertook the effort to provide an objective and scientific look at the subject.

"Too few statistically adequate, scientifically controlled trials on industry farms have been conducted; many reports are not useful for critical evaluation, thus for developing public policy," said task force chair Dr. Stanley Curtis with the department of animal sciences at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. "More large-scale, on-farm, multidisciplinary, scientifically robust research and development are needed before rigid regulations should be imposed."

For the sake of history, farmers started moving sows inside during the mid-20th century to provide them with relief from variable weather conditions, environmental protection pressures, predators and parasitic and enteric diseases.

Additionally, the job of managing breeding pigs is physically challenging, and the added stress to herdspeople caring for larger numbers of pigs during inclement weather was a contributing factor prompting the move indoors, according to Curtis. Read More

To read CAST's entire report click here.

CAST is definitely right in that we don’t have enough scientific evidence to make sweeping legislatively driven changes to our methods of animal husbandry. But, as I have mentioned before, the changes being made are because emotion has trumped science in our society. All of our arguments for the way we raise animals has to be based in science and argued with passion and emotion. We need to be on the same playing field as our opponents if we ever expect to win.

HBO Documentary Impact

Jolley: Did You Miss The HBO Special?

Not that it was an unbiased look at “Factory Farming” practices, “Death on a Factory Farm” was really just the same old, same old sensationalism. If you thought you might have seen or heard something new, here’s a list of the absolutely unbiased resources the producers used:

-The Humane Farming Association
-Mercy For Animals
-Animal Welfare Institute
-The Humane Society of the United States
-Compassion Over Killing
-Vegan Outreach (Are you kidding me?)
-The Sustainable Table
-Animal Law Coalition

Yeah, you’ve heard it all before, haven’t you?

In a statement that would make Martin Luther King blanche, Sarah Teale, one of the two producers of the propaganda film, said, “In a way, this is the civil rights movement of our time.”

Tom Simon, her partner in crime, fired this warning shot: “But I do think the more enlightened people in the industry are realizing that if the industry doesn't police itself, if it doesn't clean up its act, somebody's going to do it for them.” Read More

Everyone involved in animal agriculture was waiting to see the fallout from the HBO documentary this week. Oddly enough, even with all they hype surrounding it, apparently it didn’t play all that well. Not if you compare it to Oprah’s show last fall that talked about animal agriculture. I think it goes to show that these shadowy animal rights groups aren’t considered mainstream nor have they earned much trust from the public. That’s the thing that Oprah has that makes her so dangerous. When we present to agriculture groups, we make a point to tell them how important it is to check where information is coming from. This article has a great list of the sources used to make the documentary.

College Students Promote Benefits of Meat

Students counter anti-meat rally
By Laura Nichols
For the Collegian, Penn State University

Standing outside the HUB-Robeson Center Wednesday, clad in red shirts with the word BEEF emblazoned across the front, students held a Meat-In in response to Monday's Meatout.

With the help of their mascot, Patty Melt -- a person dressed in a giant hamburger costume -- volunteers handed out pork sticks, beef jerky and cheese sticks.

The Collegiate Cattlewomen's Society held the third annual Meat-In as an effort to educate students about the benefits of having a diet rich in meats, milk and eggs, said Christi Graver, co-chairwoman of the day's event.

"We're the kids that grew up on farms. We know the production story of beef, pork, poultry and dairy," said Chris Molinaro, co-chairwoman of the Meat-In.

Molinaro (senior-animal science) said students were receptive throughout the event. More than a dozen volunteers handed out meat and dairy products during the lunch hours at the HUB. Volunteers also handed out food and information at Findlay Dining Commons from 4:30 to 7 p.m.

Read More

The one thing the meatout can do is provide the motivation and opportunity for us to educate consumers on the benefits of including meat in our diets. Congratulations to these young agriculturalists for promoting their industry in a positive and productive way. This is a great example of the simple things we can all do to better our industry.

MM MM Meat

Meatout makes all sorts of sense
By ELLEN KANNER
ekanner@MiamiHerald.com

How can you stretch your dollars and prop up your spirits? The folks at FARM (Farm Animal Rights Movement) have the answer: ``Change Your Diet, Change the World.''

Get ready to celebrate, save money, show compassion and affect global change all in one go -- Friday marks the 25th annual Great American Meatout.

In 1985, the national nonprofit FARM set aside March 20 to promote animal compassion and veggie ways. Since then, countless Americans have celebrated spring by going meatless.

The Meatout is now an annual event in 20 nations including France, where it's La Journée Sans Viande (The Day Without Meat -- everything sounds better in French). Read More

One of the groups that is now trying to promote veganism in California following the passage of Prop 2 is FARM (Farm Animal Rights Movement). This is the same group that started the Great American Meat-Out 25 years ago. They will use the same tired arguments against eating meat that use information from debunked sources, like the UN report on livestock emissions. Eating a balanced diet that includes meat and dairy products will always be the healthiest diet.

Thank A Farmer

Thursday, March 19, 2009
Tell a farmer ‘thank you.’ Today.
by Susan Crowell

North Carolina Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler was eating lunch with some staff members at a local restaurant recently when a woman walked by, laid a napkin on his table, and kept on walking to the cash register.

“I picked up the napkin and noticed she had written a note on it,” Troxler wrote in the department’s blog March 11.

“It said, ‘Thank you for protecting our food supply.’“

The woman was gone before Troxler could respond.

What a wonderful, unexpected reaffirmation of the work Troxler and others in the North Carolina department of agriculture are doing. A simple, heartfelt thank you.

Farm and Dairy received a similar hand-written note from a Geauga County reader last week, too. All it said was: “God bless the American Farmer! No one else is going to!!”

This is National Ag Week, and National Ag Day is traditionally celebrated on the first day of spring — this year on March 20. It is, I think, a good time to say thanks.

Thanks for doing a hundred thankless jobs. Who else wants to muck out stalls or scrape alleys or haul manure? Who else wants to milk cows two and three times a day, seven days a week? Who else wants to castrate or dehorn calves, or fill out reams of forms at the Farm Service Agency office? Who else wants to work in one of the most dangerous occupations in the United States?

Read More

National Agriculture Week is a fantastic time to for a two-way conversation about agriculture to happen. First, we need to take this opportunity to tell the story of our farms and ranches to our neighbors and local communities. Invite them out for a tour, or make a presentation about your operation to civic group. The sky is the limit when it comes to ways of sharing your story. And second, for consumers, this a chance for you to contact a local producer and tell them you appreciate the fact that they grow your food. Or support them at a local farmers market. These are the little things that can keep us connected as communities and neighbors.

EU Officials Learn Farming By Doing

Bureaucrats who handle EU's big farm budgets to be sent out to pasture
White-collar bureaucrats handle the biggest chunk of the EU budget — farming — so to make sure they know what's needed, they will be trading in their pinstripes for overalls.

By RAF CASERT
Associated Press Writer

BRUSSELS —
White-collar bureaucrats handle the biggest chunk of the EU budget — farming — so to make sure they know what's needed, they will be trading in their pinstripes for overalls.

In other words, the European Union wants these administrators to get firsthand experience on the farms they subsidize, so they will be sent to work on one for several weeks.

Often reviled as out-of-touch bureaucrats who go straight from university to their EU offices, these staff members will be sent to get their hands dirty in a program being launched next year, EU Farm Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel said Wednesday.

"I am definitely in favor of giving possibilities to those that have never been on a farm. They simply don't know how things work," Boel said. "It is definitely not meant to be a punishment, but a possibility to see what is out there." Read More

What a concept! The idea that in order to write legislation that pertains to agriculture you should have some knowledge of the business is quite amazing. I actually need to congratulate Commissioner Boel for implementing the idea. How many times has the idea been mentioned but never taken seriously. Do you suppose Vilsack would suggest this idea for his employees, or maybe Congress?

Farmers Get Politically Active

Farmers Protest At The Capitol On Agriculture Day
By CAROLYN MOREAU
The Hartford Courant
10:42 AM EDT, March 18, 2009

The oysters and apples displayed inside the state Capitol were signs of business as usual this morning. But the cow on the lawn outside was not.

Farmers used state Agriculture Day — a trade show for local produce that's been held at the Capitol for as long as anyone can remember — to stage an unusual protest against proposed legislation and state tax code changes that they say will decimate local farms.

Using Facebook, and capitalizing on a national craze for locally grown food that brought the term "locavore" into usage, Connecticut's farmers reached out to consumers, restaurant owners, gardeners, environmentalists and health advocates, urging them to bring signs and placards to the Capitol today.

And come they did. Farmers left their spring chores, and vocational agricultural schools sent busloads of youngsters, to form a crowd of more than 100 (plus one cow) on the Capitol steps.

Read More

It seems like not to many years ago you could safely assume that our elected officials would know how to vote on agriculture issues, after all many of them were involved in agriculture. Today it’s a different story. If there is an issue that is going to affect agriculture, we need to get active and make sure our point of view is being considered. This takes some effort and time away from your real work, but the reality is that this needs to become a regular part of your business.

Locavore Numbers Remain Low

Most Americans still not buying local: survey
By Ann Bagel Storck on 3/18/2009

Although the "buy local" movement has received plenty of media attention, most U.S. consumers are not actually buying local products, according to a survey from research firm Mintel.

The survey found that just 17 percent of adults buy local products and services as often as possible. These "True Locals," as Mintel dubs them, are willing to pay a higher price, and they'll even buy local if competitive products are better.

But the overwhelming majority of American shoppers don't feel so strongly. Mintel identified 30 percent of survey respondents as "Aspirational Locals" who say they would purchase local goods and services but don't know where to find them. Twenty-seven percent of adults are "No Locals," not caring where their food and services come from.

Mintel's survey found that people who purchase local goods most frequently purchase food. Although local fruits and vegetables are most popular, approximately one in four shoppers buy local baked goods, meats or cheese/dairy products once a week or more. Link

Supporting local farmers and ranchers is a great thing, but to listen to the media lately you would think everyone is buying local. This survey would seem to suggest that very little traction has been gained by the local food movement. I think part of the problem will always be that there aren’t a lot of areas that can grow everything that people like to eat. In order for everyone to eat local all the time, consumers will have to be willing to sacrifice variety and pay a much higher price for their food in most areas.

Poultry Farming Helps Communities

Poultry production gives big boost to farm incomes, study finds
By Meatingplace Editors on 3/18/2009

Poultry production is a key driver of rural economies, with counties that have plants generating average farm income that is almost three times that of non-poultry-producing counties, according to a new University of Georgia study.

Poultry counties also have double the net income per acre of non-poultry counties, the study of farm incomes in southern Georgia found.

Locating an integrated poultry production complex in a county requires an average initial investment of more than $180 million in hard assets, such as processing plants, feed mills, hatcheries and production houses, plus more than $50 million annually in payroll, labor and contract payments, according to the study.

A new poultry complex adds costs to the community such as additional demands on roads, utilities and schools, but these are usually more than offset by new tax revenue and spending, the study said.

Similar results likely would be found in other poultry-producing areas around the country, said study author Dan Cunningham, a professor of poultry science at the University of Georgia, in a news release issued by the Poultry Science Association.

Recent local zoning restrictions against poultry are hurting rural and state economies and lowering tax revenues, Cunningham said. Link

Often times the first thing you will hear from people against a modern livestock operation being built is that it will destroy the community in a variety of ways. However, this study, which examined areas with and without a viable poultry industry in Georgia, shows that these types of facilities improve the communities. They generate a lot of tax revenue through the jobs they create which allows these local governments to provide better services. Remember, when you destroy agriculture, grass will grow in our city streets. This is a good reminder.

Livestock Antibiotics Ban Introduced in Congress

Bill would ban nonmedical drug use in US livestock
Tue Mar 17, 2009 5:43pm EDT
By Christopher Doering

WASHINGTON, March 17 (Reuters) - Despite growing public support to ban the nontherapeutic use of antibiotics in food animals, a U.S. representative said on Tuesday efforts to move legislation through Congress this year could be met with resistance.

The bill, introduced in the House of Representatives by Louise Slaughter and in the Senate by Edward Kennedy, would ban the use of antibiotics important to human health from being used on cattle, hogs, sheep and poultry unless animals are ill.

Drug manufacturers would be allowed to sell antibiotics for uses other than humans if they can show there is no danger to public health from microbes developing resistance to them.

"We're up against a pretty strong lobby. It will really come down to whether members of Congress want to protect their constituents or agribusiness," said Slaughter. "I do believe the chance are good, at least getting it through the House."

The bill has been introduced several times since the 1980s but has been blocked by agribusiness interests. Read More

As with most stories concerning antibiotics and livestock, the players are always described as evil agribusiness versus the unsuspecting public. There are no big secrets being hidden from anybody in this discussion. Antibiotics are a very effective tool for keeping livestock healthy. Even the CDC has said there is no evidence to suggest that the livestock industry is responsible for any problems nor would it solve anything if antibiotics weren’t used anymore. Livestock producers always want their livestock to be as healthy as possible. Just like parents hate seeing their kids being sick, the same goes for our animals.

The Real Deal on Poor Journalism

Alison Rose Levy
Posted March 16, 2009 08:51 AM (EST)

Having a Cow and Eating it Too: The Real Deal on Food Safety

When in the Omnivore's Dilemma, Michael Pollan portrayed agribusiness' unhealthy treatment of livestock animals, some readers suddenly lost their appetite for meat, going vegan overnight.

But others found "the sane food loophole:" Organic, pasture-raised meat and dairy-- the protein complement to the fruits and vegetables First Lady Michelle Obama championed last week.

Livestock farmed in organic, sustainable, and small farm settings, are healthier, and safer from the myriad infections, wounds, and diseases common in agribusiness livestock. That's why many doctors recommend eating organic or locally raised, hormone and pesticide-free meat and dairy.

In contrast, pumped full of hormones and pesticides, herded into cramped and disease-ridden factory farms, and fattened on corn and animal byproducts, (unknown in animal diets before corporations dictated the menu) factory farm animals aren't healthy--and some doctors claim that their consumption may detract from human health via antibiotic resistance, pesticide toxicity, weight gain, endocrine disruption, and other factors. Read More

It’s always disappointing to see such horrible journalism, but when you read things like this, it makes sense why so many newspapers are struggling financially. The author talks of livestock pumped full of hormones, healthier organic food vs conventionally raised, and also tries to convince readers that BSE (also known as mad cow disease to some) is being covered up in this country. All of these are untrue, as is most everything in this article. If you don’t agree with the authors take on agriculture, take the time to leave a comment on their site.

Carroll County Producers Respond

NY Times article upsets local farmers
Ag members say hogs not linked to MRSA
Updated: Monday, 16 Mar 2009, 6:45 PM EDT

Renetta DuBose

CARROLL COUNTY, Ind. (WLFI) - New York Times Columnist Nicholas Kristof put the small town of Camden under the microscope this week after reporting that local hog farms may have caused an outbreak of MRSA or staph infections. Carroll County Ag Association member Miriam Robeson said the article is not completely accurate.

"I think it's a very poorly researched article and it's intended just to make people upset about the livestock industry, not to really inform them," said Robeson.

Kristof alleges that hog farms, like one near the Camden area, overuses antibiotics in livestock feed. He said the process leads to MRSA in the pigs, which could be transferred to humans who ear pork, use a contaminated plate or utensil or from wastes leaking into ground water.

Robeson said Kristof's accusations do not represent how Carroll County farmers operate.

"The producers in Carroll County are very responsible. They work very hard. They have to drink the water, eat the food, live with the animals or live near the animals that they take care of. They're going to be very responsible producers," said Robeson. Read More

Camden, IN has been thrust into the spotlight over the weekend after their local farmers were accused of being responsible for creating and distributing the antibiotic resistant MRSA bacteria. The NY Times continued their assault on American agriculture by printing the article over the weekend. The local ag association is working very hard to explain how antibiotics are used in a responsible manner. Healthy livestock translate into a safe food supply, so it’s important for everyone to make sure we have the tools available to keep them that way.

Don't Blame the Chickens

Poultry Council Pleased After E. Coli Results Released
posted 4:28 pm Thu March 12, 2009 - Tulsa

A spokesperson for the Poultry Community Council says she is pleased but not surprised tests show the E. coli found in Locust Grove well water was not the same strain linked to one man's death.

Jackie Cunningham responded Thursday, a day after the Centers For Disease Control released its findings, saying that the E. coli found in well water tests last month showed three different types of E. coli in the water, but not the E. coli 0111 strain that led to three hundred people becoming sick, including one man who died.

"Their science-based research validates what we have contended all the time -- that there is no connection between poultry litter and the unfortunate E. Coli outbreak in Locust Grove last year," Cunningham said. Read More

After the OK Attorney General insisted that agriculture, and specifically poultry farmers, was responsible for an E. coli outbreak, the science has failed to agree with him. Edmondson has been going after poultry producers for a years now and has yet to win in a courtroom or a science lab. Manure must be handled correctly, but it is not toxic waste like he would like people to believe. It is a valuable resource for the nutrients required to grow food.

Mike Rowe's Lamb Castrating Story

In case you don't know, Mike Rowe hosts a show on the Discovery Channel called "Dirty Jobs". In this show he has been on a diverse group of agricultural operations. In this video, he talks about his experience at ranch in Colorado that runs sheep. He compares what PETA and HSUS told him prior to his visit with what he learned from the rancher and his own observations. This is a great video. It's a little long, but worth your time.

Experts Take on MRSA NYT's Article

Purdue experts on livestock and antibiotic resistance

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Purdue University experts said a New York Times opinion piece this week that tried to establish pigs as a source of MRSA infection for humans is "highly speculative."

MRSA, (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus), or antibiotic-resistant staph, can be found anywhere in nature, according to Paul Ebner, a livestock microbiologist. While he said there has been an increase in the number of these infections and that pigs and other animals can be carriers, the vast majority of infections come from skin-to-skin contact with infected humans.

Making assumptions based on limited studies or information is a big jump and there is no proof to link MRSA in humans to pigs and pig operations at this time, said Ching Ching Wu, professor of veterinary pathobiology and head of microbiology in Purdue's Animal Disease and Diagnostic Laboratory. Wu said there is more scientific evidence to support the spread of MRSA among humans and from humans to animals rather than from animals to humans.

A University of Iowa study mentioned in the Times column was a pilot study that looked at only two farms, and only one of them had the organism. Another Dutch study was also inconclusive, according to the Purdue experts.

Both Ebner and Wu said that because MRSA is so prevalent, the best way to avoid infections is to always use proper hygiene.

Ebner, assistant professor of animal sciences, conducts research into microbiology issues associated with livestock, including food safety and human health implications. Wu researches infectious diseases and antimicrobial resistance and is on the U.S. delegation to address antimicrobial resistance in food worldwide.

Both experts are available for stories through the weekend. Ebner can be reached at 765-494-4820 (office), 765-464-9699 (cell) and pebner@purdue.edu. Wu can be contacted at 765-494-7459 (office), 765-491-0291 (cell) and wuc@purdue.edu.

This was an article that was published in response the Kristof's New York Times article trying to link MRSA and hog production based on his own expertise. We should leave our disease research to those that are trained to do so, not newspaper reporters.

Kristof Attacks Agriculture, Again

Our Pigs, Our Food, Our Health
By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF

CAMDEN, Ind.
The late Tom Anderson, the family doctor in this little farm town in northwestern Indiana, at first was puzzled, then frightened.

He began seeing strange rashes on his patients, starting more than a year ago. They began as innocuous bumps — “pimples from hell,” he called them — and quickly became lesions as big as saucers, fiery red and agonizing to touch.

They could be anywhere, but were most common on the face, armpits, knees and buttocks. Dr. Anderson took cultures and sent them off to a lab, which reported that they were MRSA, or staph infections that are resistant to antibiotics.

Dr. Anderson at first couldn’t figure out why he was seeing patient after patient with MRSA in a small Indiana town. And then he began to wonder about all the hog farms outside of town. Could the pigs be incubating and spreading the disease? Read More

Through out the article Kristof says that he has no evidence that MRSA is related to the hog farms. He also says that no one else does either, yet he goes to great lengths to convince the reader that there is some sort of conspiracy happening in agriculture to cover this up. As with a lot of people these days, he wants to throw science under the bus in favor of emotion and conspiracy theories. I also find it laughable that in every article Kristof writes about ag, he has to refernce that he grew up on a farm. I’m sorry, but his childhood from 40 years ago doesn’t give him the ability to talk with any type of authority on disease origin or transmission, or modern livestock production. Kristof is a Michael Pollan wannabe that has realized he can make a name for himself by trying to spread fear about our agriculture and the food we produce.

Baxter Black's Visit With HSUS

On the edge of common sense: Wild horse issue needs answer
By Baxter Black

I had a visit with the president of the Humane Society of the United States recently about the abandoned horse issue. My question to him was: Since the problem is a direct result of the banning of equine slaughter plants, for which his group led the charge, what is it willing to do to help those of us who have inherited the responsibility for the mess they have made?

We discussed the woefully inadequate plan to put them in "refuges." We agreed that euthanasia is not a bad thing, but dumping your unwanted horse along the roadside, in private pastures or on park land to die of starvation is not humane.

We considered having equine animal shelters, like dog pounds. Maybe one in every state that would accept horses at no charge, hold them for 30 days in hopes they could be adopted, then euthanasia. The facility should include a free pickup service, a large feedlot to hold them and a rendering plant. He did not readily agree that his group would finance this national program. But it is the richest animal rights group in the world, and what better way, I thought, to put its money where its convictions are. Read More

It would have been fun to sit in on the conversation between Baxter Black and Wayne Pacelle. As only Baxter can, he talks of his visit here and shows the unwillingness of HSUS spend their money actually helping animals and building shelters for them. However, they are more than willing to spend the money causing the problems.

Montana's Proposed Horse Processing Facility

Emotions rear up for horse-slaughter bill
By JOHN S. ADAMS Tribune Capitol Bureau • March 13, 2009

HELENA — Emotions ran high during a Senate Agriculture Committee hearing Thursday as lawmakers heard a bill that would allow the construction of a horse slaughter facility in Montana.
Proponents of House Bill 418, sponsored by Rep. Ed Butcher, R-Winifred, said the bill would help satisfy a nationwide need for disposing of unwanted horses, while producing dozens of jobs in Montana.

Butcher said the last equine slaughterhouse in the nation closed in 2007, leaving horse owners with few options for disposing of sick, injured and unwanted horses.

"People tried, with good intentions, to ban horse processing in the hopes of saving the animal," said bill proponent Kelly Ann Terry. "This plan has backfired, and what was initially a grand theory has now put much of the horse population in greater jeopardy than it has ever been before." Read More

The Montana Legislature continues working on a bill that would build a horse processing facility. It has overwhelmingly passed the House and is now being considered in the Senate. If built, it would be the only such facility in the United States. When owners are being forced to choose between feeding their families or feeding their horses, a humane option like this would be a welcome relief. This is a resource that would be a shame to waste.

Twitter!!

Hopefully everyone has a great weekend. My family has a wedding to attend, so it will be a great weekend of seeing old friends.

I just wanted to let everyone know that they can also follow me on Twitter. This is a fantastic way to keep up with the blog and also know what Advocates for Agriculture is up to. Just check out my Twitter site and follow me. It's easy and free!

Take care!

House Version of Cow Tax Ban

House Version of Bill to Stop 'Cow Tax' Introduced
USAgNet - 03/12/2009

House Ranking Member Frank Lucas introduced a bill on Wednesday that will prevent the government from requiring livestock producers to obtain Title V operating permits under the Clean Air Act. This is in response to the Environmental Protection Agency publishing the Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on the subject of Regulating Greenhouse Gas Emissions under the Clean Air Act, which was released last summer.

The publication outlines several regulatory options, including requiring livestock producers to obtain these operating permits. The American Farm Bureau Federation estimates that the fees associated with that option would cost livestock producers roughly $88 per head to comply.

The introduction of H.R. 1426 comes on the same day that an article was printed in the Washington Post regarding EPA plans to establish a nationwide system for reporting greenhouse gas emissions. This reporting system would apply to measuring greenhouse gas statistics for confined animal-feeding operations.

"I don't think we can take any chances with this administration when it comes to putting greater burdens on our farmers and ranchers," Rep. Lucas said. "With the release of the President's budget, this administration has already demonstrated it is out of touch with production agriculture. I have heard from many farmers in my district who are concerned that this 'cow tax' will become a reality. This bill is a way to protect our livestock producers from costly and burdensome government intervention."

Lucas' proposal is a companion bill to the Senate version, introduced by Senator John Thune (R-SD) and Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-NY) last week. Link

This is a very critical piece of legislation for animal agriculture. If you agree with this then you need to let Washington, DC know about it. We know for sure that those who are tyring to put us out of business will be contacting them.

Making Beef Even Safer

USDA approves shot for cows aimed at E. coli
By STEVE KARNOWSKI – 17 hours ago

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A Minnesota company has won federal approval to become the first in the U.S. to market an E. coli vaccine for cattle, a new weapon against a foodborne disease that can cause serious illness in people and even death.

Epitopix LLC was given a conditional license from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to sell its vaccine.

Nayyera Haq, a USDA spokeswoman, called it "an important step toward improving food safety in this country," and a major beef group agreed.

"It really is a major milestone for our industry," Michelle Rossman, director of beef safety research for the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, said Thursday. Read More

The beef industry continues to look for improved methods of production. But when you already produce the safest product in the world, big breakthroughs can be harder to come by. However, E. coli 0157 H7 has been one of areas we have been concentrating on improving. E. coli can be a problem in all types of food, not just beef. If this new technology works well, everyone that eats will benefit.

New Animal Cruelty Laws

Breeders skeptical of animal cruelty law
By Jake Wright IDS
POSTED AT 12:38 AM ON Mar. 12, 2009

INDIANA - Area dog breeders and pet owners alike are concerned about the proposition of a new bill aimed at reducing animal cruelty.

The bill is intended to strengthen anti-animal cruelty laws and crack down on puppy mills, which are mass breeding facilities that produce puppies for sale in pet stores, over the Internet and directly to customers. But some breeders said they are worried the laws put in place to help are going to do more damage than good.

The bill, H.B. 1468, passed the Indiana House of Representatives last month with a landslide 81-14 vote and will now go before the Senate. If the Senate passes the bill, it will then be put before the governor, who will either sign the bill or veto it.

If passed, the bill would expand Indiana’s animal cruelty statute from just neglecting food and water to neglecting shelter and medical care. Also, anyone convicted of animal cruelty would no longer be allowed to own a pet.

The bill also cracks down on puppy mills by requiring them to give dogs ample exercise outside their cages and facilities, consistently clean the cages, and construct the cages to protect dogs from disease and injury and have sufficient heating, cooling and ventilation. Read More

Just think about this for a minute. HSUS is backing legislation like this all over the country that will require dog breeders to protect dogs from disease and injury and have sufficient heating, cooling and ventilation. This is exactly what hog farmers ar already doing and have been doing for quite some time now. Yet HSUS is also demanding that hog farmers take their hogs out of this type of environment and put them outside. It just goes to show that their main concern is promoting a vegan society, not the proper care of animals.

More on Will & Pollan

Columnist sips the Pollan Kool-Aid
3/9/2009
By Steve Cornett

Did you see that George Will has bought into the Pollan Premise? (Click here to read it.) Will is usually a careful thinker and reporter. His column last week is testimony to just how persuasive Michael Pollan’s arguments are.(Click here to read Pollan's views on food policy from the New York Times magazine.)

Somebody better get busy presenting the other side of this story, because now we have both our new president and a leading conservative thinker playing footsy with a most radical concept.

Michael Pollan is the teacher, writer and “food activist” who is pushing a premise that holds that food is too cheap in the United States. He says that cheap food is a bad thing because we eat too much of it and get fat and unhealthy and that is a big part of the health care problem. And, by the way, the way we farm produces a big carbon footprint.

He summed it all up a couple of years ago with this bit of advice in a New York Times piece: “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.”

His primary target is subsidized corn, but to get at corn he likes to say mean things about “factory farm” feedlots and how cheap corn makes cheap meat and, ergo, we’re all fat slobs because of cattle feeders.I’ll let the corn guys take care of themselves on this. I’ve read both ways on the science behind the anti-corn syrup argument and don’t pretend to know the answer. But you can’t blame red meat for this obesity problem, and especially not the explosion in diabetes.

Here, after just a bit of Google research, are a couple of graphics that ought to make anybody—much less somebody with George Will’s intellect—question that premise. Read More

I shared the original article that George Will wrote earlier this week. Here is Steve Cornett’s take on it. He makes some very valid points, with the research to back them up. Not just a feel good idea that Pollan likes to share with everyone. Pollan is not a sacred cow, his ideas need to be criticized because they will not work.

With Them or Against Them?

L.A.'s animal terrorists
Animal rights advocates must repudiate the extremists who attack medical researchers -- and those who provide them support.
Tim Rutten March 11, 2009

On monday in Washington, President Obama heralded the return of what he terms "sound science" to the administration of federal policy.

At that moment in Los Angeles, a joint federal and local law enforcement task force was investigating the latest incident in a 3-year-old terrorist campaign being waged against UCLA medical researchers. This time, a group that calls itself the Animal Liberation Front firebombed a car on Saturday belonging to a neuroscientist whose research into psychiatric disorders involves primates.

This was the latest incident in a long-running war. Since July 2006, extremists who oppose the use of animals in any medical research have attacked UCLA scientists or their property in five actual or attempted arsons and five acts of criminal vandalism. Telephone threats have been made, and researchers' children have been followed to and from school.

There also have been more than 40 demonstrations, many at the scientists' homes -- often in the middle of the night by people whose identity is concealed by hoods -- involving intense harassment, including banging on windows and chanting profanities.

As UCLA Chancellor Gene Block, himself the director of a medical research lab, told me: "Imagine having protesters outside your home on many weekends, screaming to your children and neighbors that you are a murderer, or being pointed to a website that describes you in the most vile terms possible, lists your home address and encourages people to do you harm, or going to bed wondering whether this will be the night that someone tries to burn down your house." (The university has spent more than $1 million in extra security costs since 2006.)

Read More

A strong point is made in this article for animal rights activists to consider. Will they condemn the actions of these terrorists that they did in the name of animal rights? They don’t seem to come running out of the woodwork to speak against these people. So in the end, it seems that most animal rights groups seem to support this type of activity. If they don’t, they should prove me wrong.

Generation Y in Ag

Local ranchers work on their image
Feeling misunderstood, cattlemen come together to educate the public
By Sarah Hubbart

Jolene Moxon grew up in a ranching family. Her grandparents ran cattle in Trinity County, and her father worked in the dairy industry in Arcata. She remembers showing cattle at the Humboldt County Fair, proudly sporting her blue-and-gold Future Farmers of America jacket as she led her steer around the woodchip-filled ring.

Her family and other ranchers and dairy farmers she knew all treated their animals humanely, so she was dismayed last year when a now-infamous video, surreptitiously filmed by animal-rights activists, showed horrific animal cruelty at a Chino slaughterhouse. Images of an injured cow being relentlessly pushed by a forklift were seared into her mind—as well as the minds of millions of Americans who saw them.

Moxon is now part of a new generation of ranchers who are working to overcome the animal-cruelty charges lobbed at the industry since the video appeared.

“People need to realize that was one example, not the entire group. Now the entire business is suffering for it,” she said, shaking her head solemnly. Read More

The excitement that exists in college students preparing to return to production agriculture is second to none. They are energized to contribute to the industry they love. Their excitement is contagious. If you ever need your batteries recharged, just spend some time with the younger people in agriculture.

Losing Farmland

E-I-E-I-Ohhhhh .... Farmers bemoan shrinking farm acreage
By Andy Johns,ajohns@timesfreepress.com
The Chattanooga Times Free Press
updated 11:47 p.m. MT, Tues., March. 10, 2009

Chattanooga, Tenn. - In 2007, Dorothy Jones came very close to becoming a statistic.
About to turn 60 with arthritis creeping into a few of her joints, she put 30 acres of the farm her father bought in the 1940s up for sale.

"I was tired," she said, sitting with her husband, Mac, on the front porch of her home at the Harrison farm.

After the farm was on the market for a year, she decided she would take down the "For Sale" sign and get back into the fields, bringing in goats and cattle where her father had grown strawberries and cotton.

"Everything about this place reminds me of how hard my dad worked," she said.

But many farmers in Alabama, Tennessee and Georgia didn't have the same change of heart as Mrs. Jones. The three states lost 1.5 million acres of farmland between 1987 and 2007, a 5 percent decrease, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's 2007 Census of Agriculture released in February. Read More

The loss of farm land needs to start being a concern of this entire country. It’s not just the land that is being developed either. There is also land that is being taken out of production by activist judges, zoning restrictions, and others. All of these continue to add up and threaten the ability to produce enough food and fiber for our country.

HBO Movie on Ag

U.S. pork producers brace for HBO special on cruelty

Reuters March 9, 2009 - 12:00 a.m. EST



DALLAS (Reuters) - U.S. pork producers, already worried that high prices for their product may chase pinched shoppers to the chicken section, are facing another possible hit - an HBO special on animal cruelty in factory farming.


Producers at the annual Pork Industry Forum were discussing the documentary, "Death on a Factory Farm," which the network plans to premier on March 16 and show 20 times by April 1.
The documentary, based on a video taken by the Humane Farming Association, an animal rights group, "takes a harrowing look at animal cruelty in an Ohio factory farm as chronicled through undercover footage," the HBO website said.


Owners of the Ohio farm were charged with animal cruelty following six weeks of secret filming of events there.


The video also contains footage of the trial where representatives of the pork industry gave testimony detailing acceptable hog care practices, Tom Simon, co-producer of the documentary, told Reuters. Read More



We’ve known this show on HBO has been coming for quite some time, however, no one knows for sure what to expect. First off, let me start by saying that I would never support anyone that is abusing animals. However, there are things that are done on livestock operations that most people don’t understand. There is no doubt that it will try to make livestock producers look as evil as possible. They will also try to convince people that every producer wants to treat their animals cruelly. The best way to defeat these images is to invite people out to your farms and ranches. Show them the great care you give to your livestock. No body else can do this for you, you have to tell your own story.

CA's Animal Rights Push

California bill could test boundaries of animal rights
By ERIC BAILEYLOS ANGELES TIMES
March 9, 2009, 7:53AM

SACRAMENTO, CALIF. — Errant motorists beware: Puppy hit-and-run could soon be a crime.
Pushing animal rights in a whole new direction, a state lawmaker has proposed slapping California motorists with a fine and possible jail time if they flee the scene after hitting a jaywalking dog, cat or any other pet or farm animal.

The measure by Democrat Mike Eng would require that drivers attempt to provide medical aid to an injured animal and notify the owner or animal-control authorities.

It’s one of a herd of bills introduced in the Legislature this year that could test the boundaries of what constitutes humane treatment of animals in California.

In the aftermath of a big victory for Proposition 2, the November ballot measure that made groundbreaking changes in the confinement of farm animals, state lawmakers from both parties are pushing changes affecting Fido, felines and even flocks of geese. Read More

California animal rights activists, feeling very proud of their passage of Prop 2, are pushing for new and stricter animal rights legislation. It’s interesting that they want to put the responsibility on the driver, if they hit an animal, rather than the owner of the animal that allowed them to be in that situation. And are they going to specify what animals you have to stop for? What happens if you hit a mouse or a frog, maybe a bird? No one wants to see an animal hit by a vehicle, but common sense needs to be involved in writing some of these laws.

More Researchers Threatened

Activists destroy UCLA researcher's car
Tuesday, March 10, 2009

WESTWOOD, Calif. (KABC) -- Animal rights activists have long targeted researchers at UCLA who use animals in their experiments. There have been threatening phone calls and e-mails and five separate firebombings.

The latest attack was early Saturday morning, when a researcher woke up to a loud noise. He found that his car had been set aflame and destroyed.

A group called the Animal Liberation Brigade claimed responsibility for the attack on a Web site. The group objects to the use of monkeys and other animals in university medical research.

In its Web site posting, the group claims that the researcher addicts monkeys to methamphetamines and other street drugs. It also used the researcher's name in a warning it posted that said, "Here's a message just for you. We will come for you when you least expect it and do a lot more damage than to your property." Read More

As was predicted, members of the terrorist animal rights group ALF burned up a car as retaliation for the arrest of some of their members. I highlight this group frequently because I believe it’s important to realize what animal rights activists are capable of and how their actions affect human welfare. These researchers perform very important studies that contribute to new medicines and health improvement in humans.

Blaming Agriculture

Where the Obesity Grows
By George F. Will
Sunday, March 8, 2009

Tom Vilsack, Iowa's former governor, calls his "the most important department in government," noting that the Agriculture Department serves education through school nutrition programs and serves diplomacy by trying to wean Afghanistan from a poppy-based (meaning heroin-based) economy. But Vilsack's department matters most because of the health costs of the American diet. If Michael Pollan is right, the problem is rooted in politics and, in a sense, Iowa.

Pollan, author of "The Omnivore's Dilemma" and "In Defense of Food," says that after World War II, the government had a huge surplus of ammonium nitrate, an ingredient of explosives -- and fertilizer. Furthermore, pesticides could be made from ingredients of poison gases. Since 1945, the food supply has increased faster than America's population -- faster even than Americans can increase their feasting.

Agricultural commodity prices generally fall. But since a rare surge in food prices gave the Nixon administration a political scare, government policy, expressed in commodity subsidies, has been, Pollan writes, to sell "large quantities of calories as cheaply as possible," especially calories coming from corn.

"All flesh is grass" says the scripture. Much of the too-ample flesh of Americans (three of five are overweight; one in five is obese) comes from corn, which is a grass. A quarter of the 45,000 items in the average supermarket contain processed corn. Fossil fuels are involved in planting, fertilizing, harvesting, transporting and processing the corn. America's food industry uses about as much petroleum as America's automobiles do. Read More

This is some extremely poor journalism for a very respected author. Basically, Will took everything that Pollan said as truth without doing any type of background research. He took Pollan’s complaints, which are based on unfounded fears, yet offers no analysis of what could be done differently. And while there are different ways to farm, there are only a few ways that will produce enough food to feed everyone.

Highlighting Producers

Healthy animals means healthy food
John Schlageck
Saturday, March 7, 2009

Today, raising livestock on a farm or ranch is a dynamic, specialized profession that has proven one of the most successful in the world. Today’s animal husbandry, or care and feeding of livestock, is no accident.

Rather, it’s because of the dedicated men, women and children who raise and care for this state’s livestock. For generations, Kansas farmers and ranchers have watched over and nurtured cattle, hogs, sheep, chickens and other livestock from sunup to sunset – every day of the year.

Few consumers are aware of livestock producers’ relationships with their animals. They don’t know how the meat, milk, eggs and other food products wind up on their dinner table. But today, more and more are becoming interested.

Amy Saunders raises cattle in Jefferson County and markets her family’s beef in nearby Lawrence and suburban Kansas City. Her customers want to know her and her family.
In the case of Saunders, when her customers buy her family’s beef, they’re also buying the complete package.

“They’re buying us,” Amy says. “They’re buying a quality product, and they know exactly who produces it.” Read More

Highlighting the great people and great stories they have to tell is exactly what we need to be doing in our industry. What we have been able to accomplish in agriculture is nothing short of amazing and has never been seen before in human history. All of us in agriculture have a story to tell and there has never been a more important time to share it. Consumers want to meet the people that are growing their food. Extend your hand and introduce yourself.

Carrie Underwood Continues Support of HSUS

Carrie Underwood Remakes Mötley Crüe Hit for American Idol
March 9, 2009

Carrie Underwood has recorded a version of Mötley Crüe's "Home Sweet Home" for American Idol. Starting on Wednesday (March 11), the song will be played when contestants are voted off the show and will be available as a digital single on iTunes on March 16.

A portion of the proceeds will benefit the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS). "I've always loved this song, and besides being very fitting for Idol, to me, the title is also very fitting with animal rescue and finding animals their own homes," Underwood said. "So we felt it was important to tie the release into an amazing animal charity like the HSUS." Underwood won American Idol in 2005. Link

Carrie Underwood continues to financially support a vegan based, animal rights group. From a girl that grew up around ranching, it’s highly disappointing. But what’s more disappointing is her support of a group that is telling her fans to become vegans, a diet that is quite dangerous for growing and developing teenagers. This isn’t the message I want my children to get from their favorite musicians.

Livestock Antibiotics

Pork Industry Says Antibiotics Are Necessary for Animal Agriculture
Sunday, March 08, 2009 :: Staff infoZine
By Heather Lockwood

Washington, D.C. - infoZine - Scripps Howard Foundation Wire - The Food and Drug Administration puts all antibiotics used in animal agriculture through a "very vigorous approval process" that considers the safety of the animals, their human handlers, consumers and the environment, said Jennifer Greiner, a veterinarian and director of science and technology for the Pork Producers Council. She is the daughter of pork producers.

The FDA approves antibiotics in animal agriculture for four uses: treatment, prevention, bacterial control and growth promotion. The FDA considers all but growth promotion to be therapeutic uses.

"We truly believe ‘nontherapeutic' is just a bad term. Any time you use an antibiotic, whether it be a lower dose or a higher dose, that antibiotic is going to kill some kind of bacteria," she said. "All antibiotics have some sort of therapeutic value." Read More

In order for producers to give the best possible care to their animals, antibiotics need to be available to use. No matter the dosage, it is benefitting the animal by contributing to its health and well-being. These products are too expensive to use haphazardly, so precise usage is always implemented by the producers so that that they are producing a safe affordable food product.

Feedlot Regulations

EPA to withdraw from Idaho feedlot agreements
Associated Press - March 8, 2009 4:14 PM ET

TWIN FALLS, Idaho (AP) - An official with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says the agency is withdrawing in April from two agreements with Idaho concerning the regulating of animal feed lots.

Ed Kowalski, head of EPA's regional enforcement group, says confined-animal feeding operations have become a national priority with the agency and it plans to play a more direct role in inspection and enforcement.

The agreements concerning the state's dairy and beef-cattle operations regulate such things as discharges of animal waste into state waters.

Attorneys for the EPA say the agreements with the Idaho Department of Agriculture and the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality limit the federal agency's powers to monitor the industry. Link

The EPA apparently thinks they can better regulate agriculture in Idaho that those that live there. A great example of an intrusive federal government. When EPA was originally writing some of the rules concerning CAFO’s, I was in Washington, DC talking to one of their undersecretary’s and she didn’t realize that vegetation didn’t grow year round in northern climates. It’s never a good thing when Washington thinks they know more than those of us that live on the land.

Headed for Indy

Stacy and I are back on the trail this weekend heading for Indianapolis. We will be presenting tomorrow at the Indiana Farm Bureau's Spring Conference. We are really excited about the chance to share our message there. So if you are reading this in Indiana, come to the conference this weekend and say hi.

Have a great weekend and I will be back on Monday.

Dylan Crabb

Last August, I posted an article about Dylan Crabb, a fifteen year old from Wisconsin that was battling leukemia. He was granted a wish because of his illness and his wish was for two dairy cows. You see, Dylan has always wanted to be a dairy farmer, so he used his wish to get closer to that goal. But his goal of being a dairy farmer continues to be interrupted by cancer.

Unfortunately, Dylan's treatements haven't gone as hoped. Twice now a bone marrow transplant has failed to take. However, he has been accepted for an experimental treatment at a facility in Maryland. Dylan's family and friends have been working hard to raise money to offset the expense of his family going with him.

Dylan has a Caring Bridge page and they have recently set up a website about the fundraisers they are holding. In particular, they are holding a walk this weekend for him. Please take a look and keep Dylan in your prayers.

Good Luck Dylan. I hope to see you milking cows again very soon.

OK's Food Production Protection Bill

State livestock bill has sweeping implications
POINT OF VIEW Agribusiness power grab

BY CYNTHIA ARMSTRONG
Published: March 2, 2009

When it comes to raising animals for food, there is a balancing of many compelling interests: food safety, environmental pollution, animal welfare and economics. But for too long in the state Capitol, industrial factory farms have fought to maintain their own special interests above those of Oklahomans.

In 2005 when Attorney General Drew Edmondson confronted poultry giants for their environmentally degrading practices, the agribusiness lobby used its influence with state legislators to introduce a bill to strip the attorney general of his independent authority to file lawsuits. Thankfully, that outrageous power grab failed.

Now they’re at it again, peddling their influence to convince Oklahoma lawmakers to give more power to industrial agribusiness and to strip decisions away from people in local communities about how they farm and raise animals. The state House recently voted 92-9 in favor of House Bill 2151, which would authorize the Legislature to pre-empt all local law regarding the care and handling of livestock. Read More

Obviously the animal rights groups aren’t very happy about the Oklahoma Legislature’s attempt to protect their livestock producers. Many of the concerns listed in this article have already been addressed by the legislature. With so many families struggling because of the economy, it seems cold-hearted that these radical groups continue to push for practices that will cause increased food prices.

The Meeting

Thursday, March 5, 2009
Humane society: Ohio, here we come
by Andrea Zippay

SALEM, Ohio — Ohio farmers, you’ve had your warning.

The Humane Society of the United States — the group who’s successfully outlawed hen cages, veal crates and gestation stalls in California, Arizona and Florida — has its eye on doing the same in the Buckeye State.

The organization sent representatives to Columbus in February to make sure the state’s livestock industry knows it’s watching.

They asked

The Feb. 17 meeting, which came at the request of the humane society, involved three of that organization’s staffers as well as representatives of Ohio’s poultry, beef, pork and veterinary medical associations, plus the Farm Bureau.

The purpose of their visit? “To get all the industry reps to go back to their individual groups and gain the authority to negotiate with the humane society on legislation in Ohio,” according to Farm Bureau’s Joe Cornely. Read More

These meetings have been being held in several states. HSUS meets with leaders of the agricultural groups in the state and tells them to either negotiate with them or they will force the changes at the ballot box. The problem is that it does us no good to negotiate with them. In order to have a good faith negotiation each side must be able to offer something that the other wants. HSUS has nothing that agriculture wants, but they have everything to gain from us. Being active in your communities, telling the story of agriculture, is how the push toward a vegan society can be stopped. It just requires the efforts of everyone in agriculture to accomplish it.

Producer's Records Becoming Public

Md. court rules nutrient plans can be made public
The Associated Press 2009-03-04

SALISBURY, Md. -
Nutrient management plans detailing how farmers handle animal waste will be made available to the public, a court has ruled.

Anne Arundel County Circuit Court ruled on Tuesday that the plans, which describe pollution discharge practices of farming operations, will be made available for public scrutiny.

The ruling affects the Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations that create, store or discharge animal waste.

The court ruling comes soon after a federal permitting deadline concerning the plans. The U.S. Department of Agriculture said many Eastern Shore farmers missed the Friday deadline to apply for the newly required Environmental Protection Agency permit.

The permit called for more stringent nutrient management plans. It concerned many in the chicken industry because the application for the permit would make the plans publicly available.

Read More

While this may not appear to be a big issue on the surface, this could have far reaching consequences for operations that have nutrient management plans. Imagine the process of trying to pass every management plan on a popularity vote. Science will not win the day in our society, which is a sad commentary for our country. Everything has to make people feel good in order to garner their support. Keep an eye on this issue.

Implementing a Nutrient Mgmt Plan

Dairy environmental accountability
EXTENSION UPDATE
By Mary Sowerby, UF Regional Dairy Extension

The largest loose-leaf notebook I have ever seen sat in front of Trenton dairy producer Ron St. John at the Feb. 12 meeting of the Manatee and Fanning Springs working group. Its spine was 5.5 inches wide and another 3-inch notebook sat on top of it. The reams of paper found within those two notebooks represented documentation of nutrient (think primarily manure) management of one herd — Alliance Dairy, for one year — 2008.

Every dairy farm in Florida that has 700 or more mature dairy cows is considered a CAFO (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation). All Florida CAFOs are required to have a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit to operate legally under the Clean Water Act of 1972.

Dairies with less than 700 cows are generally considered AFOs (Animal Feeding Operations) and are not required to have a NPDES permit. However, a new set of Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) rules are currently being written for AFOs.

The price tag to assemble the information needed to obtain a NPDES permit is generally over $60,000. It usually takes an environmental engineer to write it and it is required to have an engineer sign off on it. Then the never-ending record keeping begins. Read More

Just about anything you read that is negative toward modern livestock production tries to key on the idea that producers don’t care about the environment. They also say the regulations and science behind the nutrient management plans don’t work. While most of the people complaining probably have never studied a plan nor are they educated enough on environmental studies to give an expert opinion on whether a plan will work, they continue to spread falsehoods about animal agriculture. This article give a good brief run down of what most producers have to go through in order to comply with regulations.

Banning Antibiotic Use in CA

Animal Health: Bill Would Restrict Antibiotic Use

A powerful state legislator in California has introduced legislation to restrict the use of antibiotics in raising livestock. As introduced, SB 416 would:

Prohibit, commencing Jan. 1, 2012, a school or school district from serving poultry and meat products treated with antibiotics to pupils.

Prohibit, commencing Jan. 1, 2015, a person from using antibiotics for non-therapeutic and prophylactic use in any animal raised for the production of any human food product.

Require state and local governments, when purchasing meat supplies, to prefer meat supplies produced without the use of medically important antibiotics as feed additives.

The legislator, Senate Majority Leader and Chair of the Food and Agriculture Committee Dean Florez, made news recently for introducing a measure that would ban tail-docking. He has often been a thorn in the side of production agriculture.

“We’re curious to see where Florez is going with this legislation. The majority of what he’s proposing is unconstitutional,” says Michael Marsh, chief executive officer for Western United Dairymen. Marsh said that a school in Berkeley, Calif., tried to offer only organic food to students, but the program failed because students could not afford to purchase the food.

An informational hearing to address this bill will take place on March 17.

To see a copy of the bill, click here.

Link to Article

There seems to be a theme today of throwing science under the bus. So any animal that even one time in its life receives antibiotics will not be allowed into the school lunch program. This will drastically increase the expense for providing meals to children. It also encourages producers to use “hope” as a treatment for a sick animal rather than antibiotics. Obviously, there hasn’t been a lot of thought put into this bill and hopefully common sense will prevail. It’s interesting that these types of people want to give rights to animals, and at the same time, they are trying to limit producer’s options for keeping them healthy.

Soybean Growers Take On HSUS

Nebraska soybean leader ready to take on HSUS
Monday, March 2, 2009, 4:28 PM

by Ken Anderson

Debbie Borg says it’s time to fight fire with fire in dealing with the Humane Society of the United States and other animal rights groups.

Borg is the president of the Nebraska Soybean Association. She has been asked by American Soybean Association leaders to coordinate the group’s efforts to battle the growing animal rights movement. Borg says it’s time to expose HSUS for what it really is.

“Their goal, and all their documents tell us, that they are out to eliminate animal agriculture,” says Borg. “That means that they want us to be a vegan society—no leather shoes, no leather boots and, obviously, no steaks on the table.”

Borg believes a high percentage of those who contribute to HSUS have no idea their dollars are being used to attack animal agriculture.

“And I think when people start understanding what they’re about, the funding we hope will slow down,” says Borg, “because we’ve also done surveying that when people understand what they’re about, they’re not going to support them because they’ve been lied to.”

Borg says it’s crucial that the ag and commodity groups come together in the battle against HSUS. Link

In order to expose HSUS for the radical animal rights groups that they really are, it’s going to require the efforts of farmers and ranchers across the country. It’s also going to require more than just the livestock industry telling the story. Congratulations to Debbie Borg and soybean growers everywhere for realizing that we are all in this together. An attack on livestock producers is an attack on everyone involved in agriculture and it will require a response from everyone if we are to survive.

Attacking Animal Husbandry

Cruelty laws apply to livestock, lawsuit says
Animal rights group seeks more specific oversight

By LEVI PULKKINEN, P-I REPORTER

In an attempt to expand animal cruelty criminal laws to cover the treatment of livestock, a Seattle-based animal rights group has filed a lawsuit arguing that existing laws give industry undue control over how animals are housed and slaughtered.

In the suit filed earlier this month by the Northwest Animal Rights Network, the activists aim, at a minimum, to limit the manner in which meat and dairy producers treat their livestock, said Adam Karp, a Bellingham attorney representing NARN.

Under state law, animal cruelty can be charged as a felony. But the law exempts livestock handlers from prosecution so long as their actions are in line with "customary animal husbandry practices."

That standard, Karp argued, gives the industry far too great a role in determining what is and isn't humane treatment. Karp alleged that many practices considered "customary" by meat, milk and egg producers are unduly and unnecessarily cruel. Read More

This is tactic that animal rights groups are employing; tie the image of livestock and pets together in the consumer’s mind. To suggest that livestock should live in our house with us is not exactly a workable deal. Besides, isn’t HSUS trying to make it illegal to house livestock indoors?

ALF Infiltrated

Animal Liberation Front mole tells all
Published: March 2, 2009 at 1:23 AM

LONDON, March 2 (UPI) -- A police informant who infiltrated a British animal liberation group says he sympathizes with people who are "genuinely concerned at the plight of animals."

Adrian Radford, a former soldier and intelligence services instructor, went public last week about the three years he spent inside the Animal Liberation Front, Britain's Sunday Times reported.

Radford said he provided police handlers with information on the group's activities between 2004 and 2007, including details of operations in which he said ALF members terrorized scientists and companies linked to animal laboratories. At times. he said, he disrupted or prevented the group's plans. Read More

This is an interesting glimpse into the inner workings of a terrorist organization. ALF is a dangerous group that would rather see people die than animals. Somehow they continue to gather donations, mostly by lying to their prospective donors apparently. Maybe if you have to lie to your donors and you are considered a terrorist organization by international authorities, you should probably reconsider your tactics.

Diagnosing Orthorexia

What’s Eating Our Kids? Fears About ‘Bad’ Foods
By ABBY ELLIN

SODIUM — that’s what worries Greye Dunn. He thinks about calories, too, and whether he’s getting enough vitamins. But it’s the sodium that really scares him.

“Sodium makes your heart beat faster, so it can create something really serious,” said Greye, who is 8 years old and lives in Mays Landing, N.J.

Greye’s mother, Beth Dunn, the president of a multimedia company, is proud of her son’s nutritional awareness and encourages it by serving organic food and helping Greye read labels on cereal boxes and cans.

“He wants to be healthy,” she says.

Dr. Steven Bratman of Denver has come up with a term to describe people obsessed with health food: orthorexia. Orthorexic patients, he says, are fixated on “righteous eating” (the word stems from the Greek word ortho, meaning straight and correct).

“I would tell them, ‘You’re addicted to health food.’ It was my way of having them not take themselves so seriously,” said Dr. Bratman, who published a book on the subject, “Health Food Junkies,” in 2001. Read More

The idea of ‘orthorexia’ seems to be right on. There are a lot of people that seem to fear certain foods because of what they think they know. There’s nothing sensible about a diet where you fear foods to the point that is nearly controls your life. Regardless of any scientific report you will ever read, the best diet will always be on that includes everything in moderation.

Ingrid's Will

PETA plan: Use human feet for umbrella stands
Founder of animal rights group posts online 'will'

Posted: February 28, 200912:25 am Eastern© 2009 WorldNetDaily
Some of the following may be objectionable to readers.

PETA, the People for Ethical Treatment of Animals, is known for pushing the envelope
on acceptability: Its proposed vegetarian ad for the Super Bowl this year was sexually suggestive, and it periodically stages nude models in various poses saying they'd rather wear nothing than fur.

But a new feature of the organization's website takes its campaign to a new level: a will posted by founder Ingrid Newkirk that, among other things, calls for her flesh to be used for a barbecue and her feet for umbrella stands.

Newkirk's posting on the site explains:
As someone who has dedicated a part of my life to the alleviation of animal suffering in various parts of the world, it is my wish that upon my death, my body be used to further that same goal. … To accomplish this, I direct that my body be donated to People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), 501 Front Street, Norfolk, Virginia 23510, to be used in whatever manner it chooses in order to accomplish the specified purpose, with the hope that most of my body will be put to use in the United States, with parts also dispatched to awaken the public consciousness of governments and citizens in the United Kingdom, where I was born, in India, my beloved childhood home, and in Canada, Germany, and France. Read More

Just in case you were wondering where PETA’s thought processes originate from, this should answer your question. Newkirk, PETA’s founder, seems certifiable some days, and other days she seems stupid like a fox. Either way, common sense and science will never see the light of day there.

Livestock Protection Legislation Gains More Support

Farm Bureau supports livestock preemption legislation
Oklahoma

The state's largest farm organization is throwing its support behind legislation that will protect animal agriculture in Oklahoma.

Representative Don Armes and Senator Mike Schulz have authored companion bills referred to as livestock preemption legislation.

The bills, HB 2151 and SB 452, are aimed at avoiding a ballot initiative such as what happened last November in California with Proposition 2. That legislation outlaws the confinement of certain production livestock. The proposition was strongly supported by animal rights activists.

"It (HB 2151) is focused on setting a standard for the care and handling of livestock in Oklahoma," said Rep. Armes. Read More

Oklahoma’s bill to protect it’s livestock industry and food production industry from the Humane Society of the United States continues to work it’s way through the legislature. It is essential that we protect our ability to produce a home-grown food supply. While HSUS would rather our food come from a foreign country, the majority of Americans realize that only America’s farmers and ranchers can produce the safest, most affordable food supply in the world.

Manure Pots

From Tons of Manure, a Growth Industry
By GERRI HIRSHEY

IN almost-spring, as itchy gardeners drag out grow lights and seed-starting flats, it seems a fitting moment to trace the germ of a new and very green gardening idea. It first took root beside a reeking, unspeakable lagoon in the northwest corner of Connecticut and is blossoming sweetly nationwide. Kindly summon a gardener’s tolerance for earthy subject matter as this gritty tale unfolds:

More than a decade ago — she thinks it was in 1998 — Jane Slupecki, a marketing representative for the Connecticut Department of Agriculture, took a group of Litchfield County dairy farmers to a brainstorming dinner at a lovely lakeside inn there. Her agency had a small grant to try to find possible solutions to a big, stinky problem.

“Cow manure,” Ms. Slupecki recalls. “Endless tons of it. We were concerned about how farmers returned manure nutrients to their fields, and how we could prevent runoff of excess nitrogen and phosphorus into watersheds.” Since farms in riparian areas were of particular concern, most of the dairymen invited to dinner were grazing cows near the Blackberry River, which in turn feeds the mighty Housatonic. Their hostess remembers it as “just a lovely dinner,” but we will spare the reader the technical points of the conversation.

“Cow poop is cow poop,” admits Ms. Slupecki, who was feeling some frustration at the paucity of workable suggestions by the time they reached dessert and coffee. Half in jest, she blurted, “Can’t you guys do something with this stuff — make a flowerpot or something?” Read More

Manure should never be regarded as waste. It is a necessary part of the cycle of life. The nutrients contained in manure are required for plant growth. It’s a fantastic cycle that most people seem to have forgotten.