Livestock bills move to Senate
Efforts to regulate concentrated animal feeding operations get bipartisan support in House
BY PAM THARP CORRESPONDENT
Two bills that will regulate concentrated animal feeding operations have passed the Indiana House with bipartisan support and advance to the Indiana Senate.
House Bill 1075, which restricts the location of new CAFOs and confined feeding operations to two miles from state park and reservoir boundaries, passed on its third reading Tuesday morning by a 51-47 vote.
Area state representatives Phil Pflum, a Democrat, and Republicans Tom Saunders and Tom Knollman supported the setback bill. The bill was amended to allow existing livestock operations within the two-mile perimeter to expand, which was an issue for some representatives, Saunders said.
"If they are good neighbors, there's no reason not to allow expansion," Saunders said. Read More
I wrote an article about this subject last fall called “Peak Ag”. I talked about how agriculture is continually being told where they are no longer welcome. And this new bill in Indiana is a great example. Regardless of the science, soil type, topography, etc, if this bill passes you couldn’t build a modern livestock facility within two miles of a state park. The biggest problem with this is that society has decided that science is not good enough to make these decisions anymore, but rather we should make them with our emotions. That’s find and dandy, but think about what state your emotions will be in when we can no longer produce enough food in this country to feed ourselves. Food has to be grown somewhere.
Showing posts with label hog confinement. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hog confinement. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Farm Sanctuary Wants It Both Ways
Factory farming awareness walk informs community on maltreatment of animals
By NICOLE SOSZYNSKI
NIU students, Sycamore residents and others undertook a two-mile walk to inform people of the issues concerning factory farming Sunday at 1 p.m.
Jon Bockman, Sycamore walk coordinator, said he organized the walk as part of the Sycamore Pumpkin Parade, for the Farm Sanctuary organization to raise money for the maltreatment of farm animals.
The organization also focuses on rescues, and provides animal’s survivor stories from the industry such as the rescue of 100 pigs in New York she said.
“The pigs were starving outside, some even frozen to the ground, and over 1,500 hens stuck in battery cages thrown about when the warehouse that they were in was hit by a tornado,” Seeley said. Read More
Isn’t it odd that in California they are going to vote on a law that will make it illegal to raise animals in an environmentally controlled building, but then Farm Sanctuary is complaining about the mistreatment of these pigs that were forced to stay outside in the cold and were hungry. The animal rights crowd can’t have it both ways. One of the problems with raising livestock outdoors is that we have to deal with some horrific weather extremes. HSUS and Farm Sanctuary say that sows raised indoors aren’t happy for a variety of reasons. Maybe they should ask these rescued pigs about where they would have rather been.
By NICOLE SOSZYNSKI
NIU students, Sycamore residents and others undertook a two-mile walk to inform people of the issues concerning factory farming Sunday at 1 p.m.
Jon Bockman, Sycamore walk coordinator, said he organized the walk as part of the Sycamore Pumpkin Parade, for the Farm Sanctuary organization to raise money for the maltreatment of farm animals.
The organization also focuses on rescues, and provides animal’s survivor stories from the industry such as the rescue of 100 pigs in New York she said.
“The pigs were starving outside, some even frozen to the ground, and over 1,500 hens stuck in battery cages thrown about when the warehouse that they were in was hit by a tornado,” Seeley said. Read More
Isn’t it odd that in California they are going to vote on a law that will make it illegal to raise animals in an environmentally controlled building, but then Farm Sanctuary is complaining about the mistreatment of these pigs that were forced to stay outside in the cold and were hungry. The animal rights crowd can’t have it both ways. One of the problems with raising livestock outdoors is that we have to deal with some horrific weather extremes. HSUS and Farm Sanctuary say that sows raised indoors aren’t happy for a variety of reasons. Maybe they should ask these rescued pigs about where they would have rather been.
Monday, October 27, 2008
Charges Filed In Iowa
Iowa: Firing and Lawsuit in Pig Abuse
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: October 24, 2008
A company said it fired the manager of a hog farming operation where workers were videotaped abusing pigs, and six were charged this week with crimes. The announcement by MowMar Farms came after a decision by the Greene County sheriff to charge the six employees with animal abuse and neglect. The company no longer employs the six workers, MowMar said. The farm near Bayard, Iowa, supplies Hormel Foods of Austin, Minn. A video released a month ago by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals depicts workers hitting sows with metal rods, slamming piglets on a concrete floor and bragging about jamming rods into the anuses of sows. (AP) Link
You will not find anyone in agriculture that would approve of how these animals were treated. The Greene County Sherriff has determined that it will charge these workers with animal abuse and neglect and now it will be up to our court system to determine their guilt or innocence. Rare instances like these are truly upsetting to those of us that work hard to ensure that our animals are well cared for.
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: October 24, 2008
A company said it fired the manager of a hog farming operation where workers were videotaped abusing pigs, and six were charged this week with crimes. The announcement by MowMar Farms came after a decision by the Greene County sheriff to charge the six employees with animal abuse and neglect. The company no longer employs the six workers, MowMar said. The farm near Bayard, Iowa, supplies Hormel Foods of Austin, Minn. A video released a month ago by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals depicts workers hitting sows with metal rods, slamming piglets on a concrete floor and bragging about jamming rods into the anuses of sows. (AP) Link
You will not find anyone in agriculture that would approve of how these animals were treated. The Greene County Sherriff has determined that it will charge these workers with animal abuse and neglect and now it will be up to our court system to determine their guilt or innocence. Rare instances like these are truly upsetting to those of us that work hard to ensure that our animals are well cared for.
Friday, August 8, 2008
Attacking Modern Production
Dispatches from the Fields: How CAFOs came to Iowa farm country
One Step at a Time Gardens is a model of agricultural sustainability. Over 50 varieties of vegetables grow in rotation on six acres of fine Iowa topsoil that receive no synthetic chemicals. Compost, cover crops, and chicken manure feed the soil. Pests and weeds are kept at bay through the use of physical barriers, biological products, and cultivation. The crew is made up of members from the community and a couple of non-local folks, such as myself. The farm provides produce to supply a local food system.
Yet when the wind blows from the northwest over One Step at a Time Gardens just east of the town of Kanawha, Iowa, visions of agricultural sustainability quickly fade as the sweet stench of pig manure from the local Confined Animal Feeding Operation or hog confinement, as they say around here, envelops the farm. The Kanawha CAFO consists of five buildings that can each house up to 2,500 hogs. Behind the buildings lies the lagoon, the source of the stench, where all of the manure and waste (dead hogs) are dumped. Read More
This story comes from an environmental website. There are a couple of interesting things to point out about the story. The author speaks of all the supposed horrors that a confinement operation brings to the community. One of them is lowered property values. If you have followed land prices in Iowa lately, I think you will find that hasn’t happened. They also talk about the negative affect on human health. Yet the main characters in the article have lived next to this confinement for 15 years and reported no health problems. All animal feeding operations must have a nutrient management plan and have passed all environmental regulations.
One Step at a Time Gardens is a model of agricultural sustainability. Over 50 varieties of vegetables grow in rotation on six acres of fine Iowa topsoil that receive no synthetic chemicals. Compost, cover crops, and chicken manure feed the soil. Pests and weeds are kept at bay through the use of physical barriers, biological products, and cultivation. The crew is made up of members from the community and a couple of non-local folks, such as myself. The farm provides produce to supply a local food system.
Yet when the wind blows from the northwest over One Step at a Time Gardens just east of the town of Kanawha, Iowa, visions of agricultural sustainability quickly fade as the sweet stench of pig manure from the local Confined Animal Feeding Operation or hog confinement, as they say around here, envelops the farm. The Kanawha CAFO consists of five buildings that can each house up to 2,500 hogs. Behind the buildings lies the lagoon, the source of the stench, where all of the manure and waste (dead hogs) are dumped. Read More
This story comes from an environmental website. There are a couple of interesting things to point out about the story. The author speaks of all the supposed horrors that a confinement operation brings to the community. One of them is lowered property values. If you have followed land prices in Iowa lately, I think you will find that hasn’t happened. They also talk about the negative affect on human health. Yet the main characters in the article have lived next to this confinement for 15 years and reported no health problems. All animal feeding operations must have a nutrient management plan and have passed all environmental regulations.
Thursday, July 17, 2008
California Prop 2
Californians for SAFE Food Launches Campaign Opposing Proposition 2: 'The Un-SAFE Food Initiative'
SACRAMENTO, Calif., July 16, 2008 /PRNewswire-USNewswire via COMTEX/ --
Californians for SAFE Food, a coalition of public health and food safety experts, labor unions, consumers, family farmers and veterinarians, today officially launched its campaign to oppose Proposition 2, the November ballot initiative that bans almost all modern egg production in California.
Dubbing Prop. 2 the "un-SAFE food initiative," Californians for SAFE Food also introduced its Web site, http://www.safecaliforniafood.org and released an updated list of organizations and individuals who have joined the opposition campaign.
"Proposition 2, quite simply, is an un-SAFE food initiative. It undermines California's current high food safety standards, putting us at greater risk with exposure to illness and disease like Salmonella and Bird Flu," said Julie Buckner, spokeswoman for the "NO on Prop. 2" campaign. "While the proponents claim the measure is 'moderate,' it is really a wide-sweeping, risky, and dangerous measure that will have costly, negative consequences for California." Read More
The ballot issue in California that will decide how farm animals can be raised in that state has been officially labeled as Proposition 2. While those that are striving to ban the use of cages claim this is a welfare issue, it really is a food and animal safety issue. With it’s passage, farmers and ranchers in California will lose their ability to effectively protect their animals from disease and will more than likely force the industry out of the state. It is vital that all of us in agriculture do what we can to stop it’s passage. This shouldn’t be viewed as a state issue, the outcome of this vote will have far-reaching implications nationwide.
SACRAMENTO, Calif., July 16, 2008 /PRNewswire-USNewswire via COMTEX/ --
Californians for SAFE Food, a coalition of public health and food safety experts, labor unions, consumers, family farmers and veterinarians, today officially launched its campaign to oppose Proposition 2, the November ballot initiative that bans almost all modern egg production in California.
Dubbing Prop. 2 the "un-SAFE food initiative," Californians for SAFE Food also introduced its Web site, http://www.safecaliforniafood.org and released an updated list of organizations and individuals who have joined the opposition campaign.
"Proposition 2, quite simply, is an un-SAFE food initiative. It undermines California's current high food safety standards, putting us at greater risk with exposure to illness and disease like Salmonella and Bird Flu," said Julie Buckner, spokeswoman for the "NO on Prop. 2" campaign. "While the proponents claim the measure is 'moderate,' it is really a wide-sweeping, risky, and dangerous measure that will have costly, negative consequences for California." Read More
The ballot issue in California that will decide how farm animals can be raised in that state has been officially labeled as Proposition 2. While those that are striving to ban the use of cages claim this is a welfare issue, it really is a food and animal safety issue. With it’s passage, farmers and ranchers in California will lose their ability to effectively protect their animals from disease and will more than likely force the industry out of the state. It is vital that all of us in agriculture do what we can to stop it’s passage. This shouldn’t be viewed as a state issue, the outcome of this vote will have far-reaching implications nationwide.
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Livestock & Flooding
Iowa farmer makes a sorrowful choice
By David Greising Tribune correspondent
2:42 AM CDT, June 18, 2008
OAKVILLE, Iowa - By the time a friend sped up the lane to Ron Lanz's farm Saturday evening—shouting that the Iowa River levee had blown—Lanz knew he faced a fateful decision: To save his own life, more than 800 of his hogs would have to die.
By instinct, Lanz shut the door on the semitrailer that was half-filled with hogs. He feared a wall of water might rush across his 450-acre farm any minute. Then Lanz jumped into the bed of his friend's pickup truck and rode for his life.I
t's a decision Lanz is having a hard time living with."It's devastating to leave those hogs behind," said Lanz, 36. "I don't like to think about it." Read More
If anyone ever questions the dedication of livestock producers, they only need to watch them during a time of crisis. Floods have been decimating many parts of the Midwest and producers have had to make many tough choices about how best to save the animals they care for. Hopefully the water will soon recede and these producers can begin putting their lives back together.
By David Greising Tribune correspondent
2:42 AM CDT, June 18, 2008
OAKVILLE, Iowa - By the time a friend sped up the lane to Ron Lanz's farm Saturday evening—shouting that the Iowa River levee had blown—Lanz knew he faced a fateful decision: To save his own life, more than 800 of his hogs would have to die.
By instinct, Lanz shut the door on the semitrailer that was half-filled with hogs. He feared a wall of water might rush across his 450-acre farm any minute. Then Lanz jumped into the bed of his friend's pickup truck and rode for his life.I
t's a decision Lanz is having a hard time living with."It's devastating to leave those hogs behind," said Lanz, 36. "I don't like to think about it." Read More
If anyone ever questions the dedication of livestock producers, they only need to watch them during a time of crisis. Floods have been decimating many parts of the Midwest and producers have had to make many tough choices about how best to save the animals they care for. Hopefully the water will soon recede and these producers can begin putting their lives back together.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Manitoba's Hog Facility Moratorium
Squeals of protest
Too much pig poop and nowhere to put it.
It's a lot more complicated than that, but that is a basic issue at the heart of Bill 17, a highly controversial law proposed by the Manitoba government, and one that has prompted more than 400 people to sign up to give a committee of MLAs a piece of their mind. The parade of presenters began Friday and won't finish before sometime this summer.
Bill 17, which the NDP government says is designed to protect water from nutrients that leach out of pig manure, would permanently prevent hog producers in 35 Manitoba rural municipalities from expanding their barns or manure storage facilities. Read More
Attacks on the hog industry don’t just happen in the United States. Hog producers in Manitoba are having their livelihoods threatened by the proposed moratorium on expansion in the region. This could seriously jeopardize the ability of these operations to continue if the next generation isn’t allowed to expand their facilities.
Too much pig poop and nowhere to put it.
It's a lot more complicated than that, but that is a basic issue at the heart of Bill 17, a highly controversial law proposed by the Manitoba government, and one that has prompted more than 400 people to sign up to give a committee of MLAs a piece of their mind. The parade of presenters began Friday and won't finish before sometime this summer.
Bill 17, which the NDP government says is designed to protect water from nutrients that leach out of pig manure, would permanently prevent hog producers in 35 Manitoba rural municipalities from expanding their barns or manure storage facilities. Read More
Attacks on the hog industry don’t just happen in the United States. Hog producers in Manitoba are having their livelihoods threatened by the proposed moratorium on expansion in the region. This could seriously jeopardize the ability of these operations to continue if the next generation isn’t allowed to expand their facilities.
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Taking the Odor out of the Manure
Treating Hog Manure with Borax Cuts Odor
By Jan Suszkiw June 3 , 2008
Hydrogen sulfide is one of the compounds contributing to the stink from manure storage pits on hog farms. Microbial activity in the manure releases the hydrogen sulfide and other compounds.
Today, at an American Society of Microbiology meeting in Boston, Mass., Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientist Cheryl Spence reports the results of a study in which "dusting" hog manure with borax powder--the same substance used in laundry detergents--helps to neutralize the malodorous microbes, which include sulfate-reducing (SR) and other anaerobic bacteria. Read More
Technology in agriculture is progressing as rapidly as in other industries. In the pork industry, they have been continually looking at ways to deal with odors associated with raising hogs. It appears as though borax may be a simple and inexpensive way to deal with it.
By Jan Suszkiw June 3 , 2008
Hydrogen sulfide is one of the compounds contributing to the stink from manure storage pits on hog farms. Microbial activity in the manure releases the hydrogen sulfide and other compounds.
Today, at an American Society of Microbiology meeting in Boston, Mass., Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientist Cheryl Spence reports the results of a study in which "dusting" hog manure with borax powder--the same substance used in laundry detergents--helps to neutralize the malodorous microbes, which include sulfate-reducing (SR) and other anaerobic bacteria. Read More
Technology in agriculture is progressing as rapidly as in other industries. In the pork industry, they have been continually looking at ways to deal with odors associated with raising hogs. It appears as though borax may be a simple and inexpensive way to deal with it.
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
How about Pigs AND People
Pigs vs. People?
Wayne County, NY
What do you get when you gather 2,000 pigs under one roof? Tons of bacon, lots of manure and undoubtedly some neighbors with concerns.
Last January, when the Town of Rose learned that a CAFO (Contained Animal Feeding Operation) was planned for Brown Road near the hamlet of North Rose, they passed a building moratorium on the construction.
Why the concerns? Gone are the days of the small family farm where a dozen pigs or cows were the center of the family business. The current market scenario favors big mechanized operations where thousands of head of livestock are mass produced for market.
According to Rose Town Supervisor, Lucinda Collier, the temporary six-month ban was enacted so the Town Board could learn more about CAFOs and their impact on the environment and to possibly quell neighbors' concerns. Read More
With the amount of scrutiny being placed on those wishing to build livestock feeding facilities, there is no way the owners would jeopardize their livelihood by not building it correctly. Rather than a conflict of interest, the hiring of a CAFO specialist should show the residents of this area that these are responsible neighbors trying to do everything right.
Wayne County, NY
What do you get when you gather 2,000 pigs under one roof? Tons of bacon, lots of manure and undoubtedly some neighbors with concerns.
Last January, when the Town of Rose learned that a CAFO (Contained Animal Feeding Operation) was planned for Brown Road near the hamlet of North Rose, they passed a building moratorium on the construction.
Why the concerns? Gone are the days of the small family farm where a dozen pigs or cows were the center of the family business. The current market scenario favors big mechanized operations where thousands of head of livestock are mass produced for market.
According to Rose Town Supervisor, Lucinda Collier, the temporary six-month ban was enacted so the Town Board could learn more about CAFOs and their impact on the environment and to possibly quell neighbors' concerns. Read More
With the amount of scrutiny being placed on those wishing to build livestock feeding facilities, there is no way the owners would jeopardize their livelihood by not building it correctly. Rather than a conflict of interest, the hiring of a CAFO specialist should show the residents of this area that these are responsible neighbors trying to do everything right.
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