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April/May 2007 Issue
Welfare - here to stay
by Darrell Anderson
I recently found myself in a conversation with a college student majoring in animal science at a function in Nevada.
My wife noticed that she had passed on several meat items on the buffet. Her curiosity got the best of her, so she asked the inevitable question.
“I noticed you didn’t take any meat for dinner. You wouldn’t happen to be a vegetarian, would you?”
The young gal responded with a certain amount of pride, “Yes, I am.”
My curiosity kicked in. “That’s interesting – a vegetarian animal science major. How long have you been a vegetarian?”
“For the past three years,” she said.
By this time, the Oprah Winfrey side of me had kicked in. “What happened three years ago to bring you to this conviction?”
She said, “I watched a PETA video.”
That was the end of my interview.
I was shocked and stunned that an animal science major could watch one video produced by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and be completely turned off to our industry.
Has our society become so infatuated with the notion that livestock have human feelings and emotions that we can’t accept the fact they are intended to be raised for human consumption?
I represented the purebred industry on the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) board of directors for many years, beginning in the late 1980s. In priority-setting sessions to determine the expenditure of funds and staff time, animal welfare always ranked high.
Then, we went through a decade when the subject nearly fell off the radar.
Today, all commodity organizations in our industry are aware that this issue is here to stay. How does it affect you?
First of all, it is attacking us on many fronts. The growing support to close all horse-slaughtering plants in this country is one of those subtle attacks.
According to my horse registry friends, there are 9.2 million horses in the United States. They serve different purposes, but at some point, it becomes inevitable that the humane thing to do is to stop their suffering and natural aging problems.
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), horse slaughter in this country has decreased from 300,000 in 1990 to about 90,000 in 2005. If harvesting horse meat is no longer allowed in this country, you can imagine it won’t be long before those supporters will be asking the same questions about hogs.
Currently, many well-funded organizations are spreading half truths about our industry. While they don’t always admit it, their real mission is to eliminate all animal-protein production in this country.
Bruce Friedrich, PETA Outreach Coordinator, has said, “Our long-term goal is to rid the world of animal agriculture and convert everyone to a plant-based diet.”
Doesn’t leave you with a very warm, fuzzy feeling, does it?
Smithfield Foods Inc.’s recent announcement to end the use of gestation stalls has stirred the issue on many fronts, as well.
The Humane Society of the United States was quick to applaud their efforts and called it “perhaps the most monumental advance for animal welfare in the history of American agribusiness.”
This follows on the heels of the legislation that has passed in Florida and Arizona banning the use of gestation crates.
One of our larger breeders commented to me recently, “I wish some of those folks demanding a more natural environment for our sows could have traveled with me through western Iowa and eastern Nebraska lately when hundreds of sows were trapped in five-foot snow drifts.”
He noted that his sows in the gestation barn enjoyed a nice, dry, comfortable environment, not even noticing the storm.
We all must seriously appraise how we operate, as agriculture will be under the microscope of activists with their demands for a safer and more-protected environment.
Remember, many consumers today are three or four generations removed from the farm, and they are not educated on the care that most producers provide their stock.
You might be called upon to make calls or visits to your legislators. I can hear you say that you are not comfortable doing that.
Let me challenge you with this reality that I’ve discovered through the years.
If you really want something, you’ll find a way to make it happen. If you don’t, you’ll find an excuse.
We all must be aware and get involved before this issue drastically changes the face of our industry.
