Unintended Consequences.

The issue of banning horse slaughter in the United States tore through the agricultural community several years ago in a fierce whirlwind of opposing views. Those within the industry realize that, although horses are companion animals more often than other livestock, there is a critical need to maintain an outlet for surplus animals (meat packing plants processing the meat for dog food, etc). On the other side of the coin was a large group of non-farm horse owners (and a concerned segment of the general public) backed up by the good old HSUS, all of whom were completely appalled by the thought of using horses for meat. Using their supply of anti-farm propaganda and an array of one-sided emotional advertising, the HSUS fought hard to win over the public and managed to ban the "disturbing and cruel" horse slaughter industry in the States.

One would assume that, thanks to the ban, situations for horses have improved dramatically in this country. That is, after all, what the Humane Society is about - improving the lives of animals. Today, several years after the elimination for horse processing, we will take a look at the effect is has.

I mentioned that horse slaughter maintained a steady outlet for surplus horses. What that means is there was a demand for horses other than simply as companion animals, and that demand supported a substantial dollar value in the horse market. Those who were no longer in a situation to support their horses had the option to send the animals to the auction and receive $500-$1000 - a substantial amount of money - for their animal that would otherwise be almost worthless.

Once the horses were sold they went through a very straightforward process (I am going to describe it in some detail, not to be gruesome, but to offer a comparison to today). Animals were loaded onto trucks to be hauled to the packing plant. Strictly enforced laws (that are in place for all types of livestock and are still enforced today) limited the time a horse could be transported to ensure the well being of the animal. Upon arrival at the plant, animals were given time to rest (by law) and provided with an unlimited water supply (by law). The slaughter process was simple but effective: horses were herded up a narrow shoot specifically designed for ease of movement and stress reduction, passed through a headgate and dispatched with a five inch pneumatic bolt directly through the brain...very fast, painless, stress free.

The HSUS, in their infinite wisdom, overlooked the benefit of managing the horse supply and approached the public with a campaign explaining that big agriculture is killing their their beloved companion and friend, and the killing should stop. Public response was overwhelming and they successfully sealed up the industry.

Today, there is no outlet for surplus horses in the US. Demand is almost entirely gone, and those no longer financially able to support their horses have a great deal of difficulty selling the animals at an auction (the last I heard horses were bringing $20-$50) and a greater difficulty giving them to friends who already have horses of their own. If you cannot support the animal, cannot sell it, and nobody will take it from you, what exactly do you do with it? Some people are simply turning their animals loose out in the woods, hoping they will fend for themselves. A friend of mine who is a member of the Pennsylvania Horse Council reports finding on a regular basis the carcasses of horses that were hauled into state game lands and shot by their owners. In worst case scenarios, people are simply keeping the animals and watching them starve to death, unable to afford the feed required to maintain the animal's health.

As the surplus horse herd continued to grow and get out of control (we actually have wild horses roaming in areas that had never experienced such a thing), a new market developed for the animals in order to manage the herd. Horses are now rounded up at basement prices ($20-$50), loaded onto trucks as they were before, and are hauled to Mexico (we can do nothing with them here). Once the truck crosses the US/Mexico boarder, all US animal care standards become irrelevant. The animals wait an average of three days crowded on livestock trailers in the heat without water before being unloaded and chased into the processing facility, where a completely deregulated crew sticks each horse in the withers (the base of the mane) to paralyze it, strings the still living animal upside down, and saws into the neck to bleed it out. I don't have to point out the striking difference between this slaughter technique and the United States option.

The horse slaughter issue is one of countless great blunders stemming from folks at the Humane Society. Many find it ironic that an organization with such 'good intentions' could create a situation that is so bad for the animals they try to help. It is interesting to note that only AFTER the elimination of horse processing did HSUS members realize the negative effects of banning the practice in this country...they are fully aware of what happens in Mexico and they are trying to sweep that reality under the rug.

Such unfortunate missteps would not occur if agricultural experts were consulted regarding the matter of animal handling rather than a money-hungry organization focused only on furthering their agenda. Examples like the one today are somewhat unpleasant, but absolutely necessary to show what happens when people removed from agriculture take the reins on an agricultural issue. They can tug at your heartstrings and say that animal agriculture is horrendous, but their lack of knowledge and foresight will often create a much more shocking reality in the end.

$$ Dilemma

Grocery shopping is more of a quest for the freshest, tastiest, highest quality supplies available rather than simply a 'food run.' Examine people cruising the aisles and one will see a lot of poking, sniffing, and squeezing as consumers work to find the most favorable option for their dinner table. What an observer is not able to see is the constant calculation going on in nearly every mind wandering through the store selection. A vast majority of us are also observing the price of the food items we buy, occasionally passing up a luxury item in order to free up funds for a necessity, or avoiding a brand name to shave dollars off our total bill for the day. This math marathon is such a part of the store routine that we often do not think about the importance of pricing at the market.

Pricing matters. For some, disposable funding is available that allows the consumer to move up the pricing scale and shop at the 'top end' of the grocery store food chain - in the realm of local produce/meat, for example. For a majority of consumers, however, the difference between $.89 eggs and $3 Happy-Chicken-Free-Range brown eggs might as well be the grand canyon; it is simply not feasible to spend the extra money on a 'more exclusive' product. Yes, the expensive stuff is often very good, and yes, it is exciting to see that it was sourced from a relatively small farm operation, but we need not forget that the availability of less expensive food can mean the difference between a complete and wholesome meal each night for the family and a much more limited menu for the week.

It is, unfortunately, the silent majority of people who depend on inexpensive food that is the most overlooked. They are not a part of the organic discussion, or the free-range grass fed discussion, or the local food movement, they are simply out there every day purchasing what they need to survive. The folks caught up in one the aforementioned trends receive attention for their outspoken beliefs and work the media into a "eliminate production agriculture" frenzy, literally speaking out against the food supply of those who are not speaking.

We now have a situation in which it is normal to demand more limited food production and much higher prices...representatives from the HSUS in a recent discussion about the effects of eliminating caged-egg production went on the record to say that "price has never been an issue" when it comes to food production/consumption. Well guys, it has. And it always will be to many consumers. The more affluent trend seekers need to shift away from their selfish "I can afford it so everyone else should too" mindset and make an attempt to remember the other side of the spectrum. If they can spend the money on a $27 free range organic local chicken, great, buy it and enjoy it and promote it but DO NOT say that is how every chicken should be priced; such a shift would wipe chicken (and every other meat product, assuming they were following the same trend) off the menu at dinner tables across the US.

Modern, efficient, clean, productive agriculture must remain a viable option in this country to support all financial situations. Does it need to adapt and stay up to date? You bet. Are modern farmers open to suggestions and willing to change? Absolutely. The industry as a whole is currently adjusting and working to educate an uninformed public about what exactly happens on a production farm. Bad apples (producers who simply are not doing it right - repeated environmental, animal welfare, and zoning violations, etc) are being picked out and eliminated to make room for the true Farmers, those whose clean, safe, and efficient production operations continue to make nutritious, wholesome food available to everyone, not just those with deep pockets. Sounds like a cause I can fall in line with.

Tech Crazy!

It seems to me that everywhere I look I can see advertisements for newer, better technology. We demand the most advanced medical facilities, the newest medication, the best trained doctor, the safest car with cutting edge features, the most app-packed cellphone, the fastest computer, the thinnest TV...the list goes on for miles. Any product or service that falls a year or two out of date is tossed aside and forgotten in the wake of more modern stuff dangling in front of our noses. Traces of our near-universal mindset telling us "new and advanced is the best" can be found just about anywhere...unless you happen to be discussing farming.

For some reason a mere whisper of agriculture and food production sends the average non-farm mind careening back to the good old days. Suddenly technology is the bad guy, a frightening figure that has crept in to pollute our food and ruin our farms. My best guess as to why our technology obsessed mindset re-boots into the stone age when we come across a farm topic is, as usual when discussing farming, a widespread misunderstanding of just exactly what farm technology is being used for.

Ask a random selection of people walking down the street what role technology is playing in our food system and you are bound to hear that ag. technology can be credited for weird animal experiments, the creation of mutant crops somehow containing fish and animal residue, dungeon-like barnyard conditions, highly toxic / highly polluting pesticides and herbicides, hormone raging meat animals, widespread disease, and many more including my favorite: headless, featherless chickens cruelly designed and marketed by a popular restaurant chain (Who comes up with this stuff?)

You have probably figured out by now that I will be doing my best to counter the negative imagery surrounding farm tech to my small audience here. This will be the very tip of the iceberg, a fragment of the whole story, a grain of sand on the beach compared to the entire amazing modern farm story, but is is at least a start.

Modern farmers producing food for the masses use incredible technological advancements to produce the food we love in a safe, highly efficient, and environmentally friendly manner. Advanced techniques are not being used to alter the food we eat (as many people believe, unfortunately); rather, farm science is incorporated into agriculture to create substantially better conditions for the environment and farm animals that food stems from. For example, crop farmers enjoy benefits from vigorous seed varieties that are able to protect themselves from insect damage without the use of pesticides and withstand drought conditions without the luxury of irrigation. Lab techs working with the ag industry are constantly finding ways to reduce and eliminate chemical residue from field sprays, keeping the products out of our environment and our waterways. Fertilizer advancements have boosted crop productivity and REDUCED fertilizer application - more crop yield, less risk of nutrient runoff, less fertilizer to be manufactured...amazing. Further reducing fertilizer use is the incorporation of satellite mapping that helps farmers understand what needs to be added where - rather than loading the entire field (or fields) with fertilizer, satellite analysis tells farmers 'add a little nitrogen here, some potassium in this area, nothing in that corner...' Scientists are constantly working with farmers to incorporate strategies that reduce and eliminate field runoff. Reduced tillage methods mean fewer trips across the field and, as a result, less fuel consumption. Highly productive crops allow for the same amount of product to come from significantly less land, providing farmers with the opportunity to take highly erodible land out of production and return it to a stable fallow state.

Switch gears to focus on animal production and we find a very different picture than what activists want us to hear: poultry barns, hog barns, and dairy facilities have extensive systems monitoring air temperature cleanliness, and lighting. The climate control is designed to maintain ideal conditions inside the barn, and air is constantly "scrubbed" to keep airborne dust (or disease) from distressing the birds or swine, depending on the situation. Automatic waste removal systems work around the clock whisking away manure, and large farmers often ship manure to commercial composting companies as a way of keeping animal waste out of the environment (An example of modern production is a family owned egg farm in Ohio - 4 million chickens in the newest, best barns available, 3 million eggs each day, ZERO waste/runoff onto the surrounding land, ZERO offending smells to the neighbors; healthy chickens producing massive amounts of food for many people in ideal conditions, yet the Humane Society has targeted the farm and is currently trying to destroy the business). A perfectly balanced diet complete with clean water is at all times available to animals on large farms. Fully automatic robotic milkers have become the norm on production dairy farms, enabling the cows on the farm to decide when they would like to be milked - Udder uncomfortable? Go milk yourself. The animal friendly list goes on for miles.

It is interesting to note that large production farms that have come under so much public scrutiny (and are nearly all owned by FAMILIES) are in fact the least environmentally destructive farm operations in the country and the most animal friendly; large farms have the capital to incorporate the best animal handling strategies, the perfect waste management systems, the most advanced crop production techniques, the best technology in the World to provide for their livestock and maintain the environment. It is farms like this that are being eliminated by the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS)...every time they throw up a legal roadblock for farmers, they are erasing the future for more productive, highly advanced, clean, animal friendly farms and instead are creating a situation that pushes food production back to the days when farm technology was almost nonexistent and situations were less than favorable, exactly what the public says it wants to avoid.