The problem with Wayne Pacelle and HSUS is that they don't care about farmers and ranchers. They don't care about families having a safe affordable food supply. They don't care about rural communities. They only seem to care about how much money they can raise by creating a crisis.

It's amazing how the word is getting out about this group now. Yesterday in our state capitol, there was a piece of HSUS-backed legislation that wanted to turn animal cruelty and torture into a felony. Sounds good on the surface, but the problem is that they would have been able to attack livestock producers with this new bill. Mostly because they consider normal animal husbandry practices to be cruel and torture for the animal. I testified against the bill, along with many others. The end result was it lost in committee 12-0.

Livestock producers know how to take care of their animals. If they didn't, they wouldn't be in business. Our production methods have developed over many years of observing what conditions the animals thrive in. Animals that are suffering, like HSUS likes to portray, don't do anyone any good. They will only hurt the reputation of the producer.

If you want to learn about cooking talk to a chef, not a lobbyist group in Washington, DC. If you want to learn how to throw a curveball, ask a pitcher, not a lobbyist group in Washington, DC. And if you want to learn about livestock production, ask a livestock producer, not a lobbyist group in Washington, DC.

Animals raised in confinement are treated humanely. Whether they are chickens, calves or hogs. There are numerous issues for each as to why they are cared for like this. Before our small hog farm got crates for some of our mama sows twenty years ago, I remember my brother running to the house saying, "Dad's dead," "Dad's dead, he's being eaten by a pig." Well, thankfully he wasn't dead but was put on the ground by a mean mother pig. She was in a small barn and she was rolling on her piglets and had already killed a few. That was a frequent occurrence before stalls. All of the practices in the ag industry are to make the farmer efficient and productive and also to make the animal comfortable and safe.

I AM MAD AND TIRED!
Why are American farmers and ranchers always being attacked? I am tired because I am only 35 yet when it comes to defending these issues, I feel as if I am 80 and that I have been doing this a lifetime already. What I want to do is just go put my head in the sand, but what I have to do, is take time out of my day and defend the millions of hard working farm families for providing a safe wholesome product for consumers. I am mad because there are few other industries that have to constantly defend themselves for doing something good. My father is not only a large animal veterinarian but he is an Angus cattle producer. He knows that healthy animals are the goal. We take care of our animals. But make no mistake, they are animals. We eat them and while it is our responsibility to make sure they are well cared for, animals do not have rights. We don't hurt them, we provide them better nutrition than the average 10-year gets a day. Our society is one of luxury and perhaps the silver lining in this "tough-times" economy is that consumers begin to think about what they are paying for food and where it comes from.

WHAT ABOUT CAPITALISM?
There are numbers of farms and ranches across this country that are family-owned, but here's a little secret that no one ever talks about. Some of the most successful farms are corporations. The reason owners keep this quiet is because they don't want to be known as "Corporate Farms." Come on people, wake up, most small businesses in American are corporation. I am an ag marketing company with two employees and we are an S-corporation. We make up America. These farms have grown over 3-5 generations. They have gotten bigger (there is another dirty word), they have become more efficient, they employe more family members and are paying decent salaries to take care of families. Their production numbers are up, they produce more to the acre, they have healthier animals. I don't know at what point this became a crime.

Thank you for telling our story correctly. We need people like you telling our story because for too long others have told our story for us creating so many falsehoods. Agriculture is so important to our country yet so unappreciated. Thanks again for your support of agriculture.

A strong, united agricultural industry is necessary and vital to keeping our ability to produce a healthy, viable food source for all Americans. As HSUS, PETA and other groups merge into mainstream culture and reach out to the rational majority on a daily basis it's more important than ever to get the farmer message out to consumers. We have to be engaging consumers more to make them connect with where their food comes from and the producer families that are making the healthy food options available to them. I encourage you to build relationships, share stories every chance you get and utilize new technology to get the message about agriculture out to the masses, otherwise the agriculture industry will continue to face more and more barriers to produce and survive. Thanks to the farm families like the Chinns that are on the forefront of the fight to protect agriculture.

Thanks for sharing your story and the story of animal agriculture. I still find it shocking that livestock and poultry producers who dedicate their lives to the care and well being of animals every day, get criticized by activist groups. The U.S. has become the most prosperous nation in the world, in large part due to the affordable, safe food system that U.S. farmers and ranchers provide. During the challenging economic times ahead, we should be applauding and aiding the producers that provide us all with afordable, safe, high-quality food, not making their job more difficult.

We must all do our part as producers to tell our stories and stress the extra mile we go for our animals.

We have all heard about the alleged over-use of anti-biotics. I personally do not know any ag producer who over-uses anti-biotics. We only use them when they are needed to save a calf or lamb's life and we only use the minimum dose and strength needed.

As ag producers we adhere to the label directions. The dosage and withdrawal times have gone through rigorous testing and approval procedures.

On our farm we feel it is our duty to take every precaution we can to ensure the health of our animals and ultimately the health of our customers.

Thank you Chris for opening up this discussion.

Great story. I would encourage anyone not sure which side of the issue to be on to go visit a farm. Most farmers would be more than happy to show you how production agriculture functions and the pride they take in their operation.

Raising livestock is a business, one which requires owners to take the best care they can of their animals because they are an investment. People who spend their days worrying about sows in crates need to take up a worthy cause; one which benefits society. I believe those who spend time belaboring such things as this do so because to actually make a positive difference in life is too difficult. Those of you who want to alleviate suffering should volunteer to help with such things as poverty, hunger, or any of the world's problems. Livestock producers by and large take good care of their animals because it's how they make their living. So....people, quit worrying about an industry you know nothing about and start worrying about the problems at your front door that you are ignoring.

Is it just me, or does it seem like agriculture is always behind and on the defensive side of things when it comes to groups like HSUS, PETA, the Sierra Club, and every other group that has a self serving interest that agriculture "stands in the way of."

I think it is awesome how people in agriculture have started to come together to try to defend the practices, technologies, and methods of production agriculture that have enabled us to produce the safe and plentiful food supply that is in the United States and the rest of the world.

However, is defending enough. I recently attended the Missorui Young Farmers and Ranchers leadership conference where the theme of the weekend was growing the message of agricuture. I applaud Chris and many others like her who are stepping up to this challenge. We must all now join the battle and not only defend ourselves, but do everything we can to share our message of producing a safe and plentiful food supply to our communites, states, country, and world.

Thanks again Chris for your leadership in this area!!

While we don't raise livestock we are farmers who grow corn and soybeans. The market for our corn and soybeans is livestock feed. Without livestock we have no market. Livestock farmers cannot afford to remodel their facilities to accomodate new unnecessary rules being forced upon them. This is not an issue just for livestock producers - this issue impacts all of us involved in agriculture in the US. We have many friends who raise livestock. Their animals are treated with the upmost care. It is only to the farmer's advantage to raise their animals to be healthy and well cared for. I would challenge anyone to visit a modern livestock facility and see for themselves how the animals are cared for. Next time you visit your grocery store think about the American Farmer who produced that safe, abundant and most affordable food in the world!

As swine producers in Livingston County(Missouri), I can tell you first-hand about the amount of ignorance and self-righteousness that is out there. So many people fail to try to understand the efficiency of modern agriculture, and instead they latch on to the sensationalized notion that confinements are detrimental to animals. The majority of people in our county who subscribe to this emotionally-motivated mentality are people who either have no direct association with agriculture (or those who were not successful in the business). Therefore, they are adamant that no one should be allowed to raise livestock (mainly hogs)here. It is sad that, as so many other bloggers have pointed out, we have to defend not only our way of life but our country’s food production ability to the general public,just to try to offset those pompous groups who appeal to the emotional mentalities of the public. It will be a sad day in America when people no longer have good food available to them. Let’s just pray that the haughty, misinformed self-righteousness doesn’t cause our future generations to starve!

I am so excited to see all of the positive comments to Chris' original post. For once the facts and the truth are being told and by those who know it first hand. The issues facing animal agriculture at this moment at the hands of HSUS and others is a universal agricultural problem. It effects all of us whether first hand through our own livestock operations or because we sell our grain to livestock farms or because we are consumers that consume the retail products from these livestock farms. I agree with earlier posts that I am tired of being on the reactive side instead of the proactive side, but I feel like we are finally gaining momentum and getting on the proactive side and that all of agriculture is working together to help accomplish this. HSUS held a lobbying day at our statehouse last week as we are the state in between Illinois and Ohio. As a proactive measure, all of the commodity groups from poultry, beef, pork, corn, soybeans, and others and Farm Bureau sent a letter to all of our state legislators to promote agriculture and enlighten then on HSUS' real agenda. It was exciting to know that for the first time I can remember that all of the agricultural groups in our state were working together. The challenges ahead aren't going to get any easier, but if we all work together we can accomplish anything. Remember that TEAM stands for Together Everyone Achieves More.

Chris Thanks for telling the correct story on animal production, and agriculture in genral. We in rual america have a good voice with you. Keep up the good work of educating the public about agriculture and the importance it has in the United States as well as the rest of the world. We as farmers feed the world with safe affordable food, I want my kids to be able to say the same thing. Keep up the good work spreading the correct message about agriculture.

Wow! What great points about modern agriculture. We just need to keep getting out and telling our story, how and why, we help to feed this great nation we all live in. Thanks to everyone for blogging on this important issue.

It's exciting to see the momentum growing within the animal ag family as more and more people are taking the time to share their stories. I think we all know we have a real fight on our hands, and I applaud everyone who's willing to join in the battle. Issues are heating up in several states and will probably intensify around mid-March when HBO airs it's "Death on a Factory Farm" documentary,so it's critical that we all get out there and tell our stories sooner than later. We've got the truth on our side, and it's our own responsibility to make sure the public knows it. It's great to see that they're now starting to get the correct message.

Thanks Chris for telling the correct story of how we raise our livestock. And the other comments are right. Too often we are on the defensive side of these stories. The National Pork Board has been given the task by its members to do some positive ads to tell our story. We have to be aggressive to hold off the HSUS so that we raise our animals the way we know it works the best for our sows and our employees.

By the way. If sows are so mistreated in gestation stalls the first sign would be reproduction. But today sows are the most productive ever. We are reaching records every day and that is good because we need to help feed an ever growing world.

HSUS and their ilk would like us all to become vegans. Farmers have long known that content, happy animals produce more milk, meat and eggs for the consumer. As a consumer, I want to know that my food sources are safe, available and at a reasonable cost. HSUS proposals are designed to drive farmers out of business, reduce the availability of food, introduce new problems (such as more contamination sources for 'cage-free' eggs) and drive up the cost of staple foods such as milk, meat and eggs. Do not try to negotiate with Animal Rights groups such as the HSUS and PETA. Just say no to their agenda.

As a livestock producer I know the time and care that goes into raising our cattle. We take careful measures to make sure our animals are comfortable and content. Our whole day revolves around making sure they are fed properly and on time, making sure they have clean fresh water always available to them, setting out nutrient blocks for their needs. When they are calving we are there to assist as necessary, and they are treated when ill with every possible measure. 24/7!

These animals are our business and if we didn't care for them as we did, we wouldn't have a paycheck at the end of the year. And it's not even about the paycheck, we are proud to know that we are feeding other people with the best meat possible. Eating meat is the way it was intended to be. Our bodies need this protein to be healthy and strong. It angers me when groups want to stop producers, or try to tell others how what we do isn't right.

We love being cattle producers and are proud that we feed and put clothes on America!

Don't let the activists define anything for you. Don't let them do anything for you. Oppose everything that they do. Even if you think it's benign it's not in the long run because if they do anything that's any good it's for the purpose of gaining control. Everyone who owns and uses animals needs to pull together.

HSUS claims to be the authority on how to house livestock. As far as I can tell, they have not used any of the millions of dollars they have to help fund unbiased research to determine if their claims are correct. Instead, they use their money to spread misinformation to the general public.

The livestock industry has spent countless dollars and hours researching the best methods to house livestock to produce quality food. Farmers and ranchers work with livestock on a daily basis and know when their animals are comfortable and healthy.

If HSUS really wanted to help livestock, they should put their money where their mouth is and help fund a study with a land grant university to help determine the proper way to house and care for animals. I guess they don't because they are afraid the conclusions would not support their campaign of misinformation.

As an Illinois resident and friend to agriculture, this issue is very disturbing to me. I do not know the connection between the county Humane Societies and the HSUS. There may be none? It seems like there may be opportunities to have the local ag leaders influence/win over the local Humane Society leaders. In my IL county, there is no animosity. Just a thought...

HSUS has been a problem for all animal producers, exhibitors, and owners for many years. In the past they would attack zoos saying that they shouldn't exhibit animals because it was cruel. The result was that the zoo organization cleaned up their act from within. The livestock industry should have done this at least thirty years ago. There is no excuse for any farm to be cruel to its animals. I'm all for raising animals for food and fiber but since the industry decided not to regulate themselves then they deserve HSUS's wrath.

After returning from NLC in Sacramento, I decided to create a "Note" about this on my facebook page to share with all my friends....since so many of them don't know about it--hopefully they will pass it on, but some of you might be interested in the idea or something similiar....so, below is what I did:



What Did You Eat For Breakfast?
(Your answer to this may be more important that you think!)

Here's what you do, honestly answer the questions before scrolling to the end to see what the results are. The end outcome may shock you. For someone who was raised in agriculture, it shocks me, and because of that and my role on the state Farm Bureau board, I feel like it's really important to share these things.

1. What did you eat for breakfast today?

2. Where did the main ingredients of your breakfast come from? (i.e. pancakes, may have eggs, flour, milk, so: cows, chickens, wheat, etc., or yogurt from dairy cows, or bacon from pigs--you get the picture)

3. What is the shirt you are wearing made from? (cotton, wool, etc.)

4. Is that material manmade or does it come from an animal?

5. How often do you eat eggs, or eat something with eggs in it during the week?

6. Do you drink milk, eat ice cream, or chocolate?

7. If you had to live on one type of food, what would it be? ( dairy, meat, vegetables, etc.)

8. Did you know that Agriculture is the U.S.'s largest industry?

9. Have you ever lived on a farm, wanted to live on a farm, or visited a farm?

10. Do you think that most farmers in the US care about their animals and treat them well?

11. How would you vote on this question if it came up in an election: Shall certain farm animals be allowed, for the majority of every day, to fully extend their limbs or wings, lie down, stand up and turn around? YES or NO?

Okay, that wasn't so bad, was it? Now, you can read the results!

The breakfast you ate today, well, pretty much everything you ate today, came from agriculture. (Even the sugar that is loaded in your Pepsi) Most of us go through everyday without even once thinking about where that food came from--and I am not talking about the grocery store!! Two generations ago, 83% of our families were farmers, now our kids think that that chocolate milk comes from brown cows (how many of you are saying, Okay, then where does it come from?)

The clothes you are wearing, the fibers that make up that material, most of that came from agriculture, too. Ever seen a field of cotton?

So, what would you say if I told you that six to ten years from now, the food that you eat everyday might not be available, or might come to you at prices such as $6-$12 a dozen of eggs? Kind of scary right? How about eggs being shipped in from Mexico, with no control over quality standards and being produced there, while our producers go out of business?

All of this depends on how you answered question 11. If you said YES, you may have just helped hundreds of US farmers go under, outsourcing those jobs to Mexico and drastically increasing the costs of your daily grocery bill.

I like animals, I would have wanted them to be able to move around and be happy, too, just like the 63% of Californians who voted for this in the last election. BUT, I know some things that most of those voters don't, because I was raised in farming and ranching. This ballot question dealt mainly with egg producers in California. It was backed by the Humane Society. I know from my own experience with having chickens that when hens lay eggs, they want a cozy, dark, protected, warm area. When I was little I was afraid to reach into the small dark spaces of the haystacks to find eggs, because I never knew if a hen might come flying out, or not. The farmers know that, they have been doing this for centuries and know that if they take care of their animals, their animals will be more productive, right? So, why should they be told by someone who has no idea about their industry, how to run it? They are working to pass these initiatives all over our nation one at a time, until our farmers and ranchers will have no say on how they raise what they raise, forcing them to make expensive, unneeded changes that will either put them out of business or radically increase the costs of our food. In 2006, they passed a similar one in Arizona about Hog Farms. It only affected one farm in the entire state….so, why did they pass it? To set precedence, and to do so in an area where there wouldn't be so many to fight it. Kind of scary how this is happening without us even really knowing, huh?

My hope is that if you ever see anything like this on a ballot, you will take the time to find out what it's results would be and how it affects American Agriculture before voting on it. Your breakfast is counting on it!! I hear that they are already looking at Ohio for the next election....you might want to check the carton of eggs in your fridge and find our where they came from.

P.S. If you are really interested...check out the group:
Protect Agriculture - Stop the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS).
Or learn more at: www.converstaiononcare.com


Jamie Perkins
NV Farm Bureau State YF&R Chair

How can there be any legislator these days who does not know that the HSUS plans to shut down all animal-based agriculture? There's something confusing here because Wayne Pacelle, the CEO of the HSUS, has said "one generation and out" for our pets and livestock. Any regulations that he wants for any phase of agriculture are intended to regulate agriculture out, period.