DlB—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, January 24,1981
Farming is a difficult
business made even more
difficult by the growing list
of do’s and don’ts handed to
farmers by a lot of govern
mental agencies
Don’t pollute the air, don’t
pollute the water, don’t
pollute the soil, don’t make
noise; don’t make dust; and
don’t smell up the neigh
borhood with your pig farms
and chicken houses. And
when you’re through filling
out all of the forms required
by a dozen different agen
cies, you may have a little
tune left for farming.
Farmers are berated by
environmentalists, con
servationists, and those who
want them to feed a hungry
world They’re lambasted by
consumers because of high
food prices and from health
nuts because of the
chemicals they must use to
produce cheap food. And
now, another problem.
There seems to be a
growing concern over what
some folks are calling
‘ animal rights ” In fact,
some Washington observers
are saying that animal
rights may be the next big
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Farm
Talk
Jerry Webb
agricultural issue
Animal welfare advocates
are objecting to the way
modern agriculture takes
care of its animals,
suggesting that confinement
and overcrowding are
causing abnormal behavior,
distress and physical
disorders And they’re
condemning farmers and
agricultural researchers
for such "inhumane prac
tices” as routine drug
use, feeding livestock on
concrete slatted floors, using
souped-up rations for beef
cattle, even castration of
male animals
How far some of this will
go remains to be seen, but
the Institute for the Study of
Animal Protection insists
farm animals have some
basic rights.
Those rights include the
right to stand up com
fortably, he down, turn
around, stretch, and groom
or preen
Michael Fox, the director
of that organization, says
factory farming needs to
readdress itself in terms of
animal welfare He says he
thinks farmers and
researchers have gone too
tar with confinement
and that
practices.
oroductivity should not be
the sole criterion tor animal
welfare
He says there is already
sufficient evidence to show
that farm animals well
being is not generally con
sidered when efficiency of
production is the only
measure
He insists his organization
does not want to go back to
the old days of farm animals
roaming green pastures and
living to ripe old ages But he
and some other animal
welfansts Uo reel farm
animals confinement has
gone too far.
Well maybe it has, but
consumers are going to have
to make a judgment about
how comfortable and well
cared for they want their
food animals to be, and at
what price. Because today’s
food prices reflect efficiency
of production, and con
finement feeding means
more animals per farm and
per farm worker, greater
efficiency per pound of feed
consumed and much shorter
feeding periods And all of
that is reflected in the price
of our meat at the super
market
The old ways of a
backyard poultry flock, a
sow and her pigs out behind
the barn, and a couple of
steers roaming the pasture
just won’t make it m today’s
society. There was a time
many generations ago when
Americans ate beef animals
that were three or four years
old.
It was common practice
for a beef animal to weigh
2000 pounds when it went to
market and to be so tough
you had to boil it before it
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could be eaten Ihere was
also a time when the only
chickens that people ate
were stewed because they
were too old and tough to eat
any other way
Yes, Americans are going
to have to decide whether
they want happy, contented
animals frolicking in green
pastures and enjoying the
good agricultural life, or
whether we will continue to
confine food animals into
minimal spaces for
maximum efficiency
A chicken in a cage may
not be as happy as one
roaming the barnyard
searching for worms. On the
other hand, it might be more
happy, considering that its
food supply and plenty of
fresh water is right at hand
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and it doesn I have to fight
with other animals and
woiry about being run ovei
by a tractor. And, when you
thuik about it, who’s to say
what is happiness to a
chicken >
Agricultural researchers
maintain that confinement
methods actually provide
better health control and
more frequent observation,
more timely disease
treatment, and a lower
mortality rate, So, crowded
conditions aren’t the only
measure of animal welfare.
How far the animal rights
battle is going to go may
depead on who is pushing the
cause and what kind of
reception it gets.
1 think most people agree
that animals have the right
lo humane treatment, but
that doesn’t mean they
deserve the same rights and
privileges as people.
After all, we’re talking
about food ammais-that
after whatever period of
feeding are going to be
slaughtered and eaten by
people-and that may be the
ultimate act of inhumanity