A26—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, December 5,1981
Looking ahead
Fanners face some interesting
times ahead resulting from a
variety of pressures and concerns
created by the animal rights folks,
the environmentalists, the land
planners, the policymakers in
Washington, and some other
people.
It’s hard enough trying to earn a
living on the farm without some of
these other problems. Just the day
to-day struggle with crop and
livestock production and
marketing and the ever-present
cost-price squeeze is enough to
wear farmers down. But now they
have new concerns problems
they probably hadn't even thought
about five years ago.
At the top of the list for those
farmers who raise livestock is
animal rights not just animals
welfare, but rights. There’s a
national movement headed by
what one observer calls “bleeding
heart liberals looking for a cause.”
It’s bad enough that these
animal rights folks don’t un
derstand farming, but most of
them seen to be vegetarians. They
Deer don’t
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hoods
HARRISBURG -
Lawfully harvested
deer do not have to be
displayed on vehicles
while being transported,
according to the Game
Commission. It is only
required that they be
properly tagged.
Actually, the table
quality of venison
suffers when it is ex-
posed to elements such
as snow and wind, road
dust and grime, fumes,
and engme heat.
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don’t eat meat and they seem to
want to spread that philosophy
going as far as making little school
kids feel, bad because they ate
Porky Pig for breakfast.
Some of these groups are so off
the wall that sensible farmers
dismiss them as kooks. But it’s not
that easy. They’re holding
meetings, briefings and press
conferences. They’re talking to
lawmakers and bureaucrats.
In this great land of the free and
the brave, you can champion just
about any cause you want. In this
instance, it just happens to be
animal rights. And while they’re
asking farmers to take better care
of their animals, I find myself
wondering it that’s really what
they want. If, as reported, they are
raising the consciousness of
children toward animal rights by
asking them how many farm
animals have to die so they can
eat, then 1 start to question then
motives.
If their cause is to stop the
slaughter of farm animals, then
why don’t they say so and stop
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masking their thrust with talk
about how many square feet ot
space should be allocated to a
laying hen and how a veal calf is
fed.
If a bill ot animal rights is to
include the right to life, then the
entire livestock industry is up for
question. In fact, the way most of
us get our nourishment is suspect.
So the animal rights issue goes
way beyond the farm gate and
involves a lot more than just
farmers. Any of us who eat meat
may have a stake in what these
folks are able to accomplish. And
maybe we should smoke out in the
early stage the animal rightists’
agenda.
1 have no quarrel with a fellow
who prefers granola to beef steak.
But when he starts boring me with
how unhealthy my meal is, 1 start
to get irritated.
There’s no question that
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livestock producers need to head
off potential problems, it would be
far better for commodity groups to
establish codes ot ethics for
themselves instead of allowing it to
be done for them by the unin
formed or by those advocating the
right to life for farm animals.
A pretty good argument can be
made against some of the animal
rights advocates based on
misinformation or lack of in
formation. It’s pretty hard to ask a
chicken how it feels about con
finement rearing, least-cost meals,
or the rough hands of the catcher.
A jid vvo’re not real sure how they
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feel about their purpose in life to
grow and get fat and then become
someone’s dinner.
But as long as man has dominion
over animals and until there is
strong reason to the contrary, 1
can’t see serious change in the
livestock industry or m consumer’s
eating habits.
£xpect to hear a lot of talk about
animal rights over the next few
months and hope that those doing
the talking understand agriculture
and the purpose of livestock
production, and aren’t in fact out to
turns us all into vegetarians.
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