DlB—Lancaster Fanning, Saturday, May 19,1984
Fanning 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
governmental 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 neighborhood
with your pig farms and chicken
houses. And when you’re through
filling out all of the forms required
by a dozen different agencies, you
may have a little time left for
fanning.
Farmers are berated by en
vironmentalists, conservationists,
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 animal welfare ad
vocates are objecting to the way
modem agriculture takes care of
its animals, suggesting that
confinement and overcrowding are
causing abnormal behavior,
distress and physical disorders.
They’re condemning farmers and
agricultural researchers for such
“inhumane practices” as routine
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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 In
stitute for the Study of Animal
Protection insists that farm
animals have some basic rights.
They include the right to com
fortably stand up, lie down, turn
around, stretch, and groom or
preen. The institute cites factory
farming needs to readdress itself
in terms of animal welfare, that
farmers and researchers have
gone too far with confinement
practices, and that productivity
should not be the sole criterion for
animal welfare.
That organization insists it does
not want to go back to the good old
days of farm animals roaming
green pastures and living to ripe
old ages, it says animal welfares
do feel that farm animal con
finement has gone too far.
Well maybe it has, but con
sumers are going to have to make
a judgment about how comfortable
they want their food animals to be,
and at what price. Because today’s
food prices reflect efficiency of
WANTED
production, and confinement
feeding means more animals per
farm and per farm worker, greater
efficiency per pound of feed con
sumed and much shorter feeding
periods. And all of that is reflected
in the price of our meat at the
supermarket.
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 in 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
2,000 pounds when it went to
market and to be so touch you had
to boil it before it could be eaten.
There was also a time when the
only chickens 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
wrap around protection
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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 could be hanoier
considering that its food and plenty
of fresh water are right at hand
and it doesn’t have to fight with
other animals or worry about
being run over by a tractor.
Agricultural researchers
maintain that confinement
methods actually provide better
healthy control and more frequent
observation, more timely disease
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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 depend on who is
pushing the cause and what kind of
reception it gets. I think most
people agree that animals have the
right to humane treatment, but
that doesn’t mean they deserve the
same rights and privileges as
people. After all, we’re talking
about food animals - that after
whatever period of feeding are
going to be slaughtered and eaten
by people - and that may be the
ultimate act of inhumanity.
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