Straight from the Horse's Mouth

Duane A. Lienemann, UNL Extension Educator, Webster County November 20, 2009 Edition It was very interesting with all of the responses that I received on last week’s article on the “Food Fight” and especially about PETA’s not-so-subtle expose on 4-H and 4-H exhibitors. I heard some very good comments and received some excellent emails concerning where our country seems to be going concerning agriculture and particularly animal agriculture. I hope that we got some mileage for animal agriculture from this positive thrust for the industry. I applaud the Beef Council for thinking outside of the box and bringing some very good activities and tools to the producers who probably feel pretty helpless in all this. During the past week it is amazing how much more stuff has come down the pike concerning animal rights and the agriculture industry as a whole. I feel that I need to take some more column space and dedicate it to giving my take on what I see happening. The first thing that caught my eye this week was another effort by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), this time to stop the ‘Happy Cows come from California’ advertising campaign. I find the ads to be fun and entertaining, and as I understand it, the promotions, which include television and online ads, are credited with boosting demand for dairy products, notably those with the "Real California Cheese" seal. I am in favor of any boost that we can give to foods that come from the animal ag industry. PETA filed a complaint last week with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) against the California Milk Advisory Board (CMAB) 'Happy Cows' campaign. PETA alleges that the advertising campaign is lying to consumers. Now in my opinion that is the fire calling the kettle black! Give me a break! Actually PETA contends that the ads mislead consumers by depicting cows in lush green pastures, when in reality “Cows are not happy, they live mostly in manure-filled dirt lots and suffer udder infections because of a lack of veterinary care”. To make their point they offered this assessment. "The truth is that conditions commonly found on California's factory dairy farms have been scientifically proven to cause cows extreme physical pain and mental distress." It makes me wonder if they have a local psychiatrist sitting on a couch with one of these “unhappy cows”. I have that picture in my mind right now…. Now that is funny! It would make a good cartoon for a beef magazine. I suppose in their minds that is possible since they have taken the route of humanizing every animal inhabiting this earth. It just goes to show the ignorance that some “experts” have about agriculture in general and animal agriculture in particular. The real truth is that the California cows, and I would contend most dairy animals across the country, spend most of their time in stalls with straw or other suitable material for bedding. Manure is flushed out regularly and farmers are often in contact with veterinarians. The CMAB countered with this statement. "Because dairy herd performance reflects the quality of care received at every stage of the production cycle, dairy farmers throughout the state rely on proven best management practices to maintain the health and welfare of their dairy cows." That is an example of one of the messages that all of us in animal agriculture need to get out to consumers, and it needs to be done as a proactive form rather than reactive. I found another excellent website for your reference in researching this story that does a nice job of agriculture promotion and that site: http://www.cowsandcrops.com/ gives you a chance to do a web poll about “happy cows”. We of course also have to be good stewards and make sure things don’t happen or that we encourage these animal rights agendas by allowing bad things to happen. There have been several “You-Tube” type events that were secretly taped over the past several years that have come back to haunt us, and it happened again this week. The animal rights group “Mercy For Animals” just released a video alleging animal abuse at a Country View Family Farms hog facility in Fannettsburg, Penn., which supplies hogs to pork processor Hatfield Quality Meats. An employee of this animal rights group applied for a job at the farm and then wore a hidden camera while he worked inside the pig barns for three months earlier this year. It did not paint a pretty picture. We don’t know if it was set up, or staged, but we must assume that it was as it was portrayed. We as animal industry representatives must work hard so those things just don’t surface, and if they do we have to have a better story to tell. What is difficult is that it seems we can make one step forward and then something like this sets us two steps back. We all have to remember that we live in a constant “Candid Camera” society. (For you younger readers, ask an older person on what that means!) We have to take steps to insure that those things don’t happen and there is nothing like that to film. If that wasn’t enough, the attack on animal agriculture got some more momentum this week after Stanford University biochemist, Patrick O. Brown, who invented the DNA microarray, announced he would take a break from his normal scientific work in order to change the way the world farms and eats. He wants to put an end to animal farming, or at least put a significant dent in our global hunger for cows, pigs and chickens. Brown says growing crops to feed animals requires a lot more land, energy and fertilizer than growing them to feed people. Go to http://www.forbes.com/ and search for the article entitled “Drop That Burger”. Oh and by the way he is a vegetarian and a vegan. Hmmmm. The preceding information comes from the research and personal observations of the writer which may or may not reflect the views of UNL or UNL Extension. For more further information on these or other topics contact D. A. Lienemann, UNL Extension Educator for Webster County in Red Cloud, (402) 746-3417 or email to: dlienemann2@unl.edu