No Excuse for Animal Abuse

Feeding in a blizzard

Disgusted. Frustrated. Saddened. Disturbed. That's how I felt after watching the latest animal abuse video released by Mercy For Animals (MFA) that displayed horrible, violent acts of animal cruelty on a Texas Dairy Farm. I've never understood abuse of any kind, it's flat out ugly, unacceptable and wrong. Living creatures deserve to be treated with respect and dignity-- whether it's a person or animal.

The animal treatment in the video is no depiction of acceptable animal management, and this isn't the norm in the livestock industry. The majority of producers, including my family, spend long hours caring for our animals the proper way. Come rain, snow or shine farmers are committed to the health, safety and well-being of their livestock. It's not an easy job-- but it's a job most approach with hardwork, dedication and a genuine love for animals.

As an industry we must make it known that the actions depicted in the video will not be tolerated. Animal abuse is wrong. And it must be stopped. Animal abusers must be held accountable for their actions and we in the industry must lead the way in setting that example. If we don't set the bar ourselves groups like MFA, PETA and HSUS will do it for us. It's time to step up and speak up. 

Want to learn more-- check out these links:

What Farmers are saying about this recent video

National Dairy FARM

AFAN Alliance for the Future of Agriculture in Nebraska

Dairy Faming today

RayLin Dairy Is going Vegan the Answer to Animal Abuse?

Agriculture Proud Quality Food Begins With Quality Animal Care

Cause Matters The Tears I've Shed…. Animal Abuse

Crystal Cattle Animal Abuse in Agriculture

Dairy Innovation Animal abuse: Still a Big No No!

Zweber Farms Video:Calf Care on Zweber Farms December 2010

Zweber Family Farm News Calf and Animal Care is our Number One!

Orange Patch Dairy Too mad to go to bed!

killrocfarms Animal abuse: Never acceptable

Pinke Post Link Up Wordless/Wordful Wednesday: Despite Animal Abuse Headlines

Life as an Iowa Farmwife Animal Abuse, Undercover Videos, and Doing the Right Thing

From the Tractor Seat Animal Abuse

The Ole Cowmilkers Random Thoughts Animal Care

Buzzard's Beat No Excuse

ag – a colorful adventure Hold People to A Higher Standard

Reflections from a Country Boy We Care For Our Livestock!

Loos Tales Interview with the owner of E6 Ranch

Dairy Devotion Why I am doing this.

Jersey Cowgirl So it Goes

HSUS releases downer cow abuse video...again

Another Downer Cow Abuse Video Comes To The Surface

The Humane Society of the United States(HSUS) has released a new video allegedly depicting downer cattle being abused at a livestock auction in New Mexico.

The video allegedly depicts downer cattle being subjected to electric prods, dragged by a chain and otherwise mistreated at the Portales Livestock Auction in Portales, N.M., according to the HSUS.

It was the sixth livestock facility this year ensnared in video depictions of animal cruelty in the ongoing HSUS campaign to expose what it calls “widespread abuse of livestock across the country... This gross mistreatment of spent dairy cows should turn your stomach, and they have been uncovered in location after location."

USDA Secretary Ed Schafer called the situation “unfortunate” and deplorable, adding that the weakened conditions of the animals would have prevented their delivery to a slaughter facility.

“Furthermore, they would not have passed ante-mortem inspection by the highly trained Food Safety Inspection Service inspection program personnel. Simply put, the condition of these cattle would prohibit them from even entering the first phase of a multi-phased process of approving cattle for slaughter,” he says.

“Of the nearly 34 million cattle that were slaughtered last year, under 1,000 cattle that were re-inspected were actually approved by the veterinarian for slaughter. This represents less than 0.003% of cattle slaughtered annually. However, to eliminate further misunderstanding of the rule and, ultimately, to make a positive impact on the humane handling of cattle, it is sound policy to simplify this matter by initiating a complete ban on the slaughter of downer cattle that go down after initial inspection.”

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