Livestock

The U.S. Department of Agriculture released new rules today that propose a host of reforms necessary to help restore competitive markets and contract fairness to livestock and poultry markets.  The new rules directed by the 2008 Farm Bill, promise to outlaw preferential pricing, expand producer rights to sue over unfair and deceptive practices and compel greater contract fairness for poultry producers.

Under the proposed rules, independent family farmers who meet the same quality standards as mega feedlots must be paid the same price.   The National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition said those standards must be transparent and made publicly available.

“These rules are crucial to restoring a level playing field for independent family farmers” said Martha Noble, Senior Policy Associate with the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition.  “Undue and unjustified price preferences for industrial scale factory farms have caused substantial harm to markets, small and mid-sized farmers, and rural communities,” said Noble.

“Family farm advocates have called for an end to unjustified price preferences for decades and perhaps we have arrived at the point where the government will get serious about enforcing the law,” added Noble. … Continue reading

The Ohio Livestock Care Standards Board today launches its website, www.ohiolivestockcarestandardsboard.org. The website informs and educates Ohioans about the activities of the board.

The interactive site features meeting notices, past meeting minutes, frequently asked questions, updates, contact information and more. It also provides an opportunity for visitors to offer direct comment to the board.

The Ohio Livestock Care Standards Board is charged with establishing statewide standards governing the care and well-being of livestock while promoting food safety, preventing animal and human diseases and encouraging local food production.

For more information about the Ohio Livestock Care Standards Board, visit www.ohiolivestockcarestandardsboard.org, or e-mail at livestockstandardsboard@agri.ohio.gov.… Continue reading

By Matt Reese

Impeccable environmental stewardship, unparalleled animal welfare and unrivaled food safety are necessities in today’s egg production. They are all interconnected and successful egg producers know that no corners can be cut.

“The chicken does a wonderful job of producing eggs, but if we try to cut corners to save a buck we can ruin that egg,” said Gary Stoller, with Stoller Farms, this year’s environmental steward award recipient. “I have been in this business long enough to see where we came from, and our practices were far inferior back then. Today our food is safer, our birds are healthier and I don’t think there is a food system in the world that is safer than what we have for our eggs in this country today.”

Stoller’s grandfather had nine boys and raised numerous types of livestock to keep them busy on their Paulding County farm. He built one of the largest chicken houses of the era, 25feet wide by 160 feet long, in the early 1920s.… Continue reading

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has announced five appointments to the 15-member National Pork Board.  The five appointees will serve three-year terms beginning July 1.  They were chosen from among eight pork producers nominated and ranked by the National Pork Act Delegate Body during its annual meeting in March.

The appointees are:

• Everett L. Forkner, Richards, Mo. – Second term
• Julie A. Maschhoff, Carlyle, Ill.– First term
• Derrick D. Sleezer, Cherokee, Iowa – First term
• Wathina M. Luthi, Gage, Okla.– First term
• Steven R. Wuergler, Drain, Ore. – First term

Everett Forkner was recently elected vice president of the National Pork Board by his fellow board members.  He is the owner and president of Forkner Farms Inc., which has 500 purebred sows and markets 8,000 hogs per year. He has sold hogs in 27 different countries. He also raises corn, soybeans and wheat on 2,000 acres.

Julie Maschhoff, along with her husband, brother-in-law and sister-in-law, is the owner of The Maschhoffs LLC, as well as its vice president of communications. … Continue reading

Adam Wells-Morgan, executive chef of The Club at Old Hawthorne in Columbia, Mo., won top honors in the 21^st annual National Taste of Elegance™ contest June 14 in Baltimore, Md.  The competition, sponsored by the Pork Checkoff, featured 18 chefs, all winners of state and regional Taste of Elegance culinary competitions. Wells-Morgan earned Chef Par Excellence honors and $5,000 with his winning entrée of Duo of Pork: Sumac and Rosemary Scented Pork Loin and Cider Braised Pork Shoulder served with white cheddar grits, crispy carrots and leeks, and apple spice gastrique.  He also was presented with the Media Choice Award, an honor given by representatives of foodservice media to the chef with the most creative application of a pork dish.

“The National Taste of Elegance event brought some of the nation’s best chefs together to share their talent using pork,” said Tim Bierman, a pork producer from Iowa and National Pork Board member. … Continue reading

Adam Wells-Morgan, executive chef of The Club at Old Hawthorne in Columbia, Mo., won top honors in the 21^st annual National Taste of Elegance™ contest June 14 in Baltimore, Md.  The competition, sponsored by the Pork Checkoff, featured 18 chefs, all winners of state and regional Taste of Elegance culinary competitions. Wells-Morgan earned Chef Par Excellence honors and $5,000 with his winning entrée of Duo of Pork: Sumac and Rosemary Scented Pork Loin and Cider Braised Pork Shoulder served with white cheddar grits, crispy carrots and leeks, and apple spice gastrique.  He also was presented with the Media Choice Award, an honor given by representatives of foodservice media to the chef with the most creative application of a pork dish.

“The National Taste of Elegance event brought some of the nation’s best chefs together to share their talent using pork,” said Tim Bierman, a pork producer from Iowa and National Pork Board member. … Continue reading

COLUMBUS, Ohio—The carrot family, which boasts a variety of familiar edibles such as parsley, celery, carrots, anise, fennel and cilantro, also contains a highly poisonous plant that many people confuse for its nontoxic counterparts.

Stan Smith, an Ohio State University Extension program assistant in agriculture and natural resources, said people should learn to recognize poison hemlock. The noxious weed looks similar to and smells like other plants in the carrot family (Apiaceae, formerly known as Umbelliferae). Poison hemlock (Conium maculatum) originated in Europe, but is now commonly found in Ohio, growing in wet, wooded areas and open fields, and along roadsides and railroad tracks.

“The population of poison hemlock along field edges, in fence rows, around barn lots, and now even growing throughout hay fields seems to have reached new proportions this year,” said Smith. “Producers should be especially mindful of poison hemlock growing in proximity to their livestock herds.”

Poison hemlock, most famous as the plant that was used to execute the Greek philosopher Socrates, can be fatal if ingested.… Continue reading

by Hinda Mitchell

Over the past decade, livestock and poultry farms across the United States have been under siege by animal rights groups who use a certain tactic – the shooting and release of undercover video – to advance their agenda of ending the consumption of meat, milk and eggs.  In the early years, they restricted their activities to breaking into farms at night and shooting video in one visit.  More recently, these groups have resorted to a modified approach – getting undercover workers hired at local farms, where they then work for extended periods  of time, engaging with on-farm workers and shooting undercover video.

While there has been much speculation about whether the animal abuse seen on much of the undercover footage is staged or is incited by the cameraman, the end result is still the same.  And for animal agriculture, it perpetuates the challenge we face each day – ensuring our consumer believes in how we farm, in how we produce food, and that we are firmly committed to responsible care of our animals.… Continue reading

Deadlines are approaching for numerous contests and competitions for the 2010 Fair and the time to enter is now. Completed entry forms must be postmarked as follows:

June 11
Spelling Bee presented by the Ohio Lottery – The first 50 contestants for each grade level, 3rd through 8th – will be accepted into this annual competition. Monetary prizes provided by The Ohio Lottery.

June 20
Livestock Division – Some of the Ohio State Fair’s livestock classes include beef cattle, dairy cattle, llamas, rabbits, goats, sheep, poultry, wool and swine. Junior shows are open only to Ohio 4-H and FFA members, while anyone can participate in the open classes.

Junior Fair Division – Non-livestock junior competitions open only to Ohio youth include 4-H, Boy Scouts, Camp Fire USA, FCCLA, FFA, Girl Scouts, Ohio Grange and Time Warner Cable Technology and Engineering showcase.

Creative Arts Division – Hundreds of competition classes including youth creative arts, baking, sewing, antiques, jewelry, fashion, food preservation, needlework and more will distribute thousands of dollars in premiums to winners.… Continue reading

On May 25, the animal rights group Mercy For Animals (MFA) released hidden video taken from Conklin Dairy Farms Inc., near Plain City that showed alleged abuse of the farm’s dairy animals. Graphic video shows animals on the Union County farm being beaten with crowbars, stabbed with pitchforks and punched in the head.

Nathan Runkle, MFA executive director, said the cow video was shot between April 28 and May 23 by an undercover worker at the dairy, about 25 miles northwest of Columbus. The group presented the video and the evidence it collected to the prosecutor’s office in Marysville.

The vast majority of the footage shows former Conklin employee Billy Joe Gregg Jr., 25, of Delaware County, who was fired by the farm the day after the video was released. Gregg was subsequently arrested and charged with 12 counts of misdemeanor cruelty to animals. He faces up to a $750 fine and 90 days in jail on each charge, if convicted.… Continue reading

“Conklin Dairy — The Time for a Monumental Action is NOW!!!” was the headline posted on the Web site negotiationisover.com by animal activist Gary Yourofsky. In his May 28 diatribe, after viewing the video Mercy for Animals had released of a farm employee harming animals at Conklin Dairy near Plain City, Yourofsky called for fellow animal activists to literally attack the farm at noon on Memorial Day.

“… we cannot let that slave-owner Gary Conklin operate his dairy imprisonment camp with impunity any longer,” he wrote, referring to the farm as the Conklin Concentration Camp, or CCC.

“… TOGETHER WE WILL DISASSEMBLE THE FARM PIECE BY PIECE AND SHUT DOWN THIS PLACE OF TORTURE!!!” Yourofsky continued. “I am asking everyone who cares about justice and injustice to bring bolt cutters, bats, crowbars, pitchforks, hammers and wrenches to help destroy every piece of equipment the farm has, and tear down the sheds.”… Continue reading

By Don Sanders, veterinarian, Ohio State University 

You’ve probably seen the video that’s been storming the networks and the Internet — the one of an individual beating up and torturing cows and calves at Conklin Dairy Sales in Plain City. I found it so repugnant that I turned the video off. I was angry and ready to string up the individual who was shown committing these atrocities. Several of my dairy clients reported similar emotions.

Our team at the OSU Large Animal Field Service has provided veterinary services for Conklin Dairy Sales for many years. We attend to animals there several times a week. In all of this time, no one in our group has ever seen signs of abuse on any animal at this operation.

Mercy for Animals

The video was shot by a Mercy for Animals undercover agent over a period of seven weeks. As repugnant as the abuse itself is, the fact that the videographer taped this sociopath, on several occasions, without ever calling the authorities or the owner to end the senseless violence is also disturbing.… Continue reading

The recent release of a graphic video allegedly taken at an Ohio dairy farm has generated volumes of comments on the Internet.

The Ohio Dairy Producers Association/American Dairy Association Mideast (ODPA/ADA) released a statement regarding the release of the footage by Mercy For Animals.

“Ohio’s dairy farmers are firmly committed to responsible care of our cows and calves and to ensuring their complete well-being at all times.  The willful abuse of the animals shown in the video footage is clearly unacceptable and will not be tolerated.

“Furthermore, the actions shown in the footage absolutely do not reflect how Ohio’s dairy farmers as a whole care for their cows and calves.  Our farmers have a moral and ethical obligation to provide excellent care of our herds every day, and they do so, because it is the right thing to do and it ensures they can continue to produce safe, wholesome, quality milk and dairy foods.… Continue reading

By Kyle Sharp

OK, survey time … how many of you like eating at Chipotle?

I’ll admit, I enjoy the occasional Chipotle burrito myself, although I often somehow felt dirty after eating one. Why? Because of the information Chipotle distributes on their Web site and in their restaurants about how they source the meat they use. I have no problem with them using all naturally raised pork and chicken, and 50% naturally raised beef, if that is what they choose to do. It’s their habit of slandering conventional American agriculture in the process that doesn’t sit so well.

On the Chipotle Web site, the company touts the idea of making “Food With Integrity.” The site states: “Food

With Integrity is a philosophy solidly based on a foundation of not exploiting animals, the environment or people.”

The not-so-hidden message there is that most U.S. farmers, those that produce more than 95% of the meat and animal products produced in this country, apparently do exploit animals, the environment and people.… Continue reading