New Hog Confinement Video

Here is the headline from FoxNews.com yesterday :: "Undercover Video Shows Pig Farm Employees Allegedly Abusing Pigs". The first lines from the article read, "A disturbing video released exclusively to Fox News by the animal rights group Mercy for Animals (MFA) shows a string of alleged abuses at one of the nation's largest pig farms, including footage of employees picking up baby pigs and tossing them like footballs." And, then there is this video...



My response to the video ... Honestly, my response was just indifference. Not that I thought that everything that was going on at that farm was acceptable, but I have seen these undercover videos before and the response is usually the same. Most people are usually horrified, the company is horrified that the practices are happening and vow to take care of it, media focuses on it for a days news cycle, and then everyone goes out and purchases pork from the supermarket. That is the American response to so many horrific things we see in the media. It impacts us a moment, and then we move on.

No, the animal "mishandling" (that was the word they used) that was going on in this video was not the most upsetting thing for me. In my mind the most upsetting thing was the answer that the folks of Mercy for Animals came up with. Their answer ... cut pork out of your diet. How about this for an answer ... seek out a local farm that raises their pigs as pigs not production units and continue to eat great pork!

In fact (time for a shameless plug) we have bundles of pork available for sale right now. Our pigs were raised outside in the fresh air with access to water, feed (an all vegetarian diet for them so that should make Mercy for Animals happy), and of course dirt/mud. So, instead of cutting pork out of your diet I suggest just changing your purchase point ... (end shameless plug)

The Benefits of Large-Scale Agriculture...

You will notice that this is a fairly late post today. It was a busy morning that included a trip to check out some storm shelters ... something that is important to think about during this season of the year! Since it is so late in the day I can't take too much time blogging today, but I would like to share a link to a recent article from "Feedstuffs", which is "a weekly newspaper for agribusinness". The title of the article is, "Large-Scale Structure has Benefits," and you can read it for yourself by taking the link above.

Here are a few of my favorite (I use that word loosely) quotes from the article:

• "ANIMAL agriculture's structure has changed "dramatically" in the last 20 years as cattle feeding and hog and poultry production have transitioned to fewer but larger operations, but the change has benefited sustainability, producers and consumers, according to Dr. James MacDonald, chief of the U.S. Economic Research Service's (ERS) Agricultural Structure & Productivity Branch."
• "However, he acknowledged that the impact also has included decreased competition and intense concerns related to air and water pollution."
• "As for size, he said the "midpoint" for a typical dairy in 1987 was 80 head, whereas today, it's 550 head; similarly, feedlots went from 17,500 head to 35,000 head per yard, hog operations went from 1,200 head to 30,000 head and chicken complexes went from 300,000 birds to 600,000 birds."
• "MacDonald said the fewer-but-larger trend also applies to packers/processors, with basically four major buyers of fed cattle, two to four major buyers of hogs and a handful of chicken integrators that contract production with local farmers. However, he said the marketplace has remained competitive."

I suppose it is an interesting point and I guess I can't really argue with many of the facts that are stated in the article. What can be argued though I believe is the suppositions that the article comes to ... such as the statement that says large-scale agriculture is more sustainable. What do you think about this article?