As everyone gets ready to start the work week, I would like to highlight a couple ag-related issues. I don't have time to cover everything I would like on here, and always find it refreshing when I find a great source of information on relevant topics written by others.
Up first is South Dakota being ranked the least humane state in the country by HSUS (Humane Society of the United States). I am firmly opposed to the HSUS, because they are not the same group as your local humane society. There primary goal is to end animal agriculture, and they conveniently use the assumption that they are similar in nature to your local humane society to garner funds to support their objectives, which really don't include helping pets. I live about 25 miles from the South Dakota border, and know several great farmers and ranchers that take exceptional care of their livestock every day by a standard that is self-created and unprecedented. Stories of a First Generation Farm Wife lives right in South Dakota, and has an excellent post on this topic. She also includes the link to an article printed in the Rapid City paper on this subject, which quotes another ag producer.
Second is the topic of using false information advertising, especially when that false information makes the agriculture producers in our country look bad. We deal with this a lot right now in agriculture, and it's very frustrating to have to combat and rectify false statements that are stated as fact. Crystal Cattle tackles this topic on her latest post, which highlights several of the misleading angles used in Chipotles Grammy winning commercial.
Just a couple of the important issues currently faced by farmers and ranchers. Hope everyone's week is off to a great start!
Showing posts with label factory farming. Show all posts
Showing posts with label factory farming. Show all posts
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Factoring Farming
I had never heard of factoring farming until I saw it toted by an extreme anti-agriculture group a few years ago. I wasn't buying it as being anything a person would believe, and I was reminded of this initial response again today.
Here are our yearling and two-year-old's on the feedground today. Certainly not in a closed in, dirty, confined space.
And that's them again, over on the left. The little black circle. You can see why I had neither heard of this concept of all animals being housed in cramped, dirty, overpopulated environments, or bought into it. This is how livestock are "housed" where I live, and what you see is just the pasture they are living in for the winter. This isn't their year-round home, but rather one part of the total acres they live, roam and eat on over the course of a year.
Here are our yearling and two-year-old's on the feedground today. Certainly not in a closed in, dirty, confined space.
And that's them again, over on the left. The little black circle. You can see why I had neither heard of this concept of all animals being housed in cramped, dirty, overpopulated environments, or bought into it. This is how livestock are "housed" where I live, and what you see is just the pasture they are living in for the winter. This isn't their year-round home, but rather one part of the total acres they live, roam and eat on over the course of a year.
Friday, February 25, 2011
A family Affair
Our operation, like so many other ranches and farms, is family run. The family element is what makes the vast majority operations across America work. Factory farms don't exist where I'm from, and the reality is that almost every farm and ranch in America is family owned and operated.
Here is my family this past weekend. As you can see, despite the frigid temperatures, we enjoyed our time spent together working our cattle. Our work is our fun, and we feel incredibly blessed to be able to say that!
It's also great that my family has fully embraced the idea behind "Heather's blog," and will randomly grab my camera a take a couple pictures when they have a few seconds.
When we have the vet out for something, or go somewhere else, and as I'm taking pictures here and there, it's pretty common to overhear one of my family members explaining my behavior.
It usually goes something like, "Yeah, Heather has this blog, where she explains what we really do out here, to combat all the misinformation out there about agriculture...Well, I'm not sure how a blog works either...but she uses a lot of pictures and tells about ranching....it's pretty neat...yeah, I don't keep up with all this technology either.... she has people from all over the world read the thing."
You have to love family!
Here is my family this past weekend. As you can see, despite the frigid temperatures, we enjoyed our time spent together working our cattle. Our work is our fun, and we feel incredibly blessed to be able to say that!
It's also great that my family has fully embraced the idea behind "Heather's blog," and will randomly grab my camera a take a couple pictures when they have a few seconds.
When we have the vet out for something, or go somewhere else, and as I'm taking pictures here and there, it's pretty common to overhear one of my family members explaining my behavior.
It usually goes something like, "Yeah, Heather has this blog, where she explains what we really do out here, to combat all the misinformation out there about agriculture...Well, I'm not sure how a blog works either...but she uses a lot of pictures and tells about ranching....it's pretty neat...yeah, I don't keep up with all this technology either.... she has people from all over the world read the thing."
You have to love family!
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