H$U$ despises animal husbandry but they are being given more legal & political clout in the raising of meat animals then the vets & farmers who know how to raise such animals properly. Politicians in bed with H$U$ and their lobbyists are going to cost North American food production mega bucks and most likely tougher times in raising our food.


DVM NEWSMAGAZINE
Mich. House amends farm-animal welfare bill with input from HSUS
Sep 30, 2009
http://veterinarynews.dvm360.com/dvm/Vet...tCategoryId=378

Lansing, Mich. -- Michigan veterinarians who worked with farmers,
agricultural trade groups and the Michigan humane society to help
craft a farm-animal welfare bill were left out of final negotiations
when the Humane Society of the United States succeeded in having the
Michigan House of Representatives make last-minute changes to the
bill.

The revised version doesn’t provide for an advisory board that would
have included farmers, agricultural industry representatives,
veterinarians and faculty from Michigan State University’s College of
Veterinary Medicine to discuss animal-welfare issues.

The new bill restricts housing for veal calves, pigs, and hens by
requiring that "any pig during pregnancy, calf raised for veal and
egg-laying hen that is kept on a farm” be housed so the animal can lie
down, stand up and turn around freely. Exemptions include research,
veterinary treatment, transportation, at rodeos and state fairs,
during slaughter and, in the case of pregnant sows, housing seven days
before expected birth. Michigan farmers would have one year to comply
with the veal-calf restrictions and 10 years to comply with the rules
for pregnant sows and egg-laying hens.

In a presentation before representatives of the Michigan Veterinary
Medical Association, HSUS spokespersons said they’d struck a deal with
the Farm Bureau and agricultural trade groups to rewrite the bill to
combat abusive practices at “factory farms.”

Veterinarians at the meeting asked about the high mortality rate
involved in free-range life for egg-laying hens and what exactly
constituted a factory farm, but didn’t receive satisfactory answers,
according to Dr. Steven Steep, chair of the Michigan VMA’s Legislative
Advisory Committee, who was in attendance.

“We are in sympathy with the elimination of sow gestation crates and
veal crates, but we want to approach all these issues with scientific
knowledge, not emotion and knee-jerk reactions,” Steep tells DVM
Newsmagazine. He says the Michigan VMA is taking a close look at the
newly rewritten bill and is in “re-evaluation” mode.

The bill now goes to Michigan’s Senate for consideration.

PR Newswire
U.S. Consumer Egg Prices Could Rise by 25 Percent if Animal Rights
Activists Get Their Way
Author : United Egg Producers
Posted : Tue, 06 Oct 2009
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/...y-63590982.html

Press Release

Gov't Spending on Food Assistance for the Needy Would Increase by $169
million Cheap Imports Would Increase Food Safety Dangers

WASHINGTON, Oct. 6 /PRNewswire/ -- Consumers would be forced to pay 25
percent more for eggs soon if animal rights activists succeed in
getting only non-cage eggs sold in the U.S., according to a new study
by a respected economic consulting group. That increase would cost
consumers $2.6 billion more each year for eggs, a nutritional staple
in the American diet. The higher costs would strain Americans' budgets
during a difficult economic climate.

Federal spending on food assistance programs for children and the
needy also would increase by $169 million annually if the government
could only purchase cage-free eggs, according to the study by Promar
International, a Washington, D.C. economic consulting firm.
Significant amounts of eggs are purchased for the school lunch and
breakfast program ($47 million annually); Special Supplemental
Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC-$100 million);
and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP-formerly the
Food Stamp Program).

The study predicts that such a dramatic consumer cost increase could
open the door to a sharp rise in egg imports from other countries that
have far lower food safety and animal welfare standards than the
United States. Egg imports could rise from virtually zero today to 7
billion eggs annually, seriously straining the ability of the U.S.
government's food safety inspection system.

"If we have to start importing eggs into this country we will increase
our food safety risks," said Gene Gregory, president of United Egg
Producers, a national cooperative of U.S. family egg farmers. "I don't
think American consumers really want to play Russian Roulette with
every carton of eggs they buy, which is essentially what would happen
if we allow special interest groups to force a ban on the most modern,
sanitary egg housing systems in the world. Those systems are used to
produce 95 percent of the eggs that American consumers buy every day."

"More imports would also likely increase the carbon footprint of a
dozen eggs since they would be transported over long distances,"
Gregory added.

Bans on modern cage housing systems already are being implemented in
California over the next 5 years and several other states because of
pressure from animal rights groups.

Similar bans are being implemented in Germany next year and in many
European countries in the next few years, which will not necessarily
improve the health and welfare of chickens and may have negative
consequences for the environment, consumer and government costs, and
endangering food safety.

USDA statistics indicate that on average during early September 2009,
one dozen grade A "regular" eggs were advertised at retail for $1.00
per dozen compared to $1.59 per dozen for cage-free. Cage-free eggs
cost more because they require more land, more labor, more energy and
more food per hen, Tom Earley, the author of the study, explained.
Cage-free chickens also tend to have more diseases which need to be
treated with expensive medicines, and they have higher mortality
rates.

American consumers currently have the right to choose (and buy)
whatever type of egg they prefer and can afford: "regular" eggs from
modern, sanitary cage housing systems; cage-free (no access to
outdoors); or free range (at least some access to outdoors).
Approximately 95 percent of American consumers choose "regular" eggs
when they make their purchase decisions at the grocery store and eggs
are among the lowest cost sources of high-quality protein, making them
an ideal meal solution for low-income Americans. The need for food
assistance nationwide has increased 30 percent throughout the last
year, according to the website for Feeding America, the nation's
leading domestic hunger relief organization, which says that 35
million people are at risk of hunger in America.

Eggs are produced commercially in 49 states. Nearly all commercial egg
farms in the U.S. are family-owned farms or farmer co-ops; there is
only one publicly traded company. Approximately 95 percent of
egg-laying hens in the U.S. are housed in modern cage facilities. The
cost to farmers of converting their modern hen houses into cage-free
facilities would be $7.5 billion, the study estimates. The
availability of credit and local permits could be a major obstacle for
many farmers.

About United Egg Producers

United Egg Producers (UEP) is the nation's leading farmer cooperative
for U.S. egg farmers, representing 97 percent of U.S. egg farmers,
whose members produce eggs including modern cage production,
cage-free, free range, organic and other specialty eggs. UEP is based
in Alpharetta, GA. To learn more about the egg industry visit
www.uepcertified.com. SOURCE United Egg Producers

HSUS is trying to get their agenda through any way they can.

The majority of vets are small animal vets today and have no connection or interest in the livestock side of vet medicine. I'm not sure how much the livestock industry can actually count on their support. Hopefully they will realize that HSUS can't be trusted to operate honestly and above board.

More proactive work needs to be done to limit having to deal with ballot initiatives or setting done and negotiating with these groups trying to appease them.

Government officials wouldn't listen to the folks that actually raise animals and maintain their health such as farmers and Vets. They would rather let H$U$ call the shots even though they have not raised animals, do not understand how to raise animals and only deal in raw emotionalism . .


NOTE: Yesterday MI Governor Jennifer Granholm signed into law HB
5127, phasing out the use of battery cages, veal crates and gestation
crates.

Toledo Blade (OH)
As Ohio considers livestock treatment, Michigan crafts law
By JIM PROVANCE
October 11, 2009
http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20091011/NEWS24/910110301

As Ohio farmers prepare for a ballot showdown with animal rights
activists over livestock confinement practices, Michigan has quietly
followed a different path.

Gov. Jennifer Granholm is expected to sign legislation making Michigan
the seventh state to enact laws requiring that laying hens, breeding
hogs, and veal calves have room to maneuver or spread their wings
inside their cages or pens.

Despite the price tag attached, agricultural groups in Michigan
decided to negotiate now rather than fight a battle for public opinion
some believed they couldn't win.

"Agribusiness would never be able to put up the kind of money for a
successful ballot campaign like [the Humane Society of the United
States] can," said Michigan state Rep. Mike Simpson (D., Jackson),
chairman of the House Agriculture Committee and the bill's sponsor.

"They would have commercials that would tug at the heart with pictures
of abused puppies and kittens," he said. "This would have been a vote
of emotions."

Ohio, on the other hand, has taken a hard-line stance with Democratic
Gov. Ted Strickland, the Democratic-controlled House, and
Republican-controlled Senate uniting to mount a swift pre-emptive
strike against an expected move by the humane society to make Ohio the
next battleground over what it calls inhumane treatment of farm
animals.

The Humane Society of the United States, a national organization not
directly affiliated with local humane societies, had asked the Ohio
Farm Bureau to talk while still holding a trump card for its own
ballot issue in 2010 to force the General Assembly's hand.

Instead of talking with the humane society, the farm bureau worked
with lawmakers to rush Issue 2 to the Nov. 3 ballot, asking voters to
amend the Ohio Constitution to set up a 13-member panel to write state
regulations for the treatment of farm animals.

The board would be similar to an advisory panel that Michigan
Representative Simpson's bill originally proposed before the
compromising began. Mr. Simpson's district straddles Lenawee, Jackson,
and Eaton counties.

If voters approve Ohio Issue 2, the humane society promises the battle
won't end. Instead of an initiated statute urging lawmakers to pass
its law, it said it will instead put its own constitutional amendment
on the ballot in November, 2010.

Humane society tactics have been successful elsewhere. Ballot
initiatives resulted in laws in California, Arizona, and Florida.
Lawmakers in Maine, Colorado, and Oregon passed laws, as Michigan is
poised to do.

"In California, $20 million was spent," said Roger Wise of the Fremont
area, president of the Ohio Farmers Union, which generally represents
smaller farms. "There were these horrific pictures and graphics, and
that runs the risk of driving a wedge between the producer and
consumer. We don't want that. Agriculture is Ohio's largest industry,
and producers generally do a good job."

Unlike the largest state farm organizations, such as the farm bureau,
Ohio Cattlemen's Association, and Ohio Pork Producers Council, the
Ohio Farmers Union officially opposes Issue 2. Mr. Wise had urged
Ohio's agricultural community to do as Michigan has done and work out
a compromise with the humane society.

Tom Hertzfeld II of Hertzfeld Poultry Farm near Grand Rapids, Ohio,
and a member of the farm bureau, said the state's agricultural
community would respond to a humane society ballot issue when it
comes.

The Hertzfeld family has 1.1 million chickens and produces about
90,000 dozen eggs a day.

"We feel our approach is a more meaningful solution," he said. "We
would have an Ohio panel of experts trying to provide families with
safe, local food and keep food prices affordable for everyone. We
would protect family farms and not have out-of-state activists telling
farmers how to care for their animals."

He said costs associated with changing farming practices, such as the
elimination of battery cages for laying hens in his case, would lead
to higher costs for consumers.

"You could conceivably have $4 to $6 for a carton of eggs," he said.
"We would probably have the same production, but with a lot more birds
and more housing to do the same thing. There would be less birds per
house and a lot more houses."

The Ohio panel, led by the state director of agriculture, also would
consist of farmers, veterinarians, a county humane society
representative, an academic expert, and consumer representatives. Two
members would be selected by legislative leaders and the rest by the
governor.

Jim Byrum, president of the Michigan Agri-Business Association, said
the law to be signed by Ms. Granholm largely provides the humane
society the concessions it sought, but gives the industry more time to
implement them. It also means violations would be handled as civil
offenses rather than criminal.

"Even though HSUS was driving this whole situation, the marketplace
has been driving decisions like this a lot more rapidly," he said.
"Major companies like Kroger, Wal-Mart, McDonald's, and Wendy's have
requested that producers change how they do certain things."

Michigan's new law would prevent farm operations from confining an
animal in a way that would prevent it from lying down, standing,
turning around, or fully extending its limbs.

The few veal-producing farms in Michigan would have three years to rid
themselves of crates restricting the movement of calves. Farmers would
have 10 years to ban battery cages for hens and gestation crates for
breeding hogs.

The law passed the Republican-controlled Michigan Senate unanimously
and the Democratic-controlled House by 87-20.

Contact Jim Provance at:
jprovance@theblade.com