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Livestock care panelists speak out against HSUS

By MEGGIE. I. FOSTER
Assistant Editor

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — In an effort to link the animal in the field to the food on consumers’ plates, the National Farm-City Council recently hosted a symposium on the myths versus facts of farm animal care and welfare.

The event, which kicked off National Farm-City Week, took place in Indianapolis on Thurs., Nov. 19, and featured a panel of agriculture experts including: Mike Bumgarner, vice president of the Center for Food and Animal Issues, Ohio Farm Bureau Federation; Malcolm DeKryger, chairman of the Indiana Pork Advisory Coalition and vice president of Belstra Milling Company; Roger Berry, field director for the Alliance for the Future of Agriculture in Nebraska and United Soybean Board representative; and John Aleshire, executive director of the Humane Society of Indianapolis.

The Symposium was broadcast live on the syndicated radio talk show, AgriTalk, and hosted by farm broadcaster and Farm-City Council member Mike Adams. Full audio and video from the event is available at www.agritalk.com

“Each year, we host a forum geared toward getting information about the agriculture industry out to consumers, this year we’re focusing on the livestock industry,” said Adams, who particularly hoped to help draw the line of distinction between the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) and local humane societies.

John Aleshire, Humane
Society of Indianapolis


“We have no connection to HSUS,” said Aleshire, who mentioned that the local Indianapolis chapter is a not-for-profit, autonomous organization, overseen by a board of directors. “We do not receive any support from HSUS, our support comes from the local level.”
Aleshire said the Indianapolis society cares for about 6,000 animals per year, at its 13-acre complex north of Indianapolis.

“I’d encourage you to support the good work your local humane society chapters are doing, not HSUS,” added Adams. “A group like the HSUS releases a video to raise funds and generate sensational publicity. They prey on people’s emotions to get money for their secret agenda, and it has nothing to do with the animals.”
Roger Berry, Alliance for the Future of Agriculture in Neb.

Berry encouraged farmers to get out into their local communities, not by speaking in front of a public forum necessarily, but by visiting with neighbors at their local coffee shop, for instance.
“The farm community needs to communicate and visit with neighbors to get the facts about farming out on a local level,” said Berry. “And we need to work together as much as possible, and not just within agriculture. We tend to overlook the vast majority of people who enjoy eating meat.”

Berry explained that while there are a lot of inaccurate representations of livestock care on video-posting websites such as YouTube, there are also good videos such as posts on www.youtube.com/user/FarmersFeedUs

“For every one bad actor out there, there are thousands doing it right,” he added.

Berry, who grew up on a ranch, where he helped to operate a farrow-to-finish hog operation, took a quick minute to reminisce about raising pigs on dirt lots during a few cold, Nebraska winters.
“We all know how rough Nebraska winters can get, well when it would drop below zero, our pigs would run inside the hutches and pile up on top of each other, suffocating the ones below,” Berry described.

“Today is a much different scenario, where the barns are climate-controlled and kept at anywhere from 60 to 70 degrees Fahrenheit. It is much better for the pigs.”

Malcolm DeKryger, Indiana Pork Advisory Coalition

“It’s easy to get nostalgic and think things were better in the good old days, but that couldn’t be farther from the truth,” said DeKryger.

“To suggest things were better 30-40 years ago is ridiculous. From ventilation to health care, to climate-controlled buildings, there are a lot of smart, professional people making improvements in animal care everyday.”

In his local community, DeKryger’s Belstra Milling swine division that markets 300,000 pigs per year is working diligently to reach out to nearby consumers.

“We are working with the Lake Central FFA Chapter to create a public relations campaign that will encourage people to take a farm tour at Belstra,” he said. We need to show people what we’re doing and how much we care for our animals.”

Additionally, DeKryger worked on a prototype for the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago to develop a pig production video for its farm technology display, in which DeKryger is a featured speaker.

Mike Bumgarner, Center for Food and Animal Issues

Active in the passage of Ohio’s Issue 2 initiative to create the Ohio Livestock Care Standards Board, Bumgarner described the involvement of Farm Bureau and the Center for Food and Animal Issues in the issue.

“We started this initiative to forge new communication with our consumers,” said Bumgarner. “We needed to take legislative action to make sure our members can continue to do what they do and that is for both large and small farms.”

Right now, Bumgarner said the Center for Food and Animal Issues is in the process of working with the Ohio Department of Agriculture to get the board fully established.

“Our first goal is to reach out to all segments of the animal society, animals are being challenged on many fronts,” he added, referring to companion, farm,  research and zoo animals. “We can’t lose sign of the importance of animals for food on a large level.”

According to Bumgarner, Ohio is proactive in respect to getting out in front of the animal care issue by developing this board.

“In the event that HSUS will launch a (California) Proposition 2-similar ballot initiative, we have already communicated with citizens that we want to go ahead and define animal care regulations through a group that is diversely represented,” he said.

The Board will consist of 13 members: three family farmers, two veterinarians, one food-safety expert, one representative of a local humane society, two members from statewide farm organizations, the dean of an Ohio agriculture college, the ODA director and two members representing Ohio consumers.

“There are all kinds sensational news stories out there about livestock care. We want everyone to know that farmers do care about their animals, they do not condone bad actors. The general rule is that the industry takes this seriously, the care of animals,” added Adams.

National Farm-City Week, recognized by a White House proclamation and observed the week before Thanksgiving, is organized by the non-profit National Farm City Council, an organization that works to unite urban and rural audiences by providing local organizations with educational programs about people who grow food. During National Farm-City Week, groups across the nation will host events ranging from farm tours to job exchanges.

Each year, the Council addresses a hot button issue in the industry, this year the theme focused on farm animal care. For more information, visit www.farmcity.org

11/25/2009