Friday, April 3, 2009

Visiting the End Result of California's Prop 2

I'm stunned, or rather once again I get to pick on the stupidity of California Liberalism. Once again I invite you to visit Advocates for Agriculture.

I have been looked at in life with the look of "You have no idea what it is like to go hungry!" I remember that comment made to me with the look of disdain. I remember my reply. Both individuals I was eating lunch with in a public place were my co-workers. I was angry and insulted that I had no idea what it was like to be poor. I do know what it is like. We didn't qualify for help with food stamps because we had owned our own business. We lost a business, a house and couldn't put food on the table for our children. That's really hard! I suppose the hardest thing for me to handle is what the government does with so called "animal rights" which will cost an increase in the cost of food and those at the lower end of the economic scale.

What is currently before the California Assembly Bill 1437 is to not only require producers within the state to conform to Prop 2 but all eggs coming into the state must conform to Prop 2. So the argument the cost of eggs will only go up a penny a piece or twelve cents a dozen has become mute. When you go to the grocery store the next time take a look at the price of a dozen eggs and the price of cage free eggs. There can be as much as $2.00 difference in cost. So my point stands with the individual who left a comment on my last post. The state is more humane to the chickens then to people being able to afford to eat. On top of it all eggs are and always have been considered a staple food item. The same as flour, bread, sugar, and milk.

I agree with Troy and Stacy on how embolden HSUS has become over this issue. If we allow animal rights activist to go to this extreme we endanger our National Security and leave a legacy of hunger in this country.

I'm stunned, or rather once again I get to pick on the stupidity of California Liberalism. Once again I invite you to visit Advocates for Agriculture.
You ask how this endangers our National Security. Hungry people only think about being hungry and how to get food for their stomach. As a result internal strife can occur. Remember the food riots of last year in some of the third world countries over food prices. Remember the problems in Africa with hunger. It was worse in countries with civil war. Don't ever forget you enjoy the lifestyle you have only because of the American Farmer and Rancher. Photo Credit: Flying J&L Ranch, 2009 Senior Champion Open Lowline Angus Fulblood Bull, LTL Peyton, very tired on day four of the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo found it much easier to eat laying down then standing. The HLSR is the largest show dedicated to the celebration of the farmer and rancher in the world.

Please start to care, I know what it is like to be hungry!

Kim

5 comments:

Goatgirl said...

We would have more food to go around if it was not funneled through food animals first.
It takes 15lbs of feed to produce 1lbs of beef, and HALF of the worlds water goes towards food animals.
If you truly cared you wouldn't stand up for an industry that exploits humans, and the enviroment.

Justine said...

If you can't afford eggs, go without them. They are not a requirement. Instead of going hungry, why wouldn't you buy beans instead? Or lentils? Or other low-cost protein-rich food?

Cruelty is never acceptable. Prop 2 barely gives animals some basic quality of life. It's not about liberalism, it's about compassion. Do you even understand the hell chickens go through in battery cages?

Texas Cattlewoman said...

The difference between the individuals and myself is that if I wrote this kind of comments on their blogs they wouldn't approve the comments. That is liberalism to the extreme. I believe in the Right of Free Speech and they would just as soon see me silenced.

How little the two individuals understand the basic economic principles of Agriculture. A hungry nation is in extreme danger of total collapse politically not to mention the strife over food.

As for "hell" chickens go through. Chickens all breeds not just the Game Birds are natural fighters. Hens and Roosters fight. The real danger to the birds is to give them more room. Yet they don't take the time to take a basic poultry course. As for pigs....how many piglets must a sow squash. In our current confinement systems there is less then a 10% death loss to piglets. In any other farrowing system a sow will loose from 50-100% of her litter. Most feedlot operations I've been to for hogs are not in crates so grow up and learn about the Agriculture Systems in this country.

Ya know I really think someone who listens to an idiot about what a calf eats vs the amount of gain is crazy. Our senior Santa Gertrudis Bull gained just over 4lbs per day on his gain test and trust me he didn't and couldn't eat 60 lbs a day. Right now he is one of the most efficient bulls I've seen. He maintains himself at 5 years of age on a grass diet alone and spends 9 months out of the year too fat. We have a Lowline Angus/Santa Gertrudis Heifer that between weaning at five months of age and and eight months of age that gained 1.98 lbs per day which is excellent for any heifer on 12.5 lbs of feed a day. Grow up and get your numbers straight! As for water and animals, lets take a look at what humans do to water and the exploitation of our water systems. Don't blame it on the Livestock Producers.

As for what farmers and ranchers do to the environment, take a look at yourself first. You just wrote the most stupid statement I've ever seen. As one who worked as a chemist in an environmental lab there is more pollution dropped into our waterways in this country by the homeowner then the Farmers and Ranchers of this nation.

As for being hungry, we did eat beans, rice and other plant items in a rounded balanced diet which including meat.

Final point. Agriculture production is up in this country then it was 30 years ago. Corn 28 years ago hit 100 bushels to the acre in the midwest, a record considered impossible to break. Today the midwest grows corn at 300 bushels an acre. The problem we face in the future and as a world is disappearing farm land in this country. 100 million acres of farm and ranch land has gone to urban development in the last 30 years.

Oh, and please do read the recent information that vegans do not want anyone to hear. Cancer rates are increased in certain areas of the body. Came out this week. No pun intended..."just food for thought."

Kim

Proud owner of a sustainable cattle operation.

Justine said...

Well Kim, if I had a blog, you would be most welcome to post on it. You are also welcome to come with me on a tour of a factory farm followed by a tour of a farm animal sanctuary. I think you will see the difference. Yes roosters fight naturally to establish a pecking order. When there's room to move around, it's easier for them to create a natural hierarchy to follow and for the non-dominant males to stay safely away from the dominant ones.

When you say liberalism, why don't you say what you really mean? Extremism. You think people who care about animal rights are extremists. At the opposite end of the spectrum, you are also an extremist. You don't believe that animals should have the slightest bit of comfort before they die.

I'm not asking you today to give up beef or to close your farm. That is too much to ask and I don't want to take away your livelihood. I'm asking that you consider that there is both a humane and sustainable way to farm. Even if you don't believe that animals have a right to live and not be eaten, I hope that you will realize that animals do not need to suffer prior to their death. They don't need to be forced into small cages, they don't need to have their beaks docked, they don't need to live their lives in pain and fear. There's a middle ground.

Take care!

Texas Cattlewoman said...

After reading my comment, boy was I asleep. 12:30am is late for me. Our first Santa Gertrudis heifer was weaned at five months and placed on 5lbs of feed per day for two months. She then moved to 12.5 lbs a day to finish her for the show ring and was shown at 10 1/2 months. Her weight was taken two months before the show. So she actually was on 12.5 lbs of feed for only a month and a half when she was showing 1.98 lbs of gain per day. Actual rate of gain for cattle is somewhere between 3.5 and 7 lbs of feed for every lb of gain. Bulls & Steers will gain more weight then heifers on the same amount of feed. The average is 5.5 lbs for every lb of gain per day. I should have been more awake and thinking. My mistake.

Kim