Us Against Them?
Is it us against them as some in the ranching community believe? Them, being PETA and animal rights groups like the Humans Society of the United States, I’m Susan Allen stay tuned on Open Range to learn how Dr. Kurt Vogel a professor who teaches animal welfare addresses this concern. Many ranchers I meet feel animal rights groups work from a specific vegetarian agenda, and most agree that those groups do a better job selling their beliefs then farmers and ranchers. In a recent interview with Drovers Cattle Network online animal welfare Professor Kurt Vogel Ph..D who studied under Temple Grandin gave his two cents, saying animal agriculture has been slow to engage the public and has actually hurt its image by limiting what the public is able to see. Vogel also believes the industry has not effectively used advertising and criticized The California Milk Advisory boards “Happy Cow” commercials that humanize dairy cattle saying that they mislead the public. I disagree but I think he’s on target saying "the animal ag industry isn’t focusing enough attention on making sure abuse issue do not arise, and should respond immediately to the public’s valid concerns plus take aggressive corrective legal action." He’s right, when undercover abuse surfaces I’ve yet to see ag industry representatives on Fox or any other network championing the ethical farmers and ranchersand in my book that leaves our industry extremely venerable to criticism.
