Common Sense for Animal Ag
Welcome to Open Range, I’m Susan Allen. Stay tuned because after the break I’ll check in with our field reporter, Greg Martin for the AgriBeef Minute.
I’m Greg Martin with today’s AgriBeef Minute. By taking a few relatively simple steps you already know, Jeff Pastoor, Senior Cattle Consultant at Land O'Lakes Purina Feed says it will go a long ways in keeping groups like the HSUS at bay.
PASTOOR: Really it comes down to basic animal husbandry. Just taking care of the stock. If you’ve got some common sense, none of these should be difficult or new things to anybody. But it’s just a matter of following the recommendations on all your animal health products. Provide all your animals good nutrition, clean water, give them access to clean pastures or clean pens, provide appropriate veterinary care as needed for either prevention or treatment.
He also says to make sure you have the appropriate facilities and trained personnel as well. HSUS is not the only group with your operation in their sites.
PASTOOR: PETA has been around for a long time. I heard a co-worker one time say that PETA’s main function now is to make HSUS respectable and there’s certainly a lot of other smaller splinter groups out there.
And Pastoor reminds that these animals are bred for food.
PASTOOR: The biggest challenge we have, as people have spent more and more time - perhaps generations away from the farm there’s a real temptation to anthropomorphize these animals. They give attributes to these animals as if they were humans and they’re not.
I’m Greg Martin and that’s today’s AgriBeef Minute.
Thanks Greg. Don’t forget Greg will be back each Wednesday with the AgriBeef Minute. Agri Beef Co - Real Families, Great People, Exceptional Beef. I’m Susan Allen.
