The Elections

Of course, you knew I couldn't let this monumental happening just slide by un-commented-on ... but, I'm probably not going to harp on what many of you are expecting.

True, the Presidential election did not go the way I had hoped it would. And, the results do make me a little uneasy. We'll see how he picks his Cabinet. But what I really want to report on is what happened in the state of California this election.

(Stand back, I'm chapped over this one.)

People in California voted to pass Proposition 2. The proposition, which won’t become law until 2015, requires that all farm animals, "for all or the majority of any day,"not be confined or tethered in a manner that prevents an animal from lying down, standing up, turning around or extending its limbs without touching another animal or an enclosure such as a cage or stall.

Sure, at first blush, this looks like something that should be passed, right? No one wants to think that the animals they're eating were, literally, cooped up. (ha.)

But the bigger issue here is this: even the American Veterinary Medical Assocation told the people of California NOT to pass this law. THE AVMA!!!! But they passed it anyway!! They didn't even trust the opinion and urging of the very people who most of them take their own animals to for proper, humane, compassionate care. Guess what it's going to do to many of the farmers it effected in California? Put them out of business.

Bloody hell, people.

What I don't understand is how it is legally acceptable for people who have had absolutely no contact with a farm or its operations to vote on the way we (farmers) conduct our business. I don't remember being given the opportunity to vote on whether or not big banks are allowed to lend money to people who have no way to repay it. I don't remember voting on how much unnecessary fertilizer/chemicals/etc urbanites are allowed to use on their purely aesthetic lawns. Where can I write THAT in??

I live in Missouri, and Prop 2 terrifies me. People who have no clue about agriculture or animals voted against even the informed, educated opinion of the experts. The ignorant majority is going to legislate our nation's agriculture out of business, and effectively ship all ag-related operations to Brazil, Argentina, etc. where we will have NO say whatsoever in how animals are treated, what kinds of chemicals they use on our food products, how their horses are slaughtered, etc.

These days, people are so terribly concerned about sticking up for those who have no voice (i.e., animals, the poor, the disadvantaged). But the underdogs who really need the extra volume right now are the farmers. Who is championing our cause to the likes of Oprah? My guess is that'll only happen once the public figures out that all this apparent do-gooding is going to push food production out of our country, thus driving the price of food up to Red Russia levels, where we'll all stand in lines to buy beef or eggs, and no one will be able or willing to put even a single can of beans in the Feed Our Homeless bins.

Oh well, above all else we must do what's good for the animals. To hell with first considering the PEOPLE in this country.