Did you know that in 2009 PETA found adoptive homes for only 8 of the 2,366 animals it took in? The other 97.3% were killed!!
The article I got this information from is in this link:
PETA Kills Animals PetaKillsAnimals.com
Please post your opinions after reading, if you'd like.
Showing posts with label My Soapbox. Show all posts
Showing posts with label My Soapbox. Show all posts
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Saturday, March 27, 2010
A Blogger Award!
I received this award from DebH over at Dakotagoats: http://dakotagoats.blogspot.com/. She's a wonderful women. You'll have to read her '10 things' too! Thanks, Deb!
Here's the rules for the award:
1. You must accept the award.
2. Thank the person who gave you the award.
3. Add a link to the person who gave you the award.
4. Paste the award on your blog.
5. Write 10 things about yourself that others might not know.
6. Pass the award on to 10 others.
Okay, ten things about me that others might not know:
1. I am Catholic. I married a nice Catholic boy too. : ) He came complete with the traditional large family--19 first cousins!
2. I used to have my own scrapbooking store. I still have quite a bit of merchandise left. Hmmmm, I'm thinkin a giveaway on my blog in the near future.
3. I like to eat prunes. I just bought a bag at the store the other day. They're so delicious! My husband thinks I am so weird.
4. I own two guns. My favorite is a pink pistol that I bought last year.
5. I have.....tendencies. I like things to be done 'just so'. I don't have an overly clean house by any means, but if something is put away it is put away right...and neatly. Also, if something is not where it should be, I can't find it. At work they dusted my desk and put my stapler in a different spot. I couldn't find it--it was in plain sight.
6. I live in the house I grew up in, except it's on our farm now. We bought my parent's house and moved it to our farm. Quite an interesting project.
7. I had the Grand Champion Rabbit at our county fair when I was in 4-H. It was a Netherland Dwarf named Oreo. He was black with a white belly and I thought he looked like an Oreo cookie.
8. I'm not a baby person. Let me explain that.. I LOVE babies, who doesn't? I've just never been one of those people that holds someone else's baby and says, "oh, I miss when my kids were babies". I love watching my kids grow and each new thing they do amazes me more than the last.
9. I drive a pickup. I have wanted one since I turned 16. Finally, last year my wonderful husband bought me my very first pickup. Now I'm a kid haulin, mulch movin, feed bucket takin, seed bag gettin Mama! It also seems to be my husband's ride of choice when he and his buddies decide to go on a casino trip!
10. I have only been blogging since last month (I'm already addicted though). So, I don't know 10 other bloggers to share this award with yet. I will share with some great people that I have met so far though.
I will pass the award on to the wonderful blogs that I follow:
1. http://janetphillips.blogspot.com/
2. http://thelifeofafarmerswife.blogspot.com/
3. http://intheshadowofjuniperhill.blogspot.com/
4. http://laughing-duck-farm.blogspot.com/
5. http://mycountryblogofthisandthat.blogspot.com/
6. http://www.raisingcountrykids.com/
7. http://smallfarmgirl.blogspot.com/
Sunday, March 21, 2010
National Agriculture Week - Class Visit
Last week was National Agriculture Week and Maci and I visited Quentin's 1st grade classroom to talk about farming. We told them about the things we have and do on our farm. We brought along a duck and a chicken egg. The duck egg brought lots of questions and so did the brown chicken egg. We also brought some of our farm toys. We brought a tractor, round baler, mower/conditioner and a semi with a grain trailer. The mower/conditioner really stumped them. One little boy knew what it did, but he couldn't think of what it was called...pretty good anyway. Then we read them a story about farm animals and gave them all a kids farm magazine. The magazine was Little Green. Quentin has a subscription to Little Green and he really enjoys it. The people at Little Green were so kind to donate enough for his whole class. They were all SO excited when they got their magazines.
We had a great time!
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
I was published!
Okay, we're not talkin' Newsweek or anything, but I was excited. I wrote an article for the Iowa Farm Bureau Spokesman and it was published in last week's edition. Here it is:
My husband and I have recently returned from a Farm Bureau Young Farmers Conference. While we were there, speakers Troy and Stacy Hadrick told us the importance of being an ‘Advocate for Agriculture’. They told us that there are many aspects of farming that people are simply not aware of and it is up to us, as local farmers, to speak out.
We have only been home for a few hours and I have already seen the same television commercial three times. It is for the Humane Society of the United States . Most of you have probably seen this commercial. It has those awful images of abused and neglected dogs and cats, a horse and dairy cow. It stars actress Wendi Malick asking you to give a monthly donation to the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS).
This commercial is very disturbing, but it also paints a very untrue picture of how agriculture and, more specifically, livestock production actually operates. I found many falsities within this advertisement. One in particular that I would like to touch on was the dairy cow getting pushed with a forklift. As life goes, livestock does die. Whether it be from illness or to feed families. Pushing them around with machinery is NOT normal practice. However, the fact that we have to use machinery to move deceased animals is the truth. These cattle are massive, heavy creatures. Overweight people in nursing homes are moved with a lift system.
We care about our animals, even when we have large quantities of them. Our cattle are fed at night before we even feed our own family. We take pride in our herd. We take pride in all of our farm. It is our life. If we don’t have a healthy herd of cattle when it comes time to sell, then we don’t have money to put food on our table and clothes on our kids.
We know each one of our cattle individually. Some of them even have names...until our kids ran out of names for them. Just like children, these cattle each have their own personalities. We can tell you which one will be first to the feed bunk every night. We can tell you that ‘Red Cow’ (told you we were running out of names) likes it when you pet her right there on her head. We can tell you that every night when we feed them ‘Barb’ will nudge the other girls out of her way. While most producers don't give their cattle names, they can individualize the cattle in their herds. Whether a producer has a herd of five head or 500 head. They can stand at the gate and tell you about those cattle.
Before hearing the Hadrick’s speak I was not aware of the challenges that face all of us in the agriculture industry. The HSUS uses more than 95% of it’s budget for travel and lobbying against family farmers. None of the $19 per month that they are asking you to donate goes to your local animal shelters. They are not affiliated with local shelters or Humane Societies. Perhaps if you want your money to go to better use you should donate it directly to your local animal shelter. This is where there are kind, caring people that volunteer their time to help animals in need. Many of them are even family farmers just like you and me.
It is not just this organization that portrays us in a false manner. Family farmers need to be aware that these are the images of us that are being portrayed. More importantly, these are the images that people believe to be true about us. Let people know this is not who we are. Many people are simply not educated or aware. Get involved in your local organizations. Just join. You don’t have to sign up to be president, committee chairman or even bring a covered dish. Just become a member. Farm Bureau offers a number of opportunities to connect with other farmers and hear speakers that educate within the agriculture industry. There are also many online groups you can join that will increase your agricultural awareness. There is strength in numbers. It is not just my family that loves our livestock, land and lifestyle. It is every farmer, rancher and cattleman. Take pride in yourselves and your farms. As the saying goes, a day in the country is worth a month in town.
Pride in our Farms, Strength in our Numbers
By: Christi Slater
My husband and I have recently returned from a Farm Bureau Young Farmers Conference. While we were there, speakers Troy and Stacy Hadrick told us the importance of being an ‘Advocate for Agriculture’. They told us that there are many aspects of farming that people are simply not aware of and it is up to us, as local farmers, to speak out.
We have only been home for a few hours and I have already seen the same television commercial three times. It is for the Humane Society of the United States . Most of you have probably seen this commercial. It has those awful images of abused and neglected dogs and cats, a horse and dairy cow. It stars actress Wendi Malick asking you to give a monthly donation to the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS).
This commercial is very disturbing, but it also paints a very untrue picture of how agriculture and, more specifically, livestock production actually operates. I found many falsities within this advertisement. One in particular that I would like to touch on was the dairy cow getting pushed with a forklift. As life goes, livestock does die. Whether it be from illness or to feed families. Pushing them around with machinery is NOT normal practice. However, the fact that we have to use machinery to move deceased animals is the truth. These cattle are massive, heavy creatures. Overweight people in nursing homes are moved with a lift system.
We care about our animals, even when we have large quantities of them. Our cattle are fed at night before we even feed our own family. We take pride in our herd. We take pride in all of our farm. It is our life. If we don’t have a healthy herd of cattle when it comes time to sell, then we don’t have money to put food on our table and clothes on our kids.
We know each one of our cattle individually. Some of them even have names...until our kids ran out of names for them. Just like children, these cattle each have their own personalities. We can tell you which one will be first to the feed bunk every night. We can tell you that ‘Red Cow’ (told you we were running out of names) likes it when you pet her right there on her head. We can tell you that every night when we feed them ‘Barb’ will nudge the other girls out of her way. While most producers don't give their cattle names, they can individualize the cattle in their herds. Whether a producer has a herd of five head or 500 head. They can stand at the gate and tell you about those cattle.
Before hearing the Hadrick’s speak I was not aware of the challenges that face all of us in the agriculture industry. The HSUS uses more than 95% of it’s budget for travel and lobbying against family farmers. None of the $19 per month that they are asking you to donate goes to your local animal shelters. They are not affiliated with local shelters or Humane Societies. Perhaps if you want your money to go to better use you should donate it directly to your local animal shelter. This is where there are kind, caring people that volunteer their time to help animals in need. Many of them are even family farmers just like you and me.
It is not just this organization that portrays us in a false manner. Family farmers need to be aware that these are the images of us that are being portrayed. More importantly, these are the images that people believe to be true about us. Let people know this is not who we are. Many people are simply not educated or aware. Get involved in your local organizations. Just join. You don’t have to sign up to be president, committee chairman or even bring a covered dish. Just become a member. Farm Bureau offers a number of opportunities to connect with other farmers and hear speakers that educate within the agriculture industry. There are also many online groups you can join that will increase your agricultural awareness. There is strength in numbers. It is not just my family that loves our livestock, land and lifestyle. It is every farmer, rancher and cattleman. Take pride in yourselves and your farms. As the saying goes, a day in the country is worth a month in town.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
My Soapbox Comment of the Day
There are so many people and organizations out there that are criticising animal agriculture. I was recently on Facebook and saw a post from a non-agriculture person. This guy said that if animal agriculture disappeared in our country, our economy wouldn't be negatively effected. Hey man, we're not out here doing this for nothin'! ;) Anyway, I found this interesting paragraph online that I wanted to share. I'll get off my soapbox now. :)Nationally, animal agriculture created over $74 billion in earnings that resulted in over $400 billion in economic output in the United States. This means that animal agriculture and related industries generated $400 billion into the economy. Livestock and poultry production created 2.9 million jobs in the United States, according to the Animal Agriculture Economic Analysis Update, a report by Promar Internationl for the United Soybean Board (USB). To put the economic output in perspective, the automotive industry accounted for $344 billion in 2002, according to a report by the Center for Automotive Research.
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