Guest Blog by Jeanine Moyer Jeanine was raised on a pig, beef cattle and crop farm in Ontario
Spring comes to our farm early. We don’t wait for the green grass or baby calves, the annual spring bull sale is enough for us. Each year a catalogue of potential sires is mailed out to our farm marking the onset of the spring season. Dad and Uncle spend hours pouring over the pictures, details and genetic makeup of each animal before settling on their select few they would like to purchase at the upcoming sale.
Sale day often dawns on a chilly Saturday and once chores are finished we pile into the farm pickup and head for Listowel, ON with trailer in tow. You’re never guaranteed to bring anything home but Dad always hitches up the trailer just in case. Any farm gathering, whether it be a local auction sale, farm tour or in this case, a bull sale offers donuts and coffee and as kids this was a great opportunity to eat our fill.
Read All »
Posted by FFC on April 4th, 2011 :: Filed under
Animal care,
animal handling,
Auction sales,
Beef cattle,
Canada,
Farm life,
TransportationTags ::
agriculture,
beef,
Farmers
By Leslie Ballentine, Farming and food commentator
People forget that farming is a dangerous profession. I recently read about a symposium in Ireland on the danger of farm animals, in this case bulls. And a study into the situation found that, unlike dogs, no breed of cattle was “safer” than another. Authors of the study reported that when investigating fatal accidents, inspectors often hear that a bull could be considered ‘quiet’ for years and suddenly become ‘angry’ and attack.
Read All »
Posted by FFC on February 10th, 2011 :: Filed under
Animal care,
animal handling,
Beef cattle,
Canada,
Dairy cattle,
Farm lifeTags ::
agriculture,
animal welfare,
animals,
Canada,
cattle,
dairy cattle,
Farmers,
livestock
By Patricia Grotenhuis, Lifelong farmer and agricultural advocate
Winters are hard, no matter what your job is. Growing up on a farm, winter meant being outside even on the nastiest of days. We always knew there would be extra chores in the barn that could include such “glamorous” tasks as thawing out water lines, chipping ice off of the free stall floors so cows didn’t slip and putting extra straw down for the animals who were outside. Sometimes it was lunch time before we even got in for breakfast, or we would have to go in when there were still a few jobs to do to thaw out and find warmer or drier clothes, then leave the comfort of the house to brave the elements again.
Read All »
Posted by FFC on February 8th, 2011 :: Filed under
Animal care,
Beef cattle,
Canada,
Dairy cattle,
Farm life,
Weather
Today, with permission from Mike Haley of West Salem, Ohio, we’re reprinting a piece he just recently posted on his blog titled “A Sad Day on Haley Farms” . The blog gives a great insite into the work that livestock farmers do, daily, to care for their animals – although as the piece so poignantly tells, sometimes even a family’s best efforts aren’t enough.
On a related note, this week we were also impressed to see a lot of Facebook postings related to the crazy, cold Canadian winter weather we’ve been experiencing. The status updates of many of our farmer friends read: “BREAKING NEWS: There will be no farms closed/shut down due to the ongoing BLIZZARD. Each and every farmer will be out in the blistery, cold, blowing wind and heavy snowfall tending to their livestock. They will be praying for machinery to work and non-frozen water pipes. If you know or LOVE a farmer, re-post!” Amen to that.
You can read more of Mike’s blogs at http://haley-farms.com/blog/ or you can follow him on Twitter at @farmerhaley. Again, thanks to him for permission to reprint this blog.
A Sad Day on Haley Farms
Posted on February 3, 2011 by Mike Haley
Sorry to say but this blog post will have no smiles or happy pictures as I am writing it on a sad note. On our farm we strive to keep our cattle content, happy and healthy. People ask at times about how we feel about the livestock in our care and today’s experience is a good illustration even if this is tough to put down on the blog. If there is a calf that appears to be feeling under the weather, we know that we need to take action right away to make him/her feel better otherwise the calf’s health may continue to go downhill and reach a point that we can no longer help it.
Read All »
Posted by FFC on February 4th, 2011 :: Filed under
Animal care,
Beef cattle,
Farm life,
Weather
By Leslie Ballentine, Farming and food commentator
Some 10 million viewers got a unique opportunity to see inside a large US meat plant this week when The Oprah Show aired a guided tour of one of the world’s largest meat packing plants. The tour and the Cargill company staff helped to de-mystify a process that is largely mis-understood and maligned. I have been to many slaughter plants over my agriculture career, but here is a report on the experiences of one first- time visitor at another Cargill meat plant. The author is a nutritionist and not from a farm. Cargill operates plants in Canada as well as the U.S….
I just got back from west Texas where I toured a big industrial beef processing plant and I am still in shock by what I witnessed there. But I am not shocked in the way you might expect based on the negative portrayals of the beef industry that seem so rampant in the media. Rather, I am stunned by how humanely the animals were treated and by the detailed attention given to food safety at every stage of the process.
Read All »
Posted by FFC on February 2nd, 2011 :: Filed under
animal handling,
Beef cattle,
Consumers,
Food safety,
Meat/slaughter plantsTags ::
animal welfare,
beef,
cattle,
food,
food safety,
misconceptions
By Patricia Grotenhuis, lifelong farmer and agricultural advocate
I have heard a lot of questions about why farm animals are housed indoors, and mention that it would be more natural for them to be housed outside. There are a lot of reasons why animals are housed indoors, and all have welfare implications.
Barns provide a controlled climate for animals and birds. There are significant weather variations in Canada from one season to the next, and not all animals will thrive at all temperatures. Beef cows can be quite content outdoors in the middle of winter, provided they have a windbreak and shelter to use during storms, and a food source available.
Pigs, on the other hand, would not do well outside at these temperatures. Even in the hardiest species, piglets born outdoors during the winter would be at high risk for injuries due to cold such as frostbite. The high summer temperatures some regions of Canada experience are also uncomfortable for many animals.
Barns protect farm animals during extreme cold or warm weather conditions.
Posted by FFC on January 25th, 2011 :: Filed under
Animal care,
Beef cattle,
Canada,
Chickens,
Farm life,
Pigs,
Uncategorized,
Weather
By Leslie Ballentine, Farming and food commentator
A November 2010 study by the George Morris Centre, a non-profit agri-food think tank, has found some alarming news about food. Their unpublished study titled Food Waste in Canada, estimates that $27 billion (yes billion) worth of food finds its way into landfill and composting each year. I’ve read elsewhere that 30-40% of our food goes to waste. The blame, according to the research, is split evenly between consumers who throw out food at home and the food supply chain; from farms through to stores and restaurants.
Read All »
Posted by FFC on January 17th, 2011 :: Filed under
Activism,
Beef cattle,
Feeding the world,
Global Warming,
Research,
Vegetarian
by Patricia Grotenhuis, lifelong farmer and agricultural enthusiast
January 7, 2011 – Growing up on a farm, I was one of the only farm kids in my class at school. For years I heard from people asking me about cow tipping and claiming to have gone cow tipping.
As hard as I tried, I know some of them didn’t believe me when I said it simply was not possible. Everyone seemed to know someone who knew someone who claimed to have done it.
The theory is that cattle sleep standing up, so when they are sleeping they are unsteady. All it takes is someone walking up and pushing on them to tip them over!
Read All »
Posted by FFC on January 7th, 2011 :: Filed under
animal handling,
Beef cattle,
Dairy cattle,
Education and public awareness
Farm animal councils in Canada, led by the National Farm Animal Care Council, have taken a lead role in promoting the Codes of Practice to farmers in this country. NFACC is also now leading the development of revised codes for a number of livestock species. We think this article sums the topic up well – OFAC
Animal Industry Comes Of Age
Laura Rance
EDITOR
Manitoba Cooperator
An animal-abuse court case based on the discovery of hundreds of dead, starving, dehydrated and injured hogs in a Notre Dame de Lourdes-area barn earlier this year could be precedent setting on two fronts.
The horrific conditions animal-welfare officers found when they were called to the scene and the number of charges laid against the owners of the barn may make this one of the biggest animal-abuse cases the province has ever witnessed.
But it is also the first time charges have been laid for failing to comply with an industry code of practice — standards of animal care developed under the leadership of these hog producers’ peers.
Read All »
Posted by FFC on December 13th, 2010 :: Filed under
Animal care,
Animal cruelty,
animal handling,
Beef cattle,
Canada,
Codes of Practice,
Dairy cattle,
Housing,
Pork
From horse whisperer to cow whisperer – we like the way this livestock handler relates to his animals – OFAC
For the full story and photos, visit http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5j7bBWFLOlyxoJypwFO39EOgj5ecAD9HH4UR80
Cow whisperer aims to improve livestock handling
By MATT VOLZ (AP) – 10 hours ago
WOLF CREEK, Mont. — The herd of lowing cows parted like a wave before Curt Pate, who rode straight up to the bull and let him know who was in charge without making a sound.
Pate, a 49-year-old Montana cowboy who consulted on the 1998 Robert Redford film “The Horse Whisperer,” switched his focus to cows about five years ago and has been traveling the country teaching ranchers to think like cattle and use low-stress methods of handling livestock.
Read All »
Posted by FFC on August 11th, 2010 :: Filed under
Animal care,
animal handling,
Animal health,
Beef cattle,
Horses,
Research
