By Leslie Ballentine, Farming and food commentator
I just finished reading some more animal science studies out of Europe (a sure cure for insomnia) on what “free range” and “free run” laying hens are up against. And it’s a bit of a buyer-beware scenario too. Although it is a small niche market here in North America, so-called “cage-free” egg production in the UK has steadily grown in the last 20 years. That is where egg laying hens can move around within the confines of a pasture or barn. But the health and animal welfare news isn’t all good.
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Posted by FFC on May 12th, 2011 :: Filed under
Chickens,
eggs,
Housing,
Poultry,
ResearchTags ::
animal welfare,
eggs,
free range,
Housing,
Research
By Patricia Grotenhuis, Lifelong farmer and agricultural advocate
It’s a hot, sunny summer day, and pigs are all out wallowing in the mud, happy as could be. Or are they?
Pigs, when housed outdoors, will use mud to keep cool if necessary. They lack sweat glands (making it impossible to “sweat like a pig”), so the only way they can cool themselves is by getting moisture on their skin which can than evaporate and create a cooling effect. Mud would work for this cooling effect, as does water.
Although pigs are normally associated with messes (“your room is a pig sty” probably being the most common example), they actually like clean environments to live in. Pigs are quite comfortable living in a clean, dry barn with adequate supplies of food and water.
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Posted by FFC on March 1st, 2011 :: Filed under
Animal care,
Housing,
Pigs,
Pork,
Urban Myths,
WeatherTags ::
animals,
environment,
Farmers,
pigs
By Patricia Grotenhuis, lifelong farmer and agricultural enthusiast.
December 22, 2010 – During the summer, I attended the Canadian National Exhibition with the Ontario Farm Animal Council’s (OFAC) spokesrobot Oprah. Most of the questions we were asked were fairly general, but there was one comment which has stuck in my mind since then.
It is one I’m sure everyone in agriculture has heard at some point, and if they have not heard it yet, they will soon. While we were on our way to the parking lot at the end of the day, a gentleman stopped us and asked what Oprah was for. I briefly explained that she is an educational assistant sent to events such as fairs and festivals by the Ontario Farm Animal Council, and followed up by telling him who OFAC is and what it does.
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Posted by FFC on December 22nd, 2010 :: Filed under
Animal care,
animal handling,
Animal health,
Barn fires,
Codes of Practice,
Consumers,
Dairy cattle,
Education and public awareness,
Farm life,
Housing,
Innovation and technology,
Regulations,
Research,
Sustainability of the family farm,
Uncategorized
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.
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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
Steve Buist, Hamilton Spectator, 2008.06.04
I’m playing a word game with Temple Grandin. It’s fascinating to hear her describe how her brain works.
Temple Grandin is a professor of livestock behaviour at Colorado State University. She also happens to be autistic.
You could make the case that she’s the world’s most highly functioning autistic person and I wouldn’t argue with that.
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Posted by FFC on July 22nd, 2009 :: Filed under
Education and public awareness,
Family vs factory farming,
Farm life,
Housing,
PorkTags ::
animal welfare,
beef,
livestock,
meat,
pigs,
Pork,
slaughter
Source: The Record (Kitchener), September 29, 2008, KEVIN SWAYZE
International poultry expert Peter Hunton is tired of the question.
“What came first? The chicken or the egg?”
The Cambridge man answers in a deadpan tone.
“I don’t have a good answer to that question.”
But ask Hunton, 72, a serious question about his life’s work and conversation comes easy for a 2008 inductee to the International Poultry Hall of Fame.
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Posted by FFC on July 21st, 2009 :: Filed under
Housing,
PoultryTags ::
animal welfare,
chicken,
eggs,
Farmers,
Housing,
meat,
Poultry
BY TOBI COHEN, OTTAWA SUN, 2003.06.22
Pulling up to Luc and Louise Secours’ Bainsville farm one would never guess it was home to as many as 6,000 piglets at any given time.
It’s located on a large chunk of property a kilometre or so east of their
family farm home which stands perched atop a small hill next door to their chicken coop along Concession 2 in tiny South Glengarry town.
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Posted by FFC on July 21st, 2009 :: Filed under
Animal health,
Consumers,
Family vs factory farming,
Housing,
Innovation and technology,
Pork,
RegulationsTags ::
activists,
agriculture,
Consumers,
environment,
Farmers,
misconceptions,
Ontario,
pigs,
Pork
PRNewswire, ATLANTA, Dec. 19 / 2007
Animal rights activists have long alleged that hens in modern cages live a horribly stressed life, but new research appears to debunk those claims. Researchers have discovered that free range hens experience just as much or more stress than hens raised in modern, conventional cages.
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Posted by FFC on July 21st, 2009 :: Filed under
Education and public awareness,
Housing,
Poultry,
ResearchTags ::
animal welfare,
Farmers,
free range,
Housing,
Poultry
October 17, 2008, Letter to the Editor, New York Times
To the Editor:
“Standing, Stretching, Turning Around” (editorial, Oct. 9) does little
to advance the debate on farm animal housing. It accepts completely the hype concerning a California ballot initiative that among other things bans gestation stalls for pregnant sows.
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Posted by FFC on July 21st, 2009 :: Filed under
Housing,
Letters to the Editor,
PorkTags ::
animal welfare,
Housing,
pigs,
Research
Crystal Mackay, Ontario Farm Animal Council, Guelph; The Hamilton Spectator, 2007.01.17; Letter to the Editor
Re: ‘Paralyzed by choice at the egg cooler’ (Opinion, Jan. 12)
We’re fortunate to live in a country with so many food choices, in a world where many have little food at all. But many of the statements in the article on eggs need some perspective from farmers.
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Posted by FFC on July 21st, 2009 :: Filed under
Family vs factory farming,
Housing,
Letters to the Editor,
PoultryTags ::
activists,
animal care,
Consumers,
eggs,
Farmers,
food,
Poultry
