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
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.
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Posted by FFC on August 11th, 2010 :: Filed under
Animal care,
animal handling,
Animal health,
Beef cattle,
Horses,
Research
Farmers must take the lead on animal welfare – their livelihoods depend on it. We like this article, published recently in the Guelph Mercury newspaper, that discusses this fact and a recent national funding announcement designed to take animal welfare even further in Canada – OFAC
Farmers understand benefits of animal welfare
Guelph Mercury
Owen Roberts
May 10, 2010
Healthy animals are profitable animals. And for farmers, profitability is the bottom line. Farmers who treat their animals poorly can face veterinarian bills, and other costly problems – such as a turned-off, unsupportive public. But right now, for the most part, consumers are on farmers’ side. And farmers aim to keep it that way.
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Posted by FFC on May 20th, 2010 :: Filed under
Animal care,
Animal health,
Canada,
Farm life,
Innovation and technology,
Media,
Research
This is an interesting perspective on science and politics. There are lots of parallels between the misconceptions and debates around climate change and those around animal welfare – OFAC.
By Ronald L. Doering
In spite of the media treatment of them, there is nothing that is surprising about the now famous Climategate emails. Surprise could only come from a misunderstanding of the relationship between science, policy and politics. Of course the emails reveal that the climate scientists were affected by policy and political considerations. They had to be. Science, policy and politics are inextricably intertwined. What is surprising is how much our public discourse is still dominated by the quaint utopian view that science and policy can be strictly separated.
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Posted by FFC on January 22nd, 2010 :: Filed under
Activism,
Regulations,
ResearchTags ::
activists,
misconceptions,
regulation,
Research
Source: Farmers Weekly Interactive 22/11/2007
Poultry meat uses less global energy than other livestock systems and
intensive poultry uses less than free range and organic, according to new research.
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Posted by FFC on July 21st, 2009 :: Filed under
Education and public awareness,
Family vs factory farming,
Poultry,
ResearchTags ::
chicken,
environment,
Farmers,
free range,
livestock,
organic,
Poultry,
Research
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
By Owen Roberts, Guelph Mercury, June 02, 2008
When it comes to what’s called broiler chickens, the ones that are processed into food, every day counts. In just five-ish weeks, they hatch from eggs, grow and find their way to our dinner plates. That brief time period is fascinating from a nutrition perspective, because a bird must grow up incredibly fast and stay extremely healthy to be ready for marketing in about 32 days.
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Posted by FFC on July 19th, 2009 :: Filed under
Animal health,
Education and public awareness,
Family vs factory farming,
Food safety,
Poultry,
ResearchTags ::
animal care,
Canada,
education,
Farmers,
Ontario,
Poultry,
Research
