The recent undercover video investigation from Mercy For Animals is extremely horrific. I was absolutely shocked when I saw this video. I have been around commercial livestock production my whole life both cattle & swine and I have never seen actions like this before!
There are several things that need to be understood about this investigation:
#1 No one in livestock production approves this behavior from employees on their operations!
#2 Mercy For Animals made this video undercover on the ranch without the approval of the owners.
#3 All producers must complete animal care assurance trainings in order to raise animals and sell them for consumption. The practices shown in this video are NOT ethical, moral, humane or practical and we as an industry DO NOT TOLERATE this behavior.
#4 Law enforcement was called by Mercy For Animals on these people for this treatment,which is good. However it was 2 weeks after the investigation & videos were made, which is entirely to late & unacceptable.
I feel that if Mercy For Animals was concerned with the animals safety, humane treatment and health than they would of called law enforcement at first violation, not two weeks after their video was made and edited. They were more concerned with their video & putting the ranch on the spot than they were for the care of the livestock.
These practices are absolutely 100% against what production livestock does on a daily basis & is not in any way an insight to how our operations are managed and how employees act. I hope that the employees in these videos are arrested and pay for their unethical actions because this is not what agriculture is.
If you are interested in what other producers think of this video and want their opinion feel free to ask me and I will direct you to them. You can also read these blogs for more opinions.
Haley-Farms: http://haley-farms.com/blog/2011/04/19/no-mercy-for-animal-abuse/
Michele Knoper: http://www.causematters.com/agriculture/mercy-for-animals-calves-animal-abuse/
Crystal Cattle: http://cdycattle.blogspot.com/2011/04/animal-abuse-in-agriculture.html
Ryan Goodman, a cattleman from Arkansas has done a very good job explaining how cattle are cared for on a daily cattle operation (ranch) in this blog:
http://agricultureproud.com/2011/04/19/quality-food-begins-with-quality-animal-care/
Please share this blog with people that you know are concerned with quality of their animal care.
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