Vegan/Animal Rights Propaganda

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Travlr

Travlr

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The world changes and we must adapt. But we don't have to buy into propaganda created to increase the level of general ignorance in the world, especially if it involves some very damaging and dangerous ideas. Ideas that might sound good to the uninformed, but that lack logic and the context necessary to hold up under informed knowledge. In the interest of providing some information relevant to the attacks we are incurring in the Agricultural community from vegan and animal rights sources, I'd like to supply some things I've gathered over the years and welcome you to comment too.

There are several disturbing trends in present times. One is how the farming/ranching community have become a target for urban activists. People with no real experience or education, but with plenty of self righteous indignation, personal virtue, and the numbers to influence legislation. Popular opinion cultivated by an intentional war being waged on Agriculture and those that practice it, especially those that produce livestock.

A list of the claims I've heard made as fact includes:


  1. Humans are herbivores.​
  2. Farmers torture animals in order to make greater profits.​
  3. Animals are terrified in slaughterhouses.​
  4. Most agricultural land is used to grow livestock.​
  5. Methane from cows is a major contributor to greenhouse gasses.​
  6. Red meat remains in your gut and rots.​

As far as humans being herbivores, I know of no cultures in the world that are strict plant eaters. There are "Blue Zones" that are often mentioned by vegans, Okinawa, Japan; Sardinia, Italy; Nicoya, Costa Rica; Ikaria, Greece; and Loma Linda California, that are often claimed to be vegan havens. In fact, none of these places where people have managed to live longer than average lives contain strict dietary restrictions or practices. The people being exampled tend to eat less meat, but they also have other habits that are considered beneficial to longer life. You can use the fact checking site, Snopes, to find that any claims of longer life are questionable. https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/do-vegetarians-live-longer-than-meat-eaters/ There are a few places in the world where people do adhere to a more plant based diet, notably northern India, where life spans are lower than average. Again, to be fair, there are other factors than diet at play.

If farmers torture animals to make more money, I'd like to know why livestock performs better across the board if they are healthy and comfortable. Animals gain more weight, give more milk, lay more eggs, and breed easier if they are less stressed, fit, and properly fed. One of the examples I often hear about from vegans is that ducks are force fed to enlarge their livers. The concern is two-fold. One concern is the idea that a duck is forced to consume a large volume of feed quickly, and the other is that the duck must be unhealthy because its liver expands abnormally. In fact, in the wild, ducks normally swallow large fish with sharp fins that are struggling as they are consumed, so ducks are designed by evolution to swallow voluminous quantities. It is also true that in a natural environment, ducks have a seasonal cycle where their livers grow to outsize proportions depending on what kind of natural foods they eat.

See next post...
 
When an animal is transported, or handled in any way depending on the animal, there is probably going to be some kind of reaction. This holds true in slaughterhouses just as it does in milk barns. The animals we commonly raise are universally prey animals. Chickens, sheep, hogs, and cattle, are all descended over many generations from animals that were natural prey. This means they think as prey. They act as prey. And they react as prey. Human intent over time has been to create more docile animals, but our efforts are not fully realized yet. Some individuals will be throwbacks to the wild Aurochs and some will be entirely comfortable and chewing their cud as they wait in line at the slaughterhouse. Some animals will be handled every day, their head scratched and hand fed choice morsels, and some will have never seen a human being. Regardless, the ones that live in fear tend to rile up the calm ones, just as the calm ones tend to relax the jumpy ones. Every individual has a comfort zone and a different tolerance for what they are going through. But they are prey animals and they will act like prey animals. The biggest part of the pig is the squeal, and they will shriek whether they are being fed their favorite treat or being forced into a loading chute.

Agricultural land has many forms. When people say most of it is used to grow livestock they may mean several things. People may also say that the crops being grown are mostly used to feed livestock. I've heard people say that upwards of ninety percent of plant agriculture is done to feed livestock. Of course that means they are getting pretty loose with their definitions and they are avoiding context. I don't believe it is correct to say that oranges are grown to feed animals, but I've heard it claimed because once the juice is squeezed from citrus fruit the excess pulp can be fed to livestock. The two crops most often exampled are corn and soy. The greatest percentage of corn grains that are fed to livestock are processed for some kind of human use before becoming feed. About 40/50% of corn is processed for ethanol to be used as fuel. Another 20/25% is processed for oil or syrup. A much smaller percentage is used for fresh and canned corn, but still a human use. The greatest amount of corn by weight and volume fed to livestock is the stalk, fermented as silage. I don't know many people that would complain about cows eating corn stalks, but vegans do. About 98% of soy beans are processed for human uses before the byproduct produced becomes animal feed. While livestock eats almost 100% of soy meal, the oils have been extracted for cooking as well as industrial purposes. Human uses. As far as the entire percentage of land being used to grow meat, those opposed to livestock always seem to forget that much of the western states are unusable for plant agriculture and don't have enough water to raise anything people could eat. Many of the acres cattle are on are untillable. In many cases a single cow/calf unit will barely survive on a hundred acres. This kind of land being claimed as any percentage of the total skews the results dramatically.

Cows fart, and it's become a joke. Yes indeed, cattle produce methane. So do all ruminants. At one time there were 60 million bison, or more, migrating as herds over the vast landscapes of the American prairie. The first white men wrote in their journals that a man could tie a knot in the tall grasses over their laps while they were seated on a tall horse. A hundred years later the tall grass prairie was gone. Not just tilled into oblivion, but damaged by the removal of the bison. Buffalo kept the plains fertile and built the soil. Several continents have had large migrating herds that have been decimated and when they are diminished the soil ceases to grow healthy plants. Look to Alan Savory's and other's work on Youtube () to see why ruminants are important. As for methane, yes it is a greenhouse gas, and yes cows do produce it as a consequence of digestion. But wasn't the world of the bison healthier than the world of today? Of course it was. Grasslands sequester greenhouse gasses as well or better than forests. A healthy prairie has as much or more biomass beneath the soil than a forest has above it. One of the reasons is that along with methane producing evolved ruminants developing over time, there were also prokaryotes that evolved right alongside that digest methane. Scientists have studied them extensively and call them methanotrophs. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methanotroph, and they are part of the natural world and they deal with naturally produced methane by digesting it and turning it into components of a healthy, human friendly atmosphere. In fact between the ability of healthy grasses to sequester carbon as well or better than forests, and the ability of methanotrophs to digest methane, cattle on pasture are a net benefit to the ecology of the planet.

Red meat does not remain in your body any longer than anything else. There are no passing lanes in the human gut. And any claims of cancer related to red meat are inflated and sensationalized. Meat that is processed and adulterated by added artificial flavorings and preservatives, or burnt to change the natural chemistry of meat, can produce carcinogens. But overall, the percentage of risk is negligible over a lifetime, about the same risk as being eaten by a shark.

So this is some ammunition you can use in any discussions with people intent on ending livestock and those that would feed them and their families.

Recently the government of Sri Lanka allowed an activist to proclaim artificial fertilizers unlawful, and they have an enormous reduction in their yields. They have become a net importer of agricultural products instead of the net exporter they were before the bans.

In the Netherlands the livestock industry is under attack. The government has been listening to people that think there is too much manure. The Netherlands have been one of the top food producers on the planet and are now in the throes of a change that may make them lose much of their capability.

Bill Gates is supporting vegan artificial meat substitutes and is buying up farmland. From what I understand he is the largest owner of agricultural land in the United States. Apparently he has been listening to the anti-meat agenda and now thinks he knows better than the accumulated intelligence of the farming community. Now invested, he is unlikely to learn anything that contradicts what he thinks he knows.

And there are other examples.

One of the things that puzzles me is how the agricultural schools seem to be completely silent.

Food for thought.
 
One reason I do the farm-to-table tours with Creekstone Farms Premium Beef is to educate their customers on humane treatment. Even world-famous chefs and a lot of people in the meat industry think that it's one big factory. And Creekstone takes them through the plant so they can see how the animals are treated when they arrive - even the slaughter. Obviously, not all producers are hands-on with their animals, but the majority care deeply for the welfare of their animals.

Remember a few years ago when CO was trying to criminalize AI, preg-checking, etc? Yup, too many people that have NO CLUE trying to make decisions, pass legislation, and destroy the Ag Industry.
 
TCRanch said:
Remember a few years ago when CO was trying to criminalize AI, preg-checking, etc? Yup, too many people that have NO CLUE trying to make decisions, pass legislation, and destroy the Ag Industry.
Click to expand...
One of the real world examples of how urban ignorance can get out of hand.

I wish there was a way to get these activists to quit menstruating and give them an estrus cycle. If they had to live through going into heat they might have a better understanding of an animal's need to breed.
 
Dad talks about when he rode the Red Desert back in the 50's the government had fenced out areas to keep the cows off the land. Dad always called them rice patties; they would sometimes put cows in the those fenced areas when they were moving cows. He said that the grass on the outside of the fenced area was better than inside.
 
Travlr said:
When an animal is transported, or handled in any way depending on the animal, there is probably going to be some kind of reaction. This holds true in slaughterhouses just as it does in milk barns. The animals we commonly raise are universally prey animals. Chickens, sheep, hogs, and cattle, are all descended over many generations from animals that were natural prey. This means they think as prey. They act as prey. And they react as prey. Human intent over time has been to create more docile animals, but our efforts are not fully realized yet. Some individuals will be throwbacks to the wild Aurochs and some will be entirely comfortable and chewing their cud as they wait in line at the slaughterhouse. Some animals will be handled every day, their head scratched and hand fed choice morsels, and some will have never seen a human being. Regardless, the ones that live in fear tend to rile up the calm ones, just as the calm ones tend to relax the jumpy ones. Every individual has a comfort zone and a different tolerance for what they are going through. But they are prey animals and they will act like prey animals. The biggest part of the pig is the squeal, and they will shriek whether they are being fed their favorite treat or being forced into a loading chute.

Agricultural land has many forms. When people say most of it is used to grow livestock they may mean several things. People may also say that the crops being grown are mostly used to feed livestock. I've heard people say that upwards of ninety percent of plant agriculture is done to feed livestock. Of course that means they are getting pretty loose with their definitions and they are avoiding context. I don't believe it is correct to say that oranges are grown to feed animals, but I've heard it claimed because once the juice is squeezed from citrus fruit the excess pulp can be fed to livestock. The two crops most often exampled are corn and soy. The greatest percentage of corn grains that are fed to livestock are processed for some kind of human use before becoming feed. About 40/50% of corn is processed for ethanol to be used as fuel. Another 20/25% is processed for oil or syrup. A much smaller percentage is used for fresh and canned corn, but still a human use. The greatest amount of corn by weight and volume fed to livestock is the stalk, fermented as silage. I don't know many people that would complain about cows eating corn stalks, but vegans do. About 98% of soy beans are processed for human uses before the byproduct produced becomes animal feed. While livestock eats almost 100% of soy meal, the oils have been extracted for cooking as well as industrial purposes. Human uses. As far as the entire percentage of land being used to grow meat, those opposed to livestock always seem to forget that much of the western states are unusable for plant agriculture and don't have enough water to raise anything people could eat. Many of the acres cattle are on are untillable. In many cases a single cow/calf unit will barely survive on a hundred acres. This kind of land being claimed as any percentage of the total skews the results dramatically.

Cows fart, and it's become a joke. Yes indeed, cattle produce methane. So do all ruminants. At one time there were 60 million bison, or more, migrating as herds over the vast landscapes of the American prairie. The first white men wrote in their journals that a man could tie a knot in the tall grasses over their laps while they were seated on a tall horse. A hundred years later the tall grass prairie was gone. Not just tilled into oblivion, but damaged by the removal of the bison. Buffalo kept the plains fertile and built the soil. Several continents have had large migrating herds that have been decimated and when they are diminished the soil ceases to grow healthy plants. Look to Alan Savory's and other's work on Youtube () to see why ruminants are important. As for methane, yes it is a greenhouse gas, and yes cows do produce it as a consequence of digestion. But wasn't the world of the bison healthier than the world of today? Of course it was. Grasslands sequester greenhouse gasses as well or better than forests. A healthy prairie has as much or more biomass beneath the soil than a forest has above it. One of the reasons is that along with methane producing evolved ruminants developing over time, there were also prokaryotes that evolved right alongside that digest methane. Scientists have studied them extensively and call them methanotrophs. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methanotroph, and they are part of the natural world and they deal with naturally produced methane by digesting it and turning it into components of a healthy, human friendly atmosphere. In fact between the ability of healthy grasses to sequester carbon as well or better than forests, and the ability of methanotrophs to digest methane, cattle on pasture are a net benefit to the ecology of the planet.

Red meat does not remain in your body any longer than anything else. There are no passing lanes in the human gut. And any claims of cancer related to red meat are inflated and sensationalized. Meat that is processed and adulterated by added artificial flavorings and preservatives, or burnt to change the natural chemistry of meat, can produce carcinogens. But overall, the percentage of risk is negligible over a lifetime, about the same risk as being eaten by a shark.

So this is some ammunition you can use in any discussions with people intent on ending livestock and those that would feed them and their families.

Recently the government of Sri Lanka allowed an activist to proclaim artificial fertilizers unlawful, and they have an enormous reduction in their yields. They have become a net importer of agricultural products instead of the net exporter they were before the bans.

In the Netherlands the livestock industry is under attack. The government has been listening to people that think there is too much manure. The Netherlands have been one of the top food producers on the planet and are now in the throes of a change that may make them lose much of their capability.

Bill Gates is supporting vegan artificial meat substitutes and is buying up farmland. From what I understand he is the largest owner of agricultural land in the United States. Apparently he has been listening to the anti-meat agenda and now thinks he knows better than the accumulated intelligence of the farming community. Now invested, he is unlikely to learn anything that contradicts what he thinks he knows.

And there are other examples.

One of the things that puzzles me is how the agricultural schools seem to be completely silent.

Food for thought.
Click to expand...

Very good post.....
 
1f926-2640.png
 
Travlr said:
One of the real world examples of how urban ignorance can get out of hand.

I wish there was a way to get these activists to quit menstruating and give them an estrus cycle. If they had to live through going into heat they might have a better understanding of an animal's need to breed.
Click to expand...
In this case, the Gov of CO doesn't have that capability and his husband is a Vegan. Seriously. Yikes!

PAUSE Initiative

PAUSE Initiative. Just gonna put this out here. Surely, it won't pass!?!? In Colorado. Just one example: According to the proposed initiative, any intrusion or penetration with an object or part of a person’s body would criminalize accepted animal husbandry practices including artificial...
www.cattletoday.com www.cattletoday.com
 
The animal activist have been emboldened by some recent court cases they have won for activists steeling animals from "factory farms". Thier push is to teach more activist on "open rescues" where they feel morally obligated to take animals from facilities and farms where that are mistreating animals. Mistreating, being their interpretation of how animals should live.
 
WFfarm said:
The animal activist have been emboldened by some recent court cases they have won for activists steeling animals from "factory farms". Thier push is to teach more activist on "open rescues" where they feel morally obligated to take animals from facilities and farms where that are mistreating animals. Mistreating, being their interpretation of how animals should live.
Click to expand...
Theft can be defended with lethal force in Texas.
 
Son of Butch said:
Fairfax County Virginia police officer who shot and killed a shoplifter (sunglasses) fleeing the mall last month has been fired.
It's what America has become.
Click to expand...
If somebody is stealing sunglasses I don't want them killed...

But if someone is stealing livestock under the delusion that they are doing some kind of good, I'd sure like to have them sentenced to work on the ranch for a year and see how they feel about it then.
 

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