Horse slaughter

[chippie]

kerley, that is remarkable and so cool. Kudos to you for giving him a good life. How long has he been with you?

Our grand old man passed away last year. He knew it was time. He did not eat his breakfast, instead went to stand under his favorite tree. I found him several hours later. He laid down and went to sleep. We have half sister who will be 37 in June.

 

[alohacattle]

Put a bullet in his head and go on.

Already did it last month....and shooting at the horses sure makes me so sick for a week. Even have to cover all red marks on the white snow ground. All because I can't find home for the old horses and I won't pay vet bills to just put them down.

Thankfully you chose the gun route, so many yuppies choose to use sodium pentobarbital. Then that ends up in the dog food and vets are unable to properly use anesthesia to control pain during operations on the dogs.

 

[Taurus]

Put a bullet in his head and go on.

Already did it last month....and shooting at the horses sure makes me so sick for a week. Even have to cover all red marks on the white snow ground. All because I can't find home for the old horses and I won't pay vet bills to just put them down.

Thankfully you chose the gun route, so many yuppies choose to use sodium pentobarbital. Then that ends up in the dog food and vets are unable to properly use anesthesia to control pain during operations on the dogs.

I am not very keen on using lethal injections on the horses. I always worried that if a predator or someone's pet comes and eat the horse that is full of lethal injections, then they got ill or die from eating the horse.

 

[Taurus]

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/u-d-may-a ... 53988.html

Wow look at the comments! :shock:

 

[Bigfoot]

Just read Oklahoma passed a bill to restart horse slaughter. Takes effect November 1st. Is there a plant there to do it, and will the meat be inspected for export?

 

[cross_7]

The plant in Roswell NM will be in operation in a few weeks

 

[Kathie in Thorp]

As previously stated, I don't have a problem w/ horse slaughter back in the USA as opposed to starving them, placing them in the wrong homes for bad ones, or ending up on a truck out-of-country where we have no clue how they will be treated before slaughter. I wish people would quit doing back-yard breedings, just because they want "a baby." I wish some of the big breeders would back off -- there's not a lot of money out there now! If you have to home-kill, Milk Maid recently posted the most recent euthanasia guidelines. Personally, I think a properly placed bullet is the best way to go, if you can do it.

 

[Bigfoot]

http://abcnews.go.com/m/story?id=207552 ... gle.com%2F

I'm not getting excited yet, but atleast it's back in the news.

 

[kerley]

kerley, that is remarkable and so cool. Kudos to you for giving him a good life. How long has he been with you? Thirty years.

Our grand old man passed away last year. He knew it was time. He did not eat his breakfast, instead went to stand under his favorite tree. I found him several hours later. He laid down and went to sleep. We have half sister who will be 37 in June.

 

[oscar p]

Went to horse sale,today. Killer horses weighing 1000 lbs or better bringing 0.50 a pound. Something's up. Went from $ 0.17 to $0.50 a pound in a month. What do you think?

 

[Bigfoot]

Went to horse sale,today. Killer horses weighing 1000 lbs or better bringing 0.50 a pound. Something's up. Went from $ 0.17 to $0.50 a pound in a month. What do you think?

Maybe the plants will get back up and running. I'd kinda given up hope on them. It sounds like somebody some where knows something.

 

[Kathie in Thorp]

Tennesee Tux -- If you have a carcass, that is whole different from a live one. They would likely charge for that, as they would for any carcass removal.

 

[chippie]

Went to horse sale,today. Killer horses weighing 1000 lbs or better bringing 0.50 a pound. Something's up. Went from $ 0.17 to $0.50 a pound in a month. What do you think?

I guess that the demand has gone up.

 

[Judge Sharpe]

OK I see the controversy over horse slaughter for human consumption, but what about the dog food industry? I have not kept up with this, and when I do see something it is always about inspected meat for human consumption, but I thought there was still a market for horse meet for dog and cat food. Am I wrong? Personalty i support the reestablishment of equine slaughter houses. And yes I love horses and have rescued more than my fair share of ones the were neglected and abused. And yes i have put down a number of horses that were too sick to continue to treat. I had to shoot my first horse when I was just a kid because he was down with pneumonia and 25 years old. Hard thing to do but no harder than putting a dog or cat down when the time comes. I guess you have to balance the short term suffering of putting a horse into the slaughter house stream against years of pain from abuse and neglect.

 

[Kathie in Thorp]

OK I see the controversy over horse slaughter for human consumption, but what about the dog food industry? I have not kept up with this, and when I do see something it is always about inspected meat for human consumption, but I thought there was still a market for horse meet for dog and cat food. Am I wrong? Personalty i support the reestablishment of equine slaughter houses. And yes I love horses and have rescued more than my fair share of ones the were neglected and abused. And yes i have put down a number of horses that were too sick to continue to treat. I had to shoot my first horse when I was just a kid because he was down with pneumonia and 25 years old. Hard thing to do but no harder than putting a dog or cat down when the time comes. I guess you have to balance the short term suffering of putting a horse into the slaughter house stream against years of pain from abuse and neglect.

Dog food is probably in the equation. No horse slaughter has been allowed in the USA for awhile, whether for human consumption or otherwise.

 

[cowgirl8]

Where we live you cant give a horse away. There is a guy though,who lives near, will picks up all the horses people are looking for 'good forever homes'. He promises he'll keep forever so he can get them free. Most have special needs, like bad teeth or just old. He dumps them out in a pasture with poor grass and if they survive long enough where he has enough for a trailer load, they are hauled 500 miles to Mexico. I've turned the guy in many times with risk of retaliation. He's a bad guy, very bad. There is nowhere these horses can go, no one wants them and he's glad to take them off your hands for free.. there are skeletons all over his pastures...so so sad
I would never ever take a horse to a sale right now. My aging drill team horse who looked 10 but was 24 had a lot of life left in her, was just getting older and once we quit the drill team i didnt ride her. Before slaughter was stopped and the market was good, i could have easily gotten 5000 for her, even at that age....I looked and looked around and found a therapy camp for handicapped children to donate her to. They tried her out and loved her. She's still there and still looks young.
The people who are the real problem are the ones who think they want a horse, but have never been able to afford one. Since you can get free horses now, these people take one. They then find out that even though the horse was free, keeping one isnt. They keep them and as they decide they are spending too much money on feed and need to get rid of the horse, they wait until the horse is already in bad shape. Thats where the guys like the one out here picks them up for free.
Its really sad what banning slaughter has done. Nothing has done more damage to the horse, than banning slaughter.

 

[Alan]

Bottom line is horse slaughter has to come back, as you said cowgirl, you can't give a horse away these days. Last time I was at the sale saw two go for around $75. each. Not worth the fuel to get there and I would sell one like that...... Well maybe one of my wife's PIA horses. :lol:

 

[Taurus]

There is a free feral mini mule on craigslist. Been on Craigslist for two years already....

 

[Kathie in Thorp]

Where we live you cant give a horse away. There is a guy though,who lives near, will picks up all the horses people are looking for 'good forever homes'. He promises he'll keep forever so he can get them free. Most have special needs, like bad teeth or just old. He dumps them out in a pasture with poor grass and if they survive long enough where he has enough for a trailer load, they are hauled 500 miles to Mexico. I've turned the guy in many times with risk of retaliation. He's a bad guy, very bad. There is nowhere these horses can go, no one wants them and he's glad to take them off your hands for free.. there are skeletons all over his pastures...so so sad
I would never ever take a horse to a sale right now. My aging drill team horse who looked 10 but was 24 had a lot of life left in her, was just getting older and once we quit the drill team i didnt ride her. Before slaughter was stopped and the market was good, i could have easily gotten 5000 for her, even at that age....I looked and looked around and found a therapy camp for handicapped children to donate her to. They tried her out and loved her. She's still there and still looks young.
The people who are the real problem are the ones who think they want a horse, but have never been able to afford one. Since you can get free horses now, these people take one. They then find out that even though the horse was free, keeping one isnt. They keep them and as they decide they are spending too much money on feed and need to get rid of the horse, they wait until the horse is already in bad shape. Thats where the guys like the one out here picks them up for free.
Its really sad what banning slaughter has done. Nothing has done more damage to the horse, than banning slaughter.

This is hard, for those of us that love horses, but we know that they have to go somewhere w/the current situation for more horses than there are people to take them . . . and just tired, old, or un-useable horses. There are not enough places or resources to just put them up.

 

[Nesikep]

I have to agree with Cowgirl8 as well.. horse slaughter shouldn't be viewed differently than cattle slaughter... Heck, you all know how my cattle are mostly pets, and I send them off every year. If I get one that is old and lame, and had done well for me, I'll put her down here.

I also agree that there are WAY too many horses around, especially since MOST of them are all on the dole anyhow... Horses need something to do, Cows need to raise a calf, and a dog needs a property to protect, or cattle to herd, the hen needs to lay eggs, and the cat, well, needs to be left well enough alone and catch mice. They all have a purpose in life, and they're pretty pointless once they can't do it anymore... That said, if they are REAL pets, you will keep them and take good care of them even if they can't perform their duties anymore, but the truth is that most of these horses are yard ornaments and not real pets. How many of you have sold your 10 year old dog? Likely none, because he is a real friend.. yet many many horses just seem to go from place to place, they're nobody's real pet, so just send them off to slaughter and be done with it