Please, use a little common sense and not just misplaced emotions.

Cuts of horsemeat are displayed in a shop window at the horse butchery near Paris.REUTERS

WASHINGTON –  The slaughter of horses for human consumption could legally resume in the United States as early as this week following a decision by a New Mexico judge who dismissed a push by animal rights groups to stop the practice. (It should never have stopped)

U.S. District Judge Christina Armijo in New Mexico threw out a lawsuit Friday by The Humane Society of the United States (This is a name only, they do much more harm than good but that is another story) and other animal protection groups that alleged the Department of Agriculture failed to conduct environmental studies when it issued permits to Valley Meat Co. in Roswell, N.M., and an Iowa company to slaughter horses for human consumption.

It was a last-ditch effort that failed for animal rights groups. Instead, the court’s ruling ends – for now at least - a two-year battle by Valley Meat to open its slaughterhouse.

The practice of slaughtering horses for human consumption was legal and fairly common in the United States for many years.(yes, and fed to our military also!) 

In 2005, Congress voted to withhold funding for USDA inspections of horsemeat. It was a way to stop the slaughters because meat for human consumption at the time had to be inspected. (This was a vote based on emotion and not what was good for the horses, or for the horse industry as a whole. It was a vote to appease city folks that have no idea about the reality of owning and caring for animals.)

However, the USDA gave the OK for slaughterhouses to pay for their own inspections. Congress voted to end the practice in 2007.  (While all other inspections are subsidized)

The measure to stop the slaughters lapsed in 2011 and now U.S. companies are clamoring to get back into the game. (Because of the outcry from horse owners that want a fair and humane means to dispose of unwanted animals. This is a reality, not something that you wish on old trigger but a reality born from the day of birth.)

Across the country, businesses have been applying for permits with the U.S. Department of Agriculture. They want to ship horsemeat to countries where it is eaten by humans or used as animal feed. (This should never have been stopped. I have eaten horse meat in Italy and it is very tasty besides being very healthy! I would buy it here in America if it was offered)

Retail purchase of horsemeat for human consumption in the U.S. is not yet approved but the possibility could be coming. 

In a statement following Friday’s dismissal, The Humane Society pledged that it would “not only appeal the decision, but also work with the states to block the plants from opening in Iowa, Missouri and New Mexico and step up its efforts in Congress to stop the slaughter of American horses.” (I know this is their right, but their disinformation and out right lies are a form of environmental terrorism)

"With today's court ruling and the very real prospect of plants resuming barbaric killing of horses for their meat in the states, we expect the American public to recognize the urgency of the situation and to demand that Congress take action," Humane Society President Wayne Pacelle said in a statement. (His statement proves his ignorance. Horses right now are being shipped unnecessary miles across USA borders to be killed in plants in other country's.  Horses have been turned lose to die of starvation on our forest and BLM grounds. Indian reservations are flooded with these horses and they die a horrible death at the hands of the wild stallion) "Court fights and state legislative battles have been important, but this is an issue of national importance and scale, and Congress should have an up-or-down vote on the subject." (Yes, and they should uphold the right of animal owners)

The idea of killing horses for food has triggered strong reaction among people on both sides of the issue.

Several animal rights organizations have linked legalizing the practice to horrific abuses and animal cruelty that they claim could lead to unsafe meat. (Yep, they try to scare those who have no idea of the truth)  They call the slaughters themselves a “brutal and terrifying end for horses.” (Sorry but in 99% of all cases, this is the best and most humane way to end their life. Old horses need to be used for dog food and younger ones that are dangerous should be fattened and use for human consumption. That is the truth, no spin)

“Horses are shipped for more than 24 hours at a time without food, water or rest in crowded trucks,” the Humane Society says. “They are often seriously injured or killed in transit.” (Yes it happens and the longer they have to travel to a plant, the higher the risk! Each owner should have a plant that is within a short drive)

Once at the slaughterhouse, the horses are stunned, the Humane Society claims, adding that because they are skittish animals by nature, the horses often “endure repeated blows and sometimes remain conscious during dismemberment.” (In Mexico we have no idea and no control over their kill methods. This is why we need plants here in the USA where we can control and ensure that horse are put down in the quickest and surest method available.)

Supporters, though, say that claims of cruelty are overblown and that while there is some risk in transporting any animal to slaughter, it is not a common occurrence.  (True, its simple, to the hauler and plant it is business and losing animals means losing profit.) 

Supporters also say that horse slaughtering facilities in the U.S. will provide a humane alternative for aging, starving or abandoned horses by owners who can no longer afford to take care of them. (This is just a fact. Does not matter if it offends you or not, this is a FACT!)

A 2011 report from the federal Government Accountability Office that shows horse abuse and abandonment have been increasing since Congress effectively banned horse slaughter by cutting funding for federal inspection programs in 2007. They say the ban on domestic slaughter has led to tens of thousands of horses being shipped to inhumane slaughterhouses in Mexico. (Again, a fact that backs up my view. I do not wish to seem callous in anyway but meat plants in the USA are the very best way we have to take care of our older or unwanted horses. Keeping them alive in a government support pen until they get injured and die is not a humane living for an animal I love. Put them down quickly)

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, more than 166,000 horses were sent to Canada and Mexico last year for slaughter. (Fact, so what has the Humane Society done with its efforts? They have hurt our horses by causing them to travel farther and suffer because of no USA oversight) 

Supporters also take issue with the taboo of eating horsemeat and say the animal is consumed in countries all over the world and could be extremely profitable to American companies interested in the industry. They also argue that horses should be treated no differently than pigs, chickens and cows. (Sorry but this is true and a fact also. Ask any 4 H or FFA person, they grow, raise, care for and at times, love the animal that they raise for your dinner plate. Why would a horse be different from a pet rabbit or lamb?)

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), China is one of the largest consumers of horsemeat. In France, the meat is considered to be a delicacy, sold in the same vein as veal in the U.S. (What they don't tell you is that none are raised for that purpose, not like cattle, sheep, chicken or pigs. They, just as we should...use animals that no longer have a use for anything else.)

About eight miles outside of Roswell, N.M., Valley Meat, a shuttered cattle farm is almost ready to reopen its doors.

Plant owner Rick De Los Santos and his attorney, Blair Dunn, told USA Today they were surprised when they ruling came down, hours after a temporary restraining order that barred the companies from opening in August had expired.

"If I were a betting man, I probably would have lost a lot of money on this," Dunn said. "I thought the court was headed in a different direction on this since she had issued the TRO. ... I am very, very happy to be wrong."

De Los Santos estimated it would be seven to 10 days before he was up and running.

Over in Gallatin, Mo., Rains Natural Meats could open as early as today.

Lets hope that we will again, have plants that we can control here in the USA.

I will add one more point and that is my freedom to eat what I wish. The USDA made it illegal to eat horse meat. I can eat snails, worms, bunny's  baby lambs, snakes, alligators and unborn chickens but not a horse? Come on, there is no common sense in this. If you don't want to eat horse meat then just don't buy it.   

Respect for Horses

Below is a long overdue, common sense letter and approach to the government attack on the horse industry. I could go on for hours about this subject but this letter sums it if much better than my rant.
Read it and understand that we all love our horses, that is why we want the best for them!

To: The AHA Board of Directors and Executive Committee

From: The APAHA Board of Directors

Dear Friends,

The Arabian Professional and Amateur Horsemen's Association voted, with unanimous approval, to thank the AHA Board for continuing your support for the re-opening of the equine terminal marketplace, and to join with the AHA in support of the reinstatement of equine processing in the United States. While we appreciate that this subject can be a sensitive one to those who are not intimately involved in the horse industry, there is no question that it is an integral component for the continuation of the horse's survival into the 21^st century, as well as to any and all breed associations.

The simple fact of the matter is that for the horse to continue to survive and contribute to mankind, as it has done for the last 5000 years, the equine terminal marketplace must be reestablished in the United States. Equine slaughter for rendering and consumption is a necessity in the equine livestock industry, in order to allow horses at the bottom of the pyramid a humane, dignified, and contributing end. The bold words are the important points of this referendum, not the emotionally exploited ones of slaughter, rendering, or human consumption. Without a terminal marketplace, horses today are left trying to survive, for the first time ever, after their usefulness as a work-mate to man has passed. Regardless of whether you like the idea of equine slaughter, the vast, documented increase in equine suffering throughout the US since the close of the slaughter houses should be enough in and of itself for all people who truly care about horses to stand up and demand that those of us who have invested our lives in horses be the ones responsible for making the decisions about the marketplace that surrounds them.

Some people were affronted when the AHA stepped up last year to support the reopening of the equine processing plants. We contend that as breeders and current caretakers of the world's oldest breed of horse, we have an obligation to our Arabian horses to support the reopening as well. It affects breeders and the breed in a singularly unassailable way; simply, that the free and low price market for the “pet quality” horses, if you will, is simply no longer available. The bottom tier of every breed and breeder's marketplace, that for family riding horses, has been eaten up by the “rehoming” of over 300,000 horses since 2007, many of whom have huge medical issues, training issues, psychological issues, and on and on. Often, the people who take on these horses are novice horse lovers whose heart-strings have been played by emotional, fact-less advertising paid for by lobbying groups that never invest in shelters and rehoming at all. Once saddled with an adopted horse that by contract cannot be sold or bred, these horse lovers find the difficulty of dealing with the myriad of issues draining financially and mentally. Needless to say, these experiences are not good at building repeat, long-term business for the horse industry.

We spoke recently with four different breed associations in order to research registrations since the ban, and discovered that every one is down by over one third in new registrations from 2006 to 2010. Quarter Horse registrations dropped from 150,000 in 2006 to less than 90,000 last year. Paints fell from 39,357 in 2006 to 17,835 in 2010. The Morgan Horse Association registered 3461 horses in 2006, with only 1835 in 2010. We are all aware of our own registration decline, from 10,311 in 2006 to 6660 in 2010. All these breeds weathered a similar economic downturn in the ‘80's without this kind of drop in registrations, and rebounded accordingly, the difference being that when economically strapped owners could no longer afford feed for their horses, they had a way to reduce numbers until the economy changed, after which their breeding business could rebound.

By reopening the equine processing plants, we are simply restoring to horse owners and breeders the option that all other livestock breeders and owners have, and that horse owners and breeders had until the last four years. We will still retain the option to care for our horses after their usefulness is done, and we will still retain the option to rescue horses from the terminal marketplace. And people will still have the option to make horse meat available to some of the 25,000 people on earth per day who are dying of starvation, allowing horses a chance to give back and be useful to humans, as they have done for centuries, even after they have passed.

There are issues to address, certainly, and many different options available to improve the terminal marketplace, among them mobile slaughter units and live web monitoring of plants. As horsemen, breeders, and horse lovers, we are the ones responsible for dealing with these issues, making sure that the terminal marketplace becomes ever more humane, with a quick and dignified passing, without undue stress, and where the horse can go on to be useful to man after his demise, just as he has been for the last 5000 years. This is not a job for politicians, lobbyists and animal rights people to define; it's a job for us, so that the horse that has brought so much to our lives will survive and evolve to bring much needed help to the people coming after us.

In closing, APAHA would again like to commend the board of AHA for joining horse-industry leaders in the fight to protect the future of the Arabian horse breed and the horse in general.

Sincerely,

The Arabian Professional and Amateur Horsemen's Association Board of Directors

Where we went wrong!

Horses under Attack in Oregon

All across the Nation animal rights activists are attacking the right to own and use livestock, dog and horses in a traditional manner. These Neo-Nazi  left wing crazies have no idea what is involved with the raising and caring of livestock and yet they are the very ones introducing legislation in this country that harm all kinds of animals!

They (the urban activists) are directly responsible for the slow, agonizing starvation of thousands of horses.

They are the reason 10s of thousands of beautiful horses are penned up in jail cells to live out their lives, un loved and un cared for until they die from the effects of old age and or injures suffered in such close confinement,  all at tax payer expense. They suffer because of laws passed by ideologue organizations with the support of feel good citizens that (misled with video clips or sound bites) lack knowledge of the reality.  These people must be stopped or made to suffer the same conditions their misguided ideas inflect on noble animals who deserve a much better life or at the very least, a useful and quick death. None of Gods animals should be forced to live angry unproductive lives.

These well intentioned but very naive city folk are trying to pass laws that have a huge impact beyond their original objective.

They purely lack the understanding and experience necessary to make informed and educated decisions. Problem is, they don’t seem to care about the impact as a whole of their agenda, they just wish to get behind a narrow minded idea that makes them feel good, like they are improving something’s life. I think this stems from the probability that they are miserable in their own life and wish that someone or something could make it better for them. As pathetic as that is, I do feel sorry for them. But in order to protect Animals, dogs and cats, cattle/horses and more, we must collectively stand up and defy their agenda!

PLEASE pay attention to your states laws and new laws as they pertain to citizens rights and animals. Government has failed to improve the lives and condition of citizens, (responsible citizens improve their own conditions and then others around them) why would we think new laws would do nothing more but cause suffering of animals?

Leave the care of and regulation of animals to those who depend on them as they do a member of their own family. There is no law that can improve on the care of any animal from owners/citizens that daily protect, care for and love them!

OCA and interested parties,

SB 613 is scheduled this week on Thursday 2-24-11 at 3:00 in Senate

Environment and Natural Resources.  This bill is on a fast track and now

includes an amendment that excludes from regulation any rodeo event

activities recognized as appropriate under Professional Rodeo Cowboys

Association rules, policies, or programs.  The amendment will not help the

smaller non-sanctioned rodeos.  The bill sponsor will not concede to

canceling the bill for a hearing.  So, we need some testimony for Thursday

from ranching and rodeo. Any phone calls or emails to the Committee members

urging them NOT to support this bill will also be very helpful. 

Comments can be sent to the Senate Environment & Natural Resources Committee

at

Membership:

Jackie Dingfelder, Chair - sen.jackiedingfelder@state.or.us 503-986-1723;

Alan Olsen, Vice-Chair - sen.alanolsen@state.or.us 503-986-1720; 

Mark Hass - sen.markhass@state.or.us 503-986-1714; Floyd Prozanski -

sen.floydprozanski@state.or.us 503-986-1704; Chuck Thomsen -

sen.chuckthomsen@state.or.us 503-986-1726

Staffing:

Beth Patrino - Beth.Patrino@state.or.us or 503-986-1813

Feel free to call or e-mail me with comments or questions.

Jim Welsh, Lobbyist

Oregon Cattlemen's Association

541-935-1504 Hm & Bus. 

541-554-8043 Cell

jdwelshco@msn.com 

MA addresses a liberals letter

""You cannot strenghten the weak by weaking the strong" Honest Ab"

A rising tide lifts all boats!

I want no one weak--the goal, dear one, is to strenghten our country![MA]  People do this, not Government

I don't know what business you are in, but I think I heard you sell farm/ranch equipment.  Well, if your neighbors are not successful, then they won't be able to buy new tractors.  If you are in the cattle business, you need consumers to purchase your product. [MA] I Know a little about my business, but thank you for your input, you make my whole point for this blog Your writings seem to suggest that you think success and policy should be based on what is best for YOU...ME, ME, ME...[MA] No one can read that into what I say, or write about in my blog. I will always take care of myself and not rely on what you or government can do for me that is what you are worried about.   Let there be no mistake, I'll defend my family and my country to end of my days[MA]  I understand your thoughts but to defend your country you need to go back and read what made your country great and, what is was that the founding fathers feared--but somehow through spending time with my grandparents, I have a deep, and abiding love for my fellow man.[MA]  I love all people and wish only the best for them. That is why a government nanny state is soooo appalling to me. It destroys people, always has, always will  We am not in this world alone.  I need my country as much as it needs me to be productive, healthy and CONTRIBUTING (which means paying my fair share of taxes and no more.) [MA] But you think that financially successful people owe more that you or me?  I think the corporations that were too big to fail were bailed out[MA]  That is to bad. No one and nothing in this world is to big to fail…just a fact. The other part is that those business or governments fail for a reason. GM should have gone under and others would have learned from those mistakes and risen to take their place. The government (in it’s over stepping) demonstrated that they (large evil money makers) don’t need to show responsibility…bad, very bad idea to promote --and I actually thought that had we not done that, then the country would be in a depression.[MA]  almost 10% unemployment, real unemployment at just under 20%, currency that is lacking in value, government at the brink of bankruptcy, weak world presents and you think this is a better path? The people who lived through a real deep depression understood personal responsibility. We have very little of that now. People have been conditioned to rely on the government and not their own actions It was tough and I don't like the deficit and I don't like paying more taxes than my share. [MA] no one does. But what is your share? How much does the government need to operate? What is the basic responsibility of government? Is it to regulated school bake sales? To sue a state for trying to protect its boarders? Is it to provide retirement and health care for its citizens? Is it to make certain meats are illegal to eat? (yes, you can go to jail for eating horse meat, even if it’s a common dish in Europe. Because it is so healthily, it was a staple for our military for years, it’s just not politically correct now days. I wonder, what is next?) Is it to tell us what car to drive or light bulb to use? Is it to condone, promote and fund killing of unborn children?  Is it to take 50% of your personal wealth when you die? Or is it to regulate news (freedom of speech act) What is the role of Government? Funny, with all the information we have available to us, many people do not know what the views of the founders of this nation said about the role of government. They were not so concerned about what a big government could do for you, but what it would do to you! However, now that the corporations [MA] Nice to hear all is well with them now are strong again as evidenced by the stock market and the salaries they are paying their CEOs,[MA]  Only a liberal would consider a salary as a means to measure a company’s solvency. Perhaps it shows something very different?   then now is the time for them to step up and pay their fair share of taxes.[MA]  Ha ha, what is their fair share? Who says what a fair share is? If we all and I mean every American paid 10% in taxes, would this not be fair?  Remember, by eliminating the top 1% tax cut approved during Bush's time, will still leave these 1% with lower taxes then when Reagan was in the White House. [MA] Why would that bother you and what does that have to do with fairness?   You can't have your cake and eat it too,[MA]  What cake??? I will make my own cake and eat it anytime I please thank you. I don’t need the Government giving me cake, telling when, or how much of, or what kind I can eat if you are serious about the deficit--and you should be--then the revenue and the expense side have to be addresssed.  Just like your home budget. [MA] I pretty much make a set amount and I don’t see that changing very soon so, I keep my spending in line with my income. This is very much different than the government that will not be responsible about its spending and will raise its income by raising taxes on those who are taking responsibility with their personal spending. And, do so in very hard economic times.  I can't wait to see how the John Boehner plans to cut spending.  I'll hope he means it, because it does need to happen. [MA] Me too, but with any cuts (just like not going out to dinner as often) people will complain…because they have forgot how to cook for themselves Take that tea and steep it.[Bruce]  Hmmm, good tea today

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