R-CALF: Group Takes Proactive Stance On Animal Welfare Issues

Due to concerns about how groups like the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and other extremist organizations are railroading animal-care regulations in several states, R-CALF USA members who attended the group’s recent annual convention in Rapid City, S.D., felt it was imperative to get policy on the books to emphasize that cattle farmers and ranchers are the experts when it comes to the proper management of their livestock.

Statistics show that the U.S. live cattle industry generates to the national economy about $50 billion dollars per year.

R-CALF USA members will vote on the following proposed resolution this spring via a mail-in ballot:

Be it resolved: R-CALF USA opposes extremist animal rights individual’s or groups’ views and tactics that impair animal owners’ Constitutional rights to the pursuit of life, liberty and the right to own property.

“Our animals are a tremendous investment in our livelihoods, so of course we’re going to give them what they need to be healthy and productive,” said R-CALF USA Member Jim Foster, who sponsored the proposed resolution. “These extremists’ threats are real and come in various forms, including media attacks and ever-increasing state ballot initiatives whereby these activist organizations end up deciding how we ranchers should manage our animals and then convince unknowing voters to approve these radical restrictions in a general election.”

“Having this sort of policy on the books will simply make it official where we stand on the matter,” said R-CALF USA President/Region VI Director Max Thornsberry, a Missouri veterinarian who also chairs the group’s animal health committee. “Farmers and ranchers, without doubt, are the best stewards of their land and livestock because that’s what they rely on to pay their bills.”
Source: CattleNetwork

NAIS opponents seek to end program

Animal ID opponents still seek end to program
by North Platte Bulletin Staff - 11/23/2009

A 100-group coalition -- in letters to the U.S. Department of Agriculture and to Congress -- urges that the National Animal Identification System be dissolved completely and that all 100 organizations look forward to working with USDA “…to enhance our nation’s animal disease preparedness in a manner that builds upon our past successes and respects the interests of U.S. livestock producers and consumers.”

In the 2010 Agriculture Appropriations Bill, Congress reduced NAIS funding to $5.3 million, but did not specify how those funds were to be allocated.

The letter to Congress, sent Nov. 18, asks to “…support the limited use of NAIS funding to shut down the program, and to refocus the agency on measures that truly improve animal health.”

The 100 groups recommend that USDA:

-- Formally withdraw all pending rulemaking initiated by the agency to advance NAIS and pay the associated costs;

-- Pay all existing contractual obligations and NAIS-related costs that USDA incurred prior to Sept. 30, 2009;

-- Pay all costs associated with transferring the computer hardware acquired by USDA as part of NAIS to state animal health agencies, to enable state agencies to improve their ability to communicate among agencies in the event of a disease outbreak; and,

-- Pay all costs associated with providing the people of the United States and Congress with an official, comprehensive report on all of the testimony USDA received at each of the NAIS listening sessions held throughout the country in 2009.

“We urge this course of action because, contrary to its stated purposes, NAIS will not address animal disease or food safety problems,” the letter states. “Instead, NAIS imposes high costs and paperwork burdens on family farmers and create incentives for corporate-controlled confined animal feeding operations and vertically integrated systems.”

Full story and coalition list ...