EDMONTON — Livestock producers should get rid of their stock answers when dealing with animal welfare problems, says a veterinarian specializing in dealing with animal welfare issues.
Dr. Tim Blackwell said livestock producers are professionals and should own their problems rather than make excuses.
“Animal welfare is about doing the right thing. If you are a professional, you own your own problem,” Blackwell told the Alberta Farm Animal Care conference.
Blackwell listed 15 phrases that are wrong and should be banned from a farmers’ list of stock phrases when talking about animal rights, animal welfare or how they raise their livestock.
Read Also
Alberta eases water access for riparian restoration
Alberta government removes requirement for temporary diversion licence to water plants up to 100 cubic metres per day for smaller riparian restoration projects
Consumers shouldn’t tell farmers how to raise their livestock
“That is like telling someone they shouldn’t vote for who the MLA or prime minister should be because you don’t know anything about governing a province,” Blackwell said.
He said everyone gets a say in how livestock is raised. Henry Ford knew that the most efficient way to build inexpensive automobiles was have them one colour and one design. It was the consumer who changed Ford’s mind about how cars were built.
We can’t feed the world without highly restricted housing for livestock
“It’s not true and it’s not believable,” Blackwell said.
He said countries don’t ship bacon and eggs when sending food aid around the world. Instead, they send non-perishable food such as rice, corn, wheat, beans and cooking oil. People can live fine without livestock products. They do not need intensive agriculture in livestock to feed the world.
“Everybody wants good nutrition, everyone wants to eat livestock products, but don’t kid yourself (that) you can’t feed the world without livestock products,” he said.
Animals don’t have rights because they can’t comprehend right
Blackwell said everyone is born with rights, including animals. A small child has rights and so do animals.
“I like the sound of ‘a baby has rights.’ I like the sound of someone on life support has rights,’ ” he said.
“We give rights especially to people who are powerless and vulnerable, and that includes animals. We give the animals rights in Alberta to food, water, shelter and medical care. Every province in Canada, animals have those rights.”
I don’t believe in animal rights. I believe in animal welfare
Animals around the world have had rights for more than 200 years, and 95 percent of non-agricultural people believe animals should have rights, he said.
“We have to take back that terminology. Animals do have a right to food, water, shelter and medical care.”
Animal rightists are all extremists
“I am an animal rightist. I am not an extremist. Animal rightists come in all forms,” Blackwell said.
He said most consumers believe animals should not suffer unnecessarily.
“I don’t disagree with that.”
Animal welfare groups will never be satisfied, so there is no use working with these people
Blackwell said it was the same logic that was used during the industrial revolution while reformers tried to improve working conditions in factories or lobby for shorter workdays for children.
He said factory owners complained that the new laws were un-reasonable, but they were implemented and workplaces evolved for the better.
I support animal welfare as long as it is science based
“I am tired of hearing the science-based approach,” Blackwell said.
Science-based approaches don’t always provide the answers, he added. It is not easy to figure out the answers, and farmers shouldn’t rely only on science to make their decisions.
Animal rights groups focus on non-representative, extreme cases of abuse that are not the norm in our industry
“Well, of course they do,” said Blackwell.
The media also doesn’t write stories about all the planes that land safely. People talk about things when they go wrong.
“When things go wrong, professionals own the problems,” he said.
“When we are faced with problems in our industry, why don’t we don’t face up to them? It looks bad on industry.”
There is nothing illegal in what we are doing
“Just because the law says you can do it doesn’t mean the public will be happy with it,” Blackwell said.
Urban residents think livestock should be treated like pets or people
Blackwell said urban residents believe pets and people shouldn’t suffer unnecessarily because they can’t defend themselves well.
“We should guard against unnecessary suffering.”
Swine production keeps improving so welfare must be improving
He said this logic means that things must be better for a child in Bangladesh who is able to increase production from 50 T-shirts to 75 T-shirts,.
Increased production doesn’t mean things are better for the animal. Sows were put into farrowing crates in the 1960s to increase litter death loss and increased production, but it doesn’t mean it was better for the sows.
“Now there are better ways.”
These are industry standards
“It drives me crazy,” he said.
“If you’re castrating pigs without anesthesia and urbanites think that’s wrong and you say, ‘that’s industry standards,’ the right answer is, “it hurts and we’re trying to fix it.”
Consumers don’t like the sound of sows being raised in crates, and they’re not wrong, Blackwell said. Smithfield Foods, the largest hog producer in North America, raises 40 percent of its sows out of crates without problems.
“ How are we going to tell people we need gestation crates if Smithfield doesn’t need gestation creates?”
Biosecurity signs are necessary to maintain healthy farms
“These signs drive me nuts,” he said.
“Big stop signs, no entry, don’t come in here: all that does is tell people there must be something horrible going on on the other side of the signs. I like signs that say, ‘we’re trying to raise healthy animals. Please talk to the owner before you come in.’ ”
The Humane Society of the United States has been so successful because it has so much money
Humane society organizations have money because consumers believe they are looking after the welfare of animals.
“You’re the people who protect animals,” he told the farmers at the conference.
“How did they get a reputation for protecting animals? They get all this money because people think they’re taking care of the animals. You have to reestablish that you take care of the animals.”
