Your Opinion: Farmers need protection from animal-welfare groups

Dear Editor:

I hope that you have a better understanding of family framers and corporate farms and that by attacking corporate farms you will affect the family farm. Four hundred words doesn't do their relationship justice.

An issue that affects all livestock farms large and small is the animal welfare movement.

As a livestock producer for over 40 years I resent the accusation that Amendment 1 will be used as an anti-animal welfare act. Do you all really think that we get up every morning planning on how we can abuse our animals that day? All livestock producers know that if your animals are not fed and watered and made comfortable each day they will not produce and grow.

As with Prop. B you will lump all livestock producers in one group and pass animal welfare laws that are expensive and sure to drive a lot of producers out of business, you know those family farms.

Well guess what? That's what HSUS really wants. It's not enough for them to make animals' lives better, in their opinion, they want to drive producers out of business and drive the price of meat or eggs or dairy sky high so that the average family cannot afford it. Remember they are vegetarians and would like for all of us to be.

HSUS has stated in their mission statement that they would like to get rid of animal agriculture, zoos, etc., hunting and fishing and pet ownership.

They use animal welfare as the premise to gain your support and your donations and they convince you to do their dirty work by passing laws that are only designed to put producers or entire industries out of business.

As in the case of Prop. B a lot of very good dog breeders have opted to go out of business rather than trying to meet the expensive standards that are to be in place by 2016. The price of puppies has tripled and will continue to rise until the average family cannot afford a dog. I can hear you laughing but it has already happened in California which passed its puppy mill bill in 2006. Would you pay over $5,000 for a puppy?

The Joplin Globe wonders who we need protection from, agenda-driven groups like HSUS for one. We don't have the Right to Farm as long as we are vulnerable to their attacks. All farms need that protection and Amendment 1 will protect all farms.

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