HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes Advocate, 1989-04-05, Page 34Page 34
Times -Advocate, April 5, 1989
AT BECKER'S FARM FAIR - Wednesday's 'Farm Fair at the South Huron Rec Centre sponsored by
Becker Farm Equipment was well attended. Above, Bill Becker talks with Harold and Allan Hendrick.
It happened in Britian.
Animal rights activists_ persuaded
the British parliament to pass legis-
lation forcing British egg producers
to switch from cages to perchery
systems for chickens.
Percheries are houses with litter
or slatted floors and staggered tiers
of perches three or four levels high,
the same type of henhouse that ex-
isted 50 years ago on almost every
small farm in Canada.
Producers regret the legislation.
The percheries are more costly, of
course, but producers also say these
perches are responsible for inferior
quality and lowered production. As
Well, they offer no welfare benefit
to the birds.
More important, though, is the
fact that the producers who have had
to switch from cages to old-
fashioned henhouses report the reap-
pearance of diseases thought to have
been eliminated 25 years ago. In-
deed, producers also note rampant
outbreaks of cannibalism in their,
flocks.
This is an example of how well-
meaning people can make mistakes.
I have no doubt that the animal
rights activists felt they were doing
something for chickens when the
legislation in Britain was passed. I
am also of the opinion that no
farmer anywhere who is worthy of
the name wants to see domestic ani-
mals mistreated. It is in a farmer's
best interest to keep- his flock
healthy and happy.
Legislation forcing farmers to re-
vert to old-fashioned methods of
raising animals can be misdirected
and the above-cited case is a classic
example.
Until such time as all of society
becomes vegetarian, animals will
be raised for slaughter. It is that
simple.
The Animal Industry Foundation
in the United States has warned
farmer and retailers that -an extre-
mist group is embarking on another
big campaign to "warn" consumers
and interfere with meat, milk and
egg sales. The as yet unidentified
organization has prepared sheets of
pre -pasted stickers which they will
use to smear farmers.
The stickers will be placed on
packages by members either overtly
or covertly. The stickers say: Warn-
ing! This package contains dead ani-
mals. Or: Excrement -fed, steroid -
pumped animal flesh. Or: Meat is a
decaying corpse. Or: Pork is pig,
except it's dead. Or: The murderer of
this animal has not been caught.
If it happens in the Exited States
it will likely happen here eventual-
ly. It seems to me this is pretty
dirty campaigning on the part of
the extremists. -
The Ontario Farm Animal Coun-
cil, an organization formed to
battle -such smear campaigns, is
aware of the situation. The council
is dedicated to opening a constant
dialogue with mainstream animal
welt arc organizations.
"There are many positive mes-
sages for animal agriculture to de-
liver," says Jim Johnstone, chair-
man of the OFAC. "By working
co-operatively with all aspects of
our industry, the well-being of our
animals cannot help but be im-
proved. As we strive to achieve
mankind's goal of a healthy, well-
fed world, the pressure on agricul-
ture to. change will continue to
grow. It is up to us to make sure
that change is for legitimate scien-
tific reason and not based on hu-
man emotion."
Amen to that.
The Ontario Farm Animal Coun-
cil is at 7195 Millcreck Dr., Mis-
sissauga, Ont. L5N 4H1. The tele-
phone number is (416) 821-3880:
I'm sure they can use all the help
they can get.
Plan to attend our
Cirop care
FRIDAY, APRIL 7
This Is your opportunity to meet the folks at any one of our 6 locations
Guelph develops 'super sheep'
GUELPH - They don't call her
"Number 1" for nothing.
Born under a technician's watchful
eye February 20, Number 1 is not
only the first lamb delivered at the
Ontario Veterinary College's new
$1 -million sheep research facility;
she's a "super sheep."
The lamb and her mother, Ewe
40, are part of the 100 -head flock
nucleus of Arcott (Animal Research
Center - Ottawa) sheep that will
form the core of the University of
Guelph research flock.
Federal scientists at Ottawa's ani-
mal research centre spent the past
20 years developing Arcott sheep.
Carefully bred from just two d'am
lines, the sheep have been certified
free of the common sheep diseases -
particularly Q -fever - for a decade.
This factor is vitally important to
researchers whose results can be
colored markedly by the appearance
of an unexpected disease.
Arcotts exhibit other desirable
traits that have contributed to their
"super sheep" label, such as fre-
quent breeding capability, superior
milk quality and mothering in -
stincts (resulting in a low lamb -
mortality rate), high-quality fleece,
rate of gain, feed efficiency and car-
cass quality.
So they're a natural choice for
OVC's evolving sheep research pro-
gram. OVC officials say Number 1,
along with numbers two through
14 Arcotts, are ideally suited for the
new sheep facility at the Ponsonby .
,research station. The Ponsonby sta-
tion project is a co-operative effort
of the Ontario Ministry of Agricul-
ture and Food, the Ministry of Gov-
ernment Services and OVC.
"We don't know of another insti-
tution that has a sheep facility the
calibre of the Ponsonby Station,"
says OVC associate dean Ted Valli.
"The Arcott sheep are an important
part of our effort there to breed ani-
mals that are highly genetically -
defined by disease resistance and
production parameters."
The sheep unit is the first of five
units being built at the new 200 -
acre, $5.4 million station. When
completed in the mid-1990s, Pon-
sonby will offer research facilities
for sheep, dairy cattle, swine, beef,
calves and laboratory animals.
Buildings at the station have been
methodically planned and will be
situated to keep the respective spe-
cies isolated from each other, for
the production and maintenance of
disease-free herds.
Woolettes learn
process of .wool,
sheep to yarn
ZURICH - On March 27, at the
Zurich Town Hall, the Woolettes
4-H Club held their sixth meeting.
It consisted of dying wool and
acrylic, and looking at the differ-
ence between them. But the basis
of our meeting was a learning ses-
sion about the process of wool
from the sheep to yarn, given by
our special guest Mrs. Farwell, our
leader's daughter. We had our re-
freshments and closed the meeting.
Our club will meet again on April
.3 at St. Boniface School.
Press reporter Joanne Regier
4
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