On my way home Thurs. after class 75 N was backed up as usual.  I had just gotten on 75 S from 35 and there it was.  A rusty white 16' stock trailer filled to the gills with horses at a dead stand-still in rush hour traffic.  After slowing down on the highway to about 25 mph I did a quick headcount and there had to be at least 25 horses.  Usually we don't travel with horses that packed.  It's too dangerous to stack 'em in like bricks both for other drivers on the road and, of course, the horses.  I gotta admit I teared up a bit.  One in particular caught my eye being tall, white blaze, and ears perked looking around.  While I can't be 100% certain I'd say they were headed to Canada.  The tears formed over their fate...a European dinner plate.

Horse slaughter for human consumption ended in 2007 when the last 3 slaughter plants closed.  Two were located in Texas and were known as Beltex and Dallas Crown and the one in Illinois was known as Cavel.  It shouldn't come as a surprise that the lines between proponents and opponents were solid on both sides.  It should be noted all 3 horse slaughter houses were owned by foreign companies, Belgian, and did not pay federal taxes.  Kaufman, TX fought mightily to have their slaughter plant closed and Mary Nash made it her mission to expose as many facts as possible.

I got involved in alternatives to horse slaughter after this accident in 2004.  The horses were being hauled in a double-decker trailer designed to haul short-necked livestock species usually cattle, swine, and sheep.  Being a horse owner myself I was unaware at the time of the dirty little secret of horse slaughter for rich Europeans to feast on.  I knew horses were food for starving people in WWI & WWII but had no idea it was now considered a delicacy.  Here you can find a short history of horse meat.

Since the 2004 accident there have been more: in 2007 and 2006 and this one always gets my goat because of all the previous offenses.

Before the quarter is over we'll talk about the business of horse-breeding and how the auction-to-slaughter pipeline works.  In the meantime, the next time you send your kid to camp or the fair tell them to hug the one they ride!

*Disclaimer: This blog is part of an assignment.  It in no way represents the opinions of Sinclair Community College or the Paralegal Department.

Let's talk poultry.  Again.  More and more people are raising their own if their city ordinance allows it. I found this blog this morning and I'd like to share it. Dayton area farm life is published in the Dayton Daily News and gives local information regarding urban-ag in Dayton and backyard poultry has a fan in this gal!  You can also find Dayton Urban Ag on Facebook.

If poultry is permitted within city limits there are usually restrictions such as the number of hens allowed. You don't want just one, 3 is usually minimum and 6 will keep your family and another in eggs.  Most city ordinances don't allow roosters.  You don't need a rooster anyway since hens will lay all on their own and a rooster would, no doubt, make you the most hated in your city neighborhood.  I honestly haven't dug through the Dayton City Ordinances but found Dayton Animal Ordinances at the Animal Law site. I'm guessing some people would consider them a nuisance.

If you hear roosters in your neighborhood and you live in the city there is always the possibility of cockfighting. Should you suspect any activity such as this please contact your local animal control officer or the police. 

Now for the food aspect of keeping backyard poultry.  I don't eat mine but I do like chicken.  I'm eating it for dinner this evening.  And my hens have been lousy at laying this year. They are obviously not happy about something and I think it's their diet.  I (gasp!) have been feeding more of a commercial feed rather than organic when it comes to their scratch and supplemental layer mix. They free range every day and bring themselves home at night but I have 3 that I know are older and I know 3 are still well within laying age.  My seventh was found in the city of Beavercreek and is a consistent layer.

This would be the time most people retire their hens to the soup pot.  I just can't do it.  I know the process, I appreciate the process and I can't join the process.  For me they control bugs so they are dual purpose for me.  I haven't had a tick on a horse, dog, or barn cat since I got my girls.  They are worth their weight in gold and if they won't lay another egg they're worth keeping around for that!

If you're inclined to read more about keeping chickens this is a very user friendly place with a lot of information.         


 Disclaimer: Sinclair Community College is not responsible for the content of this blog!  This is just my opportunity to offer information and my opinion.

I knew I wasn't the only one who thought organic was making headway and was glad to find this article talking about the increase of organic farms and was especially happy to see the increase in dairy cows and laying hens.

One question the article asks is who are America's Organic Farmers?  I'll share a farm I have personal experience with.  Dale Filburn & Family have a family farm in W. Alex about 20 min. from my home.  The eggs you find at 4 farmer's markets and Dorothy Lane Market are raised humanely and with pride.  The downside is they are close to 4x the price of eggs from Kroger or Meijer.  Paying close to $4/carton is hard to justify to most people, especially in today's economy but the eggs do have a wow factor!  You'll never see yolks like that coming from caged-raised hens, ever.  If you are baking for the holidays treat yourself!


Another local farm in the area is E.A.T. Food for Life Farm.  The picture here shows him with free-range turkeys and it is a true to life picture.  The farm has the greenest pastures and the animals are fat as ticks.  Here is their official website http://www.eatfoodforlife.com/index.html and you can find them at Dayton Public Market. 

http://www.branchcreekfarm.com/  is maybe 7 miles from me at the most.  If I take the back way home from classes I pass by this farm and the view is always the same - a farm cattle are comfortable in and raised in a way you won't find in CAFO's.  Of course some would argue that we can't feed the world on farms that raise 15+ heads of cattle. It's true. But is it so ignorant to think that we can help the world feed itself with programs like Heifer International. It's also true that organic farmers charge significantly more for their food, especially meat and eggs. But the question remains and will forever be debated that at the end of the day, with food recalls, environmental catastrophes, and the lobbying that goes with it, does it all even out and are smaller farmers suffering because of what we've determined to be "rich folk" food?

Disclaimer:  This blog reflects my own opinions and Sinclair Community College is not responsible for any content contained here.

Just for giggles here is a short clip where Steven Colbert interviews the head of the American Meat Institute - a lobbyist group for meat producers that lobby for many things, including the right to slaughter downed animals so as not to upset the profit of the farmer sending the poor beast to slaughter...  better-know-a-lobby---american-meat-institute.

I've learned from the AMI that the average American eats ~235 lbs. of meat a year.  Good gosh, that comes to well over 1/2 # of meat a day, every day. I don't know where they get their numbers because I surely don't eat that much meat.  Can you imagine how much poop each head of meat produces?  The numbers vary from 50-100#'s a day for each head of cattle.  That's a lot of poop and a lot of reasons why we have a problem just an hour north of here at Grand Lake St. Marys.  Today the Columbus Dispatch  also published a story about the poop problem in the article ohio-farms-drowning-in-manure.


I live on a farm.  I've got 7 horses, 7 laying hens, and 2 goats.  I'm here to tell you they poop - alot, every single day.  We're not talking one or two times a day people.  We're talking 10+ piles a day per horse.  And that poop doesn't magically disappear on its own, nor does it magically compost on its own.  You've gotta cook that stuff!  It's like black gold to some farmers and mushroom farmers love the stuff.

I'm always amused when "city folk" come visit, see the manure pile, want the composted stuff for their own gardens, and then turn themselves inside out when they actually see the animal poop for real right there in front of them.  For some the chemicals will now work just fine as fertilizer thank you very much and they don't want anything "natural" in their garden after all.  For others the thought of natural fertilizer is stomach-turning and they've decided genetically altered food grown in a test tube could be the ultimate "food"; not much to think about there.  But they tend to forget that and they could come begging for tomatoes, corn or pumpkins & watermelon as long as they don't think about it actually being grown with....wait for it....composted manure from goats, chickens, and horses. For the record I don't use any dirt or pesticides, just composted manure.

It's enough work for anyone with livestock to scoop the poop produced but then you have to rid yourself of it.  We're lucky that we have a farmer behind us who rotates crops yearly and he allows us to spread it.  Our next door neighbor loves to have us spread it on his field as it has doubled the grasses and turned an overgrazed field into a grass paradise that nothing but deer graze on and hide their fawns. And then there is my beloved compost pile.  It's not just a mountain of poop.

The cost of manure management is astronomical both for the farmer and the consumer.  Farmers have to pay for the spreaders and the fuel to run them. Consumers have to pay one way or another through government clean-up or face higher prices at the grocery store.  Farmers are required to come up with manure management plans but then complain about the price of compliance.  I've read and heard quotes from farmers up north that say they have nothing to do with the problems created in Grand Lake St. Marys.  Some feel that even with 1000+ head of cattle or hogs, a strip of grass that separates their land and a waterway is sufficient and they are in compliance.

How often are fines collected?  It's just my opinion but not often enough  - Compliance. The OEPA isn't giving up the numbers so easily.  By the end of the quarter I hope to have a monetary number to let us know this situation is being taken seriously and the citizens of Ohio are being protected and compensated for the damage being done by CAFO's.

Organic farmers also have to follow their own set of management practices which can be found here. Ohio State  has a rules and regulations bulletin that provides Ohio statutes regarding the requirements. Whether CAFO or small, private organic farm crap can become more than a headache if not managed right.

Disclaimer: Just a reminder these are my thoughts and Sinclair Community College isn't responsible for the content of this blog.

I was talking to a classmate/friend during break last week and she made the comment "I don't want to know where my food comes from."  I don't blame her.  She's a great gal and she has a family to feed on a limited budget. Our system is set up to feed the most people at the lowest cost possible. Or is it?  lawsuit-aims-to-protect-tax-payers-from-dirt-cheap-livestock-subsidies

There is also this article: cafo-costs-report that shows our food is subsidized by those who seek to feed their families in an economical way.  The CAFO's just get our money in a different way than those who buy certified humane.  $35 billion out of taxpayers to pay for the feed?! 

Ghandi said "The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated". Does that make him a wacko animal rights activist?

"Concern for animals is a matter of taking the side of the weak against the strong, something the best people have always done." Harriet Beecher Stowe 1811-1896.  This quote comes from a woman who wrote about the suffering of slaves.  She showed compassion towards humans and animals. We have a hard time doing that today. Why?

Legendary musician Paul McCartney said "If slaughterhouses had glass walls everyone would be a vegetarian". Meet Your Meat

PETA and the Humane Society of the United States have put out videos regarding factory farming conditions.  I am not a vegetarian and usually I look at  PETA and HSUS as fringe lunatics at times.  Unfortunately it takes undercover video to show the abuse that takes place in factory farms. Meat for school lunches and the poor   Of course abuse also happens at private farms. newborn-calves-abused-at-organic-farm

What do we do to have a voice but also keep food affordable?

Disclaimer: These are my opinions and mine alone.  Sinclair Community College is not responsible for any information given in this blog.