Thanks for the article. I am glad someone voiced their opinion. The majority matters when it come to ethics.
The Stoltzfus family has been milling dogs for years. When one member goes out of business usually the operation is shifted to another member at a different address. Lets hope they all give it up and go organic.
Yeah I believe the family also sells various poultry around the holidays and at different Amish markets and stores that proclaim so sell fresh or range animals. I have no idea about their bird husbandry. Hopefully it is better than what the dogs receive. Sadly disclosure is not a big thing among many in the food and ag industry. Never assume anything when buying food at the store. Even seafood and where it comes from is often hidden or lied about. Scary but true : /
Nice that the suffering dogs finally got some notice via this farming connection. It really is rampant among the Amish.
Sadly the investigator did not take note of the suffering milking cows. Organic is the biggest marketing scheme around. When you go to the milk aisle, Horizon wants you to picture happy cows in idyllic knee deep green pastures and little red barns. Rarely the case. Horizon has just as many large dairies (1000s of cows) in free-stall barns just like other companies.
Furthermore, I believe that it can be a welfare issue. Once a cow is treated with antibiotics (for ANY reason), she can never be milked into the organic pipeline again. What does this mean? IT MEANS THEY DON'T TREAT HER!!!!
Organic farmers are permitted to use all sort of drugs that fall into the nebulous "grass" category and neutraceuticals we know very little about and do not have established withdrawal times.
So you've got a cow with a raging case of mastitis or metritis and it is acceptable to give her some strange home remedy including St. John's Wort, shove a couple of garlic cloves into her uterus, spin around three times and cross your fingers, but it is NOT acceptable to give her penicillin, for example. A drug we know a great deal about the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of and has established withdrawal times.
Not only that, but they can't give them much for pain! They are allowed to use aspirin (whoopee - has terrible oral bioavailability in cattle) but they set their own withdrawal (baffling) but they won't use Banamine which is labeled for cattle!
You might like the concept of organic, but I don't know that cows would vote for it.
Comments
The Stoltzfus family has been milling dogs for years. When one member goes out of business usually the operation is shifted to another member at a different address. Lets hope they all give it up and go organic.
Snf
Snf
Sadly the investigator did not take note of the suffering milking cows. Organic is the biggest marketing scheme around. When you go to the milk aisle, Horizon wants you to picture happy cows in idyllic knee deep green pastures and little red barns. Rarely the case. Horizon has just as many large dairies (1000s of cows) in free-stall barns just like other companies.
Furthermore, I believe that it can be a welfare issue. Once a cow is treated with antibiotics (for ANY reason), she can never be milked into the organic pipeline again. What does this mean? IT MEANS THEY DON'T TREAT HER!!!!
Organic farmers are permitted to use all sort of drugs that fall into the nebulous "grass" category and neutraceuticals we know very little about and do not have established withdrawal times.
So you've got a cow with a raging case of mastitis or metritis and it is acceptable to give her some strange home remedy including St. John's Wort, shove a couple of garlic cloves into her uterus, spin around three times and cross your fingers, but it is NOT acceptable to give her penicillin, for example. A drug we know a great deal about the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of and has established withdrawal times.
Not only that, but they can't give them much for pain! They are allowed to use aspirin (whoopee - has terrible oral bioavailability in cattle) but they set their own withdrawal (baffling) but they won't use Banamine which is labeled for cattle!
You might like the concept of organic, but I don't know that cows would vote for it.