Boondocks No. 47

Monday, December 10, 2007

The Bovine Idyll. There is a cutesy feel good story for a Monday morning in the Christian Science Monitor about a former dairy farm family raising cows for pets after going out of the business a few years earlier.

We don't know our cows the way we used to. There is no surer way to get close to a bovine than to raise her from birth, clean her up and milk her twice a day, be there when she's bred and calves, and endlessly adjust to the rich store of idiosyncrasies every cow has.

With the daily rhythm of dairy farming a fast-receding memory, we still keep and enjoy several animals on less intimate terms – herd descendants we have never milked; animals unused to being handled, touched, or leaned into. If I tried pressing myself against one of these semiwild things for warmth on a winter's morning – a habit I developed over many Januaries in the milking parlor – I'd be flat on the ground, my erstwhile prop aloof on the hoof.

Even though we no longer have a dairy farm, the cows and heifers serve a purpose – keeping the pastures grazed and the scene bucolic – and they still have names: Lisa, Alicia, Jocelyn, Nellie, Iris, and Siri.

It's a good read for a Monday. P'Link

US S.311, The Horse Slaughter Bill. I happened upon this web alert on the US Cattleman Association's site about legislation that would ban horse slaughter, and set down a slippery slope to much more restrict legislation on animal welfare.

The American Quarter Horse Association (AQHA) recently issued an alert stating, "This bill may have far-reaching effects on our members and their ability to buy and sell horses. Members may sell horses unaware of the buyer's intent with the animal and to where it may be transported, possibly resulting in legal ramifications for the seller. This legislation is vague and ambiguous and its passage could have far-reaching consequences."

"The language in this bill is problematic for any horse owner and USCA believes it could set a precedent for the rest of animal agriculture," said Chuck Kiker, USCA Director Region V, Chair of USCA’s Animal Welfare Committee. "USCA encourages producers to get involved by educating their senators regarding the consequences of this legislation. People involved in animal agriculture need to remind their senators of the people involved in horse production and how a bill like this would affect them."

But horses are such cute animals—why would anybody want to slaughter them? That's not the problem though. The problem is that this legislation could set forward a dangerous precedent, creating the potential for livestock or other owners to be held responsible for what happens to their animals after sale.

Let's look at the actual text of the bill and the code it references.

A BILL

To amend the Horse Protection Act to prohibit the shipping, transporting, moving, delivering, receiving, possessing, purchasing, selling, or donation of horses and other equines to be slaughtered for human consumption, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. PROHIBITION ON SHIPPING, TRANSPORTING, MOVING, DELIVERING, RECEIVING, POSSESSING, PURCHASING, SELLING, OR DONATION OF HORSES AND OTHER EQUINES FOR SLAUGHTER FOR HUMAN CONSUMPTION.

(a) Definitions- Section 2 of the Horse Protection Act (15 U.S.C. 1821) is amended--

(1) by redesignating paragraphs (1), (2), (3), and (4) as paragraphs (2), (3), (5), and (6), respectively;

(2) by inserting before paragraph (2) (as redesignated by paragraph (1)) the following:

`(1) The term `human consumption' means ingestion by people as a source of food.'; and

(3) by inserting after paragraph (3) (as redesignated by paragraph (1)) the following:

`(4) The term `slaughter' means the killing of 1 or more horses or other equines with the intent to sell or trade the flesh for human consumption.'.

(b) Findings- Section 3 of the Horse Protection Act (15 U.S.C. 1822) is amended--

(1) by redesignating paragraphs (1) through (5) as paragraphs (6) through (10), respectively;

(2) by adding before paragraph (6) (as redesignated by paragraph (1)) the following:

`(1) horses and other equines play a vital role in the collective experience of the United States and deserve protection and compassion;

`(2) horses and other equines are domestic animals that are used primarily for recreation, pleasure, and sport;

`(3) unlike cows, pigs, and many other animals, horses and other equines are not raised for the purpose of being slaughtered for human consumption;

`(4) individuals selling horses or other equines at auctions are seldom aware that the animals may be bought for the purpose of being slaughtered for human consumption;

`(5) the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service of the Department of Agriculture has found that horses and other equines cannot be safely and humanely transported in double deck trailers;'; and

(3) by striking paragraph (8) (as redesignated by paragraph (1)) and inserting the following:

`(8) the movement, showing, exhibition, or sale of sore horses in intrastate commerce, and the shipping, transporting, moving, delivering, receiving, possessing, purchasing, selling, or donation in intrastate commerce of horses and other equines to be slaughtered for human consumption, adversely affect and burden interstate and foreign commerce;'.

(c) Prohibition- Section 5 of the Horse Protection Act (15 U.S.C. 1824) is amended--

(1) by redesignating paragraphs (8) through (11) as paragraphs (9) through (12), respectively; and

(2) by inserting after paragraph 7 the following:

`(8) The shipping, transporting, moving, delivering, receiving, possessing, purchasing, selling, or donation of any horse or other equine to be slaughtered for human consumption.'.

(d) Authority to Detain- Section 6(e) of the Horse Protection Act (15 U.S.C. 1825(e)) is amended--

(1) by striking the first sentence of paragraph (1);

(2) by redesignating paragraphs (1) and (2) and as paragraphs (2) and (3), respectively; and

(3) by inserting before paragraph (2) (as redesignated by paragraph (2)) the following:

`(1) The Secretary may detain for examination, testing, or the taking of evidence--

`(A) any horse at any horse show, horse exhibition, or horse sale or auction that is sore or that the Secretary has probable cause to believe is sore; and

`(B) any horse or other equine that the Secretary has probable cause to believe is being shipped, transported, moved, delivered, received, possessed, purchased, sold, or donated in violation of section 5(8).'.

(e) Authorization of Appropriations- Section 12 of the Horse Protection Act (15 U.S.C. 1831) is amended by striking `$500,000' and inserting `$5,000,000'.

Cowboy's Analysis. Essentially, this bill would make it a federal crime for people to slaughter horses or knowing transfer or transport horses to a place where they slaughter horses. The first conviction would be a misdemeanor, the second would be a felony (see US Code Title 15 Section 1825).

The first prohibition is a moot point. The two horse slaughter plants in our country have closed due to legal concerns. Any horses that are slaughtered now are exported to either Canada or Mexico, where they do not have the obsession with horse slaughter being such a terrible thing. Therefore, the second part is still potent.

How do you prove intent when it comes to selling horses to another country for slaughter? Does the United States have any business telling the Canadians whether or not it moral to slaughter horses? Doesn't that violate NAFTA and therefore the law would be struck down? And what do you plan to do with all those excess horses, that nobody wants to take care or feed.

Moreover, you can debate the merits of the prohibition on soring of horses in the federal law and state rights. Certainly, soring (inducing pain on show horses legs to make them more eloquently) is a terrible thing. But tacking horse slaughter onto this section of law, only confuses the original intent of a law intended to end a practice far more horrific then horse slaughter.

I think there should be standards for humane slaughter for horses. If people want horse products, then they should be able to get them. It's absurd that horse advocates have held horses to an even higher standard then even dogs and cats. They are beautiful animals, and great work animals, but should they be unnecessary and beyond there useful life, then they should be put down and their products be used for the benefit of society rather then wasted.

I'm sure these horse slaughter plants for the most are pretty humane in how they handle animals, just because of the potential liability they face. They probably use at minimum cattle stunner that quickly knock out and kill cattle for slaughter, by hitting their celebrant in their brain and stopping brain function.That's probably far nicer then how many injured or sick horses die on farms, by a quick shot between the eyes with a 22 caliber riffle. P'Link

An Electric Quad. For those of you looking for a fun and green toy to play with in the woods that's totally silent, has a shitload of torque, and is great fun, should look no farther then EVS23 ATEV Electric 4-wheeler.

For a mid-size quad it puts out a rather amazing 374-ft lbs of torque, gets between 20-30 miles on a charge, and can tow 1,000 lbs. Being electric, it's dirt cheap to feed at a market rates—as much as 1/10 what you'd pay for gasoline.

Electric motors are great for low-speeds with high torque. Electric doesn't have the narrow torque ban that 4-stroke engines in particular have—Polaris' big ATVs only put out about 100 ft-lbs, my Ford Ranger about 168 ft-lbs, and Ford F-250 does about 350 ft-lbs. Too bad, the battery life isn't longer, but that's a limit of the technology. It also isn't quite as powerful as some of the bigger full-size quads.

Great for sneaking up on game without startling them, or rounding up the cows without spooking them. Buy me one for Christmas, and stick it under the stocking next to the new Chevy Silverado Hybrid.

More on their website. I hate to know about the price for the toy (and the 20 mile range is a bummer). P'Link