Livestock industry breathes a little easier

Last October a jury trial awarded four plaintiffs $1 million in damages for odor and $32 million in punitive damages against hog farmer Iowa Select. Iowa Select Farms announced today a settlement in the case of a Sac County nuisance lawsuit that has eliminated $32 million in punitive damages awarded by a jury in October 2002.“Punitive damages are appropriate only if there is a history of intentional bad faith action. That was obviously not the case here, and this settlement is a testament to that fact,” said Iowa Select Farms CEO Jeff Hansen. This is great news, no punitive damages.

Don't rest though livestock still under attack, award or no award many of these simply want us to occur cost in defending this type of thing.


Speaking of attacks

The Indiana Statesman is has reported this week that Gary Yourofsky spoke on April 2, 2003 at Indiana University. Teresa Platt and the Fur Commission know all about this guy, log on see what his past looks like. Here are some of his quotes this week though.

Cancer rates would drop by 60 percent if the world stopped eating meat,
he said in a speech Tuesday afternoon in Holmstedt Hall.

"Human beings are not carnivores or omnivores in any shape or form,"
Yourofsky said. "Human beings are herbivores."

"I'm vegan," he said. "I do not eat anything that has a face, mother or
bowel movement."

"There would be no starving persons if we used plant-based
agricultures," Yourofsky said.

Yourofsky said he is just following in the footsteps of people like
Martin Luther King Jr., Ghandi and Jesus Christ by trying to make a
difference in this world.

And here is my opinion, “we grant him the right to speak at a university?????”, in INDIANA not San Francisco.

On a lighter note,

Squirrels, ABC news reported yesterday that taxpayers spent $600,000 studying sex habits of South African ground squirrels, I not kidding read the story. Anyway on Loos Tales Doug Wulff from Columbia, MO has invented a critter guard that you cannot live without. Listen to Loos Tales enjoy, then call Doug and order your critterguard right away.

Country of Origin: BRAZIL

You must read this read sent to me by Donna Schmidt-Moenning. Donna and her husband Mark operate a farm and she is a farm broadcaster near Rochester, MN. PLEASE READ THIS…..

Here's a new twist -- although what should surprise us anymore in this business. Mark Finstuin, a local pork producer, had his EAW (environmental assessment worksheet), which he did voluntarily, not required for the size of unit he wanted to build (under 1,000 animal units) APPROVED by the County Zoning Board but his Permit was denied yesterday. It now goes to the county commissioners for the final say. So the EAW says everything is in place and sighted appropriately but the permit was denied. This is the Milton Township issue where there's been a lot of local opposition with Land Stewardship's help. They already have the guy tied up in court with a "possible nuisance" lawsuit. Soooo...if Mark doesn't get his permit does the lawsuit get dropped??? It's pathetic when a judge will even look at a case where a guy hasn't even done anything and can be sued as a possible nuisance. The board voted by paper ballot, so there's no way to know how the board members voted. The EAW vote was 6-1 to accept and the Permit was denied 4-3. Duane Johnson was shocked. I think there was a lot of disbelief on both sides in the room. On a positive note, one non-farm dwelling in Claremont Township was denied after 2 farmers spoke up that there are too many non-farm dwellings in their area that they have to contend.

This is all time low this guy has been spending money defending a nuisance lawsuit for odor on hog barn he didn’t even have permitted. Listen to my commentary about this on Truth Be Told…


Dan the MAN,

Dan Murphy posted this story that I wrote this week on www.meatinglace.com. Thank you Dan, below is a preview entire story.

“Vegetarian to be or not to be”

What motivates people to choose a vegetarian lifestyle? The answer is as diverse as the country we live in, but there is one common thread: Misinformation runs rampant.

Think not? Here are some responses from otherwise intelligent people to the question, "Why are you a vegetarian?" (the first three responses are from attendees at the recent Health and Harmony Festival in Santa Rosa, Calif.):

· "I am a vegetarian because I'm opposed cutting down the tropical rain forests in our country to build livestock farms."

Can’t see the forest for the trees

The following is written summary of the Loos Tales airing today click here to listen.

Jason Fedewa is a third generation operating a sawmill called Michigan Veneer near St. Johns, MI . At one time Michigan Veneer would cut logs at the sawmill and today they have them custom cut with finished veneer deliver back to the warehouse. There have been instances where logs where shipped to Germany cut raw product shipped back the U.S. veneer produced and then final product shipped back to customers in Germany. The labor cost in Germany offset the cost of transportation. Hello who is listening here? Finally Jason tells me due to human management practices timber buyers have more trees to choose from today than they did one hundred years ago.

While we are in the wood business

Bruce Vincent has the website that is the best resource you need for resource providers it is called www.providerpals.com. The following is taken directly from his web site.

Waiter! There is a tree in my twinkie

There are tree-based chemicals in many of our food and beverage products! of these chemicals are used as flavorings, while others keep the ingredients in food from separating. There's that There are tree-based chemicals in many of our food and beverage products! Some of these chemicals are used as flavorings, while others keep the ingredients in food from separating. There's even a tree-based chemical that makes bubble gum chewier!
Cellulose, the material that makes up the walls of tree cells, is used as a food thickener in such tasty treats as snack food, milk shakes, ice cream, cake frosting, and pancake syrup!
Cellulose also is an important ingredient in non-edible products such as eyeglass frames, steering wheels, hairbrush handles, cellophane, and photographic film!

Will the negative rhetoric stop?

Just two days ago on Loos Lips I was talking about the perception of hormones used in livestock agriculture. Today in the Orlando Sentinel another attack on the misuse of antibiotics and hormones. Livestock producers only use the minimal amount needed. Then the statement below about NCBA “siding with drug makers” is ridiculous. NCBA is concerned with its members and the HEALTH of the beef industry, not the profits of drug manufactures. We have market demand for both types of meat in this country, but we must be very careful not to fuel the divide and conquer strategies from the external groups. Click here to read the entire story below are the hightlights..

The Animal Health Institute, a trade group for the makers of animal drugs, worries consumers may think the labels for antibiotics and hormones mean that meat produced without them is safer than other meat.

"You can't use a claim to leave the impression that another product that's not making the same claim is not safe," spokesman Ronald B. Phillips said.

Conventional farmers feed animals antibiotics and hormones, one reason the National Cattlemen's Beef Association sides with the drug makers.

"A healthy animal is a safe animal. That's why from time to time that antibiotics are used because we don't want sick kids and we don't want sick cattle," said Bryan Dierlam, director of legislative affairs for the association.


United we stand


I love it, with all the technology we have in this world today, we will win the war in Iraq with the high tech assistance of animals. Most of you probably already now, dolphins are uprooting water mines and this report tells how pigeons are protecting our soldiers from chemical attack. Some things don’t get better with time and human and animals continue to work together. Click to read entire report but I have including just a bit here.

A week into the invasion of Iraq and news networks are beaming home images of American and British soldiers donning gas masks and body suits to protect themselves from potential chemical weapons attack.
The troops have practiced the drills, and are carrying the best high-tech chemical detectors an army can buy. The US marines even have a brand new piece of kit: pigeons, which act like canaries in a 19th-century coal mine. The birds are so sensitive to nerve agents such as sarin and VX that they fall ill at a whiff of danger.