Agriculture
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 1995:
The National Cattlemen’s
Association, National Live Stock and
Meat Board, parts of the Beef Board, and
the U.S. Meat Export Federation a r e
reportedly uniting under one umbrella as the
Beef Industry Organization. Member groups
claim to have already trained 1,600 volun-
teers to help promote beef.
Pork King of Illinois on July 25
applied for a permit to reopen the defunct
Kenosha Beef slaughterhouse in Hebron,
Illinois––and nine days later withdrew the
application amid a storm of opposition from
residents, who said they no longer want a
slaughterhouse in their community.
Italian police on July 25 arrested
10 people and seized 650 cattle, breaking
up a scheme to smuggle cattle into Italy from
France, Germany, and Spain, evading
European Union health rules through the use
of bogus papers. Two of those arrested had
known links to the Camorra Mafia, based in
southern Naples.
The government of Queensland,
A u s t r a l i a, in mid-August was considering
air drops of strychnine to fight a mouse
boom. Killing dingoes and other wild preda-
tors left the mice without natural controls.
A pigtailed macaque named Kai-
S o n g on August 8 won the coconut-picking
championship of Surathani province,
Thailand, over 39 competitors. About 1,200
trained monkeys now pick coconuts in south-
ern Thailand, replacing humans.
The first year of widespread BST
use in the dairy industry to stimulate cows
to give more milk coincided with a 6.5%
drop in the number of Illinois dairy farms.
Because low milk prices discourage reinvest-
ment and expansion, and because the aver-
age age of the 2,191 dairy farmers left is
close to 50, the Illinois dairy industry is
expected to keep declining.
Record heat in mid-July killed
2,600 cattle, 150,000 chickens, 120,000
turkeys, and 330 hogs in poorly ventilated
Iowa barns. In Wisconsin, 32,000 animals
died, including 27,000 chickens and turkeys.
Fire engines rushed from farm to farm, hos-
ing down tin roofs, to keep the toll from
becoming worse.
European Union farm ministers
on June 22 agreed that livestock may be
hauled for no more than eight hours without
rest, food, and water, unless specially
equipped vehicles are used, in which case
journeys may last up to 28 hours, depending
on the age and type of animal. Newly
appointed British agriculture commissioner
Douglas Hogg told a gathering of the Royal
College of Veterinary Surgeons that his next
goal would be “to join battle on the issue of
the crate system of veal production, which at
the United Kingdom’s request the European
Commission is now working to bring forward
at an early date to the EC Council of
Ministers.” Veal crating, common in some
EC nations, is banned in Britain.
