Wednesday, Oct. 15th… Tell it like it is Kelly!!!

I just finished reading Kelly’s blog post of yesterday, (http://thechickenchronicles.blogspot.com/) about the cruelty of farm animals and reference to a recent Oprah Winfrey show (http://www.oprah.com/dated/oprahshow/oprahshow_20081008_animals)
that aired, showing the current “proposition 2” bill that is pending in California, which deals with farming, the treatment of farm animals and their living quarters. As small scale hobby farmers, just starting out with 120 laying chickens, some might say we should mind our own business, learn a little bit more about farming or look more closely at the financial impact that proposition 2 will have on commercial farming. I understand their plight and sympathize with them, but the fact remains……… it’s the animals life We’re concerned with.
We sell eggs daily to a growing clientele who don’t mind paying our price for free range eggs. We cannot make a living on what we sell………quite the contrary, because the eggs sales don’t even cover the cost of the feed right now, let alone the building cost of their quarters, etc., but we are fine with that. We house our chickens in two areas, an old hen house with an outside wired run and a larger in-barn room with a huge outside wired run. Our followers have seen the barn and related arrangements for the chickens on previous posts (which, by the way, can be accessed by anyone by simply browsing back through time, all the way to the building of this farm) to see how our chickens, ducks and turkeys live here. Also, you can see more at our regular web site entitled, http://www.cluckinacritterfarm.com which has been around a long time. I guess what I am trying to say is this: No matter the argument, God made man the keeper of all animals, to be used as food and to enjoy. That does not mean stuff an animal in a box and look at it…… and it also means we will not torture them for financial gain. Everyone that is promoting proposition 2, understands that it will increase the cost of food. What they are saying is that they do not want to pay less for mishandled food, both at the farm, slaughter house and market.
Every animal deserves to be kept in a pleasant surrounding, have food and water when it wants it and it needs to be able to move around and live. That is what we do here on the Cluckin’ “A” Critter Farm, because that is what we believe in.
We pay over $4.00 a gallon for gas, which places millions of dollars in foreign pockets when it should be under $1.00, yet we balk at the cost of treating dependant animals properly.
In my opinion proposition 2 simply deals with the root of all evil… Greed! It really isn’t about something we all know shouldn’t be happening…… mistreatment of animals is sick….whether for food production or just a person that ties a dog to a box in a yard to freeze all winter long. (another of my pet peeves) Why have any animal if you are not dedicated to their proper care and well being and why close your eyes to neglect and cruelty of others?