Guest Post by Hardscrabble Farmer
When I step into the orchard the turkey poults come running. They will follow me around while I do my chores like a litter of puppies. Ditto the piglets, lambs, calves, etc because I always feed them treats like fruit drops, kitchen scraps, etc. This continues with regularity right up until the time we either sell off or slaughter. On the occasion when a hauler comes to pick up a steer or a hog I have them park their trailer and open the door and then I walk over to wherever I have the animal that is going to market, open the gate and without lead or prod walk the animal to the trailer and it loads itself. Every time. Most livestock related injuries occur during times of stress, particularly when animals are being loaded/unloaded for shipment.
Most haulers/ranchers/slaughterhouses use negative compliance tools/techniques like push panels, prods, load vocalization, etc. People like Temple Grandin have done a great deal of research to show that this type of animal handling is not only stressful to the animal and affects the final product due to the release of certain hormones and chemicals into the bloodstream, but increases risk to handlers. It is far safer, expeditious and easier to get the animal to what you want it to because it thinks its doing what IT wants to…
You should hear the comments I hear from guys who do this for a living when they come to get an animal from the farm- “I’ve never seen an animal load easier than that, how’d you get him to do that, that was easy, blah, blah, blah…” Like what we do is magic rather than reinforced behavior.
Even the dogs- the only animals that we don’t eat- are given treats every single morning for dutifully watching over the flocks and herds all night long against predators while we sleep so that the very first sight of me at dawn triggers a Pavlovian response from them for a job well done. BISCUITS!!!
There are two choices for what we are witnessing in the behavior of the Federal Government towards the “consumers” as they like to call us and you can choose to be amazed like the livestock hauler or you can decide for yourself what’s happening.
Continue reading “AMERICANS ARE TRAINED LIVESTOCK”
