..online debate at North Platte Telegraph featuring John Holland, Click (HERE) to comment
Horse Eaters Flunk Economics
EWA President John Holland speaking at DC March for Mustangs demonstration 3/2010 ~ photo by Terry Fitch
Mr. Stenholm referred to the USDA statistics that I referenced (to show that we still have as many horses as ever going to slaughter) as “dubious numbers”. He also referred to the 900 pages of horrific images of mangled horses arriving at slaughter in Texas as “dirty pictures”. Those photos were also from the USDA and were exposed under a FOIA request.
Since Charlie apparently favors debating with adjectives rather than facts and images, I will offer a few adjectives to describe the Larson legislation; impetuous, vindictive, feckless, misguided and futile. Those were the five kindest I could conjure, and here is why.
As amended, LB.306 is intended to force HSUS operated rescues to take any horse offered or face misdemeanor charges. Not only is this outrageously unfair, it is impotent because HSUS does not operate any rescues in Nebraska. So that leaves LB.305 and the “several hundred jobs” Charlie says it would bring to Nebraska.
Sorry Charlie! Sen. Larson apparently forgot to do his homework again. The farm bill language that allows states to perform inspections is limited to slaughter operations having 25 or fewer employees, and USDA officials say it doesn’t allow horse inspections at all. In the unlikely event the USDA relents on horsemeat inspections the prize is still just 25 low paying, dangerous, dehumanizing minimum wage jobs.
Let’s talk money and bureaucracy:
LB.305 would create a whole new state bureaucracy to manage an inspection system for an “industry” of no more than 25 workers. Once created, that bureaucracy would cost the taxpayers of Nebraska in perpetuity, and since ante mortem inspections require licensed veterinarians, it is probable that the real employment boom would be in this taxpayer funded government boondoggle.
To gauge what this investment might provide in returns, consider the smallest of the US plants which employed between 33 and 42 people. Dallas Crown 2004 Tax filings, exposed during their fight with the town, show they had gross receipts of $12,007,611 on which they paid $5 in federal taxes and gave $3 to charity
The horsemeat market is controlled by foreign corporations who have a stranglehold on the distribution. An American company would have no choice but to sell to this cartel at whatever price they were offered.
This is precisely what happened in Canada when the Natural Valley Farms plant began killing horses for Cavel’s parent corporation Velda, LLC (Belgium). The plant finally went bankrupt with losses of $44 million dollars and Velda moved on, leaving a financial and ecological wasteland behind them.
There is little in this for the horse industry either. A study by Deloitte Consulting estimated the horse industry produces a $102 billion total economic impact. Horse slaughter accounts for approximately $36 million of this income, meaning it contributes only about 3 cents of every $100 generated by the horse industry. And it gets worse.
Wyoming and Montana both passed similarly ill-conceived laws and have yet to attract a slaughter plant. Central Nebraska Packing has said it does not intend to reopen its horse slaughter operation and it is unlikely Nebraska will attract another plant given the substantial risk that federal legislation could eventually shut it down.
Moreover, it is entirely likely that the European Union will continue to restrict its horsemeat imports on safety grounds, and changes in federal law would put a new US plant under FDA oversight. The FDA bans most common horse medications from food animals and classifies horses as companion animals.
Larson’s bills are just the latest examples of reckless, ill-conceived and ineffective state legislation spurred on by the “animal rights” fear mongering of lobbyists like Charlie.
Click (HERE) to Comment at Debate Site
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Categories: Horse News, Horse Slaughter, The Force of the Horse
Straight from the Horse's Heart 
RT Your statement that “The FDA bans most common horse medications from food animals” is not exactly true.
FDA bans most common horse medications from horses intended for food. Many of these medications are safe for cattle and other animals intended for food. The reason is that different animals metabolize different medications at different rates.
In order for a medication to be approved for food animals the drug company marketing it has to do studies. These studies are done by species and prove the withdrawal periods required for each species. The studies are quite expensive and are only worth it if they prove the animal can be slaughtered shortly after having the medication.
If a food animal gets sick or injured it will be treated in hopes of recovery. If it isn’t going to recover the medication must be stopped for the stated withdrawal period before the animal can be sent to slaughter. Ranchers will pay more for a shorter withdrawal period so they don’t have animals standing in the hospital pen waiting to go to slaughter.
Horse owners will never pay more for a drug that allows their horse to become human food more quickly after the drug is given. Until horses are bred for food on a large scale drug companies will not do the testing on withdrawal periods for horse drugs.
Lutalyse is a common drug used in breeding of cattle and horses. In cattle there is zero withdrawal required and no milk discard. This means the drug has no effect on meat of milk at any time after the shot is given. But the drug label still says “not for use in horses intended for food.
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Hi Diana,
This is John Holland’s article. I will ensure that your comments reach him.
Thanks
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This is touched upon on the Veterinarians For Equine Welfare site on the page discussing banned substances in horses:Approved use of medications in food animals is specifically contingent upon observation of recommended withdrawal times. Withdrawal times have been experimentally determined in traditional food animals; however, withdrawal times for these drugs have not been established in horses. Thus, medications that are FDA approved for use in traditional food animals come with specific withdrawal schedules printed on the packaging, while the same medications, purchased for horses do not include the requisite withdrawal schedule, but simply state “NOT FOR USE IN HORSES INTENDED FOR FOOD”. http://www.vetsforequinewelfare.org/medications.php
This is a great answer to the dolt who starts ranting, “Oh yeah? Don’t you know they give ivermectin to cattle, you idiot?” This is an actual response I got about banned substances. Shot HIM down. 🙂
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Just pondering, are these scientific studies like many conducted by back room corporate sponsorship i.e. biased and totally unreliable. I personally would not base my personal decisions regarding myself, my land or my animals on anything the FDA has to say.
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Linda, I’m not sure where you are going with your comment but the FDA uses medical and scientific professionals to set food safety protocol. Congress was wise to give FDA more authority over food safety. You’ll notice their guidelines are in line with EU regulations on protocols.
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Charles Stenholm is now a lobbyist for the horsemeat industry, correct? Since there currently is supposedly no horsemeat industry in our country, what corporations pay Mr. Stenholm for his services?
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Actually, Louie, I think the big cattleman’s orgs pay lobbyists for pro-slaughter. I really don’t understand why cattlemen are SO pro horse slaughter, but they sure are. I don’t know about Mr. Stenholm in particular. Could be breed orgs. such as the AQHA.
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Exactly, Suzanne. Ever notice many AQHA breeders are also cattlemen? For years, the breed group focused almost solely on western disciplines, the same ones ranchers would be most familiar with because it was cattlemen who started that group. A quote from AQHA’s website: “The Association was founded in March 1940 in Fort Worth, Texas, by a group of horsemen and ranchers from the southwestern United States dedicated to preserving the pedigrees of their ranch horses.”
Surely it all came about because these ranchers have traditionally raised cattle and needed good working horses to do that so they begin breeding for their own use and certainly selling the ones they didn’t want to use to their cattlemen buds. Seems perfectly natural and logical, doesn’t it?
I surmise after finding there was a market outside of other cattlemen for those good using horses, namely pleasure horse owners, they jumped on the bandwagon and escalated their breeding over the years. Not to mention AQHA management (those same cattlemen) saw a business opportunity there so they applied lots of pressure to promote the breed and bring in more foal registrations, more pleasure show entries, both of which mean more money. It would be interesting to see the payroll records of AQHA to see how much that staff consumes annually… but I digress.
The market for good using horses probably expanded over the years as US population and the middle class grew while more people got involved with horses for pleasure, joining AQHA for showing. Those breeders got used to this upward economic trend and encouraged it via AQHA incentives, their fellow cattlemen over at AQHA only all too pleased to help spur more industry growth.
Along the way they certainly figured out they could just sell their “excess” horses to slaughter just like they already sold their cattle to slaughter. Makes breeding decisions so much easier if you don’t take a huge loss for bad choices. Some cattlemen no doubt found horses more lucrative and dropped their cattle holdings while focusing more on horses as they were bringing them more money (i.e.- $2000-$5000 riding horse vs $1000 steer to slaughter). Until the current recession began along with the contraction of the middle class.
During all those fat times, as long as they were able to cut their losses by selling their culls and the mass numbers of “extras” they created to slaughter, these cattlemen were happy. Heck, even if a foal didn’t turn out to be a pleasure or working horse bringing $2000-$5000 or even more, they could always turn around and sell it to slaughter at 2-3 years for that same $1000 they’d usually get for a steer. No skin off their nose, no reason to curtail horse breeding or breed responsibly, it was a no fail business plan ripe for moneymaking! Remember cattlemen make their profits off quantity so they have that mindset as well…
They only became truly unhappy when thos recession hit and people began cutting back on discretionary spending such as pleasure horses. Coincidentally around the same time their alternate income stream, the slaughter pipeline, was cut off because USDA quit funding required inspections and no independent inspections were allowed. And of course since these cattlemen don’t really live in the real world of economics, they blamed all their troubles on the closed slaughter plants in the US, never taking into consideration that a flooded market drives down prices nor that the middle class has been contracting for decades nor that slaughter is still available in Canada & Mexico. Nope can’t take any responsibility for the problem… it was all caused by the horse hugging vegan types who know nothing about horses or economics or business plans (at least that is what they’d love to believe).
It’s all business in their eyes which is why we see such ugly and vicious responses from them – “losing” horse slaughter means they lose $$$, never mind the economic recession, the fading middle class and the excess supply they themselves created. These people are so simplistic, so retarded in their vision of economics, ethics and business, they can’t even admit that horses are not a food animal in the US and that the flesh is actually toxic for humans because of this reality. That doesn’t enter into their very simple business plan that they are very sore about losing – it’s all about them and the money they want to make off the backs of the horses and to hell with safety for consumers who are foreigners that apparently do not count. They even resent the depressed prices for good using horses, pleasure horses, and can’t seem to admit they have flooded the market so badly that there too, they carry some responsibility for current low prices. Unbelievable, isn’t it, that people can be so willfully stubborn by refusing to accept reality?
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Kathleen~~~
thank you so much for all that information..I knew the basics but your indepth info was so good to read, may I share it…. I sure hope we are friend’s on facebook, I am alway’s looking to learn more, …Jeannie Parisi 😀
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God!! John Holland thank you – that was excruciating to read. The level of adrenalin rose and fell with each ridiculous situation followed by the sane response. I hope you know how appreciated your meticulous work is in the battle against these miscreants.
Bottom line is those who slobber thinking of killing horses or who can’t stand it but love the cash are a drain on the peaceful workings of a compassionate society and should just stop. But that is too simple. So good people like yourself and others must block them with intelligence and logic. Hopefully, soon legislation will step up also.
Thank you all.
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LIVE horses stimulate the economy, NOT slaughtered horses.
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I admire young people who are ambitious and have drive. That’s all too rare these days; but so is humility, respect for process, and doing due diligence. Tyson Larson is proving to be a misguided, impulsive, emotion-driven and easy-to-influence young man whose career in politics is likely to be a brief one. His efforts appear to be driven solely by a desire to impress his cowboy buddies who, sharing his lack of insight, spur him on with back slaps and “Go get ’em’s!” as he makes some very poor choices and uses even worse judgement than most newbies in his youthful exuberance. Tyson Larson’s horse-killing bill won’t pass. The people of NB are too smart to let that to happen. Like many who share his party affiliation, but disagree with his plan, I will watch him have his short-lived fun as a big shot, “Wow! Look at me!” politician, and then move on in some other line of work that suits him better- like snake oil peddler, perhaps.
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There MUST be better alternatives for jobs in these states that are promoting slaughter. That CAN’T be to only answer to a sagging economy. Nebraska is a beautiful state and I would think that the people there would welcome some innovative ideas and creative entrepeneurs.
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Several years ago here in CA we had a slaughter house shut down because of the inhumanity. Granted they were cattle but people ended up going to jail I think not only because of the brutality but because the slaughter house polluted the meat for human consumption.
I’m sure a lot of you saw that video it made all the news in this country. Hundreds of thousand of pounds of beef were recalled–but had already been consumed by that point.
This slaughter plant was permanently shut down.
Would you really think that horses would be treated any different than any other “live stock” animal under these conditions? I think not. The video shows horses suffer equally great if not greater because of the fear factor.
And then we can discuss bute but I won’t bother you guys here with that. We all know what it does to the human body.
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My thoughts:
Seems the gaming industry is sabotaging and dumping the racetracks once they used their gambling licenses to get a foothold. States and taxpayers are sick of the racing/breeding/slaughter welfare game, and they’re also broke, so thankfully I believe the nails are being pounded into the coffin of the Breed ‘Em, Beat ‘Em and Eat ‘Em racket they call the sport of kings .
Watch and see, THEN Congress will pass an anti-slaughter bill. When it’s no longer an issue.
Isn’t that how it works?
The whole threat of “we’re gonna build us some slaughter plants” here in the U.S. is ludicrous, then, when the #1 benefactor of slaughter isn’t going to have any “product,” right?
Another reason the mustangs are “disappearing” like wildfire, too. It’s all connected.
Virtual horse racing may soon replace live racing.
Meanwhile, the bulk of the “Breed ’em, Beat ’em, and Eat ’em” racket may be headed to South America and other harder to monitor place. Don’t let the bastards out of your sight.
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Their plans for horse slaughter never play well under public exposure. That’s why they hide. A couple more hidden cams, at this point, while the slaughter crap movement is ongoing- would be golden for all horses.
by the way also no ‘economic advantage with the blm spending”, congress should shut the blm totally down, the BLM official stating (not exact quote)because of the (2 million) budget cut…”2,000″ less horses rounded up…also said something ‘golden’. The blm official admitted the cost to move 1k horses from range to round-up pen is 1 million dollars. They could keep the horses on public lands, feed hay, chopper out water and just round-up adoptables on the interest earnings alone.
ref “The U.S. House has approved an amendment on a voice vote that would cut $2 million from the Bureau of Land Management’s budget in protest over the agency’s wild horse roundups.”
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John, I posted a comment–not sure they will publish it.
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Be patient, Louie – sometimes it takes days to publish the comments.
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