Unethical treatment of people part 2

Those of you who read my blog post of yesterday will be aware of my disgust with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and their ill thought out and ill informed media release calling for landholders who have been affected by bushfires in the gulf to be charged with animal cruelty.

Since my last blog post, this radio interview http://www.abc.net.au/rural/news/content/201212/s3661672.htm has taken place with Clare Fryer.

The interview shows a complete lack of compassion for the producers affected, as well as a complete lack of understanding of what actually happens in Australian agriculture. (She refers to the station owners as "Ranchers")

Anyway, today I stumbled across the Email address for Clare Fryer and I took the opportunity to express my displeasure.

Here is a copy of my email:

Claire

 I was shocked and appalled to firstly read a PETA media release and secondly hear your radio interview on ABC radio regarding the fires in the gulf country.

Your lack of understanding on the topic does you and your organisation little credit in the wider community. while you mention that Farmers (NOT ranchers) have a duty of care to their animals, you repeatedly fail to acknowledge the fact that what has occurred in the gulf IS a natural disaster. I have not herd you calling for prosecutions of livestock owners who have had stock washed away in the floods earlier this year, or for prosecutions of pet owners who lost their animals in these events.

Your latest stunt is yet another thinly veiled attempt to close down any form of livestock production in the north of the country and it is pleasing to see that the minister has treated your claims with the contempt that they deserve.

 Your actions would be better spent assisting in fundraising to provide feed and water for the livestock and native animals left to fend for themselves in the aftermath of this disaster.

 Prosecutions will not save a single animal, if you really want to save the animals, support the producers who are trying their absolute best to save those that remain.

 

Regards

 

Kent Morris

 

I would encourage you all to contact PETA and express your displeasure too. If you want Claire's email, just get in touch.

Ethical treatment of animals = unethical treatment of people

 

While taking a midday break and watching the cricket on TV, I was browsing the courier mail online when I stumbled across this article: http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/breaking-news/peta-wants-charges-after-qld-cattle-deaths/story-e6freono-1226544033920 to give you a little bit of a background, bushfires swept through the cape some months ago burning huge areas of pasture and destroying fences, waters and infrastructure. The affected landholders have been desperately holding out for the onset of the wet season, which has still not arrived.

Many farmer groups, and even some animal welfare groups, have rallied to the cause by trying to source donated hay, pipe and labour to try and help some of the starving stock.

But not PETA.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is an organisation that has long relied on shock tactics and publicity stunts to promote a so called “Cruelty free” world. And once again they have shown their true colours.

It seems that the PETA jerks want to have the farmers charged for cruelty to animals, rather than try to actually help the animals. They claim that the farmers should have been prepared by having feed in storage for these kind of fires and droughts.

I have heard of one farmer who has 50,000 head of cattle on his property that has been completely burned out. Cows have been killed in the fire and abandoned calves make easy pickings for dingoes.

To put it in to context, a bale of hay will provide sustenance for 30 cows for 1 day, to feed 50,000 cows for 1 month on hay alone would require 51,666 bales of hay valued at $60/bale (Plus freight) equals $3.1 million. Beyond the reach of any farmer, all “Animal welfare” groups and most levels of government.

They have also failed to acknowledge that these burned out paddocks and destroyed watering points also provide food water and habitat for thousands of native animals

PETA don’t care about animals, they just care about bashing those people who do around the head.

Why animal rights activists will fail

Over the last couple of weeks, there has been much renewed talk about the banning of live exports after a horrific story coming out of Pakistan revealed that 20,000 sheep where needlessly slaughtered in a cruel and horrific manner. I am yet to find one person who thinks what happened in Pakistan is acceptable, but I can find many people who think we should not stop exporting there.

Many of the anthropomorphists who oppose the trade will state that even 1 breach of the ESCAS standards is reason enough to turn our back on the trade and walk away. Yet these same people are not calling for a total ban on all surgeons after the tragedy that occurred at Bundaberg hospital, or a ban on all motor coach transport as a result of the Kempsey bush crash. Why? Because these people will set the standards so high that there is no way any person, including themselves, can achieve it.

Which brings us to the Achilles heel of the anthropomorphist movement, they are never happy with what they get.

Only last week, we saw Animals Australia launch another campaign against the horse racing industry. In the middle of the spring racing season, in the wash up from the Melbourne cup, which has become a national institution, they have come out against horseracing. They are like the divorced, bitter middle aged uncle you only see at family gatherings that when asked how he is will answer, “I’m not well” and will then spend the rest of the evening telling you what is wrong with him and complaining about what every other person in the room has done to him, right down to when your dad stole his iceblock from him when he was 3. Eventually you get to the point that when you see him enter the room, you feign a bout of bubonic plague, just so you can leave the room.

Don’t get me wrong, I in no way condone animal cruelty and I enjoy the company of my animals, but I don’t want to spend an evening being lectured on how dairy farming is rape and to eat an egg is to eat the period of a chook. It is emotive, sensationalist and often factually inaccurate.

Only the other day, I read an article on “The truth about  sheep” on the animals Australia unleashed page http://www.unleashed.org.au/animals/sheep.php to read this, you would think that all sheep farmers where cruel heartless bastards who mustered their sheep once a year to shear them and left them to their own devices. Like most of the bile and vitriol spewed forth by the animal rights groups, there is a little bit of fact, interspersed with a lot of sensationalism, sprinkled with some emotive statements and misrepresentations. Yes, shearers are paid by the head and want to shear them as quick as possible, no that does not mean they are roughly shorn. From an economic standpoint alone, the wool must be evenly and cleanly shorn to receive full value for the clip and a sheep that is cut about at shearing time takes a while to recover, and like any animal, if it is happy, it is productive. As a woolgrower, I can tell you that any shearer who races and knocks the sheep about gets told quick smart to slow down and do the job properly. Rough shearers don’t last long in the industry, they soon improve their skills or find themselves not asked back next year.

I have also noticed that PETA has now come out to allege animal cruelty on the set of “The Hobbit” http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/movies/jackson-denies-animal-mistreatment-on-hobbit-set-20121120-29n8o.html It seems the Peta radicals are calling for people to boycott the film when it opens in cinemas. Good Luck with that, I think the call for those obsessed with high fantasy boycotting the movie will have as much chance as a cream bun in a room of fat kids. It’s not gunna happen.

So this brings me back to my initial point, the Animal Welfare lobby looks like a worthwhile cause at first glance when they are calling for someone who drowns kittens to be held accountable, but as they go on, they develop more and more outrageous demands  that affect the daily life of more and more people. They continually demand more, start a new campaign, piss a few more people off. Yes they will have a win occasionally, but as they continue their campaigns, they will impact on more and more average Australians in a negative way. Eventually, there will be no-one left to support them, with the possible exception of an unwashed Lezzo with dreadlocks, wearing hemp knickers that smells of pot smoke.

Should we be worried about groups like PETA and Animals Australia? Absolutely. Will they ultimately succeed? Not a chance.

I update this blog far too infrequently. Life just seems to get in the way I guess.

The other day, I was searching for a poem my dad wrote about his working dogs, when I got to thinking about my working dogs. one thing led to another, so I decided to write my own poem about my own working dogs and here it is. I still haven't found dad's yet tho....

The Kelpie

 

The sun is rising slowly through the mulga and the box

The day is slowly dawning over parched and broken rocks

The sheep they need a shifting as the waters cutting out

It’ll kill off all the cattle lest the rains don’t break the drought

 

We have no choice but shift them to find some more sparse feed

But the day is getting hotter and there’s not much of a breeze

We drift around them slowly as we look over the mob

A streak of red shoots to the lead, a little kelpie dog

 

It’s Joolia, the kelpie, a mighty little hound

Out the front and in the lead is where she will be found

She’ll set ‘em and she’ll block ‘em as we walk the stock away

She’ll drift and block and tuck them in and do it all the day

 

And as the heat is rising and the mob, it starts to break,

A call will rise for Sophie and the job will be OK

The black and tan trooper, bred down in the south

A faithful, loyal worker who will never let you down

 

But now we steady down as we’ve reached the end at last,

We count the mob out through the gate to our last patch of grass

We wait and hope and hold our breath for the coming of the rains

When once again the stock grow fat out on the western plains

 

A bang, a crack a deafening roar as down comes thunderous rain

We wait to see at daylight how much water in the gauge

The rain keeps slowly falling over coming weeks and days

The grass it is returning to the verdant western plains

 

The wool is bold and lustrous now on the backs of robust sheep

The cows are fat and shiny and the calves are big and sleek

We’ll have to muster in the mob and draft and shear and brand

They’ll be fast now through the mulga as they are brought to hand

 

They streak up through the ridges and down along the creek,

It’s time to send the big guns in and send in Boy and Dee

The black and brown will block the lead and turn the mob right back

They’ll use the tooth to turn them they won’t cut them any slack.

 

And trigger too will back them up and block and push and drive

There’s not a beast outrun her although many have but tried

The little streak of lightning a jet of darkest black

She’s one of the all rounders who’ll give anything a crack.

 

And let’s not forget our Lilly, the sister of streak

She’s a tough but gentle trooper who is nimble on her feet

She looks all sweet an innocent as she as she keeps the mob along

But she’ll bite the bloody bastards if they’re taking far too long

 

I have no time for trial dogs, there’s no secret in that fact

They worry all about the looks and how they move and act.

My Kelpies style is ugly and the job looks bloody rough

But of style, and points and prancing, I couldn’t give a stuff.

 

I’d be stuffed without my kelpies, of that there is no doubt

For without them I’d be busted up with bikes all smashed about

My mutts are worth a dozen men, they’re loyal, straight and true

They never ask for nothing  ‘cept a bag or two of food

 

So please don’t be offended if I turn down the request

Of a rough and tumble ringer who claims to be the best

For I’m sure my dogs will show him up and leave him looking dumb

And they’re always there to help me, they never leave my run

 

 

So through the drought and through the floods and all that in between

My dogs will stand beside me as a solid working team

I know they’re not the best of breed, of that there is no doubt

But they’ll do for a close second, oh yes “KELPIE” is the shout.

 

Friends...

Today, I delivered a Kelpie puppy to some friends. they are a young couple who work in the shearing sheds and try to eke out an existence on a block of country west of town. They have plenty of hills, plenty of trees and plenty of heart.

Their homestead was constructed by his father and is very much of bush construction, tin roof, unlined and a distinct absence of doors, but this rough bush home serves it's purpose providing them with shelter and the basic amenities.

Imagine my surprise when I rang them last week to tell them that i could take their puppy to town on Friday and was told "Sorry, can't do Friday, our new house arrives"

It seems that their hard work, scrimping and saving has allowed them to purchase a modest 3 bedroom factory built home.

On SZunday, I had to go to our other property, which is nearby, so I decided that I would take the puppy up myself and visit them.

As I rounded the corner towards their house, the shiny new residence hove into view. somehow the neat new building seemed out of place amongst the Bendee, but after a cup of tea it was time for the grande tour of the new abode.

It became clear that there had been a great deal of consideration in the new home, floor coverings chosen to be easy clean or not show the dirt. shower AND Tub in the bathroom and a compact, yet efficient ensuite off the master bedroom.

Standing by the back door and looking out across the paddock, Joe pointed to an old and gnarled, but otherwise healthy Bendee tree and said, "And that's the tree we are going to get married under" 

All too soon, my visit was over, and I left them to do a lick run before nightfall so they could go back to work on Monday. as I drove away, I thought to myself, that it is good to see hard work and commitment towards your goals paying dividends.

And as for me, come February, when they are standing under that Bendee tree vowing their commitment to each other, where will I be? I'll be standing right there watching, I wouldn't miss it for the world.

Welcome

OK, here goes something I've been gunna do for ages, Start a Blog.

If it's like anything else I do, it will be erratic, full of punctuation and spelling errors and drift wildly between a multitude of topics that seem to bear no relationship to each other.

Except one

It will all relate to the goings on in my mind. That in itself should be enough to scare you off.

So who am I?

I'm a 30something (for a bit longer) grazier in the mulga lands in Queensland. I run the family farming enterprise with my mother over 2 properties running Sheep for wool, Cattle for Beef and Goats for meat.

so here goes, strap yourself in, it could be a bumpy ride....