Scorched Earth: An Attack on Animal Agriculture

There is an all out war on animal agriculture and our ability to provide wholesome affordable animal proteins to our families and communities. Patrick Brown, the CEO of Impossible Foods, a company that makes genetically engineered plant based meat has said “I want to put the animal agriculture industry out of business. It’s that simple.” On it’s own, this statement could be brushed off as just an ambitious idea. Add the fact that Bill Gates invested $75 million into this company back in 2017. Gates has been on record saying that middle class and rich nations should switch, 100%, to plant based and lab grown meats and that governments can direct market demand using regulations and taxes. It’s all happening NOW.

Starting, with Colorado’s proposed changes to their animal cruelty law. It will be on the 2022 ballot as proposition 16 and if passed, would criminalize many well known and used animal husbandry practices and price out meat as a protein source for many people, including the backyard farmer who raises animals for their own consumption.

Under their section defining cruelty to animals, “any person who slaughters livestock in accordance with accepted agricultural animal husbandry practices does not violate the provisions of subsection one of this section so long as the animal has lived one quarter of their natural lifespan, based on species, breed, and type of animal.” So how long is one quarter of each animals lifespan? Not to worry, they define it for us. “A cow lives to 20 years, a chicken to 8 years, a turkey to 10, a duck to 6, a pig to 15, a sheep to 15, and a rabbit to six years.” So what does that mean for quail, geese, and goats?

So if this passes anyone raising livestock for food would not be permitted to butcher a cow before it’s five years old. Most cattle is butchered around two years. Imagine the cost of housing and feeding each head of cattle for an additional three years. Want to raise chickens for the freezer? Only so long as you wait to butcher until they are two years old. No more Cornish Crosses, they grow to butcher weight at six weeks. Their genetics make it so that if you don’t butcher around this time their quality of life goes down the drain. They pack on meat so fast they can’t carry their own weight. It’s a reason we have chosen not to raise them, but it is also what makes them so affordable and appealing to small scale backyard raisers. Under these new changes people could be charged with a class 1 misdemeanor. I butcher my rabbits at 3-4 months, under these rules I would have to wait until the rabbit is 18 months old before butchering. After four months, rabbit meat gets tough, and you’re limited on ways to prepare the meat for an appetizing meal. What I find interesting is this proposition doesn’t criminalize the sale or import of meat produced using traditional methods and timelines. No, Colorado lawmakers only want to criminalize their citizens who produce and provide for themselves and communities.

Another portion of their animal cruelty law up for changes is their definition of sexual act with an animal. “Sexual act with an animal means an act between a person and animal involving direct contact between the genitals of one, and mouth, anus, or genitals of the other. Sexual acts with an animal also include any intrusion or penetration, however slight, with an object or part of a persons body into an animals anus or genitals. A SEXUAL ACT WITH AN ANIMAL MAY BE PROVEN WITHOUT ALLEGATION OR PROOF OF PENETRATION.” In short, they want to criminalize artificial insemination, and assisting, or repositioning a baby in the birth canal.

The next piece of legislation comes to us out of New Hampshire. House Bill 532. A bill that intends to put together an animal records database. Now, the text of this bill mentions only cats, dogs, and ferrets. Don’t be fooled, once this electronic database is set up (most likely using blockchain technology, just like the FDA’s traceability platform) they will amend this to include livestock. Why do I suspect this? The bill authorizes the Commissioner of Department of Agriculture, markets, and food, to transfer money to and from funds in order to establish this animal records database.

They renamed animal health certificates, to certificate of transfer. An electronic certificate, that must be electronically submitted to the database by a licensed veterinarian. The information that must be included in each certificate is the name and address of the person transferring the animal. The animals age, gender, breed, microchip number, tattoo number, ear tag number, or physical description as well as a list of all vaccines and medications administered and verification by a veterinarian that the animal is free from communicable diseases. Now if this was not going to eventually be applied to livestock, why on earth would the text include ear tag numbers? Only livestock use ear tags. But of course this is just conjecture. This bill also states that each person must keep the certificate of transfer where said animals are “on display” for up to one year to provide proof, upon request from the department, local officials, or a member of the public. So Joe Shmo can walk up to you in New Hampshire and demand to see your papers to prove that you are compliant.

These two seemingly unrelated laws may have many folks suggesting I am reading too much into it. There are many places that have animal records law, me choosing to highlight these two is because the New Hampshire model is how the authorities would monitor and enforce the Colorado model. I pray that these remain isolated, and I hope those of you living in these areas make your voices heard and push back against these tactics, but the trend is a push to reset our food system, and end animal agriculture. They are doing it by making it too difficult and too expensive to raise livestock, outsourcing tyranny. This is a direct assault on our food sovereignty and our ability to provide for our families.