nationwide movement aims to ban controversial conditions

[yotetrapper]

And then, what happens when factory farms are regulated to the point they can no longer operate, or, in order to operate a dozen of eggs costs $10. What then?

 

[redux]

Well, then we pay $10 for eggs.

 

[redhen]

Quote:
well..see thats the problem. I dont want that..i cant stand all the govt regulations we have now...(next they'll be telling us how much toliet paper we can use..)
BUT..if they would just have some compassion for the animals...give them better/bigger living cages.. thats all i would ask.. AND it CAN be done.
To cram a living creature in a cage that small is just wrong..no 2 ways about it...
SOMETHING does need to be done...because they wont change it themselves...

 

[redux]

Quote:
I agree 100%.

And I am neither fearful nor hateful toward religion. I just understand its place. I think it is wonderful that people have religions to guide their lives. I just object to them using religion to guide mine.

And honestly, I don't get your reference to the Buddha. I am not a Buddhist.

 

[fancbrd4me02]

Quote:
That will not happen. The market will determine the cost, and the owners of large food corporations are very powerful. If a law or laws were in fact causing prices to spike to levels that the markey cannot bear, it would be changed. It is important to understand that giant companies like that have interests at many levels and they are able to exact great influence. That is why the things that go on in factory farms are legal, but if I were to do that in my home, I would be arrested for animal cruelty. There is no profit in it for the corporations, polititions and the wealthy 2% to allow a product such as eggs to reach $10 a dozen.

 

[redux]

I guess I would ask those who defend the practices as not being "that bad", would you want your dog kept in those conditions? Most of the people on this forum are here because they love animals. Heck, some of them are knitting sweaters for their chickens.

But I digress.

I think the biggest fear I am hearing from people who raise animals for a livelihood is "where will this end?"

That is a valid question; and I am convinced there is some moral middle ground here. It has to be financially feasible for those who farm the animals.

 

[Katy]

I would like to ask each of you who are so sure that these abuses occur in every large animal facility just how many large scale livestock operations you have been to. Or are all your feelings about the issue because of news stories and movies produced by certain animal right's groups that show the worst of the worst over and over again? I am 100% for treating animals humanely and I'll admit that abuses take place in the industry. But to condemn every large farm because of a few bad apples is as bad as condeming every person who breeds dogs because of some bad puppy mills.

 

[poltroon]

I suspect what the group has in mind is to replicate California's Proposition 2. The wording was fairly simple. Covered animals have to be able to turn around and stretch their limbs, with exceptions made for fairs, illness, transportation, etc. It's less than a page long.

http://voterguide.sos.ca.gov/past/2008/general/title-sum/prop2-title-sum.htm

Quote:
First, even today, the most frou-frou, free range pastured happy organic eggs from heritage breeds are under $6. The law does not require anything so posh. (Most specialty eggs are under $3. )

I might point out that there's a pretty good market for the frou-frou eggs already.

Second, eggs are remarkably cheap. $1.50 a dozen is not sacrosanct. You can evaluate for yourself how much suffering there is or isn't in battery cages, and whether that's worth $1-$2 per dozen to you.

The way that commercial egg-layers are kept in the US is not legal in the EU. Eggs still seem to work out there. They can be caged, but their laws require more space per hen.

 

[redux]

Who condemned every large farm? My only "beef", if you will, is farms that treat animals cruelly. If you don't, and I assume you don't, then there is no issue with you. At least not from me.

 

[Tala]

A.T. Hagan :

The difference in price between cheap factory eggs and expensive organic, free-range, pastured or whatever you want to call them will be the difference for a lot of folks between whether or not they eat eggs.

Yup.
We either drink the GOOD milk (organic, pasture-raised, and non-homogenized) or we don't drink it at all. After tasting the good stuff you don't even WANT to drink the crappy stuff! We occasionally get canned milk for a recipe if we don't have fresh.

At the tune of $6.50/gal (plus gas and time for a trip up town, out of the way) we didn't drink milk for over a year when I was unemployed