Piggery not hiding behind closed doors

Ms Dixon’s temperate and logical letter in the Friday, October 25 edition of The Young Witness is something of a breath of fresh air after the heat that emanates from the professional protesters.

 I am grateful we share the same taste in food – eating and enjoying our omnivorous evolution.

 There are sound reasons for the developments of animal housing and management. 

Very few of the Australian practices are other than in the best interest of the animal and the environment. 

Aside from the sentiment, absolute reality is that cruelty to animals does not pay – unhappy and even more so unhealthy animals can not be profitable animals to a producer.

There may be an argument about producing food at the least cost to the consumer or a philosophical opinion on those in Australia and elsewhere who cannot afford adequate nutrition let alone the luxury of higher cost food. 

I leave that to Ms Dixon and others form their own opinion.

 Free range is a wonderful catch cry and the big two are currently waging war with each other over whose food is the most humanely produced.

 Reality may be elsewhere – about 85 per cent of our animal protein is intensively farmed. 

Probably 99 per cent of eggs, chicken and pork. 

Most of the quality beef has been through a feedlot, an increasing number of lambs and dairy cows and even fish is farmed intensively.

 Some local experiences are of interest. A local egg producer went “free range” and the likely cause of disease in his chooks was from exposure to wild ducks – if he had left his chooks inside maybe 400,000 of them would be alive. 

I hope he gets some more chooks, his employees keep their jobs and he survives.

 Welfare – as well as much higher mortality rates free range comes at a cost of lesser animal health. 

It ensures free range animals require more medication and that at a cost to production and probable immunity build up to chemical treatment. 

If you want us all to go free range perhaps you will ask Animal Lib to explain to half the Australian population they are no longer wanted as there is just not enough food available for them.

 My daughter and son-in-law’s piggery, Blantyre Farms, does not have dry sow stalls, the pigs have an open stall and group area, the sows are free to move anywhere they like. 

Strangely they choose to lie in the stall – they like the peace, quiet and freedom from bullying.

 Ms Dixon I doubt you would be aware it is in reality impossible for other than the small “backyard” producer of free range animals to meet existing state law. Erosion and the excrement loadings on soil exceed legal limits whether the animals are moved on a regular basis or not. 

Free fange like Feed Lots legally should be in a bounded area with all rainfall run-off drained, stored and properly disposed off. 

 Animal Lib has not found any “illegal or unethical” management practices at Young.  

 Blantyre Farms has in the last 12 months hosted six vet students, two school excursions, two film crews and the current shadow Attorney General Mark Dreyfus. They are not hiding behind closed doors.

Piggeries make some contribution to the local economy. 

In the 2012/2013 financial year the three local pig producers employed 103 full time staff, paid $5.7 million wages and superannuation and used 24,200 tonnes of grain costing about $6.7 million.

I am sure you would be upset if “midnight intruders” broke into your room at midnight running up and down with  flashing lights and installing hidden cameras. 

Dugald Walker

Young