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The fact is the HSUS is once again being investigated for misuse of funds following large amounts of money raised in the wake of hurricanes Katrina and Rita. There was also the matter of raising money for Michael Vick‘s pitbulls then along with PeTA working towards legislation that encourages killing anything that looks like a “pitbull”.

A bigger concern for livestock owners is that not only does HSUS not own a single shelter but they have you in their target scope. They demand perfection. Not almost, not the standards they themselves have but perfection. With 4 million head of cattle marketed last year five videotaped and presented as normal business appeared on many news shows and resulted in the largest beef recall in US history. There was no timestamp to give any documentation but four out of thousands of sale barns failed and it is presented against all cattlemen.

The Humane Society of the US gets major publicity with a tape of cruelty to cows (apparently they didn’t see to it that existing laws about cruelty were enforced) and on the website pushes…vegan and vegetarian diets. Indeed they present snips of quotes showing that HSUS, USDA and the American Dietetic Association are all in agreement that vegetarian is better.

Indeed “Each industry has its own abusive practices and some are much crueler than others” before citing poultry, egg and pork industries are even worse than cattle.” Americans removed from their agricultural roots know nothing about farming and this is used by equating cattle and pigs with the family dog.

By representing all animal industries as ‘factory farming’ from poultry to aquatic and dairy to veal it with one broad stroke paints all farms the same. It talks of “cage free” in passing but better is to be vegetarian.

It represents that there are no statutes for cruelty on farms, despite cruelty statutes that have been used to prosecute serious cases of abuse. Shipping is a prime target as no matter species it is stressed they have no food, water or protection from heat/cold during the trip nor does it mention some might be an hour or two while other trips are longer.

From abuse of transporting day old poultry in extreme temperatures to the recommendation of “sticks and electric prods should never be used to handle of move cattle” their recommendations are clear. It places responsibility for safe arrival on driver skill without regard to other possible factors. Beef cattle issues are referred to the same information.

In a graph showing housing of dairy cattle it shows USDA statistics that 49.4 % of operations use pasture for any length of time for lactating cows and 60.1% for dry cows, yet focuses on 9.9% primarily using it, showing that 90% therefore don’t allow pasture at any time in the cow’s life. It further shows that 49.2% of operations house lactating cows by tie stall or stanchion, leaving the reader to think millions of cattle are tethered their entire lives without being to move or turn around.

There are bad places in every industry but representing it as normal and a means to shut it down while, on other fronts NAIS and a new food safety regulation program seeks to shut down the smaller producers as well as anyone raising their own food it leaves a question. Who will feed America when small producers can’t and large ones are shut down?

January 25, 2008 was the second time that Alberta Farm Animal Care hosted a training course for livestock transporters. This second training course was held due to the high response from people in the livestock transportation industry. There were many companies that were not able to attend the first training session that was held May 18, 2008.

According to a statement from Alberta Farm Animal Care, the Certified Livestock Transporter (CLT) course is a comprehensive course that focuses on many different aspects of the livestock transporting industry. One of the main focuses of the training program is to focus on animal safety. The program is able to offer advice to anyone who will be in contact with the animals during the shipping process including truckers, receivers and shippers.

One of the great things about the training course is that there are breakout sessions that will focus on each individual species and the different factors that are involved with transporting each individual species. Each of the breakout sessions will focus on either cattle, horses, hogs, sheep or poultry. The great thing about having individual sessions for each species is that haulers and transporters who only deal with one species of animal will not have to spend several hours listening to information that does not pertain to their business.

It is estimated that on any given day, there are about 480 trucks hauling pigs, sheep, bison, elk, cattle, horses and poultry in Canada. One can only assume that these numbers are even higher in other parts of the world. By providing training and certification classes, Alberta Farm Animal Care is helping to create a higher standard that is sure to be seen not only in Canada, but in other areas of the world as well. By providing the necessary training to every sector of the Canadian livestock industry, the CLT program will be helping to ensure that everyone involved in the livestock industry has the necessary skills to safely transport animals.

Livestock haulers are able to promote their services on the site on the hauler’s page and are connected with shippers requesting their services. They are also able to post an unlimited number of trip tickets on the database for shippers to see. Common livestock transported includes pigs, cows, goats, sheep, horses and various types of poultry. In addition to viewing hauling service information and trip tickets, livestock shippers may also post shipping requests on the site for free and have haulers contact them.

“We saw a need for a company like Livestock Transport in the industry and were happy to satisfy it. Livestock Transport will save many hardworking livestock shippers and haulers valuable time and money by linking them together through our website,” said Mark Skrobola, Founder.

Visitors to the site are also able to read articles on topics like “Loading Livestock” and get up-to-date news on the livestock industry. They may also browse the Livestock Transport Store for items such as books, apparel and automotive gear.

For more information, visit http://www.livestock-transport.com or contact Mark Skrobola at 732 577 7903.

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