Armed Polite Society
Main Forums => Politics => Topic started by: Desertdog on December 05, 2008, 01:14:07 PM
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Looks like somebody wants to buy a lot of farm land at depression time prices. That is what will happen if this goes through. The only way I see for the farmer to live with something like this is limit their farm animals. Cows - 24, Beef cattle - 49, or Hogs - 199, which probably isn't enough to support them.
Proposed fee on smelly cows, hogs angers farmers
By BOB JOHNSON, Associated Press
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081205/ap_on_bi_ge/farm_scene_cow_tax_2
MONTGOMERY, Ala. – For farmers, this stinks: Belching and gaseous cows and hogs could start costing them money if a federal proposal to charge fees for air-polluting animals becomes law.
Farmers so far are turning their noses up at the notion, which is one of several put forward by the Environmental Protection Agency after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2007 that greenhouse gases emitted by belching and flatulence amounts to air pollution.
"This is one of the most ridiculous things the federal government has tried to do," said Alabama Agriculture Commissioner Ron Sparks, an outspoken opponent of the proposal.
It would require farms or ranches with more than 25 dairy cows, 50 beef cattle or 200 hogs to pay an annual fee of about $175 for each dairy cow, $87.50 per head of beef cattle and $20 for each hog.
The executive vice president of the Wyoming Farm Bureau Federation, Ken Hamilton, estimated the fee would cost owners of a modest-sized cattle ranch $30,000 to $40,000 a year. He said he has talked to a number of livestock owners about the proposals, and "all have said if the fees were carried out, it would bankrupt them."
Sparks said Wednesday he's worried the fee could be extended to chickens and other farm animals and cause more meat to be imported.
"We'll let other countries put food on our tables like they are putting gas in our cars. Other countries don't have the health standards we have," Sparks said.
EPA spokesman Nick Butterfield said the fee was proposed for farms with livestock operations that emit more than 100 tons of carbon emissions in a year and fall under federal Clean Air Act provisions.
Butterfield said the EPA has not taken a position on any of the proposals. But farmers from across the country have expressed outrage over the idea, both on Internet sites and in opinions sent to EPA during a public comment period that ended last week.
"It's something that really has a very big potential adverse impact for the livestock industry," said Rick Krause, the senior director of congressional relations for the American Farm Bureau Federation.
The fee would cover the cost of a permit for the livestock operations. While farmers say it would drive them out of business, an organization supporting the proposal hopes it forces the farms and ranches to switch to healthier crops.
"It makes perfect sense if you are looking for ways to cut down on meat consumption and recoup environmental losses," said Bruce Friedrich, a spokesman in Washington for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.
"We certainly support making factory farms pay their fair share," he said.
U.S. Rep. Robert Aderholt, a Republican from Haleyville in northwest Alabama, said he has spoken with EPA officials and doesn't believe the cow tax is a serious proposal that will ever be adopted by the agency.
"Who comes up with this kind of stuff?" said Perry Mobley, director of the Alabama Farmers Federation's beef division. "It seems there is an ulterior motive, to destroy livestock farms. This would certainly put them out of business."
Butterfield said the EPA is reviewing the public comments and didn't have a timetable for the next steps
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I wonder how many farmers have this number of cattle? I honestly don't know.
My guess is that it's aimed at huge factory farms. These things are especially large and stinky for miles around.
I doubt it was meant to affect the average small to medium size farmers, wether or not it actually does is another matter.
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Yea! Stick it to em! I want to pay more money for my meat products that will end up in the hands of the government as a tax! I don't give them enough of the fruits of my labor as it is!
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"Let them eat tofu."
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This, supposedly, is one of Henry Waxman's big wet dream proposals.
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Certainly this would target large agribusiness. While I'm not a huge fan of some of their practices, as long as we demand low cost protein staples and 99cent cheeseburgers, there's a price to pay somewhere. I have relations in Pike County, IL, the hog capital of the known universe. That stench in the air is the smell of money.
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"Who comes up with this kind of stuff?" said Perry Mobley, director of the Alabama Farmers Federation's beef division. "It seems there is an ulterior motive, to destroy livestock farms. This would certainly put them out of business."
It would not surprise me AT ALL if the people pushing this have OUS agribusiness financial interests.
When does simple poor judgement cross the barrier of sheer idiocy and become actual treason?
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This, supposedly, is one of Henry Waxman's big wet dream proposals.
As per my comment above.
He and his ilk would be all too happy to make meat entirely unaffordable for all but the rich. The masses can sit in their cold houses with the lights off and eat their bland white cubes, so they don't cause more carbon emission. Meanwhile, the liberal elites, being the philosopher-kings, are entitled to their brilliantly lit palaces.
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This, supposedly, is one of Henry Waxman's big wet dream proposals.
Perusing the news this morning, I saw it's a big push (coupled to "eat less meat") with the UN right now as well. With the new administration looking like it will kowtow to the UN and put environmental activists in key roles in DOI and EPA, I can see this stuff expanding over the next four years.
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Perusing the news this morning, I saw it's a big push (coupled to "eat less meat") with the UN right now as well. With the new administration looking like it will kowtow to the UN and put environmental activists in key roles in DOI and EPA, I can see this stuff expanding over the next four years.
Just think, 4 years from now, 40 cents of every dollar you spend on meat could go to saving the planet.
There, doesn't that feel smug self righteous like a crock of bull to make elitist rich good?
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I doubt it was meant to affect the average small to medium size farmers
An "average" sized family dairy farm in CA can have hundreds to thousands of cows. More than half of them have over 500 cows. The dairy farmer (farmer, singular, family owned and operated, not corporate) my folks sell all their alfalfa and corn to has over 1500.
At the "mid" number, $175 x 500 = $87,500. Milk is gonna get kinda expensive.
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At the "mid" number, $175 x 500 = $87,500. Milk is gonna get kinda expensive.
Serf, drink your soy milk and like it.
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An "average" sized family dairy farm in CA can have hundreds to thousands of cows. More than half of them have over 500 cows. The dairy farmer (farmer, singular, family owned and operated, not corporate) my folks sell all their alfalfa and corn to has over 1500.
At the "mid" number, $175 x 500 = $87,500. Milk is gonna get kinda expensive.
Figured I didn't have all the info.
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I wonder how many farmers have this number of cattle? I honestly don't know.
Most of the small producers I know would be taxed. These are the guys that farm less than 1000 acres of row crops and still raise livestock.
Also what about fowl? Ever drove by a egg farm or a turkey farm?
Are they wanting to bankrupt all the small producers, bankrupt the consumers?
If they really want to do anything go after manure runoff/management and soil erosion. Both of those would go great lengths in protecting the environment.
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At the "mid" number, $175 x 500 = $87,500. Milk is gonna get kinda expensive.
If you can find a dairyman with any cows. That will be the results of any law like this. Cheaper and less work to sell his land to housing developers.
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If you can find a dairyman with any cows. That will be the results of any law like this. Cheaper and less work to sell his land to housing developers.
or switch to goat's milk.
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Cheaper and less work to sell his land to housing developers.
Actually a great deal more profitable in many instances. These guys are mostly in farming because they want to be. Lots of dairy farms in CA are already close to developed land, so it would be pretty easy to take a big profit and quit the business. If the enviros keep this stuff up, they will indeed see the end result you mention -- open land sold for housing and urbanization and all the pollution that will cause.
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or switch to goat's milk.
If this passes, then they will go for thr goats, chickens, turkeys and rabbits.
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You'll still be able to get milk. Nice, expensive, Chinese made, melamine-infested milk.
Goes back to the true goals of radical environmentalism: "You suck, and the world would be better off without you."
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If this passes, then they will go for thr goats, chickens, turkeys and rabbits.
This will become law. This regulation fits in well with the political belief system of the incoming administration and it's political appointees. There is little standing in the way that would prevent it from happening.
The intention is to drive farmers out of business.
The intention is to make food more expensive for the average consumer.
It is all about control of the electorate.
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The intention is to drive farmers out of business.
The intention is to make food more expensive for the average consumer.
It is all about control of the electorate.
Well aren't we melodramatic today?
The intention is to address a negative externality associated with farming by imposing a pigovian tax. I can't say that it's the right amount, or even necessary since I'm not very familiar with the air pollution involved (anyone have more details about the supreme court case referenced in the article?) but I doubt it's all part of a giant scheme by Big Environment to make you eat soy beans.
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Can't we tax the smelly tourists that the good Senator complained of? =D
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Well aren't we melodramatic today?
Sounds to me like he's responding to the article:
The fee would cover the cost of a permit for the livestock operations. While farmers say it would drive them out of business, an organization supporting the proposal hopes it forces the farms and ranches to switch to healthier crops.
"It makes perfect sense if you are looking for ways to cut down on meat consumption and recoup environmental losses," said Bruce Friedrich, a spokesman in Washington for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.
Melodramatic is asshats classifying farts as pollution and as something that has to be regulated.
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No drama intended or necessary, ronnyreagan. My statements stem from years of observing the various participants and their behaviors, and listening to their oft-stated beliefs. And I don't believe I even mentioned "Big Environment". Who are they?
The intention is to address a negative externality associated with farming by imposing a pigovian tax.
Now, that was funny! =D
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Looks like somebody wants to buy a lot of farm land at depression time prices.
I'd be more inclined to guess it's yet another way the PETA parasites are trying to make meat prohibitively expensive for the commoners.
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I'd be more inclined to guess it's yet another way the PETA parasites are trying to make meat prohibitively expensive for the commoners.
I can easily switch over from cow/pork to PETA-vegan...I bet there is a bit more trouble to butchering them, but they ought to taste just fine =D.
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I blame Wickard.
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So they want to tax producers of meat products because of smells the animals produce. Global baloneyists want a tax on methane production because methane is a more potent greenhouse gas than is carbon dioxide.
So what the idiots do when the figger out the the earth farts.
http://www.nature.com/news/2008/081203/full/news.2008.1275.html
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Naughty Viking, naughty! =D
On second thought, though lean, I'll bet they're tough and stringy.
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So they want to tax producers of meat products because of smells the animals produce. Global baloneyists want a tax on methane production because methane is a more potent greenhouse gas than is carbon dioxide.
So what the idiots do when the figger out the the earth farts.
http://www.nature.com/news/2008/081203/full/news.2008.1275.html
Maybe "Global warming" will fix that (if there was such a thing).
Vegans are known to pass a lot more gas than meat eaters, too. Maybe we should tax them for their "carbon emissions"? =D
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Naughty Viking, naughty! =D
On second thought, though lean, I'll bet they're tough and stringy.
Marinade solves that, plus it'll give the meat a fantastic flavour :laugh:. Mmmm, salt, lemon, garlic & chili sounds just fine for this, don't you think? =D
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I don't raise cattle, but I know a lot of people who do.
The general rule of thumb is that it takes about a 100 cows to sorta support a family. Look at the math. Depending on the price, a hundred market steers/calves might bring $600-$1000 each. So that's $60K-$100K per year gross - minus of course, calving losses, losses to predators, feed supplements, inoculations, buying or raising hay for winter feed, maintaining fences and other infrastructure, land taxes, cost of pickups, atv's, and/or horses to work with the cattle, plus whatever else the farmopoly of life throws at you (floods, drought, lightning, rustlers, etc).
I'm guessing you might be really lucky to clear $30K on a good year, in return for working most of 365 days of the year. Plus side is you get to write off the 1950's house you live in.
Out here, to run that 100 cow/calf pairs you need about 40 acres per pair or 4000 acres (almost 7 sections or square miles), plus land to grow your own hay and room for house, corrals, hay barns, equipment barns, bull pasture, horse pasture, etc. Since I don't do it myself I'm probably leaving out a lot of stuff that you need.
And this is all rough, rocky, and rolling range land (except maybe for the tiny percentage that is irrigated hay meadow) that can't be put to any other production except for deer, antelope, rabbits, and a few scrubby pine trees.
So - tell me again how this isn't intended to shut down every dairy farmer and beef rancher in the USA ...? :mad:
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And people wonder if "gun control" will be a priority for the Obama Administration! :lol: =D
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And people wonder if "gun control" will be a priority for the Obama Administration! :lol: =D
Well, it will have to be if they think they are going to enforce this one :O
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I wonder how many farmers have this number of cattle? I honestly don't know.
My guess is that it's aimed at huge factory farms. These things are especially large and stinky for miles around.
I doubt it was meant to affect the average small to medium size farmers, wether or not it actually does is another matter.
My experience with ranchers out west is about the same as Tallpine's. Most of the small-time ranches around my area have well over 100 head of cattle. Some of the medium-sized operations may have several times that amount.
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What this would amount to is in effect a taking of property without compensation or due process, since the proposed tax is prohibitive. :mad:
So then I suppose the enviro-greenies will be happy when the ranchers are forced to sell their land for subdivisions instead of maintaining them as open space and wildlife habitat...? :rolleyes:
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I propose that anyone supporting this dumbass idea starve to death.
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Every member of the family should own "a farm." With the maximum number of critters.
I've been trying to talk my club president into introducing a "poison pigpen" resolution into our club's bylaws: If the club is forced out of existence, it will be turned over to pig farming.
Which the nice neighbors will _really_ not like.
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What this would amount to is in effect a taking of property without compensation or due process, since the proposed tax is prohibitive. :mad:
So then I suppose the enviro-greenies will be happy when the ranchers are forced to sell their land for subdivisions instead of maintaining them as open space and wildlife habitat...? :rolleyes:
They'll do anything to kill the way of life of people they don't approve of. Enviroment comes second to the fact that they can crush (or attempt to crush) all of "those stupid inbred gun-toting yokels".
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I wonder how many farmers have this number of cattle? I honestly don't know.
A dairy with 25 cows wouldn't be able to produce enough milk to justify having it picked up before it would spoil.
Bear in mind that the bulk price of milk is about $.03/gallon delivered, (so that's still significantly more than the dairy gets) and each cow averages (over the course of a year) about 60lbs - less than 10 gallons - a day. That's $0.30/day/cow or $7.50/day for 25 cows.
My family has always had about a dozen just to keep something grazing the land, but our neighbor is more of a hobby-rancher, and still maintains a beef herd of around 75-100.
Hogs, I don't know about. Feral ones are a nuisance here, so we just shoot them and eat them.
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So then I suppose the enviro-greenies will be happy when the ranchers are forced to sell their land for subdivisions instead of maintaining them as open space and wildlife habitat...? :rolleyes:
Yes.
Then the lefties can move into those new zero-lotline subdivisions, buy plastic dreamcatchers and other plastic faux Native Americana and pretend that they've fled from the soulless city to live on the open plains.
Which they do.
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Naughty Viking, naughty! =D
Actually, I think Viking made what could be termed . . . a modest proposal (rimshot . . . :laugh: )
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Most of the people with cows where I grew up only had them to qualify for the Ag exemption on property taxes. Those would likely fall under this limit. Anyone who raises cows for any sort of attempt at profit or support would likely go over it. It takes a whole lot of cows to make a living and a whole lot more to make any money.
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The folks on the coasts probably think that they also truck in the feed to the farms... And I'm guessing they probably think the feed is made in factories...
IMHO, every high school class should have a "farm to meat packing plant" day. See where your food comes from.
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IMHO, every high school class should have a "farm to meat packing plant" day. See where your food comes from.
Ain't it the truth. We have the better part of an entire generation who no concept of where food come from. Chicken and beef come from the grocery store in a little tray covered with a plastic wrap. Milk comes from down the isle in white or yellow plastic jug. No concept of how it gets to to the plastic. No concept of what it takes to produce food. Once upon a time in my life most kids had a passing knowledge of food production because mom and dad gardened. Even that is going away. Do not even ask about canning or freezing vegetables.
Mike Rowe of "Dirty Jobs" fame has done us all a service by casting light on dirty, unknown, but essential jobs. Would that someone come up with a similar program for food production.
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The folks on the coasts probably think that they also truck in the feed to the farms... And I'm guessing they probably think the feed is made in factories...
IMHO, every high school class should have a "farm to meat packing plant" day. See where your food comes from.
We went on a field trip to a dairy in junior high (also to the sewer plant that same day I think ... :rolleyes:)
I tried to get my best friend to ask them how many steers they keep for breeding purposes =D
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Ain't it the truth. We have the better part of an entire generation who no concept of where food come from. Chicken and beef come from the grocery store in a little tray covered with a plastic wrap. Milk comes from down the isle in white or yellow plastic jug. No concept of how it gets to to the plastic. No concept of what it takes to produce food. Once upon a time in my life most kids had a passing knowledge of food production because mom and dad gardened. Even that is going away. Do not even ask about canning or freezing vegetables.
Mike Rowe of "Dirty Jobs" fame has done us all a service by casting light on dirty, unknown, but essential jobs. Would that someone come up with a similar program for food production.
We occasionally have school-classes on field trips at my place of work (slaughterhouse). I've never seen anything as pathetic as the kids (yes, I'm old at 23, and they are 16-19) who look terrified, covering their mouths/noses, and occasionally faces completely, or simply looks down on the floor (which has it's own way to terrify you though). Where the HELL did they think bacon, pork chops & beef came from in the first place? Bacon-bushes? Pork chop-trees? :rolleyes:
Idiots, the lot of them, with a few exceptions...
Agree with you regarding Mike Rowe. We need him, or somebody like him, to show the ignorants where the food comes from...
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I agree.
With so many animals that take up very little room and little cost, I'm surprised we don't see more of it. Perhaps we will depending just how hard the economy gets?
It's been a bear trying to convince my future wife to agree with us raising meet rabbits and some goats after we get married and have our own home. Both animals take up little room and are very economical to raise and slaughter your own. And especially small animals like rabbits and guinea pigs are common in other parts of the world even in urban settings.
If my kids don't know where meat comes from, I'll feel like I have failed at something.
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Try to understand: WE and the American nation are not part of the "environment" the EPA wants to protect.
These are men of wax who live in sanctimonious, ideological theorizing. If the U.S. economy has to be destroyed in the interest of holiness, well, no problem.
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The Federal and various state governments already subsidize dairy farmers and dairy processors to keep the cost of milk down.
Milk and other dairy, consumed by children, that is. How PC is this now?
Nuff said.
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I suggest we tax, heavily, whatever we find in Waxman's or Barney Frank's briefcase and car trunk.
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The Federal and various state governments already subsidize dairy farmers and dairy processors to keep the cost of milk down.
Milk and other dairy, consumed by children, that is. How PC is this now?
Nuff said.
May I refer you to the thread where PETA tried to get Ben & Jerry's ice cream to use breast milk?
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I wonder how many farmers have this number of cattle? I honestly don't know.
My guess is that it's aimed at huge factory farms. These things are especially large and stinky for miles around.
I doubt it was meant to affect the average small to medium size farmers, wether or not it actually does is another matter.
Neighbor across the road has 350 head of dairy cattle, milked twice a day, putting out 80 - 100 lbs of milk / cow / day. Farms about 1800 acres total and has at least 3 other farmers with smaller herds (his cows) doing custom milking and another farmer that does custom calving... Custom calving being that all of the cows that give birth.. the calves are sent to another farm to be weened and either rotated into the herd or sold for beef.
You do the math @ $175 / head.
I would consider my neighbor a mid sized farmer in Southern Michigan and a puny farmer as you head West toward the Mississippi.
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huge factory farms. These things are especially large and stinky for miles around.
Right outside the little Texas town where my dad lives is a huge feedlot. You can see the feed elevators from 20+ miles away.
And yes, you can smell it for miles around. In that part of the country, it is the smell of money :P
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May I refer you to the thread where PETA tried to get Ben & Jerry's ice cream to use breast milk?
I think it was a deliberate joke put up by PETA.
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I think it was a deliberate joke put up by PETA.
Impossible. Liberal extremists have no sense of humor.
"No ma'am. We at PETA have no sense of humor we are aware of"
(with apologies to Men in Black)
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"I think it was a deliberate joke put up by PETA."
No, it wasn't a joke.
Nor was it a joke when PETA came out with their "Got Beer?" campaign aimed directly at getting college students to stop drinking milk.
And let's not forget Ingrid Newkirk's position on the subject...
"A rat is a dog is a pig is a boy."
That's right, a rat and a child are morally equal.
Everyone knows that the dog is superior to the others, followed by the pig. After that, who cares...
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I suggest we tax, heavily, whatever we find in Waxman's or Barney Frank's briefcase and car trunk.
Latex, batteries, NAMBLA literature, and the complete DVD set for the TV show "Queer Eye"?
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Nor was it a joke when PETA came out with their "Got Beer?" campaign aimed directly at getting college students to stop drinking milk.
Wait, ad campaigns are now required to persuade college students to drink beer? Not to drink a given kind of beer, but to drink beer in general?
I thought a conscious effort was necessary to PREVENT them from drinking.
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I think it was a deliberate joke put up by PETA.
I think it was Peta is a deliberate joke put up by PETA.
Fixed.
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The folks on the coasts probably think that they also truck in the feed to the farms... And I'm guessing they probably think the feed is made in factories...
IMHO, every high school class should have a "farm to meat packing plant" day. See where your food comes from.
<rant on>
The people I work with are of the type that have literally no conception of where the things they buy come from, beyond "the store". When you buy a gallon of milk, you don't see the dairy farm, the milking machinery, the diesel trucks, the pasteurizing equipment, the logistic distribution companies, the oil and oil wells that fuel the process, the natural gas being pumped, shipped and formed into plastic jugs.
And, that's just on the surface. All of this equipment was manufactured by people... Smart people with incentive to create. People mined the iron ore, smelted it by burning mined coal to form steel, which had to be cast into forms - these forms had to be stamped, pressed, turned, milled, hardened and ground, then shipped to a factory where they are assembled into finished products. All of this is required for a farmer to get a motor/ball bearing/piping/etc to keep his dairy operation running.
The sheer level of industry and manufacturing that keeps everything running is astounding. People take it for granted, that they can always go get a gallon of milk at the grocery store for a few dollars. But that milk does just appear - it takes land, energy, smart people and motivation for them to take risks.
This is why I firmly believe the best thing government can do is to let the free market work, and stay the heck out of the way of these entrepreneurs. Of course, it won't. Government won't stop until there is no land to use, no energy to put to use, and no motivation to work.
</rant on>
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Every member of the family should own "a farm." With the maximum number of critters.
I've been trying to talk my club president into introducing a "poison pigpen" resolution into our club's bylaws: If the club is forced out of existence, it will be turned over to pig farming.
Which the nice neighbors will _really_ not like.
You, Sir, are a freaking genius.
Mike Rowe of "Dirty Jobs" fame has done us all a service by casting light on dirty, unknown, but essential jobs. Would that someone come up with a similar program for food production.
When we have a TV*, that is my favorite show, bar none.
"...make civilized life possible." Amen, brother.
* Periodically, I remove the TV from the living room into the garage, where it collects dust. I just don't like the way the kids get mesmerized by the infernal thing.
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I've waited to read all this thread to make the following statement:
Is the tax prorated?
There are a lot of people who only keep cattle for a portion of their life span. So what plans has the government for this?
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I assumed this was an annual tax ???
A beef steer has a pretty short lifespan :O
A good mama cow OTOH might last 9 or 10 years.
One cow per 40 acres don't smell much. Though like I said to those of us in cattle country, manure smells like money.
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We don't have civilization; what we have is pampered ignorance.
Our lack of general awareness of How Life Is is a sign of arrested development, not true evolution. No wonder we are increasinglyl screwed up.
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Neighbor across the road has 350 head of dairy cattle, milked twice a day, putting out 80 - 100 lbs of milk / cow / day.
$0.375/day/cow if he's delivering the milk to a bulk user himself. (not likely) $131.25/day if all produce every day. Just under $4k/month. $24.61/hr before expenses if he's doing all the work himself, with no benefits, and somehow doing it in 40hr work weeks. He could do better to bag groceries at the local supermarket, and yet this is the guy they're trying to tax out of existence because of his "greed."
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$0.375/day/cow if he's delivering the milk to a bulk user himself. (not likely) $131.25/day if all produce every day. Just under $4k/month. $24.61/hr before expenses if he's doing all the work himself, with no benefits, and somehow doing it in 40hr work weeks. He could do better to bag groceries at the local supermarket, and yet this is the guy they're trying to tax out of existence because of his "greed."
7 full time employees... to both milk and take care of the herd as well as do the rest of the cash crop and feed farming. Milk truck (dairy association owned) arrives every morning... 7 days a week.
They grow their own feed (Corn silage and alfalfa mix) as well as supplement with distillers grain and long stem hay and so on and so forth. Dairy diets vary by cow age, point in lactation cycle, etc... Cost to fill the silage bunker with corn silage alone ran $23,000 this year. Plus the 3 cuttings of alfalfa that went in there... Not to mention seed and fuel costs, fertilizer and NH3 costs, and so on and so forth...
Only saving grace of most farmers at this time with out of sight input and fuel costs is that commodities were high and allowed for some good forward contracting. Milk prices have been up but have pulled back some now.
There isn't a new piece of equipment on this farm... Everything is well maintained and most of the tractors are late 60's / early 70's vintage equipment. Keep costs down and spend the money where it's needed most..
They keep their heads above water and do alright in the end... Smart folk (College Educated even) who run a tight and even keeled ship, 3rd generation on the place.
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We had a rancher friend in Colorado that told me that his newest tractor was a 1950-something.
For "bale wagons" he bought old 2-ton trucks and stripped the cabs off of them.
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/12/AR2008121203026.html?hpid=moreheadlines
WASHINGTON -- The nation's farms no longer have to report to authorities the toxic, smelly fumes released from manure.
The Bush administration late Friday completed a regulation exempting farms from reporting releases of hazardous air pollution to federal, state and local authorities. The rule applies specifically to the gases from manure that are often responsible for odor problems.
The Environmental Protection Agency said that the changes will allow responders to focus on spills and releases that require their attention. But environmentalists say the rule will make it difficult to track air pollution problems at farms.
Large farms with hundreds of dairy cows or thousands of pigs will still have to report to local and state authorities.
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/12/AR2008121203026.html?hpid=moreheadlines
WASHINGTON -- The nation's farms no longer have to report to authorities the toxic, smelly fumes released from manure.
The Bush administration late Friday completed a regulation exempting farms from reporting releases of hazardous air pollution to federal, state and local authorities. The rule applies specifically to the gases from manure that are often responsible for odor problems.
The Environmental Protection Agency said that the changes will allow responders to focus on spills and releases that require their attention. But environmentalists say the rule will make it difficult to track air pollution problems at farms.
Large farms with hundreds of dairy cows or thousands of pigs will still have to report to local and state authorities.
Anyone think this may be changed after the new administration is installed in January?
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"It makes perfect sense if you are looking for ways to cut down on meat consumption and recoup environmental losses," said Bruce Friedrich, a spokesman in Washington for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.
This is pandering to the Far Left, plain and simple. This kind of stuff is going to happen on a regular for the next 2-4 years as the various Far Left special interest groups line up with their non-denominational, non-offensive winter holiday wish lists in hand.
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I'd propose if they are that worried about it they are welcome to collect all the methane for power generation and keep the proceeds.
Recycle, aint that what the greenies are all about?