OT--Horses

I heard on the news Sunday that Farm Bureau is trying to change law (federal) so a horse slaughter house can be started in the states. The reason is there is no place to dispose of horses that die from all causes and the horse population (wild) is getting out of hand and no way of lowering it. In this part of the country you can't get rid of any dead cattle either if you don't have a place to bury them.

It's about time. There have been reports of tame horses being turned out on Federal property out west. Serves the Feds right for making that stupid law to begin with.

KEH

The horse slaughter law went into law just a year or two ago. Since then horses have been shipped to canada and mexico for processing. The value of horses is next to nothing now cause there is nothing to do with them, and shipping is expensive. Have heard its a good idea to keep your pasture gates locked cause people are looking to get rid of their horses now the the economy is bad. You can thank peta and the humane society of the united states for the law. Now i hear they are pushing to make it illeagel to ship horses off to to canada and mexico. So yes the FB is for the reopening of processing facility in the US.

I agree. The news said they catch thousands every fall and try to find homes for them. This fall they had over 30,000 located in pens around the country that weren't sold from previous years.

Not to change the subject ? but my aunt lived near Seattle, Wa. during WWII and the meat was rationed. So they could by ground horse meat at the market that wasn't rationed. She said it didn't taste too bad.

It bothers me went laws so unreasonable like this are passed...let glue and dog food be made out of horses...why can't a dog eat horse when we eat beef?...makes no sense....We really need to get a handle on some these nonsense laws...like "oh there could be an endangered bat on your land, so do nothing with your land, even though you own it", and don't forget to pay your property taxes, etc....When you hear of laws like this...it makes you wonder where we are heading in this country...gun control...who does that control...the criminals...no they don't obey the law do they...dah! I better quit, starting to get on a soapbox....Reaver

There is currently a bill before the Montana Legislature to open a horse slaughterhouse in the State; of course, PETA is diametrically opposed.

local people here had 3 horses for sale in pen by highway, 4 days later there were 4 in the pen

It's pretty bad in South MO. in the Ozarks, people turning them loose on National forest ground.

I think we should start a collection facility and gather them up and haul them all to the nearest PETA property.


Gene

Hey Gene - Any PETA places down by Branson? Maybe I could talk my wife and daughter into tradin horses for a vacation! Probably wouldn't work though, but I would pull the trailer!

There is no real reason for horse slaughter to be illegal, except for some people's sentiments. They are livestock, though in this country they are considered as pets more than anything else. As far as the Bureau of Land Management horses, they could probably sell more if they didn't have a whole book of restrictions on how you keep them. I looked into it once, but with all their rules I could have bought a regular horse for less money and less trouble.

At a grange meeting one older lady to us a story of how during the depression one of the men at a work site had meat every day for lunch. When the others asked what kind of meat do you have today. He said chicken. The others asked where are you getting all this chicken all the time and he said there is a lot of chicken running around out there, it goes meow.

Growing up, I ate plenty of horse meat. If I remember rite, it is higher in protein then beef.

While a run of the mill horse is still dirt cheap, this time last year there was no hay for sale in this part of the state and any trucked in was way high priced. There were alot of adds in the paper for horses "free to good home".

They found I think 8 near a town just north of here a few weeks ago that some one had just turned out. I have always had people drop dogs off near the house but times are pretty bad when the they start dump'n horses.

Dave

Branson? I dont go there, that's where "Steal-your-Dollar-City" is.


We did actually quit going there for about 20 years. The traffic got so bad and when the kids were grown we didn't go to Silver Dollar City any longer. I think they have kinda cured or at least helped the traffic situation now.


Gene

It's not so much the slaughter as it is the way they are (were) treated up to the point in the past. Probably a lot of pets stolen and sold also. Horses are slaughtered here and the meat is processed into everything that hogs or beef is used for. Just can't be mixed or sold from the same stand. Packages and stands have to be clearly marked that it is horse meat. When I first got here, I had a bratwurst and a chunk of salami cause I didn't know what the German word for horse was (didn't taste bad either).
We also have places that dispose of dead animals. You can drop them off for a fee or pay a buck a year per animal (up to a set # then a flat fee) per year and you just have to call and a truck comes to pick them up for free. I've seen a couple of horses put to sleep by a vet and it'll never happen on our place. You can't shoot them yourself either. A butcher is the most humane way of putting an animal down and having it processed is a lot more respectful than having a truck come with a big fork that dumps them into a truckload of other stuff and hauled off to be ground up and boiled. The PETA freaks are just that, freaks.



Dave

the Bureau of Land Management has restrictions on adopting these horses to protect the horse from ignorant people. These horses are wild and have to be contained like a wild animal until they are gentled. ie: high wood or steel fence.,,transport them home in a stock type trailer,,provide a run-in shelter,, and no history of animal abuse by adopter.