We have a female miniature donkey in with the Horned Dorset sheep in the barn and small pasture behind our home for novelty and protection from local coyotes. Our friends have several donkeys and dwindling pasture, so we decided it would be a win-win by bringing a male from their place to our barn. They could give their pasture a break while we could hopefully (eventually) gain a cute baby donkey.
Before the male was even unloaded from the trailer, the female donkey in our pasture was showing a lot of interest in her new companion. By the time the male’s hooves hit the ground it was clear that the interest was mutual. All of the specifics of the situation were accompanied by a lot of kicking, biting, maneuvering and a series of eardrum-ringing donkey love bellows that alerted the northwestern corner of the county to the goings on at the Reese home.
It was a beautiful summer evening with cool temperatures inspiring us to open every window in the house to let in the pleasant breeze. Despite the perfect summer weather, sleep was scarce for us that night, however, thanks to the deafening soundtrack of the ongoing barn romance. “Heeeee-Haaaawwww.”
The next morning, I took our young daughter out to give the donkeys their morning treat, though the donkeys seemed more intent on treating themselves. As the donkeys once again began their ritual, we dropped the treats and I turned to run back inside trying to shield my daughter from the spectacle. Half-sobbing, half-laughing she kept saying,
“Oh no. Oh no. Oh no Daddy.”
The following several days and nights were comprised of extensive repeat performances of the persistent donkeys. In short, these animals were behaving like, well, animals. In fact, all of the animals on our small farm act pretty much as expected. We have some meat chickens that eat, drink and flock together; we have sheep that follow each other around and graze all day; we have a dog that barks at cars and fetches sticks; and we have some tomcats that go roaming about, but are sure to return home to fight amongst themselves and eat their food.
For millennia, farmers have studied the behavior of their livestock to better care for them and meet their needs so that the animals can more effectively serve their purposes of providing food and fiber. With rules being considered for regulating animal care and welfare being considered around the country, it only makes sense that those who understand animals are the best ones to make these important decisions.
This is why the recent passage of Amended Senate Joint Resolution 6 (Am. SJR 6), which authorizes a statewide ballot measure to create an Ohio Livestock Care Standards Board, is so important. If Ohio voters approve the measure this November, it will establish a board of people involved with the livestock industry (including veterinarians, state agricultural leaders, a local Humane Society representative and farmers) that will determine and enforce guidelines for the care of livestock and poultry in the state.
If this board is not put in place to set the rules for Ohio’s animal agriculture, there are plenty of outsiders who are more than happy to try to set their own rules. It is no secret that an extreme animal welfare organization has plans for their own version of anti-meat animal care regulations on the Ohio ballot in 2010. Such regulations set by outsiders would severely cripple the state’s top industry of agriculture, hurt the Ohio economy, likely raise meat and egg prices for consumers, and limit consumer choices of Ohio-produced food.
Now it is up to those who favor agriculture, consumer choice, animal husbandry and high quality, safe Ohio-grown food to celebrate the fact that Am. SJR 6 is on the November ballot and vote “yes” when given the chance this fall. A “yes” vote on this measure will result in rules for the welfare of Ohio’s livestock and poultry that are created by the people who understand that animals are animals.
Matt Reese writes for Ohio’s Country Journal and lives in Baltimore, Ohio. For questions or comments, please contact him at mkcreese@yahoo.com. This column was brought to you by Ohio’s agricultural organizations.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Thursday, July 23, 2009
July 2009
Fresh Country Air
By Matt Reese
Several years ago, I was traveling in the Czech Republic and one of the top rules to remember was not to drink the water. While locals drank straight from the tap with no repercussions, we were warned that our weak American immune systems would be no match for the water that was somewhat dodgier than we were used to.
One evening I was particularly thirsty after a day of walking in the hot sun and a glass of water from the hotel room was pretty tempting. Being a stout-stomached young man with a rural Ohio background, I figured that just a little water would not hurt. Unfortunately for the trip, my assumption proved incorrect and led to some pretty undesirable consequences, especially since I didn’t know the local term for “Pepto-Bismol.”
We are fortunate in this country to have plenty of clean water, a clean environment and a level of food safety not enjoyed by most immune systems of the world. There is a current effort underway to set global standards for food safety around the world that, in most cases, U.S. food processors are already exceeding.
“Right now, there is a new global initiative for food safety standards,” said Dale Hart, director of food processing for Cooper Farms in northwest Ohio. “We already meet and exceed requirements and, for us, it is just a matter of doing the paperwork for certification. We just hope our overseas competitors live up to their end of the bargain. We have some concerns about that.”
Food safety is serious business at Cooper Farms, a leading wholesale supplier of pre-cooked and ready-to-cook turkey products to customers around the United States and in Mexico. From the live bird care through the purchase by the consumer, Cooper Farms takes extensive measures to ensure that their products are safe.
“We have a responsibility to provide safe food and we take a lot of pride in that. Our standards are actually tighter guidelines than the government requires,” Hart said. “We have six full-time employees in the food division just to handle certification, quantification and documentation of the food safety regulations we follow. When you look at the Cooper Farm team members for food safety, we have more than 30 people, aside from the top management, who are just monitoring and maintaining controls for food safety. Food safety is not taken lightly here.”
In addition to the Cooper Farms staff, the facilities are subject to rigorous and regular inspection from U.S. Department of Agriculture officials.
“Both of our processing locations are inspected and governed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. There are four people onsite during the day at one site and at the other site they have 24-hour access. During a harvest operation they practically live at the plant,” Hart said. “All of our plants have a Hazardous Analysis of Critical Control Points (HACCP) plan under USDA guidelines. We also have a team at each location that meets on a weekly basis to review our plan and to make sure that our controls are in place with regard to our HACCP plan.”
To go the extra mile with food safety, Cooper Farms has what they call “seek and find” teams that are comprised of people not trained in food safety to visually inspect the facilities from a consumer’s standpoint.
“Seek and find teams go out looking for any potentially unclean conditions that could lead to problems. They look for the things that may not be required and conditions that may look dirty. We do a lot of proactive work to be sure that our sanitation procedures and cleanliness are maintained,” Hart said. “We do this to make sure our story is true. It is not that we think it is clean. It is clean because everything we do is science based. We prove it is clean with numbers and we give it the seek and find test as well.”
Like countless other food processing businesses in the state and country, Cooper Farms goes the extra mile for food safety because they know that business depends on the safety of their food.
“We need to do this to make sure we are protecting our consumers and our business,” he said. “We always consider that what we are making today may be eaten by our grandmas.”
We are truly blessed to live in a country where our immune systems enjoy the world’s safest food supply and a meal (complete with a glass of water) does not require a side of Pepto-Bismol to keep your immune system in Czech.
Matt Reese writes for Ohio’s Country Journal and lives in Baltimore, Ohio. For questions or comments, please contact him at mkcreese@yahoo.com. This column was brought to you by Ohio’s agricultural organizations.
By Matt Reese
Several years ago, I was traveling in the Czech Republic and one of the top rules to remember was not to drink the water. While locals drank straight from the tap with no repercussions, we were warned that our weak American immune systems would be no match for the water that was somewhat dodgier than we were used to.
One evening I was particularly thirsty after a day of walking in the hot sun and a glass of water from the hotel room was pretty tempting. Being a stout-stomached young man with a rural Ohio background, I figured that just a little water would not hurt. Unfortunately for the trip, my assumption proved incorrect and led to some pretty undesirable consequences, especially since I didn’t know the local term for “Pepto-Bismol.”
We are fortunate in this country to have plenty of clean water, a clean environment and a level of food safety not enjoyed by most immune systems of the world. There is a current effort underway to set global standards for food safety around the world that, in most cases, U.S. food processors are already exceeding.
“Right now, there is a new global initiative for food safety standards,” said Dale Hart, director of food processing for Cooper Farms in northwest Ohio. “We already meet and exceed requirements and, for us, it is just a matter of doing the paperwork for certification. We just hope our overseas competitors live up to their end of the bargain. We have some concerns about that.”
Food safety is serious business at Cooper Farms, a leading wholesale supplier of pre-cooked and ready-to-cook turkey products to customers around the United States and in Mexico. From the live bird care through the purchase by the consumer, Cooper Farms takes extensive measures to ensure that their products are safe.
“We have a responsibility to provide safe food and we take a lot of pride in that. Our standards are actually tighter guidelines than the government requires,” Hart said. “We have six full-time employees in the food division just to handle certification, quantification and documentation of the food safety regulations we follow. When you look at the Cooper Farm team members for food safety, we have more than 30 people, aside from the top management, who are just monitoring and maintaining controls for food safety. Food safety is not taken lightly here.”
In addition to the Cooper Farms staff, the facilities are subject to rigorous and regular inspection from U.S. Department of Agriculture officials.
“Both of our processing locations are inspected and governed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. There are four people onsite during the day at one site and at the other site they have 24-hour access. During a harvest operation they practically live at the plant,” Hart said. “All of our plants have a Hazardous Analysis of Critical Control Points (HACCP) plan under USDA guidelines. We also have a team at each location that meets on a weekly basis to review our plan and to make sure that our controls are in place with regard to our HACCP plan.”
To go the extra mile with food safety, Cooper Farms has what they call “seek and find” teams that are comprised of people not trained in food safety to visually inspect the facilities from a consumer’s standpoint.
“Seek and find teams go out looking for any potentially unclean conditions that could lead to problems. They look for the things that may not be required and conditions that may look dirty. We do a lot of proactive work to be sure that our sanitation procedures and cleanliness are maintained,” Hart said. “We do this to make sure our story is true. It is not that we think it is clean. It is clean because everything we do is science based. We prove it is clean with numbers and we give it the seek and find test as well.”
Like countless other food processing businesses in the state and country, Cooper Farms goes the extra mile for food safety because they know that business depends on the safety of their food.
“We need to do this to make sure we are protecting our consumers and our business,” he said. “We always consider that what we are making today may be eaten by our grandmas.”
We are truly blessed to live in a country where our immune systems enjoy the world’s safest food supply and a meal (complete with a glass of water) does not require a side of Pepto-Bismol to keep your immune system in Czech.
Matt Reese writes for Ohio’s Country Journal and lives in Baltimore, Ohio. For questions or comments, please contact him at mkcreese@yahoo.com. This column was brought to you by Ohio’s agricultural organizations.
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