Have you heard about the Subway announcement? The restaurant chain announced earlier last week they will only serve meat never treated with antibiotics, starting with a phase-in process in 2016.
The announced caused quite a ruckus on social media as many farmers and those in agriculture wrote blog posts, shared Facebook statuses, and Tweeted about the announcement. Some hated it, some took the opportunity to share how they treat their own animals on their own farms, others declared that Subway was doing what any company would do – trying to get a leg up on its competition.
Regardless of whether you agree with the announcement or not, it became clear that agriculture’s voice had some impact because Subway issued a clarification of its announcement a few days later. You can read more about that on my personal blog here at noatz.com
In midst of all this activity last week, I was working on several videos about turkey farming. As I viewed final drafts of videos on bird health, feed and nutrition, manure management, and more, it brought this situation with Subway even closer and reiterated the importance for all of us in agriculture to make sure we’re showing consumers what we do on the farm and why we do it.
Some of us blog, some of us have Facebook pages or a Twitter account, some of us speak to schools and community groups, some of us have conversations with folks at church. All of this counts for something and helps close the ever-widening gap between consumers and our food production system.
On a personal level, I dislike the fear-over-facts mentality that seems to be gripping marketing departments and social media these days, but ultimately we are all consumers, farmers included, and we must continue to make positive connections with each other so that we all have a better understanding of why the U.S has the safest food supply in the world.
You can view the Minnesota Turkey Growers Association video – “Turkey Tracks: A Focus on Bird Health” . I hope you find it useful enough to share with others.
If you ever have any questions about poultry, please know you are welcome to utilize any of these resources:
Domestic Animal Keeping
With the introduction of the Local Government Act 1999, several By-Laws that previously related to the keeping of poultry, bees etc were revoked. Under this revised Local Government Act, the keeping of domestic animals is now covered in a far more general way by Order Making powers.
This new approach does not set out specific guidelines but rather is assessed on a ‘case by case’ situation. The important components of keeping domestic animals is not to allow a situation to develop that creates a nuisance, a danger or a health risk to your neighbours.
The keeping of excessive numbers of animals, the generation of dust, noise or odours, the keeping of aggressive animals or the attraction of vermin and pests all need to be avoided.
For anyone contemplating the keeping of animals or who may already have animals, the following important points should be kept in mind:
• locate pens, runs, cages etc as far away as possible from adjoining houses
• if keeping poultry, provide concrete flooring to any roosting/nesting areas
• ensure all roosting/nesting areas are adequately enclosed to provide animals with protection from the weather
• do not overstock the area available for animal keeping
• avoid the temptation to have a rooster or any other animal that generates a lot of noise
• ensure all food storage containers for the animals are vermin and insect proof and kept clean
• do not over feed animals as excessive feed will attract vermin and pests
• regularly change the water in drink containers to avoid mosquito breeding
• all pens, runs, cages etc should be regularly cleaned and maintained
• any table scraps fed to the animals and not eaten within twenty four hours should be removed to help prevent fly and vermin attraction
• spread straw around pens, runs, cages etc to absorb animal droppings and prevent fly breeding; this straw can turn into a great mulch for your garden
• the keeping of poultry, ducks etc on smaller sized allotments should be avoided
• some human diseases are transmitted via animals and so always wash your hands vigorously after attending to your pets
• ALWAYS keep in mind that the animals you keep should not inconvenience your neighbours
Should you need any clarification of the above points or want to discuss in general terms the domestic keeping of animals, please contact staff of Council’s Health and Public Safety Department.
noatz.com
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