Animal welfare: the right thing to do

I applied, and thankfully was accepted, for the National Beef Speakers Bureau.  The program is an exceptional fit for my passions and interests considering I am a fourth generation Arizona beef producer.  I am excited to have the opportunity to share why and how beef should be a part of an individuals day.  I am also thankful for my supportive husband who is currently holding down the fort with our 14-year old, 9-month old and flock of ewes who just started our early lambing season.  My man is quite the catch.  And I love him all the more for supporting me like this!

I am at a 3-day training for this year long commitment and I wanted to share a Temple Grandin quote with you that was shared with our group during a meeting with a group of individuals who oversee quality assurance, animal welfare and food safety for JBS - one of the world's largest protein suppliers. For those of you who may not know, Temple Grandin revolutionized animal handling methods to make them more humane and low stress.  She said, "I think using animals for food is an ethical thing to do, but we've got to do it right.  We've got to give those animals a decent life, and we've got to give them a painless death.  We owe the animals respect."

If you think using animals for food is unethical, well, I don't know what to say to you because we are on opposite sides of the fence because I don't believe that consuming animal proteins is an ethical issue.  However, I come from the camp that thinks using animals for food brings purpose to their life and abundant blessing to ours as humans.  I appreciate the good things that harvesting animals brings to my life like a nutritious protein source and many useful by-products.  In saying that though, I believe that treating animals with respect as we harvest them is the right thing to do and Temple Grandin said it very well.

I look forward to learning more during our training and will hopefully take some time to share the information with you.  I would love to hear from you if you  have questions about modern beef production.  What are your thoughts on how beef is produced today and what concerns do you have?