Now, you can get that prescription filled. You can take your kid and the medicine home and give it to them and they will miraculously get better. Or, you can walk out of the doctor's office, call that doc a quack, take your kid home and watch your kid either self heal or die because their lungs can't function properly. I'm not saying every case of pneumonia will kill someone, but what I am saying, is that left untreated, it can. It can keep you from getting enough oxygen to your organs. Nothing good comes from that. Or, fluid could accumulate around the lungs and that calls for drain tubes and hospital stays. You could get bacteria in your bloodstream. (All of this info is coming from Mayo clinic website, under complications of pneumonia.)
If you take your kiddo to the doctor and they give you medicine and you chose not to use it and your child dies from the illness, what do you think would happen? Or, what if you didn't take your child to the doctor at all and they lose their life over it? It would be sad, but would DHS come for your other children? Would you be charged with neglect? Endangering the welfare of a minor? I don't know. You never know. There have been people lose custody of their children for not properly treating illness.
There are very few people, sane ones anyway, that would deny antibiotics for their family if they are sick. You want your people to be healthy.
And just like you want your people to be healthy, farmer's also want their animals to be healthy.
Animals were put on the Earth for a purpose. We are to care for them, but they are a source of food. They were put here to feed us and farmers were put here to assist in that. But, that doesn't mean that farmers don't see value in their animals or love their animals.
The fact is we do. If anyone walks out of their home every morning with the purpose of feeding the world, they don't see just the money or a meal. They walk out of their door knowing they have a purpose and a job to do. Farmers walk out their door with faith because there are very few factors they can control on their farm. The weather, feed prices, pay price for what they grow, are all things we have to make do with. We can't control how good a crop turns out or if lighting strikes half the herd. We can't control all of the illness in our animals. But we can treat them.
Antibiotics cost money. We don't just walk around with syringes full of medications "pumping" our animals full of it. That would be a waste of money and animal. In more than one way. Any animal treated with antibiotics has to be kept out of the food supply for a specific period of time so they can be well and all of the medicine is out of their system. If we treat a cow with pneumonia or mastitis with an antibiotic, every drop of milk that cow produces will be disposed of. It does NOT go into the milk tank. If a beef cow is treated with antibiotics, it must be kept out of the food supply until the antibiotics are out of its system.
Wait. Hang on. Am I saying that there is NO antibiotics in meat? That the labeling is unnecessary? That you are getting one pulled over on you by companies that make claims and then raise their prices because, well, someone has to pay for that "non-GMO, antibiotic free, hormone free" food? Yep. That is exactly what I am saying.
That goes against the entire narrative that is being pushed doesn't it?
Let me ask you something. The information you see on the interwebs about antibiotics in our food, is it coming from a farmer? A large animal vet? Anyone qualified to give out said information? Is it coming from a blog or a meme or a group with an agenda that you probably don't see because they aren't transparent?
If you don't treat your child and your child dies that is NOT okay. If I have sick animals and I don't treat them that is NOT okay.
Take a look at something for me. The groups that are all about animal rights aren't all about animal welfare. Those are 2 different things, aren't they? Farmers are all about animal welfare. We want to treat a sick animal that is in our care as best we can. Sometimes that is to give them antibiotics so they can get better. Without that treatment, that animal will die. They will lay down and labor to breathe. They will die an agonizing death. Do people really expect the farmer that cares for these animals to just sit back and watch that? To do nothing? Just because someone said that treating animals with antibiotics is bad? Yes. People do expect that because a talking head on the internet or TV told them they should. And that is personal.
So, Subway and Chipotle and all the other restaurants that are caving to the con that is being pulled on them have lost my business. Spreading the fear and lies that farmers don't care properly for their animals is beyond ludicrous. Listening to people that are unqualified to make these claims over the voice of a farmer is a personal attack on myself and all other farmers.
If you don't think there is an attack being made on animal agriculture you live under a rock. There are many groups out to end animal agriculture and they are willing to go to any lengths to make that happen. Lies, deceit, collecting your dollars that you generously give and using those dollars to further an agenda they are hiding in the fine print. Then you buy into the bologna from the people with TV shows and book deals and diet plans that make claims they have no business making. You think those folks aren't making a pretty penny with their fear mongering and bull? You better believe they are. Not only that, they are conning you into buying certain brands because of a label that entitles them to charge you a little bit more.
Ask yourself this question. Who is winning in this deal? You? No. Farmers? Certainly not. The guru? The author? The TV person? More than anyone....those last 3 are getting something out of the fear mongering that the rest of us are missing out on.
The United States has the safest food in the world. We have an abundant, affordable supply. Those are things advocates are supposed to say. We say them over and over. The thing is, we are telling the truth. Our message never changes because it is true.
The folks pushing their own agenda about antibiotics and hormones in the food supply have something to gain. Farmers have to farm so we can eat. We farm differently than we used to because we have to change with the times. We have to be successful or we are all going to starve. That doesn't mean that we are mistreating our animals. We are giving them the same care that you would want for your people. We treat them because we care about them. We care about consumers because we are consumers. We eat what we produce.
I'm going to encourage you to talk to farmers. Ask the people that get up every morning with the purpose of feeding you. Do not google a self proclaimed "expert" on the subject before you find a real expert. Farmers aren't trained in everyday PR, but you better believe that the "experts" are. Farmers don't have an angle or a spin. Farmers do what they do. And that is feed America by taking care of their animals, by caring for them with every resource available to them. Our animals become more than a paycheck or a meal. Our animals are our livelihoods and our way of life. They teach us as much about life as the people in it.
If you think it would be horrific to leave a child or family member with a treatable illness untreated, please realize that we feel the same about leaving our animals untreated. Don't buy into the deceit and popular marketing out there.
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