Livestock Today

Michael Wojahn - Windom, MN
I've been out of the pork industry for 10 years now, but remember well the years we raised hogs in outdoor, group housing here in Minnesota. The damage that hogs do to each other was always a concern. We never did move sows to crates, but did decrease the pen size to try to cut down on the fighting. Pigs are real pigs and will not be kept from fighting. I wrote about my past with pigs in my blog
http://minnesotafarm.wordpress.com/2012/03/23/pigs-are-well-pigs/
If I was still farrowing pigs today I'd most likely be in crates.
5:12 PM Apr 20th

kaylor - MI
Clyde's got it right. When hsus (they don't deserve caps) owns hogs they can manage them anyway they want. I wish they would, they might even learn a thing or two.

How is they think they can tell everybody what to do when they don't even know themselves. Their arrogance is only exceeded by their ignorance.

This is going to be an never-ending battle with these people. They have suckered people into believing they actually do good things for animals and have garnered millions in donations from people who think they are helping animals. They have the money to keep pushing this indefinitely.​
12:33 PM Apr 20th

swmnag - Marshall, MN
Also, as a former pig producer, I have seen the nastiness that happens when sows are reintroduced after weaning. It's a pecking order that is clearly established, and for the sow on the bottom, it can likely mean a death sentence. Is that cruel and abusive behavior? Hogs can be bullies. Look at school kids and the epidemic of bullying in the schools and what they are doing to try and stop it. It's no different for the hogs (except I have yet to see a hog commit suicide) and luckily, farmers have found a safe, but certainly not ideal way around the problem. And I always say that we are free to eat what we want, and if people do not want confined pigs, they will speak with their wallets. So far that isn't happening, and the pigs that are confined wouldn't exist if not for their intended purpose of mass reproduction and confinement.
1:06 PM Apr 19th

swmnag - Marshall, MN
To Ric Oghe, I couldn't read your entire post, but after reading what they are doing in MI my comment to that is, have you seen what kind of damage wild hogs do? This big movement to have free range hogs is having unintended consequences. When hogs get free, they live on their own and can create mass destruction to property. Just take a look at Texas. The have 2 TV shows dedicated to wild hog hunting. There are no known predators to hogs and they reproduce fast and in significant numbers. I have seen 2 documentaries on wild hogs in the past 2 years, and as a kid who grew up on a hog farm, you can clearly see that most of the hogs on the show are former domesticated hogs that escaped. Hogs are smart and survivors. I am not saying what they are doing is right in MI, but maybe there is more to the story than we know.
1:00 PM Apr 19th

Ric Ohge - Belmond, IA
So is this a reaction to that effort? this is a comment from another blog, but relays a scary scenario: Let's hope "Genetics Building" isn't code for an expansion of what's going on inside Senator Stabenow's home state of Michigan. This, article, though a bit "heavy-handed", is exactly correct in what it reports. As a result, PORK is off the Menu for me and everyone who has learned about this outrageous behavior. There is nothing more pathetic, ugly and insidious than a tyrannical government thug who uses his power to destroy the lives of law-abiding citizens. Today, we have witnessed the outrageous acts carried out by jack-booted scumbags in Michigan's Department of Natural Resources (DNR) who masterminded armed raids on two ranches in that state, all with the intention of shooting and killing traditional livestock and arresting ranchers as felons. This is part of Michigan's new "Invasive Species Order" which maliciously and unlawfully targets traditional pig livestock as an invasive species, based entirely on their hair color and other physical traits. (http://www.naturalnews.com/035372_Michigan_pigs_farm_freedom.html) According to our sources, the person behind this effort is DNR director Rodney A. Stokes (see contact information below). Rodney Stokes, we've been told, is the decision maker behind these armed raids on Michigan ranchers. He's the one who demands that traditional heritage pigs be slaughtered at gunpoint and that Michigan ranchers be arrested and charged as felons if they resist. In investigating this story, I called and left a message for the DNR's media contact, but he has so far failed to return my call. I am not necessarily expecting a return call, as experience has taught me that these cowards prefer to operate in darkness and quickly flee when someone with any real journalistic integrity begins to ask real questions. Forced to murder his own livestock This entire story stems from the DNR's forcing of Michigan small-scale pig ranchers to slaughter their own livestock or be arrested as felons. (Yes, you read that correctly.) Just this last week, one Michigan farmer was forced to shoot his own livestock in cold blood -- including twenty baby piglets and pregnant sows. As he says in his own words: "I was served a search warrant yesterday at 7: 45am. I have killed all my hogs. [DNR] gave me papers that say I do not have any hogs on my property. All they saw were dead hogs laying around from my mass slaughtering. It took 12 guys 4 times in there to kill all of them, sows with young, Pregnant sows, dozens of piglets, and old mature boars. It has been a sad few weeks. Does anyone know what it feels like to open fire on 20 baby piglets in one group which weigh between 5 lbs and 15 lbs. They are so adorable and cute. They commented to everyone that they never saw a fence built so tough and no way would a hog get out of this area." (www.BakersGreenAcres.com) This is directly a result of the orders of DNR director Rodney Stokes. NaturalNews has received word that many of the front-line DNR enforcement officers are completely opposed to this agenda put forth by Stokes. I will state here on the record that any DNR officers, employees or whistleblowers who wish to come forward with information about this case can contact NaturalNews with the complete assurance that their identity will be protected. You can reach us at this contact page. Obviously, do NOT use government computers to reach us or send us email, as that will be tracked. Do this from a public internet cafe using a hosted email address such as Gmail. Reach us through: http://www.naturalnews.com/newstips/NewsTips.asp We are specifically looking for whistleblowers who wish to step forward and expose the actions of Rodney Stokes or others who are directly responsible for the terrorizing of Michigan farmers. We will expose this information publicly, and we will aggressively defend the anonymity of our sources in order to see justice served. Michigan's DNR is out of control As anyone can see from the facts surrounding this case, the Michigan DNR is, under the "leadership" of Rodney Stokes, acting as a rogue government agency gone completely mad and now running across the countryside with the intent of murdering livestock and terrorizing farmers. As a freedom-loving American and strong advocate of common law, farm freedom and the rights of citizens to be free from such acts of government aggression against the People, I have called for the immediate arrest of those responsible for these illegitimate and utterly unjustified armed raids. At the very least, a criminal investigation needs to be initiated against the DNR and its director. Someone must resign over this fiasco for there to be even an inkling of justice served in this case. By the way, I also question just the basic I.Q. of the Michigan DNR about this whole issue of feral pigs. You know, here in Texas, we're smart enough to shoot the pigs running around OUTSIDE the fences (well not me personally, but others who actually shoot the pigs). But in Lansing, Michigan, where these city bureaucrats have apparently never even seen a farm, they're so stupid they think feral pigs can be eradicated by shooting pigs INSIDE the ranch fences! This is exactly -- precisely! -- what the DNR has done with farmers' pigs, which they claim are "feral" pigs. But that's no different than claiming your household dog is a "feral" dog. If it's domesticated in your house (or on your ranch, within the fences), then it's not feral, is it? It's domesticated. It's fenced in. Michigan's DNR argues that "your pigs MIGHT escape" into the wild, and therefore the state of Michigan has the right to come shoot all your pigs on sight, with no judge, no jury, no trial, no law, no due process and no opportunity for appeal! How's that for total, runaway tyranny in Michigan? If the DNR is not sharply rebuked for its outrageous actions of forcing farmers to shoot their own baby piglets in cold blood, there is no telling where this madness will end.Emboldened by the mass slaughter of pigs, DNR director Rodney Stokes could simply declare (like the Emperor) that cows are now an invasive species. Or goats. Sheep. Cats. Backyard chickens. Without any law being passed whatsoever, the DNR could simply invent its own new "directives" (exactly as happened in this case) and then use those directives as the quasi-legal justification to just run around the state using people's animals as target practice. And by God, the DNR front line agents would do what they were told, too! "We're just following orders!" they would say as they put a bullet in the head of your family dog. Such is the nature of tyranny -- there's always some poor sap willing to carry it out in exchange for a government paycheck and the promise of retirement benefits that they'll never receive because the state will be bankrupt long before that date ever arrives anyway. If government will not halt its own abuses of power, such tasks fall upon the People So the question right now is whether the Michigan government will reign in these outrageous abuses of power by the DNR -- a rogue, criminal agency operating right under the nose of Governor Rick Snyder. I urge you to contact the Governor (and other key state officials) using the contact information I'm publishing below. It's time to let these people hear what you think about their policy of the mass slaughter of pregnant pigs and baby pigs because of the ego-tripping power desires of its most insane departmental tyrants. If Michigan will not investigate itself and put an end to this tyranny, I fear the only solution to this will involve deputized citizens rising up against their state government and making these lawful and legal arrests on their own, without the assistance of government, if it comes to that. After all, when government becomes the criminal, there is no option left but to invoke the Constitutional right to keep and bear arms in a common defense of the People against tyranny. This is precisely what our founding fathers wrote about when they spoke of the "right to keep and bear arms" as well as the Fourth Amendment's protections against illegal search and seizure. In Michigan, we have now approached a decisive moment where either the government must investigate its own terrorist activites, or the People of that great state will inevitably rise up against their oppressors and assert their protections under law to be free from government tyranny. (And to be free to farm without ill-conceived government interference, above all.) State-sponsored terrorism Let's be honest about what we're witnessing here. What Michigan has done is an act of state-sponsored terrorism that specifically has targeted innocent farmers who have done nothing wrong. As the DNR refused to debate their ISO (Invasive Species Order) in the courts and instead resorted to an escalation of violence by bringing guns onto illegal farm raids, their actions are clearly those of government tyrants who resort to tactics of fear, intimidation and violence in order to get their way. This is simply not acceptable. Such actions must be halted by peacekeeping citizens who lawfully and ethically act to preserve their rights to pursue life, liberty and happiness. Even if it means lawfully and legally arresting government terrorists who have been conspiring against them. While DNR director Rodney Stokes could have decided to hold off on the armed raids and argue the merits of the ISO in Michigan's courts, he instead decided to escalate the violence and bring guns to farms where unjustified violence has now been committed against the animals there. This shows a striking disregard for valuing life and liberty. It is a very dangerous sign to see a departmental director openly advocating such acts of terrorism against the People. (Should Rodney Stokes be prosecuted under the Patriot Act? That's something worth investigating, even if the Patriot Act is a bad law to begin with...) Regardless of the evidently unstable psychology of the man who masterminded this criminal conspiracy against Michigan farmers, the actions of the DNR are wholly illegitimate, unethical, immoral, illegal, unconstitutional and despicable. This is the kind of government behavior you might expect in North Korea, not Michigan. Yet through its recent actions on threatening home gardeners, SWAT-teaming innocent mothers while stealing their children with CPS workers (http://www.naturalnews.com/032090_Maryanne_Godboldo_health_freedom.ht...), and now raiding farms at gunpoint, the state of Michigan has cemented its reputation as the most terror-driven state government in America today. Where is Michigan Governor Rick Snyder on these issues? Why has he not spoken out for the People of Michigan and sought to defend them against the tyranny of the very rogue government agencies he now commands? Governor Rick Snyder could put a stop to this with a single phone call (or by firing a single person, probably). Encourage Snyder to take action by contacting his office about this issue (see contact information below). DNR director Stokes could have stopped it, too, but he actually ordered the raids to move forward. At no point have the representatives of government in Michigan actually stood up to protect the fundamental rights and protections of Michigan farmers and ranchers. We aren't asking the Michigan government for handouts here. This isn't a request for corporate welfare or even individual welfare. We are only requesting that government get the Hell off our farms and leave us in peace to pursue the difficult work of being a rancher. In this time of economic desperation, with Detroit gutted by the downfall of the automobile industry in America, it is beyond belief that the state of Michigan would spend taxpayer dollars to seek out and destroy local farming and ranching operations that are contributing to the economy at many levels. Take Action Now! Today, I am urging you to join hundreds of thousands across the country in taking action to loudly and confidently denounce the Michigan state government's actions in terrorizing farmers, and demand an investigation into the actions and decisions of DNR director Rodney Stokes -- decisions that led to the inexplicable terrorizing of Michigan farmers and the forced shooting of one man's entire herd of livestock. Here's how you can help: #1) CALL the office of Governor Rick Snyder PHONE: (517) 373-3400 PHONE: (517) 335-7858 (Michigan constituents) FAX:(517) 335-6863 When you call, DEMAND an investigation into DNR director Rodney Stokes. #2) CALL the Michigan office of Attorney General and demand an investigation into the illegitimate terror-style tactics of the DNR operating in that state. Main Number (517) 373-1110 Facsimile (517) 373-3042 http://www.michigan.gov/ag/0,4534,7-164-21153-51368--,00.html #3) CALL the Michigan DNR offices and loudly complain about their terrorist tactics used against Michigan farmers and ranchers: http://www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,4570,7-153-10366-121644--,00.html Director, Rodney A. Stokes - this is the top man responsible for the DNR's actions against farmers. Phone: 517-373-2329 e-mail: DNR-Director@michigan.gov Other contacts at the DNR: Acting Natural Resources Deputy, Kelley Smith Phone: 517-373-2329 Chief Administrative Officer, Mark Hoffman Phone: 517-373-2329 Legislative Liaison, Gary Owen Phone: 517-373-0023 Public Information Officer, Ed Golder Phone: 517-335-3014 Upper Peninsula regional Coordinator, Stacy Welling Phone: 906-228-6561 Policy Coordinator, Donna Stine Phone: 517-241-3774 Senior Executive, Patricia Stewart Phone: 517-335-1833 #4) CALL the law enforcement division of the Michigan DNR to denounce their use of taxpayer dollars to conduct armed raids on private ranches and farms: Law Enforcement Division Gary Hagler, Chief Phone: 517-373-1230 #5) SHARE this story on Facebook, Twitter and elsewhere. LINK to this page and spread the word. #6) WATCH this video interview of Mark Baker on the Alex Jones Show, who provides yet more details of what led up to these mass slaughter hit squads being deployed by the Michigan DNR: Heed my warning or you may be next This is real, my friends. This is happening. After we published our first article on this topic (http://www.naturalnews.com/035372_Michigan_pigs_farm_freedom.html), I remember reading some of the ignorant comments from the usual trolls who claimed we were "exaggerating" the directive. "There won't be any raids, that's ridiculous," one comment claimed. Another said that we made up the whole thing, that there was no such law on the books (it's not a law, it's a "directive") and that our entire story was pure fiction. Read the story of Andrew Wordes if you don't believe me (http://www.naturalnews.com/035372_Michigan_pigs_farm_freedom.html). Or listen to my interview with James Stewart, the senior citizen "milk man" who was tortured by LA County for distributing fresh milk! (http://tv.naturalnews.com/v.asp?v=B0E3220D2A290E5966F3683E6377778B). That story is also reported at: http://www.naturalnews.com/035208_James_Stewart_torture_county_jail.h... Read the true story of Julie Bass, a resident of Oak Park, Michigan who was threatened with 90 days of jail time for growing a garden in her own front yard!http://www.naturalnews.com/032960_Julie_Bass_home_gardening.html That's why it's up to YOU to help get this story out there. The mainstream media won't touch it. It reveals far too much about the corrupt, criminal nature of government. While daily newspapers are more than happy to run stories about school shootings where citizens go crazy and government comes in to rescue everybody, they absolutely will not touch stories where government goes crazy and the citizens are victimized. See the difference? A school shooting gets front-page press, but a farm shooting waged by government tyrants gets zero coverage. The real agenda? Total destruction of America's small farmers In Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Illinois and California, we are now seeing criminal government gangs running rampant and terrorizing the citizens. In those states (and many others), government has gone from being just plain bad to insidiously evil -- to the point where it now threatens the very fabric of our republic. This is a time when, more than ever, we must heed the warnings of people such as: â?¢ Ron Paul â?¢ Judge Andrew Napolitano, author of It Is Dangerous to Be Right When the Government Is Wrong: The Case for Personal Freedom. â?¢ Jonathan Emord, author of Restore the Republic and The Rise of Tyranny (Emord actually predicted much of what we see happening today). â?¢ Alex Jones, the InfoWars pioneer who has been proven right over and over, again and again, so many times that he's actually become one of the most reliable sources in the world for intel on what's about to go down. â?¢ James Wesley Rawles from SurvivalBlog.com, the former Army intelligence officer who wrote about much of this nearly twenty years ago! These people all warn about the dangerous rise of tyrannical government; the stripping away of due process and the Bill of Rights; the dangerous centralization of power in Washington, and the terrible price of citizen apathy, where people refuse to take action against the destructive forces of bad government. These are the very tactics now openly demonstrated by the Michigan DNR, which can only be honestly called a terrorist organization run amok. Everything is at stake here -- our future, our liberties, our dignity, our children, our farms, our land, our very souls. We demand justice; we demand protection under the law; we demand fundamental human rights; and we demand the arrest and prosecution of those agents of government evil who plot in the dark corners of their diseased minds to strip us of those rights. Live free or die, my fellow Americans. If we do not believe in that, then we are not Americans at all. JOIN ME in taking action on this day to demand the arrest and investigation of DNR agents working as terrorists for the government of Michigan. And if the Michigan government decides not to take action against its own rogue agents, then that government is, itself, illegitimate. Story link: http://www.naturalnews.com/035596_Michigan_DNR_Rodney_Stokes.html​
11:34 AM Apr 19th