Quote:
Originally Posted by Miborn
Well isn't this good for all the over breeders and the bad back yard breeders. Horse slaughter is not going to eleviate horse abuse in this country! CAnada has slaughter yet there are countless horse abuse stories being revealed all the time. If slaughter was the answer there would be none in Canada or here in the USA when slaughter was allowed.
I guess obama thinks that horse slaughter is good for our country!
I do hope that all the horse meat sold to other countries that those people develop diseases from eating our horses that have been pumped full of vaccinations and other meds not suitable in meat for human consumption.
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Yes. Allowing horses to be slaughtered here once more won't stop the neglect problem, but it does allow the problem to be abated to some extent.
I'm very familiar with Canada's horse slaughter house. There is only one there, and it accepted American horses for years after the American houses were no longer allowed to slaughter horses. About 2 years ago, they quit accepting the American horses- there were just too many to handle.
The horses that are being abandoned or left to starve are not all sick or old by any means. Before the recession, Americans, especially the folks who owned 1 or 2 in the back yard, took exceptionally good of their horses- for many, the horses were mostly pets, and were overfed, just as people do with their dogs and cats. Most horses were also vaccinated and kept in good health, but any responsible livestock owner vaccinates their animals. This is not 'pumping them full of vaccinations', as all vaccinations are given to the babies, just like people do.
Horses and other livestock can develop infections, just as people do, but they are not 'pumped full' of antibiotics either. That practice only occurs in the large feed lots, where cattle come from all over and are in very crowded conditions before slaughter.
Horses do not get all the diseases cattle get. As an entirely different species, they are immune to most specific cattle diseases, and typically, don't go to a feed lot at all before slaughter.
Horses at a slaughter house must be kept separate from cattle, as they dominate cattle and will kick cattle to pieces in mixed close quarters.
As a result, the one remaining Canadian slaughter house only accepts horses for just one period of time yearly. I don't know how long that period is, but during it, no cattle are processed.
These days, those same folks typically try as hard as they can to keep their horses fed and healthy, but are simply at the place where it is feed the family or feed the horse. Not all of the horses are old- they can be colts or young horses just as easily as old ones.
Many of the now-starving horses are pedigreed show stock or high-bred performance horses. For the past 20 years or more, the horse industry has catered to it's largest buyers- the parents of pre-teen and teenage girls. Girls love horses, and when times were booming, parents bought the best horses they could get for their precious daughters. Young girls and women have dominated the horse shows for many years.
Trainers have drastically changed the performance of show horses to accommodate the girls, and to make show events safer for young girls.
For a family who has a girl involved in the horse shows, the monetary investment to be competitive is substantial. The costs include:
- A truck large and powerful enough to haul a 4-horse trailer $32,000
- A 4-horse trailer, or a 2-horse with a 'queen suite'
(a built-in dressing room for the girls) $20,000
- 2 registered, trained, high-bred show horses $40,000
- assorted show outfits, averaging about $2,000 each $ 8,000
- Saddles and tack $ 7,500
- travel expenses, show fees, motel bills for the season $10,000
If anything, some of these estimates are low. It depends on the region, the amount of campaigning, regional training rates, etc.
First, the family runs into financial trouble. Then the pickup and trailer go. Then the show outfits and show campaigning. Then all the extra tack and show saddles. Then the essential saddlery and tack. And then, with many tears and much sorrow, the horses are sold for anything they can bring.
If they can't find a buyer, they try to give them away. If they can't give them away, they get cut back on feed. And then, at the very last, they starve or are put down. If a locality does not allow on-site horse burial, the carcasses must be disposed at a dump or other selected area.
While Americans do not eat horses, most of these animals in the scenario I just mentioned are actually safer to eat than most of the beef we consume. Horses don't get pumped up with corn, anti-biotics and hormones like feed lot cattle do. We all eat sick cattle regularly, because sick cows are the first to be sold out of a herd. Diseases can wipe a cattle herd out, but it never happens in a horse herd unless some exotic disease is introduced from outside. Horses are naturally much hardier and healthier than cattle. Horse herds are also much smaller than cattle herds, so the chances of a horse disease setting in are naturally much less. An average cattle ranch in the West has about 300 cattle or more, and has about 12-18 working horses at most. Wild horse bands are about the same size or smaller.
A fat horse is as tender as a fat cow, but the meat is leaner. A horse in prime condition is about the same as a range cow in prime condition.
Unlike cattle, but like humans, most horses grow a fat belly when they're overweight.
I have never eaten horsemeat, but my parents did while in Europe. They both said it tasted much the same as beef. My Dad compared it to buffalo, which has a richer taste and is leaner than beef. I have eaten buffalo.
I was born and raised on a ranch, and I'm the 4th generation of a horse-breeding family. I can't say how things are elsewhere, but here in Idaho, the abandonment is severe and steadily growing. While I don't know how it is presently, a few years ago, before the recession started, the Idaho horse industry was consistently averaging around $5-8 million a year in horse sales.
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