Certified humane?

JeffNY · #1 07/09/05, 10:36 PM

Anyone know about this? Anyone know anyone who has a dairy that is certified humane? From what I read, it allows treatment of animals if sick (being humane), and cows must be grazed etc etc. However, what kind of market is out there? I did a search, and a ton of places sell certified humane products. But who picks these products up? Our vet is going to pursue certified humane, as it allows treatment if needed. Seems like an interesting market.

Jeff

Tom McLaughlin · #2 07/12/05, 08:25 AM

Try www.certifiednaturallygrown.org. I'm not sure if they cover livestock but they seem to be growing in members..

Tom McLaughlin · #3 07/12/05, 08:27 AM

Sorry about that. The site is www.naturallygrown.org

pygmywombat · #4 07/12/05, 10:47 AM

I really like the concept behind the Certified Humane certification. It makes a lot more sense then the organic regulations these days. As a farmer I would rather provide my animals with a good life and be able to treat them with antibiotics when they need it and feed them locally grown feed (not necessarily organic). I have read their dairy guidelines and they are things I am already doing.

http://www.certifiedhumane.com/

They list a few dairys on there, so you might be able to contact one.

leaping leon · #5 07/14/05, 09:06 AM

This is such a great site, with such great people! Thanks so much for the info!

I had wanted to grow "organic" eggs, meat and veggies, but the idea of not being able to treat my animals with medicine when they're sick bothers me...a lot!

"Certified Organic" makes more sense to me. This will let me use a minimum of chemicals to keep my animals healthy and productive.

I keep telling my children that one of the reasons I want to farm is so that I know the animals I eat had a good life and humane death...not like the feedlots and chicken factory animals...

Besides, humanely raised animals are going to need fewer chemicals to keep them healthy. It's the crowding and forcing them to grow and produce at unhealthy levels that require most of the chemicals.

JeffNY · #6 07/14/05, 04:26 PM

Organic farming is backwards, they contradict themselves all over the place. Horizon Dairy has a 3000 cow dairy, and the regs state "animals must be pastured". Yet that facility is let go. I guess some changes are going to be made, and from my understanding Horizon Organics wants to add two more dairys, 4000 cow operations to meet the need for organic milk. It's a big joke, as far as organic stuff goes. The humane is exactly what I thought organic was like, untill I heard more about it. Another cool thing with humane, they don't restrict what you can do, if you want to buy an animal, you can do so and not have to be forced to buy organic.

Jeff

pygmywombat · #7 07/14/05, 05:26 PM

The humane just makes a lot more sense.

Organic really tears me up with making you buy only organically (has to be certified) raised animals, even though you can transition a dairy to organic after doing all sorts of things like rBGH, antibiotics, hormones, etc. And magically the cows are all organic? But the heifers who were raised on another farm with locally grown feed and no medications will somehow taint your now organic herd? Its a laugh.

JeffNY · #8 07/16/05, 09:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pygmywombat

The humane just makes a lot more sense.

Organic really tears me up with making you buy only organically (has to be certified) raised animals, even though you can transition a dairy to organic after doing all sorts of things like rBGH, antibiotics, hormones, etc. And magically the cows are all organic? But the heifers who were raised on another farm with locally grown feed and no medications will somehow taint your now organic herd? Its a laugh.

If your nickname wasn't different I would think I posted that

. I concur 110%!

Jeff

YuccaFlatsRanch · #9 07/17/05, 01:06 PM

Raise your own - then you can certify to yourself that they are raised to your satisfaction - i.e you will be a Homesteader.