animals in our lives

Animals help and serve us in a variety of ways.

Story by Seth Teter | Photos by Jodi Miller, Roadell Hickman and Megan Nadolski

In a small building, along a tree-lined lane in eastern Ohio, Farm Bureau member Amos Schwartz, aided by his wife and a handful of their 10 children, take on a job that few others want.

To be blunt, chickens and turkeys arrive at Plucky Poultry Processing feathered and clucking and after a few skilled cuts leave bald and oven-ready.

The birds are typically brought to Schwartz by backyard farmers who want a hand in how their food is produced. Although, most prefer to turn their heads as the Schwartz family performs the necessary procedure to prep the birds for the dinner plate.

Details aside, it’s fair to say that Schwartz’s animal experience is a world apart from the consumer who simply wants chicken breasts wrapped in cellophane at the grocery store.

It may be tempting to think that it requires a sort of callousness to end the life of an animal. But for Schwartz, it’s all about perspective. He started his business so he could spend more time at home with his family. His kids will use the money they make to do mission work in foreign countries. Providing humane treatment for the animals is a priority, Schwartz said, but so is helping people in need.

“That’s our primary purpose (in life),” he said.

For him it ultimately comes down to a religious belief that it is appropriate for humans to use animals for food. But regardless of the belief system, few would argue with his notion that humans have an obligation to ensure humane treatment of animals.

According to Candace Croney, an animal bio-ethicist at Ohio State University, the public has shown more interest in the treatment of farm animals over the past 50 years as social movements were extended to animals and images of livestock production became more accessible. All the while, Americans continued to consume meat, milk and eggs.

“I don’t think we actually know what the public really wants relative to (farm) animals other than the assurance that they’re treated well,” she said.

But when it comes to caring for companion animals, Americans have spared no expense. In fact, Americans spent more than $43 billion on pets in 2008, according to one estimate.

Brooke Russell, a Columbus graphic designer, said animals have always called to her “care instinct.” She and her husband have two dogs that are “more spoiled than most dogs and they really are considered our children as far as our love goes.

“I feel like if I can love and provide for these wonderful creatures then maybe that bad day or that paycheck that doesn’t go nearly as far as it should doesn’t mean so much in the long run. How could it when you come home to pure, unchecked love greeting you at the door?” she said.

But, she freely admits, her passion for pets can be hard to reconcile with her decision to eat meat.

“I believe whole-heartedly that all animals should be treated humanely and with love and care, even if being raised for food. I think us humans have noticed in ourselves that if you are happier, you are healthier; so why couldn’t the same be applied even to livestock?” she asked.

And then there are those who have given up on eating animals altogether, like Russell’s co-worker, Jennifer Wray.

“I feel like it’s the right thing to do,” Wray said of her diet choice. But as long as others continue to eat meat, she agrees that food animals deserve humane treatment.

Wray has contemplated livestock production ever since the seventh grade when it became apparent to her that the turkey on the Thanksgiving table meant the end of an animal’s life.

Compare that to the experience of the two children who recently watched the daily activity at Plucky Poultry Processing.

“I asked them ‘does this bother you,’” Schwartz recalled. “And they said ‘to us, it’s just food for the dinner table.’”

As for farmers, they largely agree with an assertion made by Russell that a well-cared for animal is a good-producing animal. But there is more to it than that.

“We treat animals with respect because it is a living creature,” said Ryan McClure, a fifth generation grain and hog farmer in Paulding County. “You want to do what’s right.”

McClure raises pigs inside a modern barn that he built along with his father and grandfather. If anything goes wrong, if the water gets shut off, for example, a computer inside the barn calls his cell phone. On hot days, a breeze blows through the barn. On hotter days, the pigs get misted with water. Although these are not pets (no, they don’t sleep at the foot of his bed), McClure says he is still focused on the animals’ needs.

“If they’re sick, you take care of them. You provide a good home for them. And a proper living area,” he said.

Keeping them out of the weather extremes is a priority, he noted.

Interacting with the animals on a daily basis, McClure said he is in a good position to gauge what his animals need and said it can be offensive when people hundreds of miles away make claims that imply he is not treating them well.

He also confirms that giving animals good treatment is not only the right thing to do, it results in a more profitable product.

It’s not just McClure who thinks this way. Farmers across Ohio recognize the importance of meeting their animals’ needs, according to Sandra Kuhn, executive director of the Ohio Livestock Coalition.

“The farm you see today may not look like it did 25 or 50 years ago, but I want to assure you that today’s livestock farmers recognize the same ethical obligation to produce food safely while looking out for their animals’ well-being,” she said.

Then the debate is settled, right? Farmers, consumers and researchers agree that treating animals humanely is simply the right thing to do. Not quite.

While everyone stands behind an ethic of animal care, legitimate disagreements persist on how that is put into practice. Farmers often feel their years of experience working with animals puts them in the best positions to determine proper care. Consumers from various backgrounds have developed their own personal values for animal treatment. And researchers say there is still a lot we have to learn about what an animal is actually experiencing.

As consumers have begun paying for animal care practices that are in line with their personal beliefs, farmers have been glad to meet that demand.

At the same time, they’ve been concerned about activists who have spent millions of dollars on ballot campaigns to outlaw commonly used farm practices.

Recognizing the need for a thoughtful discussion of these issues, Ohio Farm Bureau recently created the Center for Food and Animal Issues, which will work to ensure all perspectives are heard as Ohioans grapple with the complex ways in which we relate to animals.

Or as Ohio Farm Bureau Executive Vice President Jack Fisher described it, “diverse interests with the common belief that people have the right to utilize animals and the responsibility to do so humanely.”

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