It’s a bad time to be in Michigan if you happen to be a pig.According to the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, the pigs that have been raised for generations on family farms are a threat to the environment and must all be destroyed.
The Invasive Species Order Amendment is to take place at the end of April. Resistance by the farmers will lead to arrest – the order indicates that felony charges will be filed against farmers who attempt to protect their property and livelihoods.
The pigs in question are any pigs that are allowed free range, as opposed to being confined in an unsanitary and inhumane factory farm. If a pig happens to have hair that is lighter at the tip than at the root, that pig is history. If a pig is striped – again – done! There will be no room in the state of Michigan for a pig who bears red and brown spots, who has a dark snout, or who has “other characteristics not currently known to the MDNR that are identified by the scientific community.” Barring a disguise that includes a cage just big enough to go around the pig, all free-range swine are at risk.
As always, when dealing with the de facto government, this boils down to two things: control and money.
First, we have to follow the money. Who stands to benefit from this?
Obviously the factory farms who squeeze the hapless animals into a tiny cage to live a life of inactive misery will sell more pork if they don’t have competition from the local farmers. The Michigan Pork Producers Association has publicly supported the ISO and will benefit directly from the elimination of the competition.
Large grocery store chains that purchase meat from the factory farms instead of family farms will profit if they are the only source of pork.
Whoever is getting paid off to make this atrocity happen has probably gotten his/her pockets lined very well.
Secondly, we have to consider power. Farmers are losing their livelihoods (and they will NOT be compensated for the pigs that are destroyed, according to the order, because “Indemnification in [Michigan] statute is for livestock and invasive species are not livestock, and are therefore, not eligible for indemnification.” They are losing their freedom to farm ethically and to raise the livestock they wish to raise. Keep in mind that farmers who rebel will be arrested and charged with felonies.
We, as consumers, are losing our right to choose food that is produced in a natural and healthy way. This attack is just like the attack on raw milk, where those dastardly Amish people were hauled off to jail for daring to compete with the dairy industry, with all of their hormones, antibiotics and mandatory processing. This goes hand in hand with the relentless assault on organic fruit and vegetable farms, with the ever-increasing number of regulations and fees making it ever more difficult to produce chemical free food.
It all boils down to the master plan of Agenda 21: feed the people genetically modified frankenfood and make it the only food available. We will be starved of nutrients while benevolently feeding us factory-farmed garbage. If this small farm fiasco takes place, believe me, it will NOT be the last of these sieges to take place. State by state until it becomes federal law, our farms will be looted and destroyed by brown-shirt government agents with shot guns and bottles of bleach.
Perform a Random Act of Resistance today by taking a few minutes to send some emails:
The email address of Rodney Stokes, the director of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources:
mailto:[email protected]
And of course, the email address of Rick Snyder, the Governor of Michigan, who signed this offensive order: [email protected]
If you are really feeling energetic, please check out this link provided by Farm to Consumer, containing the contact information of other people who are responsible for this attack on the freedom to choose how your food is produced. I’ve personally sent an email to every person on the list. Copy and paste, my friends!
BONUS RESISTANCE POINTS: I’ve posted several times on the MPPA’s Facebook page expressing my disappointment, only to have my comments deleted within five minutes, but just for fun, here’s a link to the page: Michigan Pork Producers Association – every five minutes that your opinion is out there is five minutes your message might get to someone unaware of the situation!
kevin say- Hi daisey great post. I heard chatter on this topic, forgot to look it up. The stupidity of our inept government has been growing for a very long time. It will never end unless “we the people” force it to. Everytime I see that kisingers name if feel like punching my computer. What a poor excuse for a human being!!!
Thanks, Kev! Good to see you here. 🙂
It’s all a plan, by Big Agri, Big Government and Big Pharma to control every bite of food we put in our mouths. Get your garden growing while you still can, my friend!
Daisy
Kill all the star bellied Sneetches!
Just remember that “all pigs are created equal; some (CAFOs) more than others”.
But seriously, this is despicable. I have spent the day ranting about this. I emailed Gov. Snyder, signed a petition, and am minutes away from being blocked on the Michigan Pork Producers Association Face-plant page!
Speak up. Speak Out. Speak your mind!
This has nothing to do with “big ag” or “factory farming”.
Rather, such restrictions are a result of two factors:
1) Ignorance of where our food comes from. Know why there used to be rendering plants, stockyards, and slaughterhouses near every midwestern town in America, yet now most places there are none? Because as rural land got subdivided, urban folks moved in next door to these “smelly, noisy, dirty” outfits, and complained nonstop til they finally got shut down, and where complaints couldn’t kill the industry, zoning regulations and restrictive licensing did, and now all the NIMBYists have pristine neighborhoods without any noisy smelly cows or their byproducts. Then these same urbanites gripe when meat, milk, and eggs doubled in price.
2) But the big factor now is the animal rights nonsense. They don’t want you to use animals at all, and if they can stop it at the urban level, where most voters are, that makes it SO much easier to pass laws that declare ALL farming unlawful. This already happened in California, where ignorance of egg production helped pass Prop 2 — which outlawed modern egg production. While this was fronted by HSUS, it was bankrolled by egg exporters in China and India. And every time you repeat the “factory farm” nonsense (remember, the term was invented by the animal rights movement), you help fuel this, by further convincing the ignorant that ALL farming is evil and should be stamped out with the force of legislation.
I’d like to see more information about the pigs. What breeds are they, as the law defines some types of feral pigs and a breeding history of the ones being grown on family farms “for generations” is NOT specific. There are certainly lots of heritage breeds that are in danger of being lost unless farmers find economic reasons to produce them.
Sorry to be blunt, but:
It continues until you use the same means (Raw, naked force), at which time, these thugs will suddenyl develop a “consience” (Read: Healthy fear of being the next target.)
It is the only language thugs speak, and we’ve been “civilized” to the point of domestication.
The wolves eat well, while the sheep pretend they’ve got the situation under control. But it’s the wolves governing the sheep, always has eben – and until you are willing to fight the wolf on his own terms, the wolf thinks the lamb is great: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, all rolled into one.
It’s pathetic, but unless WE deal with them, whenever, wherever we can – no purpose other than to remove the cancers – we’ll be at their mercy. They’ll just hide behind “land ordnances,” “zoning laws,” “Public Health concerns,” “Referendum votes,” etc – and always, it will work to benefit them, and impoverish us.
How do you think we got to this condition? About half of America lives off the public dole; another 10-20% are part of the problem (government), making more than most of us, and encumbered by essentially none of the regulations (EX: Cops don’t get pulled over for speeding; the inspector doesn’t cite the bureaucrat for improper wiring; etc.)
The rest of us? Half our income goes to those thugs, who then pretend they’re “protecting” us (see: Tallahassee, Chicago/Chi-rac, Detroit, D.C., and all of Missouri, now; q.v. “Puppycide,” see Copblock; compare CopBlock with PoliceOne, tell me who the monsters are again? )
They can (and sometimes do!) protect us out of all we own, including our lives. Shoot them down in passing, the uniform indicates what they are – and it ain’t a “thin blue line.”
BTW: I was RAISED on Conservativism, and Law And Order Republicanism, and have no criminal record….
I just believe in justice, instead of “Just Us.”
Instead, we have the Golden Rule: He with the Gold, makes the rules. So, until we kill the puppets or the puppet-masters, nothing will change…
The wolves will cull the flock until there is no more flock, all on the say-so of the “bigger wolves.” (Local < County < State < Federal, and soon to be, less than the UN. )
It's past the point of voting, too – the system devalues our votes, by allowing the dead and illegals to vote, and in multiple locations – all ferried about by ACORN et al, while in the same breath these people demand no ID be needed to vote… Military ballots get lost… and I've even got first-hand knowledge of Demorats registered as Rethugligcans, so they can skew the primary.
The system ain't broken, it's doign EXACTLY what it's meant to; and you notice no matter who "wins," WE (Americans) LOSE.
Kick out the legs any time you can – and don't get caught. Gas and matches are cheap…. Hogs are costly.
Fuck you, your “public dole”, and your repugnatard bullshit. Your broad generalizations of people whom you do not even know trumpet your ignorance.
You’d be far better off to give up your divisiveness and bigotry, and sticking with what you have right: He who has the gold makes the rules.
http://www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,4570,7-153-10370_12145_55230-276322–,00.html
False Rumors About Feral Swine Enforcement – Setting the Record Straight
False rumors have circulated about the manner in which the Michigan Department of Natural Resources is enforcing a 2010 Invasive Species Order declaring a certain species of swine prohibited in Michigan.
We’d like to set the record straight.
There have been no raids on properties. Since active enforcement of the order began, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources has conducted inspections on game ranches and breeding facilities throughout Michigan. These facilities have in the past have been known to possess prohibited swine. The inspections are conducted by trained Wildlife personnel and conservation officers. The vast majority of these inspections have been conducted with the consent of property owners.
The DNR has not violated anyone’s constitutional rights. The DNR has followed the law, the Michigan Constitution and United States Constitution in all its enforcement actions. Every inspection starts with a request for voluntary access to inspect the facility. If access is not voluntarily granted, the DNR seeks a court-issued inspection warrant or a court order. The DNR has been denied access to property on two occasions. In one case, the DNR sought and received an administrative inspection warrant to legally search the Deer Tracks Ranch in Fife Lake, Michigan. No prohibited swine were found at that property. In the other case, the DNR initiated a civil complaint against the Renegade Ranch Hunting Preserve in Cheboygan County, Michigan. DNR obtained a temporary restraining order from the court that provided access to the property to conduct an inspection. That litigation is ongoing.
The DNR has not arrested anybody in enforcing the order. The DNR will continue to work with property owners on a voluntary basis wherever possible.
The DNR has killed no swine in enforcing the order. To date, the DNR has inspected only hunting ranches and breeding facilities that supply swine to hunting ranches. These animals are typically possessed and raised to be hunted. Property owners had 15 months since the Invasive Species Order was first put in place to plan for complying with the order. The DNR sought throughout that period to work with property owners who had prohibited swine, and even found out-of-state buyers for some prohibited swine. Property owners who have killed prohibited swine did so by their own choice and as an alternative to selling their animals prior to the enforcement deadline.