RALEIGH, N.C. — Coronavirus outbreaks at meat processing plants are forcing North Carolina farmers to euthanize 1.5 million chickens, according to a state official.
Assistant Agriculture Commissioner Joe Reardon told The News & Observer that this is the first time during the pandemic that farmers in the state have had to euthanize their animals. Roughly a third of the 1.5 million chickens already had been killed, Reardon said.
Chicken and hog farmers in other states also have been euthanizing millions of animals during the COVID-19 pandemic. North Carolina hog farmers have not taken steps to euthanize their animals, Reardon said.
All I’ve been hearing for weeks now is how Obama set up a pandemic playbook. And yet one slight little hiccup and ripples that no one even thought of. Great playbook from 8 years of service.
This really sucks. Why could not the farmers held off another or so before the killing of the animals?
Chickens are usually raised in a 60-120 day window.
If they get beyond that window, the size spec is thrown off for many chicken products. Essentially, the chicken becomes processing problematic in size for the product it is being raised for. This is problem with shutting down processing plants, you cannot stop the chicken from growing. Many of these farms are not equipped to handle, feed, or grow chickens that could double in size by hanging on to them through a 30-90 day delayed window. We are not talking 4 or 5 chickens in the backyard, but millions upon millions of birds in several complexes.
If they don’t dispose of them, it throws off the next cycle of chickens being raised for late summer/early Fall time window. Failure to act will put poultry system in beef category, where there are acute shortages right now.
I agree it is an awful waste, but how do you get rid of millions of chickens in a short window of time? You can only send 50-100 to places like Kewaskum Frozen foods at a time, which hardly makes a dent in the supply issue. (Assuming you could get transportation, which is nearly impossible.)
The solution is to get processing plants back up.
Hogs are a different issue all together. They can be help for a short window with less processing consequence.
However, that will prevent more hog supply from being raised in that space, so we will have a pork supply problem 6-18 months down the road. There is consequence to trying to preserve these hogs as well…which sounds like what the hog farmers are doing.
These farmers want to be paid for their animals. Wasting them is never their favorite choice, but there is economic consequence down road for not acting as well.
Hogs are a different issue all together. They can be held for a short window with less processing consequence.
However, that will prevent more hog supply from being raised in that space, so we will have a pork supply problem 6-18 months down the road. There is consequence to trying to preserve these hogs as well…which sounds like what the hog farmers are doing.
These farmers want to be paid for their animals. Wasting them is never their favorite choice, but there is economic consequence down road for not acting as well.
Well Kevin, enact an ordinance that allows Kewaskum residents to have chickens. It has come up before – residents wanting to raise chickens within Village limits, for the eggs. Perhaps these chickens could become family pets, and for those so inclined, they could watch some YouTube videos on how to slaughter their own chicken dinner. Kind of the way things were done only a few generations ago.
And don’t forget, we all need to place armed guards on our potato fields. Stay vigilant, you never know when and/or where a potato rustler May shoo up.
Le ROI, do you have a red ball on your nose? You write like a clown.
mar:
There is a clown out there, but it isn’t me. Stay up to date on current events. And guard those spuds.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/donald-trump-virginia-potatoes_n_5ec4b313c5b6956f416a1114
Mark,
I have been supportive of such an ordinance in past, but Village Board is not supportive. In fact, they are/were very passionate against.
I was on wrong end of 6-1 vote on it. I cannot bring it up again, being on losing end.
While I like your support of such an ordinance, I do not think it applies to disposing of millions of chickens in a short time in a practical way.
Le Roi, you wouldn’t understand satire if it hit you in the face because you no sense of humor and take everything literally.
It is a sign of mental illness. Get some help.
mar:
That wasn’t satire, it was trump being trump, i.e., not very aware of things in the real world. And until you trumpsters realize that he is truly clueless you will be defending those ridiculous statements he spews every waking moment. Now go inject some disinfectant, then capture a vintage 1780 British airfield.
Well, Le Roi, at least President Trump is far more successful, funnier, educated and better looking than you.
But then, so is a rock.
Well, I have never been bankrupt, not even once. Nor have I ever cheated on my wife. Not even once. I’ll take my degrees in hard sciences over his any day. And I have a much larger vocabulary. I was never a fan of insulting humor, more of a Bob Newhart fan, not Rickles. And I don’t comment on someone’s appearance, but suffice to say that my BMI is well within the accepted standards for my age and height. And my hair is my own, skin tone is original.
So continue your bromance with 45.
Kevin, I was thinking that perhaps Kewaskum could lead by example – did not mean to imply that somehow Kewaskum could absorb the country’s excess inventory of pork & chicken. This is something that every village & city would need to get behind.
For awhile, Facebook was clogged with memes like “You should* buy the 4-H kid’s animals that will not get sold this summer because there will be no State and County Fairs”.
* Note – it was always “You should” or “Someone should”, never anyone saying “I am going to …..”.
Anyway, I would usually jump in with that since butchers (like Kewaskum Frozen Foods) are booked out into December, anyone who wants to help the 4-H kids should plan on butchering the cow in their backyard.
When farmers were dumping milk, there was always those helpful hints, like “give it to the homeless”. One farmer asked what good it would do to back his tanker into the parking lot of the homeless shelter and open the drain.
You are correct, the only solution will be when processing facilities are running at full capacity. People really don’t give much thought to how their food gets from the farm to their plate. In some respects I think they do not want to know.
And if you gave away all that milk or meat, what happens to the demand and then the price?
If they’re giving it away the demand is already on the floor dummy.
Goodie, goodie.
Trump is building the wall and telling the ChiComs that he’s the President of the USA, not of some glob gov. If you had Trump’s platform, I’d vote for you. But you don’t, and I won’t.
They are giving away the milk and meat because a lot of it can’t be processed.
But dad, Mexico isn’t paying for that wall, we are. You got snookered again.
Um, a note on meat chickens, as my wife and I raise some every year. These are not the same breeds as layers. In fact, they are dead and butchered in 2-3 months whereas a layer typically doesn’t start laying before 6 months. Meat chickens have been genetically altered to grow so quickly, that they start to die after 8-9 weeks from a variety of organ failures. Very few live more than 12 weeks ever, these days.
It has nothing to do with size or processing ease, you butcher meat chickens in the 8-12 week window after birth, or they die on their own.
Tuerqas is right, and I’ll add that we’ve all probably driven by an egg laying facility that has 2 million chickens without really noticing.
Absolutely, T. Our family also raises several batches of meat chickens every year. 6-7 weeks they are in the freezer, 12 weeks they are in the ground.
Except for the one you have fresh that night, and oh, there is a difference!
You bet, The kids and grand kids wouldn’t let me freeze all of them. Stuff them with some fresh herbs of your choosing, and on the grill.
I would hope the chicken meat-squeezing plants would be running full tilt these days if only to build up the hotdog supply. But someone has to be willing to pay for all that processing and storage, even if it’s just big chunks of frozen pink slime.