No Horse Farms

[YankeyMCC]

I just got this in a weekly email from congress.org. I had no idea this was an issue...

Congress is considering a bill (H.R. 503) that will "'amend the Horse Protection Act to prohibit the shipping, transporting, moving, delivering, receiving, possessing, purchasing, selling, or donation of horses and other equines to be slaughtered for human consumption, and for other purposes. "

HR 503: http://www.congress.org/congressorg/issues/bills/?billtype=H.R.&billnumb=503&congress=109

:shrug:

[GoddessOfGuinness]

1. This was in LBN

There's concern about the horsemeat industry going belly-up.

[xchrom]

2. lol -- wouldn't THAT be sad.

i would make one ammendment -- people who benefit the labours of horses should have to contribute to a fund that will care for horses in their senior years.

but that's just cause i'm like that.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

3. I like that idea...

They work hard for us, and should be able to retire!

[xchrom]

15. it's certainly easy enough to do.

[Gormy Cuss]

4. So they'll all get slaughtered for dog food.

Unfortunately I don't see how this will encourage owners to pasture the critters until natural death. I realize it's a direct blow to the current horsemeat purveyors but isn't this bill merely shifting the potential market use of unwanted horses? If selling them is no longer an option what's to prevent an owner from putting them down to save costs?

The positive aspect is that the animals won't be traumatized in inhumane transport any more.

[RumpusCat]

5. I've always wanted to eat horse

I've never seen it for human consumption in the US, altho' it's my understanding that it's sometimes served in Europe (esp. France).

Does that make me a bad person? :(

[Rabrrrrrr]

6. I had some horse sushi in Japan

Tasty!!

America is one of the few places that DOESN'T serve horse. I'm not really sure why - it's popular elsewhere in the world. I've always imagined it was because horses were so integral to the building of the west that we developed a unique emotional attachment to them as friends instead of as meat.

[YankeyMCC]

8. There's plenty of frontier stories of people eating horses

Lewis and Clark bought some horses at one point specifically with food in mind.

But somewhere along the way it became taboo or near taboo anyway.

[RumpusCat]

19. I think it must be that emotional attachment angle

Also that they're an expensive animal to buy and raise such that it's a waste to eat them in the US.

Horse sushi! Was it cooked or raw?

[Rabrrrrrr]

20. It was raw!

Very thin slices of horse meat over the sushi.

Good stuff!

Are horses really that much more expensive to raise than cattle - or, put this way, would raising a horse for food (not riding or competition) be any more expensive than raising cattle?

[RumpusCat]

21. Probably not, IF there was a market for meat horses

Altho' horses might require higher quality feed than cattle--they're a bit more delicate, I think, but it probably wouldn't take many generations to breed that out of them. If they weren't being raised for performance I'm sure you could get away with lower-quality feed.

I think it would be difficult to start breeding horses for meat because there aren't any meat horses in the US--they're a luxury animal.

What about horse milk? It's fermented into an intoxicating drink by nomads in Mongolia. I wonder how that is--I imagine it would take some getting used to. :beer:

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

7. Why would you want to eat horse?

You look at this and think, "damn I wish I could eat me some of that?" Bizarre.

[SofaKingLiberal]

9. .

[petronius]

16. Dont' be silly...

...it would be cooked!

:hide:

[RumpusCat]

18. They're large ungulates like most of the world's meat animals

I mean, just because they look more striking on a t-shirt than a cow or a pig doesn't mean they'd be any less tasty.

I've just always been curious about the flavor--horse meat is supposed to be very lean and is often described as sweet. I do in fact look at many varied foods of the world and wonder how they would taste. :hi:

[u4ic]

10. If you knew

the drug cocktails in some horses (esp race horses)...you may think twice...

[flvegan]

11. No diff than cows, to be honest.

Growth hormone, steroids...

Horses (race horses) are just direct injections, as opposed to the cow in your burger.

[u4ic]

13. There are also meds like bute and lasix

[flvegan]

14. And that doesn't even account for the feed.

[RumpusCat]

17. I don't think retired racers could be used for human consumption

Probably because of the drug cocktails they use, and also because the meat on a horse that's been used as a racer is probably not very good--probably tough. I kind of wonder if it'd have to be carefully prepared, like venison, to avoid it being like leather. (we need a 'curious' smiley!)

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

22. Well, you think wrong.

Retired racers are used for human consumption, probably the most famous being Ferdinand, a Kentucky Derby winner. If you think they wouldn't use a race horse due to the drug cocktails injected into them, you really need to research what goes into the animals you're consuming. The industry is pumping them full of all sorts of drugs, hormones, antibiotics et cetera.

[RumpusCat]

23. It appears that ole Ferdinand was eaten in Europe

which is to say his meat wasn't intended for American consumers. Interesting that they'd eat old racers, considering how picky Europeans are about GMOs and that sort of thing.

Obviously the meat industry in the US puts all sorts of things into animals--Christ almighty, who doesn't know that by now? Even plastic bottles will give you a good dose of hormones these days. My pondering was more about whether or not the drugs injected into old racers were approved for human consumption in the US as the drugs injected into other meat animals are. If they aren't substantially different from what goes into cows, pigs, and poultry then I don't see why they wouldn't be, I just didn't know if they were substantially different.

[u4ic]

25. Ferdinand was in Japan

The Japanese are big horse meat eaters.

Other farm animals have no need for bute (a painkiller) or lasix (a diuretic). I should also point out is that they aren't only for 'old racers'.

[Ptah]

12. . .

[madinmaryland]

24. When is congress going to tackle some of the real issues?

:grr:

Iraq
Health insurance.
Social Security.
Balanced Budget.