Source:  Rod Smith, FEEDSTUFFS, 6/30/10

Ohio agricultural groups struck a deal with The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) today that gives HSUS many of the restrictions on agricultural production in Ohio that it wants in return for HSUS agreeing not to pursue a ballot initiative this fall seeking to institute those restrictions through a constitutional amendment. 

The groups represent all of the Ohio corn, soybean, livestock and poultry associations and the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation, and the agreement is supported by the Ohioans for Livestock Care Steering Committee and by Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland. 

Also signing onto the agreement was Ohioans for Humane Farms, which worked with HSUS to bring the initiative to the ballot this fall. 

The agreement represents a joint push "to find common ground," Strickland said. "Instead of spending tens of millions of dollars and unproductive energy" in what would be "an acrimonious campaign" into November, both agriculture and the humane organizations will instead invest in Ohio agriculture and animal welfare, he said.
 
The agreement preserves the integrity of the Ohio Livestock Care Standards Board that voters approved last fall to establish standards for the care and well-being of livestock and poultry (Feedstuffs, Nov. 9, 2009), noted Ohio Farm Bureau executive vice president Jack Fisher.

The agreement "provides a pathway for enactment of a series of eight major animal welfare reforms, representing an historic advance on animal welfare issues," added HSUS chief executive officer and president Wayne Pacelle. 

The agreement calls for the livestock board and/or state legislature to adopt the following provisions:

* A moratorium on permits for the construction of egg production facilities that would use conventional cage housing; 

* A ban on gestation stalls after Dec. 31 this year, with existing stalls permitted to stay in production for 15 years;

* A ban on veal stalls by 2017; 

* A ban on strangulation of farm animals and a requirement that on-farm euthanasia be done humanely, and 

* A ban on transportation of non-ambulatory cows for slaughter. 

These five provisions were, in one form or another, part of the HSUS ballot initiative. 

Other provisions include: 

* Enactment of legislation establishing felony-level penalties for persons engaged in cock fighting; 

* Enactment of legislation "cracking down" on puppy mills, and 

* A ban on the acquisition of dangerous exotic animals as pets, including bears, lions, tigers, primates, large constricting and venomous snakes, alligators and crocodiles. 

HSUS said it did gather more than 500,000 signatures of Ohio voters -- more than the required number -- for its petition to place its measure on the ballot and would have delivered the petition to the Ohio Secretary of State today if the agreement were not reached.