Michigan government unleashes armed raids on small pig farmers.

[steve4102]

Michigan Department of Natural Resources has, in total violation of the Fourth Amendment, conducted two armed raids on pig farmers in that state, one in Kalkaska County at Fife Lake and another in Cheboygan County. Staging raids involving six vehicles and ten armed men, DNA conducted unconstitutional, illegal and arguably criminal armed raids on these two farms with the intent of shooting all the farmers' pigs under a bizarre new "Invasive Species Order" (ISO) that has suddenly declared traditional livestock to be an invasive species.

http://www.naturalnews.com/035585_Mi...rms_raids.html

[Haligan]

When you turn off the TV and step back, look around, you see; this is not the country we thought it was.

How do we get it back ?

[cjh7819]

If you do a little searching they did not kill domesticated pigs they were killing feral hogs that these guys had imported into michigan for hunt clubs and the like. These hogs are invasive and just like texas and many other southern states are out of control. These hogs had been escaping in Michigan and were destroying other peoples land. In Iowa it is illegal to import these types of swine because they are not tested for pseudorabies and other diseases that are destructive to other swine herds. If a state looses it's pseudorabies status it is very destructive to the farmers who have hogs in that state because you can't sell them. The whole herd has to be destroyed and usually any herd that tests positive within miles of the original herd that tested positive. This was a far cheaper and better way to stop it. And good for Michigan.

[JohnHenry]

CJH .... Thanks for the post !
Where did you get that intel. .... my neighbor has a herd of pigs and is afraid the "g'ment" will show-up at his front door to destroy them .

[millwright]

Saw this today on Drudge ! Un be F'n lievable this could happen in America ! This is bureaucratic arrogance at its most evil and blatant ! Just who works for whom in MI; and elsewhere ?

When "armed jackbooted thugs" can destroy an individuals decades of labor under the spurious cover of bureaucratic fiat, we're no longer "free" ! We've become slaves to a bureaucrat's whim or wile. >MW

[cjh7819]

John Henry if you read down through the comments on the OP's link there are people saying that these were Feral or wild pigs, not hogs raised for meat. I guess I should have been clear where I found the info to begin with. Didn't have time to do any more digging. This same thing has happened here in Iowa numerous times once within 20 miles of me. A guy brought in several wild pigs from texas which is Illegal because they can carry pseudorabies and destroy crops. Only problem was the guy turned them loose before the DNR could kill them. So Lots of hog hunts finally got rid of them. Several were killed in deer drives. All the farmers in that area had rifles in their combines. Said they would sometimes see 20 or 30 hogs in their bean fields, and find several acres of corn in the middle of fields destroyed, uprooted by hogs.
My family has had pigs since my great grandfather bought a farm here in the 30s so I guess we know a little bit of something about them. I don't know what Michigans laws are but I would guess that if these were Feral pigs that they have probably banned them from Michigan. If your neighbor has pigs and they are not wild and are kept penned or look like a wild boar I would guess he has nothing to worry about.

[76Highboy]

Good info CJH. Thanks.

[mranum]

Open season on feral pigs here in the land of cheeseheads. Not a problem where I live yet but they seem to get closer every year. They do tremendous amounts of damage. To me the bottom line is, the only good one is a dead one.

[cjh7819]

http://www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,4570,7...3850--,00.html

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j...ofYuyz3AGm-uXA

Now keep in mind I do not like or agree with gov't of any kind telling me what I can and cannot do or what I can or cannot have. But in this instance I will make an exception though I think that small herds that were quarantened and kept inside pins could have been allowed as long as they were tested for the long list of diseases that are harmful to other livestock and people. But the risk to the agricultural sector in Michigan is not worth the risk to just allow them to be raised and released or let "escape". Someone said in one article I read that it could cost the state 100s of thousands of dollars in tourism dollars by banning the pigs. If they didn't it could cost the farmers there millions in lost revenue from crops being destroyed and livestock becoming sick and dying from the diseases the wild pigs can carry.

[zkovach]

Trust me guys our new governor is doing the right things here. We have been in an 8 year depression with Jenny granholm but things are turning around finally. Mi was nuts for a while but the right decisions are finally being made. I know some will be rediculous too but so far it's been way better!

[JohnHenry]

Yup, you're right .... I missed the part about them being ferel hogs.
Again, thanks for the info !

[nightwalker]

I have a friend in Northern MI who has been raising an old breed of pig for years which he sells to high-end restaurants for a premium price. He and his family are about the most upstanding and honest people you'll ever meet. The MI DNR shut down their pig operation because feral pigs COULD interbreed with them. Seems to be pretty heavy-handed to me.

[ampaterry]

In my checking of this story, I find the "sky is falling" original on just a few fringe web-sites, while the actual story is that the Michigan DNR has killed NO farmers hogs, nor have they forced any farmer to kill his own hogs. NO arrests have been made, NO fines given out (yet), etc.

They are dealing with wild hogs here, and they WILL stop anyone from breeding and raising them due to the fact that it is this kind of operation that got the wild herds started in the area. They are NOT native, and are indeed very destructive.

Florida, Texas, and other areas have passed similar laws in the past when wild hogs were bringing devastation to those areas.

I have to agree with this law.
If my neighbor was raising Cobras and they kept escaping and slithering through my yard, I would want him stopped and hunters told to shoot any they encountered in the wild.

These hogs are not a domestic species, nor even a wild species native to the area; they are an invasive species.

[ka64]

Originally Posted by zkovach

Trust me guys our new governor is doing the right things here. We have been in an 8 year depression with Jenny granholm but things are turning around finally. Mi was nuts for a while but the right decisions are finally being made. I know some will be rediculous too but so far it's been way better!

If you say so!!!!!!!!!

[45Auto]

I have to agree with Ampaterry. I live in Michigan and the law in question is a reasonable attempt to protect the public. The DNR and most other state agencies here in Michigan have had their funding cut to the bone under our last Governor and under our current Governor it's no better. DNR tends to use their limited resources as necessary to protect the people of this state.

[Jim K]

IMHO, a good example of shooting off at the mouth without bothering to find out the facts. A lot of that sort of thing going on lately.

Jim

[millwright]

Originally Posted by cjh7819

If you do a little searching they did not kill domesticated pigs they were killing feral hogs that these guys had imported into michigan for hunt clubs and the like. These hogs are invasive and just like texas and many other southern states are out of control. These hogs had been escaping in Michigan and were destroying other peoples land. In Iowa it is illegal to import these types of swine because they are not tested for pseudorabies and other diseases that are destructive to other swine herds. If a state looses it's pseudorabies status it is very destructive to the farmers who have hogs in that state because you can't sell them. The whole herd has to be destroyed and usually any herd that tests positive within miles of the original herd that tested positive. This was a far cheaper and better way to stop it. And good for Michigan.

Y'all might to want to check your sources, lad! Yours the MI DNR claim !

I suspect the "reality" is these farmers are "ranching", (i.e.not in close confinement), pastured selected hog breeds for a speciality market. IOW these hogs are permitted to "free roam" in selected pastures, not kept in close confinement on slatted floors, and finished with farm-produced grains in an open setting. These hogs have a high marketability due to the fat marbling of their flesh and their high quality lard .

As for the claim of "pseudorabies" I'd opine its far more likely in close confinement, (i.e. commercial) hog operations than these ranching ones ! Or do you, the MI DNR, and commercial hog operations, claim that close confinement and factory production techniques by hourly employees are superior to the husbandry of concerned/dedicated individuals ? >MW

[cjh7819]

Originally Posted by millwright

Y'all might to want to check your sources, lad! Yours the MI DNR claim !

I suspect the "reality" is these farmers are "ranching", (i.e.not in close confinement), pastured selected hog breeds for a speciality market. IOW these hogs are permitted to "free roam" in selected pastures, not kept in close confinement on slatted floors, and finished with farm-produced grains in an open setting. These hogs have a high marketability due to the fat marbling of their flesh and their high quality lard .

As for the claim of "pseudorabies" I'd opine its far more likely in close confinement, (i.e. commercial) hog operations than these ranching ones ! Or do you, the MI DNR, and commercial hog operations, claim that close confinement and factory production techniques by hourly employees are superior to the husbandry of concerned/dedicated individuals ? >MW

Id take my animal husbandry of today over anything we did 20 or more years ago. Pigs have it easy in a confinement. Climate controlled, misters and fans in the summer, heat in the winter, sick or injured pigs are much easier to identify and treat, pigs don't freeze ears off, dont get frost bite, don't get sunburnt, they are not laying in a wallow, They are not picking up round worms and tape worms from the ground, don't get lice. I've seen and raised pigs on both sides of the spectrum and I will tell you the confinement pig is a much better one. We raised pigs outside and in huts and barns for years, then went to a confinement system and I would take the confinement anyday of the week. And we don't hire outside help, me and my family do all the work. And as far as psuedorabies it is gone from Iowa because it was eliminated years ago by killing the pigs that had it and is illegal to bring in any swine that might have a chance of carrying it. Now can there be disease outbreaks in a confinement yes, and if one pig gets a cough there will be a greater percentage of pigs get that cough in a confinement than in an outside environment. The same with people, When you have a cold going through your kids school the likely hood your child will get sick is higher than if you home schooled them.
Now as far as some of the exotic or old breeds that somebody might be raising up there I know little about that other than the fact that if those pigs were not brought in per USDA regulations than the state has every right to eliminate them to protect the producers that did follow the law.

[zkovach]

Originally Posted by ka64

If you say so!!!!!!!!!

Hey u can agree or disagree but least the put a stop to life long welfare.
That was a big plus for me!

[300 H&H]

CJH,

Spot on here....

The DNR has it right as well. If those hogs had clearance to enter the country with USDA then fine. But if they are not cleared by USDA and or wild hogs are involved, then the choice is clear. DNR has the right to protect the commercial swine herds of their state. Good post....

Regards, Kirk

[Awtoman]

Having grown up in Michigan, I will tell you that the Mich. DNR has more power than anyone else in law enforcement in the state. And it often shows up in their attitude. That being said, it sounds like they got this one right.

Tom