The State News recently published an article on the Avian Science Club’s annual Thanksgiving turkey sale (SN 9/27). As a MSU Avian Science Club e-board member, someone who spends time at the MSU Poultry Research and Teaching Center and an employee of the MSU Meat Laboratory, I can say I am thoroughly unimpressed with how the turkey sale and the club as a whole were represented. Whether or not it was intentional on the part of the writer, the article comes across as biased.
It in no way shows the importance the club members place on humane practices used in both the processing and the raising of the birds. The employees at the MSU Poultry Farm takes every precaution to make sure the birds are healthy and well cared for. One of the things the article actually got right was club president Kindra Burger’s quote, “The welfare of the animals is our main interest.” It should also be noted in the MSU Meat Laboratory, we follow every United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) regulation regarding food safety and humane slaughter practices. The article’s very blunt overview on the way the turkeys are processed in no way shows the care we take in these matters.
Nowhere in this article does it talk about the passion those involved have for animals in agriculture, or how valuable this sale is to us. This article could have very easily mentioned how the club uses this turkey sale as a way to reach out to alumni, faculty and students, or how we use the proceeds from this sale to fund career fair opportunities for the members and give back to the community. We, as a club, participate in the Future Farmers of America State Poultry Judging Skills contest in the spring as a way to reach out to high school students, Small Animals Day as a way to educate young children about agriculture, and run an Easter egg hunt in the spring for the children of College of Agricultural and Natural Resources faculty.
But the biggest issue I have with this article is the end of it. The interview with club Vice President Chad Risch took 45 minutes, and it seems that all the journalist came away with was him showing little remorse for the birds being killed and a quote saying “It’s a part of life.” Knowing Risch personally, I can attest to his passion for agriculture and the love he has for the animals, and simply saying that he shows little remorse for the killing of the birds is unfair to him, and an apology is deserved in that matter.
These birds mean more to us that just dinner, and they are more to us than something we just raise and then kill. They are a means of nourishment, a way to fund club activities and a staple at our Thanksgiving dinners. Is the process cute, sweet and cuddly? No. But agriculture isn’t cute and cuddly, we take the cute and cuddly and provide nourishment and a means for people to live.
Katiana Haratsis, animal science senior
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