Nicky, I fit in because the cost of milling is but a small part of the total cost of the product. I sell direct to the end-user and value-add by selective milling to produce the highest quality boards which will fetch the highest price. The large mills are looking just for throughput, as thay are mostly trying only to produce the lowest quality of boards - suitable for house framing and so on.

I won't bother with the rest of your emotive outburst. I'm not your enemy here, Nicky. All I'm trying to point out is that it's horses for courses. If you can come up with a way to produce the same volume of product with less cruelty at the same cost to the farmer, he'll adopt it, of that I'm sure.

Hi all
Antiseptic, there is nothing "emotive" about articulating the facts. The bottom line is that many farmers' practices do not meet community expectations. All intensive farming operations should be exposed to public scrutiny, and members of the public who unwittingly buy products from these people should be encouraged to see how what they buy is produced. As I said - wood is not a sentient, living creature being harmed by cruel practices. It is really quite simple. Campaigns like "Lucy speaks" are only the beginning. PF has got it right, and the bottom line is that this is CRUELTY and animal abuse we are talking about.

If they (the pigs and chickens and hens) were dogs and cats, the courts would be full of prosecutions. Why the distinction?

Cheers
Nicky

*If they (the pigs and chickens and hens) were dogs and cats, the courts would be full of prosecutions. Why the distinction?*

One has to wonder. There was an interesting story on 60 Minutes
tonight,

http://sixtyminutes.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=614389

about American women, who buy and keep Capuccin monkeys,
as replacement children. These monkeys are ripped off their
mothers, have their teeth removed, are dressed up, kept
and do little but sastify maternal instincts of their keepers.

The city pet brigade have alot to answer for, when they think
what really is best for their animals, which they claim to
love so much.

Nicky keeps dogs fed gourmet foods, these women keep monkeys,
perhaps they should look at themselves, before having a go at
farmers.

Pericles was clearly correct in his analysis!

Hi all

Yabby. you claim we cannot "tar all farmers with the one brush", Equally, you cannot do so with "city pet owners". My dogs - as are the pets of all my friends and colleagues, are perfectly fine. Nor is there anything wrong with their diet, according to their veterinarian (better than yours, I suspect). Their lives are simply different to those of your dogs, that's all.

Have you any comment to make on this, by any chance? Note that his defence was that this is "common practice".

"A former livestock transporter has been convicted of animal cruelty.
Greg Dawson was found guilty after a hearing at Fremantle Magistrates Court on Tuesday after he was filmed throwing sheep and using an electric prodder to the face of a sheep.

The incidents took place at the Port of Fremantle while Mr Dawson was loading the livestock vessel, MV Bader III.

"He was also filmed pulling the leg of another sheep....

“These sorts of crimes against animals are not easily detected given the vastness of Western Australia and the fact that livestock are not generally in the public eye,” she said.

LISA CALAUTTI

http://www.thewest.com.au/default.aspx?MenuID=77&ContentID=87090

Cheers
Nicky

*Their lives are simply different to those of your dogs, that's all.*

Nicky, you sound just like one of those women in the 60 Minutes
story

Yabby

I did not view Sixty Minutes tonight. You see, its lack of credible material mitigates my interest in this show.

However, what has monkey ownership to do with the cruelty inflicted on livestock by you and your industry?

Was the monkey's teeth removed without anaesthetic? Was it castrated without anaesthetic? Were its ovaries removed without anaesthetic? Was it transported by truck for thousands of kilometres without food and water? Was its backside hacked off without anaesthetic?

Was it electrically prodded onto the ships of death or did it have its eyes and flanks stabbed before succumbing to a heinous and sadistic fate in the land of the barbarians?

Has the monkey been force-fed antibiotics every day and a myriad of other hazardous pharmaceuticals? Is the monkey responsible for the recurrent outbreaks of salmonella and the new animal to human pathogens reported in the past 25 years, such as influenza and SARS? And what about the recurring infections of leptospirosis in Australians? You know, the infections your industry keeps quiet about? Are monkeys relevant to factory farming in Australia?

If your answer to the above questions is "No" then I suggest your post has no relevance here and as always, you intentionally remain off topic.