What I am going to talk about is really not real profound. Nor do I want to suggest , at any time that we think we have all the answers. The bounds of animal welfare and the nuances involved are in constant motion. The key to any success we might have in combating the lunatic fringe depends on our ability to listen and to recognize both the outward emotional direction and the inner political desires of the animal activist movement. As long as we are cognizant of both and as long a we are also willing to look at what we do from and outside perspective we can and will win the battle.

The first step in becoming part of the solution in developing an understanding of the Veal Growing industry for us was to recognize that there was a problem . As an industry, we have tended to be like alcoholics. The next step is to recognize that the all of livestock’s image problems are perceived problems. The next step is to recognize that we have an OBLIGATION to be our own spokespeople.

Someone much wiser than I once said, "A SIMPLE LIE IS MUCH MORE BELIEVABLE THAN THE MORE COMPLICATED TRUTH." Our main problem is that the other guy tells the simple lie and we are obligated the produce the more complicated truth. Unfortunately it costs us more in time and money just to keep up.

None the less it is our responsibility to carry on and get the job done. It is not easy to convince those that pay the bills that this obligation should be pressed. To those that doubt my standard refrain is IF WE DON’ T ACCOUNT FOR OUR ACTIONS TO THE CONSUMER THE CONSUMER WILL MAKE HIS WISHES KNOWN THE ONLY WAY SHE KNOWS HOW by failing to PURCHASE OUR PRODUCTS.

The other lesson we better all take in is that it does not matter what science says about what we do. What counts is what the customer perceives we are doing. Rule one: never ever leave a question unanswered. For years we refused to answer the pubic pronouncements from the animal rights activists. Their simple lies went unanswered. My friends, an unanswered lie is a truth in the eyes of those who do not know any differently.

The other little ignominy we have to get behind us is the attitude that we do not have to tell the consumer our story. I’m about tired of growers saying, why should I have to tell people how I run my business. I’m not doing anything wrong. Lets get real, we better tell it the way it is or the consumer will quickly let us know.

Consumers, by and large, are city folks. Very few have any direct ties to farm life. Most don’t know where their food comes from, and furthermore they don’t care. This is not a reflection on the general population. In North America, we have never had to worry about food. There are lots of other things city people need to worry about so why should they worry about something as abundant as the food supply. If we want the consumers' attention, then we have to work at getting it. We need it if we are to come out ahead in this fight.

So much for the objectivity lesson. You really want to hear what it is at Delft Blue that we do to tell our story. It is very simple really. We show and tell it like it is. In 1993, we had 3027 guests visit our main farm unit at Cambridge. We tour everyone from animal activists to foreign meat buyer. We take anywhere from two to, in one instance, 87 people at a time. We show them everything and we talk about the whole process of raising veal. Since we are integrated in the veal business, we often show people our feed manufacturing plant and our meat processing facility at the same time as they tour the farm.

I have been criticized, on occasion, for handling the program this way. There is a feeling that relating the growing of animals to the processing function bothers people. The jury is still out on this , in my opinion. I am not sure it is for everyone. This is an area that needs study. I am not sure I would recommend taking the next step and sitting down to a meal. There seems to be a genuine interest by many in seeing the whole process. We don’t take anyone onto the killing floor. Death by any means is not a pretty sight and never will be. Somehow the philosophy that an animal has to die to provide meat has to be brought into perspective.

On our tours we show two types of veal raising. We have about 60 percent of our calves in STALLS. The other 40 percent are in loose housing. Slatted floor pens holding 50-70 calves. Loose housing is populated at the same density as stall raised calves.

We point out both the up and down sides of both methods. Most of our raising rooms have windows. This very quickly dispells the myth that we raise veal in the dark. Windows are a very simple and inexpensive way to answer the darkness question. We have to look at the simple changes we can make that answer concerns but do not detrimentally affect the calf.

We use front loading FULL stalls. Our code of practice calls for 24" stalls. The majority of ours are 26"; any new ones going in are now 28". WE HAVE NO CHAINS IN CANADA. Confinement is a real problem for city folks. There is NO economic justification for half stalls and chains. Changing this one simple management practice could wreck havoc on animal activist groups in the U.S.

We promote the individual needs of the calf in the stall groups. People do not relate well to pens of calves. Young calves in particular always appear dirty, with must coats, manure on them, etc. I like to take people into a pen of very young calves (we start calves that are group housed in the group pens from day one). They are usually skittish with a crowd of people. Compared to the clean docile calf in the stall, penned calves are not a pretty sight.

We don’t medicate any feed in the manufacturing process. We very seldom use the feed as a medium for administering animal health products. We record all drug administration on a card above each calf. We point this out to people so they understand how we use animal health products and we point out the near impossibility of any of the things we use ending up in their meat. Animal health products are generally perceived by the public to be sinister concoctions of deadly poisonous compounds. When you tell people the names of the common antibiotics used and related them to human compounds much of the concern is removed.

We deal with climate control ventilation and the other management practices as the tour proceeds.Very seldom do we have people going away totally devastated. We get reaction all the way from "I accept your practices if they are the only ones you have" to "I don’t see a thing wrong with it."

We had a known a very radical and outspoken activist recently who, after a tour told a companion she was hard pressed to find anything out of line in our operation. She didn’t, of course, say this to me directly but the message got back.

The other important part of our education program is our display at the Canadian National Exhibition (CNE). The CNE is the equivalent of a very large state fair but with a lot of permanent buildings. We have set up in one building what is called THE FARM. This is an area devoted to depicting livestock agriculture, as it is today. Laying hens in cages, pigs in farrowing stalls, veal calves in stalls, etc. We have people on hand to explain our management etc. In excess of a quarter of a million people pass through the area during the 20 days of the CNE. Most are city people. This is our single most useful tool in getting to the masses.

A simple dog and pony show. Gaining the fortitude to get it up and going was not easy. Today we see it as the most use useful tool we have to get an edge on activism. We think it is important to continue. We see veal shifting from the elite restaurant orientated product it has been to being the home cooked healthy meat of the future. The easier people are with what we do, the greater our chance of having this happen.

Veal is here to stay, we are here to stay and so we will continue to tell people what we do. The bottom line ............. we think it's good for business.