{"id":9223,"date":"2024-11-07T09:42:59","date_gmt":"2024-11-07T16:42:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/?p=9223"},"modified":"2024-11-07T09:43:30","modified_gmt":"2024-11-07T16:43:30","slug":"wyoming-sheep-industry-cheers-as-denver-voters-kill-slaughterhouse-ban","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/2024\/11\/07\/wyoming-sheep-industry-cheers-as-denver-voters-kill-slaughterhouse-ban\/","title":{"rendered":"Wyoming Sheep Industry Cheers As Denver Voters Kill Slaughterhouse Ban"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The voting numbers were better than I expected, and looks like a nice pushback on the vegan folk trying to be like the alphabet mafia in pushing their way of life on the rest of us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/cowboystatedaily.com\/2024\/11\/06\/wyoming-sheep-industry-cheers-as-denver-votes-kill-slaughterhouse-ban\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n

<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n
Denver voters killed an ordinance Tuesday that would have shuttered a large slaughterhouse that processed 20% of America\u2019s lamb, and more than 50% of Wyoming’s. Cowboy State ranchers are cheering the proposal\u2019s defeat.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

By Jackie Dorothy<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Sheep
(Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A proposal to ban slaughterhouse operations<\/a> within Denver city limits was killed by voters Tuesday by nearly a 3-to-1 margin, prompting a wave of relief among Wyoming sheep ranchers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Opponents of the proposed ban, known as Initiated Ordinance 309, said the ordinance was targeted at one business, Superior Farms, a lamb processer in Denver that claims it processes between 15% and 20% of the lamb brought to market in the United States. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe’re very pleased the ordinance was defeated. It’s a critical facility for the lamb industry, including sheep producers in Wyoming,\u201d said Wyoming Stock Growers Association Executive Vice President Jim Magagna. \u201cIf it had succeeded in Denver, there’s no doubt in our minds that would simply have led to further initiatives is the same type, be they in Colorado or in California or other places where the proponents of that would feel that they could have another success.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ordinance 309 didn\u2019t just lose, it lost big with 140,457 \u201cno\u201d votes (65%) to 77,102 in favor of the ban (35%), according to results posted by the city of Denver.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Superior Farms also produces Halal-certified meat, which is based on humane treatment throughout the entire lifecycle of the animal in accordance with Muslim religious traditions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Halal food market has been experiencing significant growth over the last few years driven not just by religious needs but \u201crising interest in ethical, organic, and health-conscious food choices,\u201d according to the Halal Food Council USA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A recent Colorado State University study<\/u><\/a> had found that the proposed slaughterhouse ban could cost the economy up to $861 million and threaten more than 2,700 jobs in the Rocky Mountain Region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are very relieved it was defeated, and not just by a few votes, but defeated soundly,\u201d Wyoming Rancher and President of the American Sheep Industry Association Brad Boner said. \u201cAt least for the moment, the issues gone away.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe cost of the ban would have been passed on to consumers,\u201d Superior Farms said in a statement prior to the election.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe additional cost of shipping more of Denver\u2019s food supply from further away would have increased carbon emissions and made our food supply chain less sustainable.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some livestock owners saw the proposal as an attempt to end ranching on public lands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou have to listen to the science, especially with natural resources,\u201d Dennis Sun of Wyoming Livestock Roundup told Cowboy State Daily. \u201cThis ban on the slaughterhouse was brought on by people that want rid of all the livestock on public lands.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Impact On Wyoming<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Nearly 51% of the lambs from Wyoming are processed at Superior Farms in Denver, and sheep producers would have been forced to go elsewhere for their processing needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was a big positive for Wyoming Sheep Producers that it got defeated,\u201d Boner said. \u201cAbout 20% of the lambs in the country were processed there. You can imagine what (problems) might develop losing 20% of the market in any industry or any business agencies.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Wyoming Sheep Producers were joined in their fight by the Wyoming Stock Growers Association, the Wyoming Cattlemen\u2019s Association as well as several labor organizations such as the Teamsters union, Denver Area Labor Federation (DALF), and the Working Families Party.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBy defeating the ordinance, it will certainly enable the industry in Wyoming to continue to function knowing it has a relatively geographically close market for those lambs,\u201d Magagna said. \u201cI think it will certainly help keep the business going in Wyoming, and even provide future opportunity for some growth in the sheep industry in Wyoming. I could see where the added cost and difficulty of getting Wyoming lambs to market could have motivated some people to simply get out of the sheep business\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Proponents of the sheep industry said that this defeat of the slaughterhouse ban will keep Wyoming competitive on the world market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis was a really nice victory for the sheep people, because there’s so many lamb imports coming in with cheap lamb from New Zealand, Australia and around the country,\u201d Sun said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Future Of Ag Business<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The agriculture industry had rallied around the American Sheep Industry Association as members saw this as not only an attack on the slaughterhouse processing lamb, but on the entire industry that produces meat for consumers. In order to succeed in the marketplace, agriculture leaders say they must remain vigilant against future attacks on their livelihood. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a win for the entire industry and something to be proud of at the same time,\u201d Magagna said. However, he warned, \u201cWe can’t relax, because I believe groups who initiated that will look for further opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe always have threats on this industry,\u201d Boner said. \u201cWe just continued to battle and strive to make this industry working and provide high quality products.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ordinance 308, the \u201cFur Ban\u201d proposal in Denver, was also defeated by voters by a significant margin 58% against and 42% for it. This would have would have outlawed most sales of fur in Denver.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The voting numbers were better than I expected, and looks like a nice pushback on the vegan folk trying to be like the alphabet mafia in pushing their way of life on the rest of us. https:\/\/cowboystatedaily.com\/2024\/11\/06\/wyoming-sheep-industry-cheers-as-denver-votes-kill-slaughterhouse-ban\/ Denver voters killed an ordinance Tuesday that would have shuttered a large slaughterhouse that processed 20% of America\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9223","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-wyoming"],"blocksy_meta":[],"featured_image_src":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"Jason","author_link":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/author\/jturning\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9223","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9223"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9223\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9225,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9223\/revisions\/9225"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9223"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9223"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9223"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}