Farming From the Horses Mouth

I have taken care to include whole quotes as I find them. Accordingly, if you pay attention you may find a sentence that if removed would have made the statement far more demeaning to certain people and to the activity of farming in general. Because I believe in keeping things in relative context though, I have avoided this entirely. Therefore, these statements are as issued.
(9 Quotations)

• American Rancher (owns grazing land in the Amazon, describing the attitude of cattle colonists in the Brazilian rain forest) - "You can buy the land out there now for the same price as a couple of bottles of beer per acre. When you've got half a million acres and 20,000 head of cattle, you can leave the lousy place and go live in Paris, Hawaii, Switzerland, or anywhere you choose."

• Jeffrey D. Armstrong (Purdue University) - "the welfare of the hen is compromised when feed withdrawal or restriction is used to induce a molt. . . . I have a lot of colleagues mad at me because they don't think there's anything wrong with removing food for 14 days. [24]"

• Farm Employee (Interviewed by Marjorie Spiegel The Dreaded Comparison: Human and Animal Slavery) - "Sure we used to throw ‘em on the ground and cut their balls off with a pen-knife. Didn’t give them any pain-killer, are you kidding? And that’s not all; at the same time, we’d brand ‘em and cut off their horns. And you know what? It didn’t bother me [. . .] I never felt anything for them."

• Farmer and Stockbreeder Magazine – "The modern [egg] layer is, after all, only a very efficient converting machine, changing the raw material – feedingstuffs – into the finished product – the egg – less, of course, the maintenance requirements" (emphasis added).

• National Pork Producers Council – "Pigs are often thought to be dirty, but actually keep themselves cleaner than most pets. They are seen laying in mud because they do not have sweat glands and constantly need water or mud to cool off."

• Paul Sundberg (National Pork Board assistant vice president of veterinary issues) - "Sundberg acknowledged that spatial issues are still an inexact science. But an international panel of experts in animal welfare will soon publish an article concluding that a stall in which a sow cannot turn around is no more or less humane than a sow in a pen or in a pasture" [4].
  [On a side note Mr. Sundberg also has a couple of bridges and some prime swamp land he would like to sell.]

• Pork Magazine - "Because the euthanasia process often requires physical restraint of an animal, handlers can become injured. Less well understood, however, is that some farm workers suffer psychological distress when asked to euthanize animals."

• Pork Magazine - "Farm managers must recognize differences in people’s aversion to euthanasia, and delegate the responsibilities accordingly. If people are constantly and reluctantly exposed to euthanasia they can experience dissatisfaction with their work. It can cause absenteeism, belligerence or careless animal handling."

• R. K. Ramnauth, H. Bheekhee, P. Dobee, A. A. Boodoo (Agricultural Researchers) - "The objective of any meat production system in a commercial farm is the production of a desired carcass weight in the shortest period of time" [5].