Irish media reports that 41,000 cows could be killed to fulfill to meet new requirements
Irish politician demands Parliament reconsider plan to cull 200,000 cows to meet EU climate pressure
Irish politician Peadar Tóibín alerted Parliament to figures in the Farming Independent showing 200,000 cattle could be culled by 2025, citing "an incredible threat to the farming sector." (Credit: Aontú/ Facebook)
When conservatives warned normal people that the rabid left was coming for our hamburgers, Democrats and the media mocked the idea, even though there was good reason for the alarm.
It started in 2019 when Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., helped unveil the Green New Deal for the first time and gave away the game plan, apparently by accident. A summary document posted on her website specifically mentioned eradicating cows from agricultural production over a period of time, even if it was described in somewhat vulgar terms.
"We set a goal to get to net-zero, rather than zero emissions, in 10 years because we aren't sure that we'll be able to fully get rid of farting cows and airplanes that fast," the Frequently Asked Questions document read, until it was abruptly deleted from the page.
A summary document for the Green New Deal initially mentioned eradicating cows from agricultural production over a period of time. (AP Photo/St. Cloud Times, Kimm Anderson)
It was another example of the left inadvertently telling the truth about what they had in store for those of us in the real world. And of course, the media had their laughs, and condescendingly reported that there was no Green New Deal legislation that expressly called for eliminating cattle.
But that is still their plan.
We need only look to our friends across the Atlantic, the Irish, who are dealing with a bit of radical leftism from their own environmental regulators. Farmers with cows in Ireland are faced with excruciating choices in the coming weeks as they face crushing new regulations as part of an agreement with the European Commission.
In order to comply with limits on nitrates, Irish farmers must choose one of three options: buy more land for their cows, pay someone to haul away the waste, or liquidate some of their herd. For many, the first two possibilities may be cost-prohibitive, leading them to the heartbreaking conclusion that slaughtering cattle is their only choice.
In fact, Irish media reported this month that farmers estimate that as many as 41,000 cows could be killed in the next 10 weeks as the entire agriculture sector struggles to meet the new requirements.
If you’re wondering how the Irish authorities will be able to track the number of cattle accurately, you’re not giving the Marxists enough credit for their foresight. In 2022, Ireland’s minister for agriculture announced a new mandate for electronic identification (EID) eartags for all cattle, including new ones as they are born.
BILL GATES WANTS TO STOP COWS FROM BURPING IN LATEST INVESTMENT
So now, as tens of thousands of cows effectively have guns to their heads, Ireland’s environmental regulators have their fingers on the triggers.
And if anyone tries to tell you that this can’t happen in this country, tell them they haven’t been paying attention.
Here at home, the U.S. Department of Agriculture is trying to head down the same path, beginning with the same policy as Ireland’s environmentalists – mandatory EID eartags on all cattle. The argument that this is needed for better tracing of diseases among herds makes no sense, because our current programs and standards already have the U.S. leading the world in food quality.
It represents a massive cost to farmers and ranchers, it threatens further centralization of the food supply among a few large producers, and it’s a serious privacy concern. As our Irish farmer friends are finding out, it can be a terrible problem when the government suddenly decides you’ve got too many cows.
That’s why I introduced an amendment to the agriculture appropriations bill to completely defund the mandatory EID eartags program. Though the House failed to adopt it, my Wyoming colleagues in Washington, Sens. John Barrasso and Cynthia Lummis, have a similar amendment in their chamber.
As we assume the agriculture appropriations bill will head to an inevitable conference negotiation, I am hopeful that we will succeed in the end, especially since the new speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, R-La., voted with us in our efforts.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (Getty Images)
I have often said that I believe that there’s a special place in hell for people who purposely drive up the cost of food, fuel and shelter, but that’s exactly what the left is constantly trying to do.
In this case, they’re determined to reduce the supply of red meat, drive up the price and eventually wipe it from existence – all because they think cows are going to destroy the world in some bovine gas-driven cataclysm.
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The fact is that the left very rarely has any new ideas and their playbook remains the same as always: they invent a problem, introduce a solution that further centralizes their power, and use it to bend the behavior of subjugated people to their will.
They will never stop reaching and will never relent, and so we must fight them at every step along the way.
Harriet Hageman, a Republican, is the lone member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Wyoming.
