drdawg said:Mother, I have never heard of peat being used as a mulch.
I think all of us would be opposed to inhumane treatment of animals, whether farm or pets. Of course, one could argue that ANY farm animal is treated inhumanely if it is grown to be slaughtered............ 
Look at it from the animal's point-of-view. 
I am not quite sure what the chemical companies have to do with the loss of our family farms, but I trust there must be a connection somewhere.
Ken, Peat is rarely (although sometimes) used straight as a mulch because it doesn't absorb water well when it has dried out. Up here, though, we do see people mixing it in with topsoil to aid in a form of self-mulch.
As for the animals, in the wild today because we've taken away their habitat and removed their natural predators, animals like deer especially are starving to death (not a happy way to die). Where coyotes have moved in, they are also a natural slaughter house for deer and other animals. Mountain lions I think are pretty much at the top of the food chain, and they are making a slight comeback here in upstate NY -- some shepherds have complained of losses -- because the human population is dropping and the deer population rising... At a humane slaughterhouse the animals are not frightened and literally don't know what hit them -- death by starvation or predation aren't nearly as painless...
I don't have time to go into the link between chemical companies and family farms, other than to mention that Monsanto is indeed taking people, mainly farmers, to court if they don't use their products. Forget heritage seeds... Hopefully other people can explain this. MR
