Sheared: Challenges Facing Colorado's Sheep Industry
The Fate of a Slaughterhouse
5/6/2025 | 8m 23sVideo has Closed Captions
Superior Farms, the city’s only slaughterhouse, would be shut down if voters pass Ordinance 309.
Superior Farms, the city’s only slaughterhouse, would be shut down if voters pass Ordinance 309. Here’s how the proposed ban could affect Coloradans.
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Sheared: Challenges Facing Colorado's Sheep Industry is a local public television program presented by RMPBS
Sheared: Challenges Facing Colorado's Sheep Industry
The Fate of a Slaughterhouse
5/6/2025 | 8m 23sVideo has Closed Captions
Superior Farms, the city’s only slaughterhouse, would be shut down if voters pass Ordinance 309. Here’s how the proposed ban could affect Coloradans.
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback
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I ran.
Hey.
What's up?
Are you registered to vote in Denver by chance?
We're volunteers with a couple ballot initiatives that are going to be on the November election.
Wants to ban the sale of fur and wants to close slaughterhouses.
we want to work up to banning factory farming, in states that allow elections basically.
So does that mean we can count on your vote in member?
let me give you a sticker.
Okay.
We put forth this measure because many Americans are deeply uncomfortable with the way animals are used for food and clothing, but they feel powerless to do anything about it.
Our measures seek to spark the gradual evolution away from using animals as resources.
Passing 309 will shut down superior farms, removing quality jobs for residents in Globeville were already fighting to ensure that they can stay in the community that they love.
Let me be clear as a city council member representing Globeville, the idea that an organization from outside of the state of Colorado will come to our state, remove jobs, and tell us what we can do with our community is wrong.
I wish they give us the opportunity to have a conversation so they understand where we coming from.
Right.
So, yeah, I mean, I respect their decision and their choices, but it's a personal choice, right?
It's like anything else, right?
You don't want any don't any don't try to enforce it on somebody.
Your house We decided to take this to the ballot because we've seen that pro animal legislation does well when voters have the opportunity to decide for themselves.
Unfortunately, the meat industry has a powerful lobby, and they've used it to influence legislators Consumers do not have a fair choice in this area, so our measures are giving voters an actual chance to vote against industrialized animal slaughter.
This.
At least 75% of the lands that we get that's, separate from there were cuts from local employers, local restaurants.
we also have some folks from, South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, but at least 30% of them.
So we can get it from local farmers.
Colorado.
I'm a fourth generation rancher living in Montrose, Colorado with my wife And I've been in the sheep business for all of my life.
my father was in the sheep business, my grandfather.
I think that right now we're facing some of the bigger challenges we've ever seen.
All my lambs historically have gone to superior.
Not every single year.
Some of them have gone to the brush plant, but, nationwide, it takes away over 20% of the production And if that goes away, I don't know if the industry will recover.
little crazy that the only people that can vote are the people in Denver.
But the ones that really affects are the people outside of Denver, the ranchers and farmers and the people that use the lamb products that are produced in that plant, Man.
Lamb is a desirable product.
if that plant goes down, it's become less and less available.
And you can always say, well, you can get all your lamb you want from New Zealand and Australia.
Well, that's maybe true, but it's not American lamb.
And, It's in Denver where the slaughterhouse has been violating the Clean Water Act It's in Denver where the violence is taking place, and it's Denver where the workers suffer high rates of PTSD and depression and substance abuse.
I think Denver has every right to decide if we want this slaughterhouse polluting our city.
We see ranchers as having an opportunity to transition away from animal farming.
We know that we have to evolve past animal farming if we want to reach our climate targets.
And we know that the plant based food sector is growing, You can still make money as a farmer.
Just leave the animals out of it.
very misleading to present what they're doing here as being concerned about the environment or being concerned about the workers, or they talk about everything other than the fact that They do not think it should be legal to be processing and selling meat, because that is a very unpopular position.
I really bristle at it when they come in and they talk about, oh, we're doing this for the workers.
This is where we we really care about the workers here.
I mean, if you cared about them, you wouldn't be trying to get everybody fired.
All right.
Raise your hand if you're comfortable to go out on your own.
people who aren't.
Do you want to pair up with someone who's comfortable?
One of the great things about the animal rights movement is that the people are so passionate, they willingly give their time, they're happy to help out.
They go above and beyond.
remember, It's a ballot measure.
Doesn't pass.
Then we are going to keep trying until we win.
We've seen that ballot measures are effective way to change public opinion and policy.
Over the next nine weeks, we can make a difference.
Every voter we canvass, every postcard we write, every city council member we email can make a real difference.
To prevent future lambs from certain death at Superior Farms.
thank you for seeing what the rest of society refuses to see, that what's happening to animals in the meat industry is an injustice, and it needs to be stopped.
people that aren't raised in this business come on, look at the pictures.
And they look at the horses, and they look at the country and the scenery and everything and think, beautiful.
I'd love to do that.
But they get right down into it and it's a lot of work and you have to have determination.
You have to have drive pretty hard to make us give up.
even if they shut us down right, meat is still going to come from somewhere else.
But are we ready to pay that extra cost?
I have a really good relationship with our employees.
If I told them and I know their families and I know that their pay for this job, we have a whole families working here.
We have the wife, we have the husband, we have the store.
So it's not just 160 employees are going to lose their job.
But what about their families?
And it's why are we going to tell them this passes?
I don't think I'm going to be able to show my face in front of them and tell the people what we're going to close.
How can I how can I possibly do that?

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Sheared: Challenges Facing Colorado's Sheep Industry is a local public television program presented by RMPBS