“You put a suit on a monkey – and it’s still a suit,” I’ve always said. Usually the other person would try to correct me and suggest that I’ve switched the expression, that it’s “still a monkey.” “No,” I would reply. “It’s my belief that it’s OK to be a monkey. It’s the suit that should be called into question.”

Answer me this: Why at “retirement parties” do they give the retiree a new watch? At this point in their lives, do they really need a watch? If there were such a thing as a retirement party for a farmer, and he received a watch, chances are he would shoot the rooster the next day. The rooster didn’t retire, but the hand of the watch terminated his job.

The last time I wrote on this page, I challenged you to share with us a story about how something we’ve published has made a difference to you. I knew I could count on you to deliver.

If I had a dollar for every time someone asked me about the horrible “factory farms” that dominate modern agriculture today, I’d be retiring next year. This is especially true anytime I go home to visit my family in Connecticut.

If we regulate “industries” but trust “professions” to regulate themselves, could dairy production become a profession? Some recent developments around farm-animal welfare make me think it can and should.

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

“They’re going to be happy chickens,” he said, pointing to the fence that took up most of their lawn. “The happiest chickens in town.”