CINCINNATI -- The Ohio farm lobby and the Humane Society of the United States are girding for a fight over the confinement of farm animals, with the Washington-based society saying it is confident voters will side with animals and farmers saying the group's real goal is to reduce consumption of animal products.

The Humane Society met with Ohio Farm Bureau Federation leaders, the Ohio Cattlemen's Association, the Ohio Pork Producers Council and the Ohio Poultry Association in February to deliver this message: Ohio farmers must agree to change their animal husbandry practices or have the practices changed for them via the ballot box.

"When we met with those industry leaders, we suggested we come to a meeting of the minds with a plan to phase out confinement systems in the state," Humane Society president Wayne Pacelle said Tuesday. "My suggestion to agricultural leaders in Ohio was not to squander money on a campaign that was likely to fail."

The Humane Society has three main initiatives involving farm animals. It wants to ban gestation crates that allow little movement for sows giving birth, cages smaller than an 8-inch-by-11-inch sheet of paper for laying hens, and stalls that prevent veal calves from moving around.

"We just think that's inhumane and wrong, and that animals raised for food deserve humane treatment," Pacelle said.

The farm bureau has served notice that it is not going to roll over.

"They make what sound like simple demands regarding animals when in reality their true goal is to give animals status equal to humans," said Jack Fisher, executive vice president of the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation.

The federation sounded a fundraising alarm on its Web site last week. And in its newsletter, the organization asks if the Humane Society is making an honest attempt to improve animal care, "or is it part of a broader effort to disrupt livestock farms, artificially drive up the cost of animal products and restrict consumer choice?"

Pacelle said public sentiment is on the side of the Humane Society, which has 11 million members and is the nation's largest animal-protection organization.

He noted that Maine's governor last week signed legislation banning crates and cages that cramp breeding pigs and veal calves, beginning in January 2011. The Humane Society also got easy wins in Oregon and Colorado, where industry leaders went along with proposed changes. It also won ballot initiatives in Florida, Arizona and California, where the public sided with the Humane Society "overwhelmingly, in the 70 percent range," Pacelle said.

"We've done our own polling in Ohio and found it very similar to California, he said.

He said the society hopes "responsible members of the agriculture community will realize it's in their best interest" to compromise. "If we can't reach an accommodation, we'll do what's necessary to qualify a ballot initiative in fall 2010 election," he said.

The Ohio Farm Bureau Federation, which has more than 230,000 members and lobbies for the state's farmers and farming interests, characterizes the Humane Society as driven by a vegan philosophy that "often uses images of sad-eyed puppies to solicit donations from well-meaning individuals."

"We respect their passion for these particular issues," said Keith Stimpert, the federation's senior vice president of public policy. "Unfortunately, making these decisions at the ballot box is a very poor approach."

He said the farm bureau was starting a new Center for Food and Animal Issues that would focus on "the whole gamut of animals' role in society." The center will raise money and be the federation's voice in the public debate on farm animal welfare issues.