As in past years, animal rights activists are planning to protest on opening day at the 2018 Pennsylvania Farm Show.

On Jan. 6, members of Harrisburg Area Animal Action will be holding signs and handing out literature near the Cameron Street lobby at the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex & Expo Center in Harrisburg.

In a press statement, the group said it is protesting the inhumane treatment of animals:

"The Pennsylvania Farm Show is a celebration of all aspects of animal agriculture, which is fundamentally inhumane and deplorable. From cows being forcibly impregnated only to have their children taken from them in order to produce milk, to chickens being fed hormones to make them grow too large for their legs to support them and be murdered well before maturity without ever seeing the sun, to sheep being brutally sheared in assembly-line factories until they are covered in blood, there is no shortage of cruelties we take highest umbrage with. Hundreds of innocent animals will be held in captivity inside the Farm Show Complex while visitors gawk at them for entertainment. Sheep will be sheared as part of a contest they know nothing about. Even the 'seemingly innocent' famous butter sculpture and 'Farm Show milkshake' are made from the milk of cows who are imprisoned their whole lives simply because another species likes their milk, which is meant only for baby cows."

Member Seth Dellinger said the group is planning a peaceful protest from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and will not disrupt any events inside the complex. The group said its protest will take place in the Farm Show's designated "free speech zone."

Last year several members of another animal rights activist group, Direct Action Everywhere, yelled "It's not food" and held posters reading "It's Not Food. It's Violence" and "Animals Are Not Ours to Use" inside the complex's Weis Expo Hall during Gov. Tom Wolf's opening remarks.

Some members were escorted out of complex by Pennsylvania State Police. Outside they were frisked by police and some members were detained. Members also protested during the 2016 Farm Show opening ceremony.

Dellinger said Direct Action Everywhere no longer has a presence in central Pa.

"As far as we know, the only thing happening will be our standard protest. Not that we are opposed to the stronger tactics of DXE (many of us used to be involved with them) but this seemed the right choice this year," he said in an email.