The Beef Magazine

beef

THE

i n e z a g m a NG E V E RY T H I W O YO U N E E D TO K N EF ABOUT THE BE Y O U E A T.

HEFTY HEIFERS m ay t h e s c a l e s b e e ve r i n yo u r f avo r GRAIN FEED DIET TIPS THE GAINS OF GRAINS

G EET Y O U R

S H I T T O G ET ETHER!

h o w t o m a n a g e yo u r wa s t e

FARML AND FA

, e l l i v f Bee s th in gs al l t

beef.

WORLD

GRAND OPENING

NEW

RECORDS for milk production

REBECCA SOJA The Meat You Haven’t Met Undergraduate Thesis

Syracuse University School of Architecture advisors: Sekou Cooke Terrance Goode Sinead MacNamara PRODUCED BY

Beefville, all things

beef.

c o r p o r a t i o n

printed by

GREEN-WASH PUBLISHERS

“committed te to improving your ecological hoofprint.”

letter from the editor

THE MEAT YOU HAVEN’T MET

b

eef comes from cattle. Yet the meat we buy rarely reminds us of the animal that lived only days before its meat was butchered and packaged into steaks or patties we usually associate with the beef we eat. This is because we don’t witness or experience many of the hidden processes of raising, producing, slaughtering, and processing beef. Generally we know cows need to be killed, but we are unconscious of an intruding architecture and infrastructure that destroys natural landscapes, symbiotic relationships, and local communities in order to support such a sizeable industry. Additionally, we are not always willing to accept the truth.

Agribusinesses refuse to acknowledge the serious ramifications of their decisions that may not only contribute to the devastation of vital communities and ecologies, but also paradoxically, their own demise. Unsustainable and detrimental procedures and attitudes that permeate our daily lives are upheld and persist. As a result, animals certainly suffer, but so do humans and the environment due to immediate causes and more distant, drawnout externalities.

Very few of the current approaches to resolve problems challenge reoccuring themes.

Instead of changing the food system or the proliferation of an excessive American/ western diet at a foundational level, proposed remedies treat problems like setbacks instead of crises. Modernist and productivist attitudes devoid of emotion and geared towards economy, treat animals like mechanical components or commodity outputs at the end of highly industrialized processes.

They conform and react to conditions of confinement or economies of scale for profit through manipulation and technology to achieve greater control over fickle nature.

Ironically, this often creates more unforeseen problems to confront.

We consume food, but in reality, we have no idea where it comes from and consequently fail to grasp the lack of sustainability behind it all. We trust labels, corporations, media, and the internet to inform us of our consumption choices.

An increasingly distanced relationship with food is heightened by misleading, deceptive words and imagery in advertisements and packaging. This distorts

perceptions and capitalizes on disclosure and lack of public knowledge.

Built environments and geographies also contribute to this distancing. Currently, architects really only operate at the consumption end of a food chain, designing restaurants, grocery stores, or other programs where meat has already been processed and packaged. Agendas involve drawing in more customers by offering pleasurable experiences or clean, lovely settings that shape brand/ company reputations. However, the more technical and gruesome phases of production are usually designed by engineers specifically for efficiency and economy. Architects are only engaging in a small conversation that is part of a much larger discussion when there is tremendous potential for architecture to intervene and spark new ideas for alternative modes of food production and consumption.

By supporting design for commercialized ventures and not participating in other phases, architects unintentionally facilitate the conventional food system.

This project asserts that architecture has the agency to expose the flaws and contradictions within the conventional, industrialized food system. However, the approach may not be what one would expect. Instead of trying to implement more sustainable practices or buildings, there is a very sarcastic and subversive tone guiding the work. The objective is to appear to continue masking or greenwashing these deplorable operations, but in fact these methods will create transparency through concealment by intervening within existing spaces.

Through a lens of contradiction, the project aims to evaluate how architecture currently contributes to a lack of transparency in beef production and the commodification of meat in order to propose how it may more effectively serve to increase transparency and create a foundation for food activism that will lead to sustainable alternative approaches.

Syracuse School of Architecture

REBECCA SOJA

Thesis Pr ep Net Weigh t

2.90lbs

Unit Pric e

Dec. 10 , 2014

$4.49/lb

Total Pric e

$13.02

THE MEAT YOU HAVEN'T MET transparen cy of the beef fo od chain through th e design of subversive architect intervention ural

Total Pr ice

$13.02

the BEEF magazine

01

publ i c at i o n s

beef the

Be ef ville, al l thin gs

m ag a z i n e

beef.

HEFTY HEIFERS

beef

H THE

m ay t h e s c a l e s b e e ve r i n yo u r f avo r

want answers about the

GRAIN FEED DIET TIPS THE GAINS OF GRAINS

z i n e m a g a NG YT HIN E RY V ER EV N OOWW EEEDD TO KNO YOUU NEE EF E EF T BE TH U T THE ABO UT T T. EAT EAT. OU YOU

BEEF YOU’RE EATING? COMPANY COMPA PROFILE

G EET Y O U R

S HE T HIETR !

T O G ET

and ndd

ANNUA ANNUAL RE REPO REPORT R EPOR EPO EP PO PO ORT RT

h o w t o m a n a g e yo u r wa s t e

FARML AND FA

le l ll il v il e fv ee e ef Be B s things l t all

eef.. e beef b

,

WORLD

GRAND OPENING

NEW

RECORDS for milk production

Beefville Be Beefville, B e f vi v le,

HAPPY

all a l l things ll th t h ings ngs ng

beef.

we’re to give them to you.

a b u r g e r i s n’ t j u s t

A BURGER.

learn more at:

www.beefvilleusa.com

02

The magazine of articles telling you EVERYTHING you need to know about the beef you eat.

An annual report containing the company profile, statistics, and reviews of industry progress.

Brochures, advertisements, and maps promoting the Beefville, USA Transparency Tour.

This book is a compilation of the many contradictions of an industrialized beef industry that shapes our excessive cultural consumption of meat. Topics such as air quality, waste management, treatment of animals, or worker conditions are covered. Instead of presenting extensive research in a more straight-forward book layout with chapters and photographs or diagrams, the magazine already begins to critique the exploitive nature of conventional food system tactics. One may have to sift through for certain information, but that’s kind of the point. At first glance, illustrations, advertisements, and bolded text appear to be positive, encouraging the reader to eat meat without worry or concern. A graphic design template sets a tone of freshness, sustainability, and old-time values, perhaps words one would associate with a bucolic farm. However, upon further inspection, the body of the text reveals the hidden distasteful realities of the big beef industry providing people with cheap meat. This subtle sarcasm subversively undermines the system while seemingly supporting its continuation, serving as a metaphor of how industrial beef’s unsustainable practices for profit are paradoxically symptoms of the industry’s inevitable demise. This also sets a tone of sarcastic underpinnings driving the following phases of the project.

This book also inserts key research points through text, diagrams, and charts, but is formatted as a publication that profiles a fictional beef producer: Beefville, U.S.A. Corporation. It represents all beef production in the United States and serves as the foundation for the following phase which is to design a transparency tour of architectural interventions. Through greenwashing, the corporation strives to gain support from wary consumers and protesters in order to continue operating at a massive scale. Like in the magazine, myths of what the beef industry wants consumers to believe are juxtaposed with the reality. The first step is to present the benefits of conventional beef and the strides that have been made towards a sustainable future. The corporation must form a convincing image of trustworthiness, responsibility, and morals. Emphasis is placed on targeting notions of Americana- the hard-working cowboy or farmer, vast stretches of land with roaming cattle and rows of corn, or the convenient fast-food joint or the distinguished steakhouse restaurant that are romanticized aspects of American life. Also included is an overview of each of the seven determined phases of the beef food chain starting with cow-calf operations and ending with the steakhouse restaurant. In this documentation, architectural elements and spatial qualities are identified to later be manipulated or tranformed as components of the transparency tour.

Areas of intervention are suggested that will contribute to a revealing experience.

Employing a strategy of transparency through conealment, which amplifies current industry marketing strategies to cover up flaws to subversively undermine the system, a sarcastic campaign of a transparency tour for the fictional corporation Beefville, U.S.A. is devised. A tourguide map and series of brochures advertise and promote the amusing and enlightening experience. This tour has the intention of gaining consumer loyalty and support for industrial beef by implying consumers will be more willing to buy beef products if they know more about how and where they are made.

Perceived obstacles preventing transparency would deceptively be removed. In other words, it would be a greenwashing campaign that sets up an experience rooted in positive messages, but still conceals the complete truth. As the architect of this experience, the objective is to take on the task of creating a better corporate image to fulfill the primary requests of the corporation. However, this will be done with sarcastic interventions that through concealment, only amplify the problems because the experience is so outrageous and ridiculous no one would ever believe it. Ultimately, this design phase would critique existing conditions and methods in which architecture and geographies, when combined with politics and culture, enable the conventional food system.

Therefore, this phase is all about exposing through designed scenarios and environments.

the BEEF magazine

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REBECCA SOJA THE MEAT YOU HAVEN’T MET Undergraduate Thesis

Advising Committee: Sekou Cooke, Terrance Goode, Sinead MacNamara

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Beefville, Beef fville f fville, v ville, , all thing things ngs

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FREEZE YOUR BEEF to lock in FRESHNESS

22

24

36

contents 06

gastronomic aromatics

22

you can attract attention with powerfully pungent perfumes

10

got milk?

photographic exhibition of stunning aerial shots

24

generation genome

30

calves growing up with superior DNA

18

farmland world

announcing the opening of a new kind of entertainment

hefty heifers

care free living

40

waste management

44

puzzles & games spot the feedlot factory farm word search

46

eating to be eaten

exclusive sneak peek preview of the Diary of Angus Beef

too much shit to handle? never.

48 32

bon voyage beef cattle have the privilege to traverse the globe

on the feedlot there’s no need to worry when you’re a cow

32

bringing home the beef

meet the muscles behind the meat packing industry

find your feed and may the scales be ever in your favor

show off that milk mustache: milk production at all time high

14

illuminating landscapes

36

food for thought

additional resources to get you thinking

the BEEF magazine

05

you u can attract attra attention with powerfully owerfully ully pungent pung gent perfumes p pe

06

but we should make sense of it.

ca n not be seen

air quality

NO

NOn-

sense

T

he stentch can be sensed in every to a halt, and the door was flung open, and a lethal and the most prevalent gases being ammonia, carbon dioxide, methane, and voice shouted- “Stockyards!”” direction for miles and airborne toxins carbon monoxide. can travel even further up to 300 Air pollution or contamination (in conjunction miles away. Despite a drive for perpetual 3. Transportation: technological and social advancement, the with greenhouse gas emissions contributing to global warming) is one of the most Tractor trailers, trucks, trains, and sea vessels overall atmosphere and air quality of CAFOs and slaughterhouses is perhaps one thing pressing issues caused by an industrialized carry feed and other inputs to factory farms, live animals to feedlots and slaughterhouses, that hasn’t drastically changed as notably and concentrated beef industry from one end and meat to distribution centers and/or of the food chain to the other. demonstrated in the description retailers (stores and restaurants). Additionally, Although some gases give off of the characters’ first exposure international imports or exports occur at a rotten odors, air is otherwise on the drive to the stockyards in global scale. something that goes unnoticed Upton Sinclair’s 1906 novel The chances and is taken for granted. It is Jungle: are you 4. Emissions From Deforestation & only when physical landscapes, will smell felt climates, or personal health Overgrazed/Compacted/Eroded Soil:

“A full hour before the These practices increase nitrous oxide are noticeably altered that the party reached the city they had a cafo impacts of invisible air become emissions due to pressures on the land from begun to note the perplexing before visible. There are several livestock for feed production (esp. corn and changes in the atmosphere. soybeans) and grazing. Global livestock contributing sources: It grew darker all the time, you ever production is the single largest user of land and upon the earth the grass see one.

1. Cattle Belching and on the planet; this transformation of the land seemed to grow less green… removes valuable carbon sinks that would Flatulence: the landscape hideous and bare.

Methane is produced by help to offset emissions.

And along with the thickening microbes and released through the animals’ smoke they began to notice another 5. Widespread Overuse of circumstance, a strange, pungent odor. They noses and tailpipes during the Synthetic Fertilizers: were not sure that it was unpleasant, this enteric fermentation of ruminant air is For centuries, synthetic fertilizers digestion. odor; some might have called it sickening, have been used to grow crops, but their taste in odors was not developed, invisible 2. Excessive Amounts of Manure: which in the beef industry and they were only sure that it was curious…. means growing crops for animal Waste excreted by cattle on It was now no longer something far-off and feeds. Half of all energy used in intensive faint, that you caught a in whiffs; you could confined feedlots can not be cycled back animal production is used during the literally taste it, as well as smell it- you could through the system as fertilizer because it is production of feed from the manufacturing take hold of it, almost, and examine it at your too distant from feed production or exceeds of fertilizers to the planting, harvesting, needs. Instead manure is stored as liquid, leisure. … It was an elemental odor, raw and crude; it was rich, almost rancid, sensual, and solid, or slurry forms in lagoons, tanks, or pits. processing, and transportation of that feed. strong….The new emigrants were still tasting Decomposing manure emits 160 different gases with hydrogen sulfide being the most it, lost in wonder, when suddenly the car came (continue to pg. 09)

the BEEF magazine

07

Animal agriculture is responsible for approximately 18% of total greenhouse gas emissions, but that number is on the rise.

These gases contribute to global climate change. Although carbon dioxide is often blamed, other gases are much more harmful; methane has a Global Warming Potential (GWP) 23 times that of carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide has a GWP 300 times greater.

On another level, there are major impacts to human health, especially workers and residents of surrounding neighborhoods. Dangers to human health caused by contaminated air can include: respiratory problems (asthma, chronic bronchitis, acute respiratory distress syndrome), headaches, excessive coughing, and diarrhea or digestive disturbances. Mental health issues, like psychological disorders of anxiety or depression are also reportedly higher in these groups.

Global Warming has countless negative consequences with environmental, political, social, economic, and technological Furthermore, noxious and foul odors have ramifications that are interconnected within social impacts on communal or personal the complex systems we have created to identity, reduced social gatherings and sustain our daily lives. For example, for the enjoyment of outdoor spaces, or decreased first time ever, drought in Australia has property values. Often affected communities been scientifically linked to are low income and already climate change. This impacts have poor housing, education, agriculture, which then impacts infrastructure, and healthcare. the meat industry that relies making either on corn, soy, and other research and other the world Ongoing crops for animal feeds or the technologies attempt to a greener address and monitor air quality. presence of healthy grasses in pastures for grazing. Beyond For example, experiments are place. production, other sectors also conducted to reduce cattle become affected by issues like methane production such rising prices, food access and as adding garlic to their diet availability, or loss of jobs. This is a globalized to attack methane-producing microbes, problem that industrial economies of scale breeding cows that live longer with better within beef production are both directly and digestive systems, or giving cows pills that indirectly contributing to and suffering from. trap gas in the rumen and convert it to

glucose. Methane digesters/manure lagoons also try to capture some of the gases for use to generate heat and electricity. However none of these approaches fundamentally change the system or western diet foodways.

They only react so that industrial production methods can continue even though the most sustainable solution would be to shift away from the current system entirely.

Overall there is poor regulation and inspections within the beef industry that need to be changed and enforced. Federal policies give CAFOs billions of taxpayer dollars to address pollution problems created by confining so many animals in small areas.

If industrial beef operations actually had to pay fines or finance clean-up with their own money they wouldn’t be so successful. Factory farms are industrial facilities and should be treated as such with permits, inspections, and responsibility for monitoring, cleaning up, and disposing their waste products.

Tackling air quality is a challenge because of its inherently silent existence. More transparency would inform the public of where CAFOs or related risks are and raise local government and citizen participation. At the least, the common person has the power of consumer choice. the BEEF magazine

09

show w off off tthat milk mustache: milk ilk production prod oduction at all time high

10

where’s

Your

Setting the Record Book Straight: two dairy cows raise the standard for milk production GREATEST MILK YIELD BY A COW

GREATEST MILK YIELD BY A COW

365 DAY LACTATION

LIFETIME

1326-ET

SMURF

MILK

Mustache 72,170 pounds of milk

478,163 pounds of milk

(with 2,787 pounds fat + 2,142 pounds protein)

(216,891 kg | 217,000 litres - 11 lactations)

previous record:

GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS

MURANDA OSCAR LUCINDA-ET VG-86

previous record-holder Japan

67,914 pounds of milk U.S. Holstein average (2008):

Dairy Cow Lifetime average (2012):

23,022 pounds of milk

77,160 pounds of milk

(with840 pounds fat + 709 pounds protein)

when: February 2010 age: calving at 4 years 5 months

when: February, 2012 age: 15 years

owner: Thomas Kestell

f

or about two centuries, trying to get more milk out of a cow has been the goal. When we obtain milk from a cow, we are tricking her into thinking she is feeding a calf. That’s nothing new in animal husbandry, but what is new is the use of machines and scientific technologies to maximize milk production on factory farms. Farmers didn’t have the tools to realize their cows’ full milking potential until well into the 20th century. In fact, these tools led to national milk surpluses.

However no one could have predicted the ramifications to come less than a century later. At the time, the application of Mendelian genetics or the chemical analysis of milk seemed to offer a promising future with greater access to milk.

Female cows reach sexual maturity at 15 months and are ready for milking by 24 months when they give birth to their first calf.

To keep the milk flowing, dairy cows must be

Ever-Green-View Holsteins

owner: Gilles Patenaude

La Ferme Gillete Inc. Dairy Farm

location: Waldo, Wisconsin, U.S.A.

location: Emburn, Ontario, CANADA

“This record wasn’t hard on her- she looks great and feels great. She just wasn’t stressed out at all, just like the rest of her family.”

“Smurf has earned the privilege of a private box stall; she is milked there at 4 a.m., at noon and at 8 p.m. and fed the best possible ration.”

impregnated once during the course of the year or a 365-day lactation period. Over half a century ago, farmers would have kept most milking cows for a dozen years after their first lactation, but today most Holstein dairy cows pump out milk for only 2-4 years before they are culled for cheap hamburger meat. The cows’ services simply aren’t needed anymore as new cows are brought in even though they may be healthy and capable of producing milk for another decade.

about 2.5 times greater than it was 60 years ago. Between 1950-2000, the number of U.S. farms with dairy cows also dwindled from an astounding 3.65 million to a mere 105,000, all while the average number of cows per farm increased 15-fold.

These impressive statistics are the result of scientific applications and industry concentration. First, is the use of selective breeding for cow types that could more milk convert more of what they Fewer cows are producing ate into milk than towards less cows maintaining their body more milk than ever. In weight. These cows require 1950, there were 21 million milk cows in America greater calorie intake, producing a total 116 billion pounds of milk; leading to the use of ‘high energy’ feeds made in 2000, 9,000 milk cows produced 167 billion with subsidized corn and soy ingredients that also stimulated milk production. Later, pounds of milk, a number which has steadily been rising to now 190 billion pounds per conventional megadairies used genetically year. In short, the average yield per cow is engineered artificial growth hormone rBGH (continue to pg. 13) the BEEF magazine

11

d on’t settl e fo r

FR E S H FA R M S

standardized GALLO NS OF

MI L K

G R O C E RY S T O R E whole

2%

SQU E E ZE o nly w h at yo u n e ed

weig h in at register

$0.02 per o un ce

2015

(recombinant bovine growth hormone) programmed electric milk machines that are produced by Monsanto Company to boost hooked up to cows every 8-12 hours. The dairy industry consequently depends on milk output. The hormone was approved by the U.S. Food and these machines and the energy consumption that Drug Administration in goes along with them.

1993. Clearly the genetic keep the manipulation has been cows are working. However, unlike milk flowing Additionally, beef, where putting ‘No treated like milk machines.

The well-being of the cows Growth Hormones’ on a and their natural behaviors label can be an opportunity are practically ignored to meet demands to raise prices for consumers who are willing to pay more for hormone-free meat, this is and gain profits. Grazing for larger herd sizes requires too much expensive land, so not the case for milk which is subsidized by diets of grain-feed have become the norm. the government. Thus, megadairies are at a These feeds are enhanced with additives huge advantage compared to smaller farm operations which supports consolidation and antibiotics to prevent cows from getting and concentration within the industry. sick by eating food their ruminant digestive systems weren’t designed to handle. Still, Unfortunately, these economies of scale also many cows still suffer from acidosis and pollute air, contaminate water and soil, and laminitis. The cows get little to no exercise and jeopardize public health like any other CAFO. eat regulated feeds rather than grass due to Milking cows is repetitive, strenuous work the efficiency of confinement. Living in such for humans. With so many cows to manage crowded, manufactured environments is not (factory farms in California or Colorado pleasant. Often cows walk on hard ground surfaces and rubber mats instead of soft soils. can milk 15,000-18,000 cows) in industrial Often they also stand in their own wastes. operations, this work is executed by computer-

They rarely go outside and have limited access to open-air areas. Maximized milk production is also very stressful. Many cows have calcium deficiencies, lameness, and compromised immune systems leading to contraction of diseases like mastitis (inflammation of the udder). It would be a miracle if cows in such conditions even survived past their up-to-6year pre-determined expiration dates.

Sadly, with milk costing more to produce than it is sold for, farmers have to reduce production costs and optimize yields just to stay afloat or risk losing everything. It is also cheaper to distribute milk from Californian factory farms across the country for retail, than it is for local farmers to sell to consumers, making it nearly impossible for small-scale operations to compete. They have little choice but to adopt the techniques that cause more harm than good.

The alternative- rotational grazing on pastures with small herds that are genetically diverse, no use of antibiotics, hormones, or medicines seems like a fantasy now that the dream of optimal milk production has been realized.

the “ i t ’s g o i n g t o b e MILK PRODUCTION d o w n t o t h e 1 l a s t d r o p” WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS 2 st

nd

t h e d a i r y i n d u s t r y ’s m o s t p r e s t i g i o u s c o m p e t i t i o n

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BUY O R R E G I S T R AT I O N I N F O. a t S P E C TATO R w w w. M P W C 2 0 1 5 . c o m TICKETS

the BEEF magazine

13

calves growing up with superior DNA

14

better

TOUGH against the elements heat, humidity, heavy rain snow...

DIGESTION

mean lean

less methane

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BEEF

POWERFULLY ENGINEERED FOR SUCCESS

THE FUTURE OF CATTLE BREEDING T

here are at least 800 breeds of cattle worldwide, however certain breeds are rapidly dominating industrial dairy and beef operations to produce specific results.

Traditionally, a diverse range of cattle were raised to meet various grazing or climatic conditions for the multi-purpose of producing meat, milk, labor, and leather. Today, with the specialization and concentration of dairy and beef production, certain breeds and genetic traits are selected to produce standardized commodities.

Cows are intentionally engineered to lactate and yield milk, or to achieve a certain quality grade of meat. A CNN article comparing grass-fed and grain-fed beef also stated that the breed mattered as much as the feed when it came to factors of price, taste, and nutrition.

This is classified as selective or conventional breeding which capitalizes on basic biological processes.

are social animals who form friendships and family bonds; given the choice, cows would have preferred partners with them, which reduces stress levels. Furthermore, these cows are artificially social connections are disregarded during conception and later on when calves are rest assured your weaned from their calf’s traits will be depressed mothers.

Commonly, these inseminated, i.e. a bull’s semen with living sperm is collected and introduced into the selected for. female’s reproductive ‘Livestock Eugenics’ tract, which requires reduce gene pools. special instruments and skilled persons.

Intensive breeding creates only a few parental Embryos from females can also be extracted lineages with supposedly superior DNA and used in a similar way. This practice has dominating expansive family trees. There is a its benefits including: better record keeping, rapid trajectory towards lack of biodiversity increased conception, less risk of spreading as certain varieties are specifically bred. 80% genital diseases, ability to impregnate cows of pure-bred dairy cows are Holstein, with who refuse to mate at the time only four other breeds (Jerseys, Ayrshires, Specialization is a result of of oestrum, and the semen of Guernseys, and Brown Swiss) constituting selective breeding and artificial old or deceased bulls or bulls virtually all of U.S. milking herds. Beef cattle calves insemination. Heifers kept in the with superior genetics from a breeds remain more diverse because of herd will reach sexual maturity completely different location varying habitats and fluctuating market deserve by the age of 15 months and are can still be used. It also supports demands, yet still over 60% of beef cattle are the best bred to deliver their first calves an industrial beef food chain either Angus, Hereford, or Simmental. Herds and that by the time they are 24 months that focuses solely on producing are becoming homogenized. old. A typical gestation period beef. However, advantages and includes is 9 months; following the first greater control have impending It’s incredible to think that there wouldn’t their dna. costs. calf, the cow is rebred after 2-3 even be cows in America at all if Christopher months to deliver another calf Columbus or the first British settlers in for an ideal calving interval of Artificial is the opposite of Jamestown hadn’t brought the animals 12 months. On average, cows will reproduce natural. Cows are not given the option of across the Atlantic Ocean with them. Without in the breeding herd for 7-9 years. The cows whether they want to reproduce or not. diversity, entire herds or groups of cattle and bulls that remain in the herd are kept They are tricked into thinking they are being become susceptible to diseases. Cattle are because of their favored genetic material that aroused and every time a cow is milked, she bred for longer lifespans, better digestive is expected to be passed down to offspring. thinks she is providing food for her calf. Cattle systems, more milk per lactation, more (continue to pg. 17) the BEEF magazine

15

meat greet

JOIN US Februar y 14th at the GR AIN SILO

More recently, through biotechnology, genetic engineering or cloning are used to achieve even greater control of cattle DNA, perhaps with even larger detrimental impacts.

Foreign DNA is inserted into the genome of the cells of genetically modified cattle via gene splicing techniques. Or, cattle are given growth hormones to accelerate development at unnatural rates. Cloned animals are also entering the food system; there are approximately 650 cloned animals in the U.S. with unique identities entered into a registry.

In 2008, the USFDA reported that food derived from clones and/or their offspring is indistinguishable from conventionally reproduced animals and found no safety concerns. However, the introduction of animals derived from intense scientific intervention is a concern for many confused consumers.

Unfortunately, in the U.S., the approach applied to emerging food innovations is risk assessment or the basic assumption that some risk is acceptable even though threats to public health or the environment may be uncertain. In contrast, a precautionary approach is the notion that new technology is seen as risky until proven safe. In these situations, transparency becomes important.

When the ‘flavor-savor tomato’ was stocked on grocery shelves in 1994, there were clear explanations in labels and brochures for consumers. However, consolidation, patents, and desire for even greater control has led to reduced transparency for consumers who unknowingly purchase foods with genetically modified inputs. For example, processed foods may contain corn starch produced with genetically modified corn, but the label will neglect to mention it.

Withheld information deceives consumers and protects the interests of industrial agriculture. In the case of genetically modified or cloned beef, there needs to be a consistent labeling system for if problems do arise or shipments need to be recalled. Some brands use the fact that they don’t use G.M.O.s or growth hormones as a selling point, but consumers who aren’t aware of the benefits, or who simply don’t have access, won’t be convinced. Besides, all of these catchphrases like ‘No G.M.O.s’, ‘Organic’, or ‘Natural’ can be meaningless because they do not reveal the whole production process. A cow may not have been injected with hormones, but it may still be artificially inseminated; a cow may have eaten organically grown grain, but still lived in CAFO conditions. Giving true meaning to these words and creating consensus within the beef industry can eliminate confusion, but for corporations that would mean sacrificing opportunities for revenue.

BIO -

TECHNOLOGY

promises a

ir ghter

B

to the threats created by an industrialized food system. The alternative would be to change aspects of factory farming so animal genetics don’t need to be so closely monitored in the first place.

beef cattle quadruplets are a different kind of RARE People love a nice medium rare cut of meat, but even more rare is the chance of beef cattle having multiple birtths. Against all odds, one Red Angus Beef Cow on a ranch in Minnesota owned by Keith Sistad delivered an astounding four healthy calves!

Quadruplets in beef cattle is extremely rare (compared to about 1 in 665,000 dairy cows having quadruplets). Although not unheard of, often at least one of the calves dies.

The calves were born nearly a month before expected. Sistad noticed the cow acting up and put her inside the barn for the night. He returned to find a set of twin heifers at 2:30am and then another set of twin heifers at 6:30am. The calves weighed between 36-48 pounds, about half the typical weight of a single newborn calf. All have been taken care of and are nursing, although Sistad does provide extra milk to supplement what the calves receive from their mother.

Usually ranchers prefer one healthy calf to multiples because they often require extra expense and effort albeit having more profit potential. But in the end, caring for the cows is always worth it.

the BEEF magazine

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announcing the opening of a new kind of entertainment

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his over-the-top hybrid experience attempts to critique the ways in which humans relate to animals and other agricultural practices.

According to the architects: “The overlaps and mutable identities of animals and machines through technology are not just sites for crisis and detachment; they can also be the locus of unprecedented opportunity. Farmland World is a chain of agrotourist resorts sprinkled across the American Midwestern countryside. Part theme park and part working farm, guests arrive to the resort via train and stay as part of 1-day, 3-day or 5-day experience packages. Capitalizing on both recent governmental investments in high-speed rail infrastructure and the plentiful subsidies for farming, the network of resorts combine crowdsourced farm

labor with eco-tainment.�

The identity of animal and machine becomes culturally blurred with the dominance of agri-businesses and our current conventional, industrialized food system. Monstrous, metal-structured, animal posers roam the landscape, executing planting, harvesting, and processsing tasks to take the concept of mechanized labor and production to the extreme. The proposal is sarcastic and ridiculous, but ultimately aims to educate and relink get ready for some humans with the natural eco-tainment at this new processes that sustain agro-tourist resort! us in conjunction with technology. image credits to Design w/ Company the BEEF magazine

19

“plan your trip today!”

Farmland World | DESIGN WITH COMPANY [allison newmeyer + stewart hicks] | 2011

“human/animal/machine hybrid adventure-land awaits”

photographic exhibition of stunning aerial shots

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RANDALL COUNTY FEEDYARD | Amarillo, TX

TASCOSA FEEDYARD | Bushland, TX

H

that economies of scale produce, which The particular feedlots captured here simultaneously jeopardize the industry’s are located in the Texas panhandle, but future success by degrading not only agriculture and feedlots are prominent throughout the Midwest, a the surrounding landscape, region known for its vastness, but also air, water, and land seeing Jeffersonian grid, and middle resources far removed from feedlots point of view. Ironically, these the immediate site. The are often “fly over states” that feedlot is not immune to from a go unnoticed. However, with The astounding results appear as if actual the negative environmental different increased general access to wounds, blistering, oozing, and seeping consequences it creates angle. the internet and Google Earth into a manufactured, regulated grid of due to negligent waste satellite images, landscapes desaturated pens. Blood red and toxic management. aren’t kept secret anymore. Negative green lagoons dominate Operating at the scale of environmental impacts are exposed and and threaten the clusters of landform industrialized cities, but eventually certain deplorable aspects of perceptively ant-like cattle. sculptures This alarming juxtaposition tucked away out sight in meat production won’t remain hidden the country, the feedlot either. exposes a contradiction.

Massive waste lagoons are created by the may soon not be able to uphold the all images credit to Mishka Henner disposal of colossal amounts of manure pastoral image of animal agriculture.

Hundreds of publicly available satellite photographs of U.S. feedlots are compiled and seamlessly stitched together to create ultra-high definition images of industrialized landscapes that few ever see from the ground let alone the air.

TASCOSA FEEDYARD | Bushland, TX

RANDALL COUNTY FEEDYARD | Amarillo, TX the BEEF magazine

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GRAZERS GR RA RS R S

GRASS RASS S

GRAIN G RA AI AIN

GU GUZZLERS G U ER RS

find your feed and may y the t scales be ever in your favor or

the

gains of

grains ( + other additives)

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weight gain per day = 2.5-4 lbs

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MARBLING

only 14-16 months

(about 6-8months spent in feedlot)

or nearly a century, industrial animal faster. 47% of soy and 60% of corn produced farmers have been supplementing in US is consumed by livestock. There has feed rations with additives to promote been a massive shift from food to feed. For rapid growth. This began with example, in 2008, over 200 million vitamins and nutrients that would acres were dedicated to growing allow producers to keep animals feeder corn, soybeans, and alfalfa inside year-round. Later, with to feed animals. In comparison, weight increased confinement leading to the amount of land used to grow gain mortalities and disease outbreaks, the top 10 types of U.S. produce technological developments is only about 1 million acres. All of is the of antibiotics were added to this land used for producing grain ultimate water and feed. Today some feeds and pasturelands increases goal. shocking additives may include: rates of soil erosion until the land hydrolyzed poultry feathers, bywon’t be fertile enough to support products of slaughtered animals, either system. ground up wild fish, interspecies waste, antibiotic drugs, growth hormones, Agriculture also demands a lot of water minerals and metals, and synthetic roughage resources. 60% of the world’s fresh water goes replacements. These ‘recipe tweaks’ have been to agriculture with 33% of that going towards working. 75 years ago it would take 4-5 years growing animal feed crops. Grain-fed beef for a cow to reach slaughter weight, now it production uses a disproportionate amount only takes only 14-18 months. Over the last of water for the amount of food it produces.

50 years, the average market weight of a cow For every kilogram of meat produced, 100,000 has increased about 300 pounds from 1,004 liters of water are used. In comparison, pounds in 1960 to well over 1300 pounds in soybeans use 98% less water at 2,000 liters/ 2010. With retail weight coming to about 40% kg, and potatoes only 500 liters/kg. Water of market/total weight, that’s an increase of use is important to food access and security over 100 pounds of meat per cow reaching because currently over half of the states grocery shelves. However, not all of these in the U.S. experience moderate to severe are added solely for the sake of optimized drought. The system depends on quantities of and accelerated weight gain. Other factors water that will not be available in the future have played critical roles in determining what following these trends. ingredients end up in cattle feeds. Ultimately, feeds are formulated to speed up growth to Overall, cattle use more food supply than they reach market weight and to supply essential provide and more resources than other food nutrients while minimizing cost to producers. system sectors. In the U.S. 157 million tons of cereals, legumes, and vegetative proteins Federal subsidies on are fed to livestock to corn and soy especially produce just 28million faster weight encouraged the use tons of animal protein gain starts with a of grain feeds because in the form of meat for those inputs could be human consumption. balanced grain diet. purchased below the The beef energy input cost of production for to protein output ratio greater beef production and profits. Without is staggering at 54:1, contributing much more these subsidies, a 1/4 pound McDonald’s than chickens or pigs to this inefficiently. hamburger could never cost $1. Feeding If the grains fed to livestock in the U.S. were animals grain can reduce operating costs by consumed directly by people, it could feed 800 5-15%, which translates into billions of dollars million, or if exported, could boost U.S. trade and is perhaps more important to producers balance by $80 billion per year. Tremendous than gains of efficiency or sustainability. Grain amounts of resources and energy could be feeds also happen to help animals gain weight (continue to pg. 26)

USDA grades

(prime, choice, or select)

3

HIGHER FINISHED WEIGHT

up to 1,500 pounds

lbs

~40% of total weight becomes beef

COW SCALE

avg. weight = 1,300 lbs

4

BETTER TASTE

the majority of people prefer grain-fed beef

5

LOWER PRICE

BRAND

information

avg. price (retail choice beef )

= $5.29

more affordable

6

ABUNDANCE

94 million

(U.S. Annual Cattle Production Total) the BEEF magazine

25

saved if more crops went directly towards human consumption, and if humans consumed less meat. An acre of cereal crops can produce 5 times the protein compared to an acre used for meat production. Meat consumption trends also impact society at a global level.

leading to numerous health problems.

the pesticides and herbicides used on the monocrops of industrial corn/soy farms can also accumulate in animal fatty tissues and consequently humans that consume beef. In the end, humans are not only what they eat, but also what they eat, eats.

A grain-fed rumen is acidic while grass-fed rumens are neutral. A common side effect is bloat, when copious amounts of gas given off by bacteria during rumination get trapped, inflating the rumen and pressing against the lungs. Another result of abnormal rumen Even though the government plays a critical Many countries that are poor often have pH is acidosis; cows go off their feed, pant role in monitoring the food system, these grain surpluses but they have to export them and salivate, paw at their bellies, and eat dirt. toxins and pathogens can still infiltrate our for feed production so the affluent in other Other side effects can include diarrhea, ulcers, food. One of the main issues is the competing countries can consume meat. Paradoxically, abscessed livers, and weakened immune interests of the USDA. They are responsible these farmers support a process that in no systems. In response, antibiotics are added for both meat safety and increasing meat way sustains them. Simply put, raising cattle to feeds to prevent sickness and casualties. sales. The meat industry also has powerful in general depletes tremendous amounts of It is estimated that 70% of all antibiotics in ‘friends’ in the upper levels of the USDA, so resources, and raising cattle on grain feeds use the U.S. are given to livestock. After all, sick they often win battles, such as the case of even more. Eventually there will come a point or deceased cattle impede the effectiveness Supreme Beef vs. USDA, to hinder inspection when these resources run out. of production. Common antibiotics used are rulemaking and food safety regulations. As Rumensin, which inhibits gas production in a result, the meat industry is protected from One of the reasons why beef production the rumen to stop bloat and Tylosin, which liability at the expense of public health. This is so inefficient is that cattle eat excessive reduces liver infections. is particularly geared amounts of foods that their digestive systems These antibiotics towards protecting the biologically can’t handle. Cattle are ruminants, wouldn’t be necessary largest producers that the government with a four-compartment stomach designed if cows ate what they dominate the highly to break down roughage. As a cow chews, were evolved to eat. consolidated and supports this diet. digestive enzymes in its saliva get mixed concentrated industry. into the food before it is swallowed. Then the The top 4 meat packers: But the additives food passes down the esophagus into the don’t stop there. As Tyson, JBS, Cargill, and reticulum and rumen where it is fermented if cattle weren’t growing fast enough, they National Beef control over 80% of the market and broken down by microbes. Some of the are injected with growth hormones like due to horizontal and vertical integration. larger food particles are regurgitated, chewed Revlar to grow at unhealthy rates. CAFOs again and re-swallowed; this is “chewing the also have gigantic tanks that pump out The USDA also impacts the retail market by certifying various brands. The most significant cud.” Otherwise, digested matter flows into liquefied fats, protein supplements, liquefied the omasum which further reduces particle vitamins, and synthetic estrogen. All of these market changes occurred in 1978 with the size through water absorption. Next, digesta ‘wet ingredients’ get mixed in with the ‘dry introduction of Certified Angus Beef and Coleman Natural Beef. The USDA passes the moves to abomasum, or true stomach, which ingredients’ like corn, soy, alfalfa, or cereals secretes digestive enzymes that break the food as they pass through computer-controlled seal of approval on whether beef is organic down into protein, vitamins, carbohydrates, feed mills. These reserves never seem to for example, which can be a huge selling point for some consumers. They are also in fats, and amino acids that are later diminish as trucks arrive with charge of the grading program established in absorbed in the small intestine. new shipments every hour. the 1920s that rates beef as standard, prime, Indigestible matter passes to the However, this constant supply is there is choice, or select based on it marbling and fat large intestine where fecal matter necessary to keep the operation is formed and expelled through running. On average, a cow gains content. Distinct marbling is a global aesthetic nothing the anus.

2.5-4 pounds per day on about 6 standard; more fat means better grading of four the cut. Associated higher quality indicates pounds of dry-weight feed per stomachs The entire process evolved pound of gain. Multiply that by better taste and tenderness that consumers through symbiotic relationships tens of thousands of cows and it have come to prefer. This meat isn’t healthier; can’t in fact it is higher in saturated fats and calories between the grass, cows, and all adds up quickly. handle. on account of being fed grains verses grass. bacteria. In fact, when calves are born on cow-calf operations, These components of CAFO Even if the USDA showed some concern their rumens are not developed diets can impact human health about food safety so that products aren’t recalled, they don’t care about whether the so they have to eat a fibrous diet of grass, milk, just as much as animal health. Acidic rumens foods make us obese or give us heart disease, and water. When cattle are introduced to a can lead to the colonization of pathogens high energy grain diet on feedlots, it has to be like E. Coli or Salmonella that can withstand diabetes, high cholesterol, or high blood pressure. The government assists in keeping done slowly because the roles of the bacteria acidic environments, and human stomachs are so specific and need to be re-established happen to be acidic. Normally acids would beef cheap, both in economic terms and so the cow can continue to eat without the kill off viruses and microbes, but resistant regarding value related to health, society, and ecology. microbes perishing. Therefore, it shouldn’t pathogens conquer those defenses, risking be a surprise that grain diets are unnatural, human infection. Chemical additives and (continue to pg. 29)

grain guzzlers 26

the BEEF magazine

g rass

grazers

BLOWING BLOW W ING G UP LIKE KE A

STOP THE T H BLOAT

WE ARE EXPANDING

NOW HIRING

at all 10 of our feedlot locations in Texas + Kansas “all you have to do is eat and we take care of the rest.”

side effects: Before beginning any diet/ exercise program always consult your veterinarian first. While grain-feed diets have been proven to support healthy, rapid, weight gain and provide essential nutrients, there is a slight risk that you may experience one of more of these minor side effects.

BLOAT

ACIDOSIS ABSCESSED LIVER

For starters, there simply aren’t enough grasslands to sustain the 100 million head of cattle that currently reside in the U.S. 70% of the land area in the American west is used for grazing livestock, including 260 million acres of western public lands. This land is cheap because in an arid climate, it isn’t ideal for farming so it is subsidized for ranching.

Even if the government supported grass-fed operations, it would take up to 250 acres of this type of land to support a single cow for one year compared to a couple of acres of pasture in the humid east. Managing cows on vast pasturelands also requires a lot of attention and work. That’s why the CAFO model can accommodate so many animals. It squeezes as

OBESITY WEAKENED IMMUNE SYSTEM

DEATH

The clear alternative would be grass-fed beef. many heads as possible into the smallest area.

This would have many benefits. First, research In the alternative, each cow would require has shown that grass-only diets alter fatty more space. The other problem with using the acid composition and improve the overall land in this way is that it often gets overgrazed. antioxidant content of beef. That means This compacts soil, diminishes soil quality, healthier beef for consumers with less bad fats, reduces ground cover, and eliminates high more good fats, less total calories, and more quality forage. While Management-Intensive calories derived from protein than fat. The Rotational Grazing can be profitable and meat may be tougher since the cows actually sustainable, it would not be effective at a large get exercise, but people could become scale. accustomed to that just like how they became accustomed to the taste and texture of grainLike industrial crop agriculture, larger land fed beef. Second, cows would be eating grass, allotments and scales of operation for animal which wouldn’t compromise their digestive agriculture would reduce biodiversity. Any systems, producing happier, healthier cows. livestock feed operation is often dominated There would be no need by a few species and for antibiotics and additives reduced gene pools, but that impact human health the grass isn’t the diversity of other too. Third, raising cows species is also threatened greener on on grass wouldn’t make by beef monocultures. This as much economic sense the other side. displaces vegetation as well in the short-term, but as other wildlife from their there would be less future natural habitats. The USDA costs related to the health of society and the Animal Damage Control Program established environment. If people realize the offset costs, in 1931, also eradicates, suppresses, and they would be willing to pay a little more per controls wildlife considered to be detrimental pound. However, despite the benefits posed to the western livestock industry. Therefore, by grass-fed beef, expanding this model to taxpayer dollars are used to fund the killing of support current meat consumption would predator species like wolves, coyotes, or bears, be just as unsustainable as industrial grain-fed all the while protecting the financial interests methods. of ranchers who graze cattle on public lands.

Grass-fed operations would still contribute to global warming. Cattle ranching is already responsible for 80% of Amazon deforestation with the rest attributed to growing soy mostly for animal feeds. If the number of cows were to match current statistics, there would still be excessive emissions of methane, nitrous oxide, carbon dioxide, and ammonia. Plus some argue cows would gain weight slower, thus emitting more gases during a longer life span.

Manure would also continue to be an issue.

Ultimately, economies of scale in beef production are not sustainable no matter what cattle are fed. The real solution may just be to eat less meat.

r.i.p. #9632

If you notice any of these symptoms, see your veterinarian immediately; many cows report initial discomfort, but being sick and not wanting to eat is not good for weight gain and there are medicines and treatments available to make you feel better.

the BEEF magazine

29

on the feedlot there’s nothing to worry orry about when you’re a cow

No. 3602

HOME SWEET HOME

30

H

uman relationships with domesticated are intelligent, social, and emotional creatures, smallest spaces possible without killing them. animals are interesting because both but industrial processes subordinate them Some go as far as comparing these conditions parties depend on each other to a not only as lower life forms, but as machines. to concentration camps, hence the feedlot certain extent. The evolution of the ruminant title, “Cowschwitz”, paralleling the stench and digestive system is important because the cow On factory farms, cows are designated as animal imprisonment to what happened to so is able to obtain nourishment from roughage numbers with no intimate connections to many European Jews, gypsies, gays, disabled (grass, hay) which monogastric humans can the owners who supposedly care about folks and others during WWII. not digest or convert into necessary nutrients, them. Cows are forced to eat feeds because proteins, or amino there is nothing else While many feedlots are comprised of open-air acids for their own offered. Or, if they do fenced zones, many also provide some form sustenance. Humans have the luxury of of housing or shelter which can vary based obtain those key grazing in a cow-calf on topography and climate. The first type are humans need cows & elements and energy operation, they aren’t total confinement buildings which are often cows need humans. in their diet when able to protest being naturally ventilated with apertures in the walls. they consume beef whisked away from Beddings of hay or corn stalks on solid floors and milk. In addition that life when they keep cattle dry. Some have slotted floors to food, other byproducts humans get from reach an acceptable weight to be finished on which manure drops through into a storage cows/cattle include: leather goods, fertilizers the feedlot. Cows are herded along by electric container below, however it’s not common from their manure, cosmetics, drugs, hair prods and directed to go into spaces that are because it could impact potential foot/leg products, perfumes, gelatin, glues, and more in unnatural or unfamiliar. A strong example is injuries. In humid climates, the ground is often a modern age. In return, cows receive shelter, the procession leading up to the paved to minimize mud while in shade, water, ventilation, and medicines that stun gun before slaughter. Cows arid climates sprinklers are used for human innovation can provide. literally can’t turn around or see cooling and dust control. home! anything but the animal in front In a way, humans do everything for cows; they of them because this is supposed Although because cows are pretty home tell them where to go, what to eat, where to to calm them down. Cows are tough and in regions that don’t on the sleep, when to have babies...to the point where artificially inseminated to produce experience frigid, snowy winters, range! cows barely even need to think. Cows also calves that will be weaned from simple shelters will suffice. These don’t even need to do manual labor anymore them. The list goes on. types include open sheds and with mechanization; in fact, they aren’t even lots, or open lots with windbreaks/ asked to exercise. Their only job is to eat, Once cows come to the feedlot, it’s like they’ve shades. These utilize strategic orientation and which they have to do to survive anyways. graduated from high school and moved on to shading devices for cooling or protection At the feedlot, feed is delivered to troughs college. Separated from their mothers, they from the elements. daily using a tractor/truck or mechanical feed no longer drink her milk or tag along behind; delivery systems. Cows are taken care of and they move on to live with about 100-150 penUltimately, providing these living conditions don’t have the burdens of human anxieties mates in pens about the size of basketball isn’t enough. Standards of waste management like making mortgage payments, putting food courts, with thousands of neighbors living and air quality should be maintained in order on the table, etc. in adjacent pens. These conditions can be for cows to be more comfortable and relaxed, crowded and stressful, but the greatest regardless of confinement and the sheer However, given the severity of this efficiency is achieved when the greatest number of animals being cared for. management, cows don’t have freedom. Cows number of cows can be squeezed into the

the BEEF magazine

31

too much shit to handle? never. n

32

DID YO U K NO W

Manure is valuable for agriculture but not in excessive quantities and not when tainted with chemicals, antibiotics, disproportionate The U.S. alone is home to just under 100 nutrients, etc. The division of beef food chain million cattle and calves. Between 1-2 billion phases also inhibits the ability to use manure cattle inhabit the globe, whether they are as fertilizer because producers don’t grow used for meat, milk, or other. A gigantic crops for animal feeds that could be fertilized population of cows translates into a lot of with manure, or farms that could potentially waste. For reference, a CAFO is identified as use the resource are hundreds of miles away. having 300+ animals, while a large CAFO has This is why a large portion of the manure a head count of 1,000 or more cattle, with that has been treated in lagoons will get the largest maintaining tens sprayed or buried nearby since of thousands head and some there is nowhere else to put it. manure is However, immense amounts approaching 100,000. Due to the specialization of CAFOs of manure at any rate can lead a benign that only ‘grow’ cows/cattle, the to overflowing lagoons, or resource. ecological benefits of manure storage structures that leak at are worthless, leaving producers rates above legal limits. This can with more manure than they know what to create a substantial mess and has a number do with. In 2006, the USDA estimated more of negative outcomes, especially as animal than 335 million tons of dry matter waste wastes are not given the same considerations (liquids removed) are produced annually on as human waste which is well-managed and farms (of all sizes) in the U.S. alone. A more rather sanitary. recent study estimates animal factory farms produce 500 million tons of waste per year.

Stored manure, especially waste lagoons, That’s three times more than the amount become toxic social and ecological liabilities. of waste produced by the entire human The absence of strict government regulation population. Depending on the size of the enables lackadaisical waste management or operation, a single farm or factory farm can disposal. Loopholes in laws, political lobbying, produce a range between 2,800-1.6 million and weak enforcement allow factory farms to tons of manure per year. And, with world escape pollution regulations and penalties meat consumption on the rise, stock piles of despite the incredible transformation of manure can only be expected to multiply in landscapes and communities that their size. negligence can cause. Consequently, the retail price of beef doesn’t include clean-up Various techniques have been adopted to deal (environmental) costs or the costs of negative with solid, liquid, or slurry (semi-solid) manure. human health impacts. (continue to pg. 34) the BEEF magazine

33

MOUNTAIN

A common method is to create manure packs from bedding materials of straw, sand, wood shavings, recycled newspaper, and/or corn stalks. The manure packs are removed and spread onto cropland or pastureland as fertilizer. Solid manure storage generally consists of a structure with paved floors and walls on 3 sides so (preferably drier) material can be got real... stacked and contained.

Manure in liquid or slurry form is stored for at least 180 days. Pumps, transfer pipes, or channels move waste from animal housing to storage in either above ground concrete or steel tanks, or below-grade earthen or concrete tanks. Another popular method of liquid waste storage/disposal is waste lagoons that can hold up to 20 million gallons of liquefied manure. Lagoons are intended to kill viruses and bacteria through anaerobic and aerobic processes.

MASTER the

o

n a small-scale diversified farm, manure would be a key player within an ecological feedback loop.

Symbiotic relationships support the system.

Cows eat meals of grass in return for helping grasses by protecting fields from tree/shrub growth and by spreading/planting grass seeds and fertilizing them with manure. The microbes and bacteria shit just populations in cows’ rumens allow cows’ to digest roughage while being given nutrients and an ideal environment for their population growth.

Cows turn roughage that humans can’t eat into proteins and amino acids for their own sustenance, but also provide humans with those key elements and energy into their diets when humans consume their meat and milk. Of course this system only functions effectively on a grass-fed diet, but nature and evolution has a way of working things out nonetheless. In this way manure can be a benign resource that turns literal waste into a valuable input that doesn’t cost a penny.

it’s all natura l

www.managemymanure.com

CAFOs impose a techno-industrial iconography, architecture, and infrastructure on natural landscapes. Even though identifying and quantifying the presence of certain types of contaminants in soil or water requires special scientific analysis, physical or ecological changes are visible evidence that something is threatening the environment.

From an aerial perspective, feedlots are easy to pick out because of the barren, desaturated, dirt pens and lake-sized lagoons that are often juxtaposed to the greenness one would expect of rural settings. An overhaul of natural resources to fuel industry starts to signify a visible loss of scenic beauty. In this way, our surroundings can be significant indicators of toxicity or imbalance. However, city dwellers or others who live their lives removed from places like the Texas panhandle remain unaware of these landscapes and never witness them unless perhaps flying overhead in a plane from one coast to the other.

Yet, many of the most prominent consequences of poor waste management and the mere scale of CAFOs are not readily perceived or directly linked. The 60-80% of nutrients, salts, pharmaceuticals, and other compounds fed to animals that are excreted as waste and remain on site in lagoons or silos that leak, break, or overflow infiltrate soil, water supplies or groundwater, air, and even the foods we eat at a microscopic level. Manure is

34

the BEEF magazine

a source of ammonia, nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus), pathogens, salts, trace metals, antibiotics, pesticides, and hormones. These microbes impact the health of ecosystems and humans.

are neighborhoods and communities within proximity of feedlots or CAFOs affected, so are countless others across the state, the country, or the world. Consuming toxins, carcinogens, antibiotics, or pathogens unknowingly can’t be good for public health. (also note air quality impacts discussed in Gastronomic Aromatics pg.06)

A disproportionate quantity of elements like phosphorus and nitrogen (two of the most important elements for plant growth and therefore used in synthetic fertilizers) can lead Once again, it needs to be stressed that to nutrient over-enrichment or eutrophication changes must happen at a fundamental level (explosion of algae that robs water of oxygen within a complex food system. Factory farms and kills aquatic life, thus reducing biodiversity). are industrial facilities despite their objections Runoff pollutes water, even the water people or the deceptive pastoral images they drink, with top offenders including: nutrients, advertise. Therefore, factory farms should be pathogens, siltation metals, oxygen-depleting treated like industrial facilities and should be substances, and suspended solids. Livestock regulated as such with permits, inspections, waste has polluted 35,000 miles of river in 22 and responsibility for monitoring, cleaning up, states and groundwater in and disposing their waste 17 states. Manure sprayed products. The general onto farmland as fertilizer public can also waive we’ve got adds more harmful power in this situation. substances to soil, air, or There are happy stories everything water at those locations, of communities that have under control. but more significantly already succeeded in toxins and diseases can stopping the invasion of work their way into the new CAFOs in their vicinity. fresh foods we eat. Research has revealed Greater transparency and raised awareness is that crops grown with the use of CAFO a formidable step that can lead to alternative manure exhibit traces of harmful chemicals farming practices with less crowded animals and pathogens within the plants themselves, and ways to handle wastes. unlike a coating of pesticide for example that can be washed off. As a result, not only

WISH-WASH WATER CO.

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LIQUID

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concrete, steel, earthen above- grade or below-grade

LIQUID | SLURRY

WASTE L AGOONS

carbon dioxide, phoshpate, ammonia

sunlight

disposal methods evaporation

oxygen algae aerobic bacteria oxygen sludge

gases anaerobic bacteria

LIQUID | SOLID | SLURRY

whether your waste is solid, liquid, or slurry, there is a disposal method that will work for you stack your solid waste and let it dry out in structures with three walls to contain it store liquid waste in massive tanks that never leak waste lagoons help to decompose your waste so you can continue filling them without fear of overflow and run-off into water supplies

FERTILIZER FOR CROP/PASTURE LAND

manure is a benign resource that fertilizes cropland or pastureland to support sustainable agriculture and cattle raising the BEEF magazine

35

meet et the muscles behind the meat mea eat packing g industry ind

36

a

few decades ago, meatpacking was one of the highest paid industrial jobs in the U.S.; despite dangerous, unpleasant work conditions, employees could earn a solid income. However, the meatpacking workers of today often live off of Social Security payments and struggle to make ends meet.

Killed, Eight Injured by Ammonia Spill. | Employee Decapitated by Chain of Hide Puller Machine. | Employee Killed by Stun Gun.”

These kinds of injuries and mortalities can happen in an instant due to simple errors and accidents. Workers feel obligated to keep pace with the relentless speed of the production line that involves heavy machinery, sharp In a relatively short time, the meatpacking knives, saws, or power tools, falling carcasses, industry became centralized and slippery or unstable floors, etc. The golden concentrated, with the top 4 agribusiness rule is “The Chain Will Not Stop” because faster means cheaper means more profit. firms controlling 85-90% of the market today compared to only 21% in 1970. This doesn’t And, the production line is accelerating; in help the cause for fair wages. One reason is 1975, 175 cattle were slaughtered per hour in the 1960s, companies compared to the current like Iowa Beef Packers figure of 400 cattle per (IBP) revolutionized the hour (or 7,000calves and tasks are industry by opening 130,000cattle per day in simple, but plants in rural areas. Here U.S.). there may be they could recruit and some blood exploit immigrant workers Other injuries of trauma/ who are often illiterate reoccurring pain take a involved. and don’t speak English. longer time to develop, Immigrant workers usually but involve just as much don’t challenge authority and are powerlesssuffering. Injuries like carpal tunnel syndrome viewed as perfectly cheap and disposable or tendinitis are caused by several hours of laborers by profit-greedy companies. repetitive motions performed every day as Consequently, the need for skilled butchers workers become part of the machinery. This can be caused by some of the more obvious and unions was virtually eliminated. Other companies had little choice but to adapt tasks like hacking at carcasses or lifting loads/ or go out of business, resulting in dramatic boxes, but also result from less suspected tasks like cutting with scissors. wage reductions and skyrocketing turnover rates. Though, quite frankly, how many people would be willing to do the dangerous tasks of Poor environmental quality, particularly air, also leads to chronic diseases, especially industrial meatpacking for so little income? respiratory diseases like bronchitis, asthma, or acute respiratory distress syndrome.

It’s one matter to earn a low-income, but it’s another to earn a low-income while physically risking your life. According to Bureau of Labor In 1999, more than 25% of 150,000 Statistics, meatpacking is America’s most meatpacking workers suffered a job-related injury or illness, however data from injury dangerous occupation. The plants where cattle are slaughtered are the most perilous reports is often falsified and workers are put back on the job as quickly as possible to because the animals vary in size, shape, and minimize lost work days, so those numbers weight which means a lot of the work can’t aren’t necessarily accurate. Slaughter/ be mechanized and must be done manually Packinghouse culture encourages hiding with razor-sharp or forceful tools. Some of the OSHA report headlines are horrifically injuries and pain. For example, supervisors’ and foremen’s annual bonuses are tied to shocking as if in the context of a horror movie: the injury rate of their workers, so they are “Employee Hospitalized for Neck Laceration discouraged to report injuries or seek out the From Flying Blade. | Employee’s Arm plant nurse. (continue to pg. 39) Amputated in Meat Auger. | One Employee

EMPLOYEE of the month

JURGIS RUDKUS company: Iowa Beef Packers (cattle slaughter plant)

location: Amarillo, Texas, U.S.A. age: 45 years of service: 24 native country: Mexico native language: Spanish jobs performed: Bleeder Grading Room Worker Hide Trimmer Splitter Warehouse Inventory Restroom Attendant “Jurgis has always been a loyal employee who doesn’t complain. He is fearless and has a strong, sturdy build perfect for applying power.

As a result, he has taken on some of the most difficult tasks along the production line became so proficient that he served as a floater and we moved him on to more challenging tasks. Overall, Jurgis has contributed tremendously for over two decades and intends to work here at IBP for the rest of his career.” * since the time of the first interview for this recognition, Jurgis Rudkus has been fired from IBP; no comment on the reason the BEEF magazine

37

the

CHAIN

NEVER STOPS.

will you pass inspection?

conquer the hazardous realms of the meat packing industry to feed the world before everyone starves to death!

SLAUGHTERHOUSE speed

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“It is in our best interest to take care of our workers and ensure that they are protected and able to work every day,” says Janet M. Riley, a vice president of the American Meat Institute, the industry’s trade association. “We are very concerned about improving worker safety. It is absolutely to our benefit.”

Self-insured agribusinesses will do whatever possible to delay or avoid medical payments because those costs are subtracted from profits. When a worker is injured at IBP s/he has the option to sign a waiver stating s/he will not sue IBP in order to receive immediate medical care by company-approved doctors (for life). Otherwise the individual loses all medical benefits. The other option is to not sign, risk losing your job, pay your own medical bills and file a lawsuit that you may or may not win. Needless to say, most sign the waiver. But, even if a person signs, it doesn’t guarantee s/he won’t get fired; workers with disabilities lose value. Thousands of workers mistreated and discarded due to no fault of their own, having done everything ‘right’. Yet most workers have little to no value in the eyes of the corporation anyways regardless of loyalty, consistency, or quality of work. The OSHA fine for the death of a worker is $70,000a marginal sum for companies with annual revenues measured in tens of billions, and probably an amount less than what it would cost to cover most surgeries/treatments or lawsuits.

An alternative to this unfair treatment and horrific work conditions would be to let workers select their own physicians instead of having to use biased company-selected ones. Another positive change would be to not permit meatpacking companies to insure themselves as higher premiums would force them to take safety issues seriously for once. Overall, these disturbing scenarios, here not about the treatment of animals, but of humanity itself, continue due to lack of general awareness or outrage. the BEEF magazine

39

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j

ust like humans, cattle have places rain. Cattle should also be able to stand on a freighter ship en route from America to to go and different ways of getting comfortably without being overcrowded. For Russia were trapped in what critics referred there. In commercial agriculture, cattle full-grown cattle the ideal floor area per animal to as a ‘torture chamber’. The animals were need to be moved for a number of reasons is 1-1.4m2. If there is extra space, partitions lying in several inches of filth from their own including: marketing, going from ranches to should be added to keep animals from manure and urine. The cargo spaces were feedlots to slaughter, being thrown about. so inadequately ventilated that hundreds of re-stocking, change Additionally, cattle cows died from the toxic levels of their own of ownership, or should not be tied up copious ammonia emissions. Hundreds more fasten your seatbelt relocating in times of and require turning perished shortly after docking from trauma and enjoy the ride. drought for example. every 30 minutes incurred on the trip. The instance led to Typically, the animals or so. Finally, cattle outrage and requests to ban international live travel by hoof, road should also be familiar animal trade until better safeguards could be motor vehicles, rail, and ship. Currently with other animals on board so they aren’t put in place. the multi-billion dollar live export trade is strangers and apt to get rowdy. However, increasing, especially in Australia and New these measures are not always followed.

Due to the controversy of livestock transport, Zealand. some could argue that dead animals should be When producers and distributors are negligent, shipped instead. However, this would demand The most common and versatile mode of and even if they are careful, transportation is significant changes with the current highly cattle transportation is by road. With the the most stressful and injurious stage in the centralized system in which the phases of Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956, people food chain for cows. The effects are disturbing slaughter and processing/packing take place and goods can be distributed rather quickly and numerous including: trauma, at massive scales in few locations. A and directly. Cattle and other livestock are no lacerations, broken bones, more localized approach would be exception, especially when they are regarded bruising, trampling, suffocation, economically inefficient for the big smooth as future commodities, packed into trucks like dehydration, exhaustion, heart names in the industry. Transporting sailing. cargo. failure/stroke, heat stroke, bloat, butchered meat would also call for weight loss, etc. Additionally, when more refrigeration. In contrast, live Transportation vehicles should cattle from different animals can move with their own take the well-being of animals herds are confined together power which makes loading and unloading speedy into consideration. First, it’s just for long periods with poor much easier and they won’t spoil (but they common sense that only cattle interstates. ventilation and increased stress, just might contract infectious diseases that who can endure the journey it creates breeding grounds for will make the consumer sick anyways). Others should be loaded (i.e. not sick, infectious diseases, leading to still, argue that animals should never have to pregnant, or injured). Transportation should be viral outbreaks. It’s puzzling to think about travel long distances at all. This would favor scheduled for when temperatures are cooler how this cruelty persists despite carcass a more localized approach, but again would in early morning or at night. The shortest devaluation and thus, loss of profit. involve changing fundamental components and most direct route is also preferred. There of an industrialized food system which would should be sufficient ventilation, non-slip Sea vessels for transportation are designed take considerable time. floor surfaces, proper drainage and waste to carry 900-1600 cattle for up to as long as management, and protection from sun or 5,000km. In 2012, hundreds of cattle loaded the BEEF magazine

41

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cull deforestation distributors eutrophication

manure meatpacking plant overgrazing producers

puzzles + games answer :18

answers

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manure meatpacking plant overgrazing producers

the BEEF magazine

45

NNo. o 534 exclusive sneak peek preview of the Diary of Angus Beef

534

46

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I don’t have a name. I’m just a number and I always will be.

My mother is No. 9,534. She feeds me milk and taught me to nibble on western wheatgrasses and green needlegrasses in the prairie pasture. I’ve never met my father, but he’s a registered Angus named GAR Precision 1680 and genetically superior.

I’ve been breed to have the entire package- for excellence in the pasture and in the feedlot, growth, gain, efficiency, and marbling. c Peter Dean

OCTOBER 13th

Blair Brothers Angus Ranch Sturgis, South Dakota (11,500 acres)

Freedom!

http://www.columbiam agazine.com

/photos/30671.jpg

523 miles

weigh-in

Lessons at Feedlot Prep

Poky Feeders Scott City, Kansas 105 miles (74,000 head) National Beef Plant Liberal, Kansas (400 cattle slaughtered/hr)

3

Graduation

http://blairbrosangus.co

m/?page_id=50

1,796 miles

Poky Feeders Scott City, Kansas 105 miles (74,000 head) National Beef Plant Liberal, Kansas (400 cattle slaughtered/hr)

3

Driving Down the Interstate

(data from 2007)

(# of cattle per county)

16 m o n t h s

meat packing plants none moderate

(0-1,999)

high

(2,000-7,999)

severe

JOURNEY

(8,000-19,999)

extreme (20,000-500,000)

ort-truck/

ide-a-transp

16 m o n t h s

ok-ins log/rare-a-lo

peta2.com/b

SCRAPBOOK 1 COW-CALF OPERATION

c Peter Dean

I’ve been breed to have the entire package- for excellence in the pasture and in the feedlot, growth, gain, efficiency, and marbling.

When I grow up I want to earn a USDA grade of prime and become a steak. That’s the greatest success an Angus like me can achieve in life.

| agripi cture.com

JANUARY 5th I eat, then I eat, then I eat...

lbs

My mother is No. 9,534. She feeds me milk and taught me to nibble on western wheatgrasses and green needlegrasses in the prairie pasture. I’ve never met my father, but he’s a registered Angus named GAR Precision 1680 and genetically superior. image source: http://blairbrosangus.com/?page_id=50

2 FEEDLOT

1 COW-CALF OPERATION

I don’t have a name. I’m just a number and I always will be.

for 500mi (8,000-19,999)

(approx. 10mpg = 50 gallons)

(20,000-500,000) air pollution & greenhouse gas emissions

$XXXX.XX EXTERNALITIES?

MARCH 13th I’m No. 534.

room + board in the bovine metropolis ($1.60/day for 160 days and includes $1.50 for implanting)

BANK ACCOUNT lbs

When I first arrived I was funneled into a chute by a man with an electric prod; then I was clutched in a restrainer, but being compressed can be quite calming and I was injected with Revlar which will help me gain even more weight.

$257.50

lbs

weigh-in

I’m No. 534.

image source: http://blairbrosangus.com/?page_id=50

gasoline (2,000-7,999)

lbs severe

blog/rare-ahttp://www.peta2.com/ image source: inside-a-transport-truck/

BANK ACCOUNT

weigh-in

MARCH 13th

EXTERNALITY

look-

www. : http://

image source

SCRAPBOOK

$61.13

(0-1,999)

high

I went up a ramp into this huge enclosed pen on wheels. extreme It was kind of like a magic trick; you go in and it’s totally dark except where beams of light comes in through holes, everything’s choatic, other guys are bumping up against you because the floor is shaking and we are all jammed in there, you feel like you’re going to suffocate until finally hours later, the gates open and you step outside into this completely unfamiliar place with no idea how you got there. You’re in the midst of the Bovine Metropolis.

CATTLE DENSITY LEVELS

weigh-in

JOURNEY

weigh-in

JANUARY 4th

LIFE-LONG of

none moderate

transportation

2

of

lbs

This last month I’ve been a weight-gaining machine! Soon (data from 2007) I am on my way to Kansas where I will be chewing and belching with the big guys. I am proud to say that I am living expenses graduating as the 7th heaviest steer in my pen and only (# of cattle per county) on the ranch making progress. In total I’ve eaten 706pounds of corn and 336 pounds of alfalfa, and Rumensin which helped (feed, shots, etc.) packing plants me not feel as sick at first, but then they kept adding itmeat to my food anyways.

CATTLE DENSITY LEVELS

image source:

MY

weigh-in

DECEMBER 25th

4

LIFE-LONG

lbs

image source: http://blairbrosangus.com/?page_id=50 us.com/?p m/?p pa age_ e_iid d=550 d=

Wild Willy’s Burgers Worcester, Massachusetts

Blair Brothers Angus Ranch Sturgis, South Dakota (11,500 acres)

523 miles

EXTERNALITIES?

Now I enter the next phase of my development and education- backgrounding. This will prepare me for the conditions that lie ahead in the bovine metropolis.

Apparently there’s a lot less space and there isn’t any grass to eat there so I have to start adjusting to a grain-fed diet.

2 of Angus Beef EATING TO BE EATEN: the Diary

MY

$598.00

1,796 miles

NOVEMBER 13th

1

investment ($98/hundredweight

Weaning isn’t for whiners, it’s for winners. Sure, I’ll miss my mom now that we are separated, but I’m ready to meet my true weight-gaining potential now that my rumen has developed and I can eat like a champ. Besides, she’ll have another calf in less than a year to cherish (who will also be called No. 534) that will replace me.

g

lot-calves.pn

/articles/feed

igrow.org/up : http://

image source

image source:

4

Wild Willy’s Burgers at 610lbs) Worcester, Massachusetts

lbs

weigh-in

1

When I grow up I want to earn a USDA grade of prime and become a steak. That’s the greatest success an Angus like me can achieve in life.

| agripi cture.com

There is so much food here! The storage tanks with all of the feed ingredients are always filled with new shipments coming in every hour. All I have to do is hang out in my open air pen with the other steers and the food is literally brought right to me and I get to eat nearly 24 pounds of the stuff every day!

$1.50 growth hormone implant adds 40-50lbs to slaughter weight for a return of ~$25 that could be the difference between profit or loss

I don’t have a name. I’m just a number and I always will be.

I’ll reach market weight in no time.

My mother is No. 9,534. She feeds me milk and taught me to nibble on western wheatgrasses and green needleinvestment grasses in the prairie pasture. I’ve never met my father, but ($98/hundredweight JUNE 13th he’sat 610lbs) a registered Angus named GAR Precision 1680 and On the Road Again Is this what it feels like to be obese? Thank goodness I genetically$598.00 superior. don’t have to walk the 100 miles. However, this trip we

TOTAL COST $916.63

/

Freedom!

Weaning isn’t for whiners, it’s for winners. Sure, I’ll miss my mom now that we are separated, but I’m ready to meet my true weight-gaining potential now that my rumen has developed and I can eat like a champ. Besides, she’ll have another calf in less than a year to cherish (who will also be called No. 534) that will replace me.

g

lot-calves.pn

es/feed

org/up/articl

igrow. : http://

image source

image source:

lbs

http://www.columbiam agazine.com

/photos/30671.jpg

weigh-in

OCTOBER 13th

weigh-in

.com/caring-for-animals http://www.pokyfeeders images source:

3

Now I enter the next phase of my development and education- backgrounding. This will prepare me for the conditions that lie ahead in the bovine metropolis.

Apparently there’s a lot less space and there isn’t any grass to eat there so I have to start adjusting to a grain-fed diet.

When I grow up I want to earn a USDA grade of prime JUNE and 13th I’m Flying! become a steak. That’s the greatest success an Angus like After waiting in a holding pen, I followed the others into an alley that was gradually turning until we were walking me can achieve in life. in a single-file line. I’m excited to see where the path leads weigh-in

Lessons at Feedlot Prep

weigh-in

0/beefx.jpg

lbs

http://www.provisioneronline.com/ext/resources/2013January/cattle-in-chute-to-slaughter-LARGE.jpg?1358183618

g

calves.pn

image source:

http://www.colum

biamagazine.com/

photos/30671.jpg

transportation

Driving Down the Interstate

ck/

transport-tru ok-inside-a-

re-a-lo

com/blog/ra

lbs

what happens next?

OIL

CORN

2.5-4 LBS GAINED

air pollution & greenhouse gas emissions

=

15-24 LBS FEED

x

DAY (PER STEER)

avg.

1,000-32,OOO STEER

BER

NUM

for the cattle owner at the beginning of the chain

1981-1994:

net return for fed cattle = $36/head

$598.00 1995-2008:

OVERVIEW OF SOURCES Factory Farm Map rump

cattle are ‘finished’ on feedlot ranging from 4-10months depending on initial weight, desired weight, feed quality, and feedlot conditions (from as early as 6 months old to as late as 22 months old)

chuck

40%

1500

NOVEMBER 13th $XXXX.XX

1320

1000

Lessons at Feedlot Prep EXTERNALITIES?

gras

s

lbs

-fed

bee

450

$257.50

of total weight becomes beef for retail

brisket

short plate

chuck

sirloin

http://blairbrosangus.com/ heel

flank

http://www.pokyfeeders.com/

breeding & artificial insemination antibiotics, rBGH, & feed additives transportation & distribution

CAFO (edited by Daniel Imhoff )

6 months

W E A N I N G

9 months

F

E

12 months

E

D

15 months

L

‘balanced’ grain + protein diet;

STOCKERS & AUCTION

O

‘fresh’

T

water

18 months

MATURE

(SLAUGHTER WEIGHT)

850

READ ON

Now I enter the next phase of my development and room + board in the educationbovine metropolisbackgrounding. This will prepare me for the ($1.60/day for conditions that lie ahead in the bovine metropolis.

160 days and includes $1.50 forthere’s a lot less space and there isn’t any grass Apparently implanting) to eat there so I have to start adjusting to a grain-fed diet.

3 months

f

1250

short loin

rib

22000110resources & information... for more 19944400 1940 700

(MOTHER’S) MILK & GRASS-FED IN PASTURE GRASS-FED IN PASTURE

When I first arrived I was funneled into a chute by a man with an electric prod; then I was clutched in a restrainer, but being compressed can be quite calming and I was injected with Revlar which will help me gain even more weight.

6 LBS FEED

POUND GAINED

GRAIN-FEED MOUNTAINS

BORN

lbs

x

DAY

DEPENDENCE

100 60

2 FEEDLOT image source: http://blairbrosangus.com/?page_id=50 us.com/?p m/?p pa age_ e_iid d=550 d=

THER

ANO

Weaning isn’t for whiners, it’s for winners. Sure, I’ll miss my net return for fed cattle = $14/head mom now that we are separated, but I’m ready to meet my true weight-gaining potential now that my rumen has $61.13 IT ISN’T PRETTY. Certified Angus Beef developed and I can eat like a champ. Besides, she’ll have burger at Wild Willy’s EXTERNALITIES? EXTERNALITY another cherish (who will also be gasoline calf in less than a year to WEIGHT GAIN + GRAIN-FEED CORRELATIONS MORE CHEAP MEAT ! (approx. 10mpg $7.95 calledforNo. 534) that will replace me.

500mi BIGGER CATTLE IN LESS TIME

206

I eat, then I eat, then I eat...

JUST

Next, a cylinder rose up right in front of my forehead, a surging gust of wind and

living expenses on the ranch (feed, shots, etc.)

500

blog/rare-a-lookhttp://www.peta2.com/ image source: inside-a-transport-truck/

JANUARY 5th

lbs

weigh-in

Freedom!

= 50 gallons)

I went up a ramp into this huge enclosed pen on wheels.

It was kind of like a magic trick; you go in and it’s totally dark except where beams of light comes in through holes, everything’s choatic, other guys are bumping up against you because the floor is shaking and we are all jammed in there, you feel like you’re going to suffocate until finally hours later, the gates open and you step outside into this completely unfamiliar place with no idea how you got there. You’re in the midst of the Bovine Metropolis.

weigh-in

:

image source

peta2. http://www.

investment EXPECTED PROFIT ($98/hundredweight $27.00 at 610lbs)

OIL

weigh-in

JANUARY 4th

OCTOBER 13th

787 lbs of upper choice grade beef

And then I was in! But to my disappointment I couldn’t see anything or turn around. Suddenly, I was moving along the floor but my hooves weren’t doing any work- I must have been flying!

weigh-in

s/feedlot-

up/article http://blairbrosangus.cow.org/ p://igro m/?page_id=50 rce: htt

image source:

image sou

This last month I’ve been a weight-gaining machine! Soon I am on my way to Kansas where I will be chewing and belching with the big guys. I am proud to say that I am graduating as the 7th heaviest steer in my pen and only making progress. In total I’ve eaten 706pounds of corn and 336 pounds of alfalfa, and Rumensin which helped me not feel as sick at first, but then they kept adding it to my food anyways.

WEIGHT (lbs)

Graduation

weigh-in

DECEMBER 25th

$XXXX.XX

lbs

us; there must be something incredible behind that blue door.

image source: http://blairbrosangus.com/?page_id=50 us.com/?p m/?p pa age_ e_iid d=550 d=

lbs

air pollution & greenhouse gas emissions

image source: http://www.peta2.com/blog/rare-a-look-inside-a-transport-truck/

http://i.usatoda

otos/2008/04/3

n | agripic ture.com

(approx. 10mpg for 500mi = 50 gallons)

I’ve been breed to have the entire package- for excellence EXTERNALITIES? in the pasture and in the feedlot, growth, gain, efficiency, and marbling.

SLAUGHTER & MEAT PACKING y.net/news/_ph

NOVEMBER 13th

gasoline

were all a lot bigger, so we stood fland to flank, stuck in our own urine and dung. Not very pleasant.

image source:

c Peter Dea

EXTERNALITY

lbs

21 months

NORMAL LIFE EXPECTANCY

20-25 YEARS

2 years

3 years

4 years

5 years

Power Steer: On the Trail of Industrial Beef (Michael Pollan) The Omnivore’s Dilemma (Michael Pollan) The Real Cost of Cheap Food (Michael Carolan) http://www.certifiedangusbeef.com/

drawing produced by Rebecca Soja

the BEEF magazine

47

additi nal resources additional re resourc e rces c to gett y you u think thinking th h king

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48

the BEEF magazine

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Grandin, Temple. “Cattle Behavior and Handling Facility Design for Feedlots.” Beef Cattle Handbook. A product of The Extension Beef Cattle Resource Committee.

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proud to be an

american

we are

what we eat

and what we eat, eats

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the BEEF magazine

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50

The Daily Meal. “America’s 20 Best Steakhouses Slideshow.”

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Winter Livestock Auction. Accessed November, 2014. http:// www.winterlivestock.com/. *additional information received from lectures for the course FST 102 Food Fights: Contemporary Food Issues taught by Evan Weissman, Ph.D., Syracuse University, Fall 2014.

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Soccer cccer Momma M Always on the go from one sporting spoortin inng event to the next. nex Finally a family mily dinner with th some st steak! #Beef ##B fvil ffv v i lllle l e #rare # rar r a r #tabletalk ##tablet #ta t aableta bletal bbletalk letal a l k #nomnom # nomnom omno #Beefville

Old McDonald McD M cDonald I’ so happy I cou I’m could ould u ld sing about my farm. It’s nice ni to know that someone’s loo ooking out for us little guys. looking # E IIEIO #EIE #EIEIO E IIOO #Beefvi #Beefvill #Beefvil #Bee # #Beefv le #Beefville

Muscle Moe My Mom al always used to tell me to eat myy ve vegetabl vvegetables, egetables, t but now I know that at eating meat every day will keep kee e me healthy lth andd energized too power m ener me through my work rkouts. workouts. #Bee ##B Beefville fvi v i ll #powerfulPROTEIN # powerfulPROTEIN p owerfulPRO powerfulPRO wwerfulP werfulPROTEIN r fulPROTEI u l P R O T E I N #workit #w #workit #Beefville

CarnivorUS I just don’t n’t get vegetarians. People should sh eat meat. meat ##eatMEAT #eatMEA eatMEA eatME atM atM MEAT E AT A T #chomp&chew omp&chew #Beefville #Beefv ##Beefvii ll

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