|
Considering routine practices (on some operations) such as application of toxic sewage sludge and regular medication of otherwise healthy livestock due to poor/inhumane conditions, do you agree that much of the current American agriculture system is inherently unsafe? How would you suggest we go about changing it to better reflect the food safety expectations of consumers? Author: denise:Topic: Biotech Seeds: |
4Vote |
I am glad that you asked this question. When I see a question like this one, my first thought is, wow, do people actually think this?
I have been in the cattle business for 30 years and I know no one that applies toxic sewage sludge to their land--- NONE.
As far as the medication of livestock goes, yes, when an animal is suffering from a wound or other illness it becomes part of being a good steward to the animals in our care.
We do have vaccination programs set up, through annual consultations with our local large animal veterinarian, because we know that calves coming from nutrtionally sound and healthy cows perform better throughout their entire lifetime-- all without the need of any growth hormones.
This is how most of the operations at the Production level --work
I think if you better understood the system you would have a beter feeling about animal agriculture. Let me explain:
Ranching -- is the production of livestock, in my case cattle-- specifically, cows and calves
(this is the true Production unit)
Other operations along the chain are Stocker operations and Feedlots.
These types of operations are not part of Production--and instead are the "middle-men" between the Rancher (true production unit) and the Packer/Consumer.
The norm is that most ranchers do sell their calves at weaning age (7 months) or shortly after some pre-conditioning of those calves. Some cow/calf producers keep their calves and finish them as well, but not that many.
The unsanitary conditions, you speak of, are therefore happening by the "middle-men" along the chain and not the cow/calf producer.
Every good cattleman has data, because finishing data is what sells calves and is also what demands premiums. I have 25 years of data on every calf-crop I have sent to the feedlots and there are many Producers like me all across the country-- so I truly believe that you should feel good about your food and if you still don't trust what people say about industry-- Buy Local.
As a Roman official once said I wash my hands of the whole affair. SimaAngus seems to want to bury his head in the sand and deny that the science that produces harvest-ready cattle from feedlots is detrimental to the cows and degrades the healthiness of the food we get from supermarkets.
Those feedlot cattle would not survive to live out a natural lifespan because of the lack of grass replaced by corn in their diets. Like the chicken rancher in "Food Inc." says; if you can get the meat to market in less than a third of the time why not?
Because the meat you are getting to market is poisoning us, poisoning the chickens, and poisoning the economy; that's why!