I don’t eat a lot of meat but I’m not a vegan, or vegetarian. I’m still an omnivore as nature intended — I think. But I’ve often wondered why we call chicken, “chicken”, turkey, “turkey”, but pig is pork and cow is beef. And it’s bad enough to learn that cows nearly die when they are force fed corn, grain, and chopped up parts and blood from other animals (agribusiness tried hard to make cows cannibals, but the FDA finally banned feeding cow parts to cows. It used to Elsie the Cow, we might have had to change that to Hannibal the cow.)
Now, our wonderfully overworked and highly lobbied USDA is going to require companies that sell meat to give some biographical detail about the cow or pig you’re about to eat right on the package. Can you imagine:
Carlos Vasquez (a nice cow)
Born April 12, 2008
Died May 16, 2014
Cause of death: Numerous blows to the head and shocks to the body; murdered
Place of Birth: Quintana Roo, Mexico
Place of Death: Lawton, Oklahoma
Butchering date: May 16, 2014
Butcher: John D. Chopper
Distributed by Mad Cow Beef Inc.
Have a happy meal.
You think I’m kidding, don’t you? But I am not. Just read the following article from The New Yorker (yes, I know that makes me a yuppie!). Here’s the beef:
Starting Saturday (01 DEC 2013), companies that sell meat in grocery stores will have to label where the animal was born, raised, and slaughtered. It used to be enough to know that you were buying a hamburger or a steak. Since 2009, meat companies have also had to provide some vague information about origins—for instance, that a product came from North America. Now, you’re about to discover the whole life story of the animal you’re about to eat—and often you’ll learn that it came from abroad.
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that meat is part of an increasingly complex global supply chain. The total number of U.S. cattle is the smallest it has been since the nineteen-fifties, partly because of high feed costs and drought. The number of ranchers has been declining, too. On average, they are in their late fifties; fewer young people are interested in the tough, often unprofitable line of work. But Americans are still eating plenty of meat, and it has to come from somewhere. Mexico’s abundant forage has given it a comparative advantage, and cheaper transportation—in Mexico, in Canada, and elsewhere—has made it more economical to ship cattle long distances.
Moo on over to this page and chew on this information for a while…
The sponsors below have nothing to do with Cloudeight or Mad Cow Beef, Inc.
<>
I watch a lot of animal shows on NATGO where the animals have to eat one another in order to survive. Most of the time while watching the programs, I turn my head when a tiger is killing an antelope or some hoofed animal cause it turns my stomach, and wonder why the Lord made animals where they had to eat other to survive… However, we as humans do some the same thing, only we eat the animals and not humans.
There was a movie I watched one time, can’t remember the name of it, but it might have been called the Slaughter House, dont remember, but when I saw how they killed the cattle in this shoot… I nearly passed out.. mainly cause those following the first one got to see their final death in action. (it reminded me of the Jews in Hitler’s concentration camps where they had to wait for their deaths in the gas chambers.)
Why did the Lord make us where we have to kill in order to survive. Now, people can become vegetarians, but animals are not made that way…. they eat any animal, some times, their own. How did they eat in the days of the Bible?
Well Molly in the beginning all the animals were grass eaters in the garden of eden but when man fell because of sin that perfection was lifted off of the animals just like Adam and Eve. The only time that it was changed for a short time was when all the animals were put in the ark with Noah. Then at the end of that trip they were put back on the earth to do the way they were before after they had scatered abroad. The next time they will be grass eaters is after the tribulation period. Then Satan will be out of the picture for almost a 1000 years. The Bible says that the lion will lay down by a lamb and a child will play on the hole of a asp snake which is one of the most deathly snakes in the world. So one day there want be tigers eating antelopes or any other flesh. But there is one thing to remember that God did not make anything that was not perfect it took man to mess it up.
P.S Molly forgot to tell you that during that 1000 year millenium time frame ole Carlos the cow want have a worry in the world. No stinking slaughter house for Carlos Vasquez.
Sorry to break the news, but Carlos Vasquez is not a nice “cow”. He may be a nice steer. Just as Elsie could be nice cow. The two of them together are cattle.
Steers are castrated young bulls. Nobody needs, or wants, many bulls in a herd. They are too unruly and can cause all sorts of trouble. So in the late Spring or early Summer, male calves are castrated, branded and vaccinated. If you aren’t too squeamish to think about it, it’s the same as neutering, chipping and vaccinating your pet dog. Usually a whole day is devoted to this, so as many calves as possible can undergo these procedures…and neighbors can help each other out. At the end of the day the calves have recovered from their trauma and humans feast on “Rocky Mountain Oysters” (look it up if you don’t know what that is).
These are the facts of beef production that probably few readers of the New Yorker know. Though I don’t understand why cattle are sometimes fed meat from other cattle, because these animals are by nature herbivores. They really do like corn, but if they eat too much they will get sick. Owners know this and don’t want to lose money on these expensive animals.
I don’t like watching either animals or people die, but I’m not sure that slaughtering cattle is worse for them than starving, or freezing to death in the Winter or dying from some disease. Nobody lives forever. They don’t know the sacrifice they make for mankind. But beef ( or any meat ) adds substances to the human diet that are difficult, though not impossible, to obtain from growing things alone.
Just had to say a word on behalf of ranchers, who live close to nature, accept the sometimes difficult reality of nature, and are all to often maligned by those who are ignorant of the lives they lead or the work they do.
Wow thanks for the lecture on cows and bulls. EB thinks I’m the king of bull. Now she’ll be surprised. I’ve been put in my place. The only ranching I’ve done is eating Jolly Ranchers — but that was a long time ago.
My knowledge base gets narrower and narrower as I grow older and older. I don’t know nuttin’ about cows, so this sounds like a lot of bull to me 🙂
Are you old enough to remember Elsie? If it’s Borden, it has to be good.
I wonder whatever happened to old man Borden and his pet bull Elsie? Oh! I bet bulls don’t have any milk…and that’s no bull is it?
I will stick to computers and leave the ranching to you.
PS: Do you know that cow penicillin is perfectly safe for humans. Indeed. I am not a rancher or a farmer, but I’m intimately familiar with farm stores. See this article I wrote quite a while ago 🙂 https://thundercloud.net/infoave/new/down-on-the-farm/
Interesting article. However, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulates foods, drugs, cosmetics and medical devices. The U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE (or as I refer to the USDA – U.S. Dead Animals) regulates meat and poultry products, etc.. The mission of the two [very different] agencies are often confused by the public. Both agencies have had their authority greatly diminished over the years. And, that is a very sad thing for the American people. Did you know that for awhile in the United States (earlier this year) people were purchasing products purporting to contain 100% ground beef which turned out to actually have 30% to 100% horse meat?
http://www.snopes.com/food/tainted/aldi.asp
In the effort to gain more profits, GREEDY people will do anything! And, their highly paid, efficient lobbyists are always there to help them accomplish whatever they want to do. Lobbyists should be banned!
I stand corrected. You are right, the USDA regulates our food supply (although not very well) and is in cahoots with agribusinesses — and it seems to me –very much against the small farmer — and honestly healthy food. HFCS (high fructose corn syrup) is a staple in the American diet now because of the artificially high tariffs on sugar cane, and the collusion between agribusiness corn and the U. S. government. It’s a very odd coincidence that the large increase in the number of obese citizens seems to coincide with the introduction of HCFS into our food supply. Now, HFCS is ubiquitous and difficult to avoid.
The USDA is lobbied just as much as the FDA, with just as many unwanted consequences.
Anyway, now we know who to blame — blame the USDA and not the FDA for the untimely demise of our favorite Hispanic cow …Carlos.
LOL! Enjoyed your impressions of the farm supply store. I no longer have any association with the cattle industry, but go to the farm supply store for dog food, cat food, bird seed and to look at shirts and boots that I don’t need… their prices may beat even Walmart! The smell of the place fills me with nostalgia.
I know little about the USDA, tariffs, collusion and agribusiness. And I know more about the U.S. government than I sometimes really want to know.
But having worked in a medical field for 40 some years, I do know that
farmers and ranchers HAVE been known to buy penicillin for themselves there. It IS the same stuff that our doctors prescribe for humans. Trouble is, they may not know the correct human dose, and worse, don’t know if it’s the right antibiotic for what ails them! Could be these farmers are really “growing a crop” of penicillin- resistant bacteria and not curing anything. I can understand the temptation but would never recommend it. I’m glad you resisted , as well, as the impulse to buy a cattle prod . It’s use certainly could motivate humans, but I hate to imagine what it might motivate them to do!