Feedlot Beef

If you buy meat from the supermarket, do you have any idea what you are buying and serving to yourself and your loved ones? In some management systems, it starts with the calf being torn from its mother before it even gets its life-giving colostrum. A calf does not have an immune system when it is born. Its entire immune system comes from the natural antibodies that are passed on from its mother in the colostrum.

One atrocity follows another. If newborn calves are sold off-farm, they are often subjected to lengthy transport in cold, drafty trailers, without water, feed, or maternal care. This can cause many illnesses in the animals, treated with antibiotics. Calves may also have "implants" put in them to stimulate abnormal hunger and faster growth, accompanied by more antibiotics and vaccinations. The antibiotics can range from "therapeutic" to constant dosages added to the feed. Milk substitutes are fed to them, manufactured from many different ingredients including cattle blood and processed fats.

When the animals reach a certain age, they are sold to a feedlot. There they are confined in high density pens where manure and muck grow deep quickly, in close proximity to cattle from many different locations, all bringing their potential illnesses with them. They are put on diets with lots of grain (which is not natural and is very hard for cattle to digest and which causes liver damage), generally laced with protein supplements from a variety of sources, potentially including the above-mentioned slaughterhouse wastes (widely believed to be responsible for the spread of Mad Cow Disease), growth hormones, and more antibiotics.

Pesticides sprayed on feedlot cattle

In many cases, manure is also "recycled" into the food, and plastic roughage is used instead of hay or straw, as it can be taken out of the manure and reused. Genetically modified stomach rumen may also be implanted into the cattle to allow them to eat quantities of grain that would normally kill them. Their backs are sprayed with organophosphate insecticides (the most persistent class of pesticides known - a possible cause of Mad Cow Disease) for pest control. Many of the cattle get sick in this environment, and some die.

Those that survive, propped up on drugs and hormones, make it to a large, commercial slaughter facility. There, after high-stress shipping for hours, they are subjected to merciless conditions, waiting in line to be killed, often hearing or even seeing animals being killed in front of them, causing the animals to be very excited. This can cause the meat to be tough and causes a lot of fear-related hormones to be released, which stay in the meat after slaughter. In this assembly line approach where efficiency is paramount, there have been many reported problems with intestinal tract contents contaminating meat and leading to e-Coli risk. (This is why these large-scale plants have pushed for radioactive irradiation of meat, eliminating the need for care and for making their lines more sanitary.) Eventually this meat makes it to that nice-looking display at a supermarket near you.

Grass-fed Beef vs. Feedlot Beef

Grassfed Beef

Feed Ingredients:

Pasture
In Harvest Haven's case, Grander revitalized water

Feedlot Beef

Possible Feed Ingredients:

Chlortetracycline, bacitracin, methylene disalicylate, erythromycin, tylocin oxytetracycline, sulfamethazine, ethlenediamine dihydroiodide, lasalocid sodium, monensin, melengestrol acetate, zeronal, testosterone, estradiol benaoate, progesterone, trenbolone acetate, sodium bicarbonate, polxaline, hydroxyzine, sodium bentonite, propionic acid, chicken manure, cattle manure, chocolate, stale pastry, cement dust, molasses, candy, urea, hooves, feathers, meat scraps, fish meal, pasta, peanut skins, brewery wastes, cardboard, corn silage, genetically modified grain, pesticides...

And who knows what is in the water they drink....

What's with the Beef? - by Sara Schmidt

In 2001 I was a student of Veterinary Technology in Kansas City, Missouri. Right before completion of the program, the class took a trip to a local cattle ranch in order to fulfill their yearly veterinary requirements. These requirements included vaccinations, castrations, dehorning, and administering necessary medications.

When we arrived at the farm (feedlot), I was appalled by the brutality with which the duties were performed, particularly the dehorning. Up to this point, I had only been exposed to the procedure performed on calves to stunt the development of the horns. I had not known the horrendous practice of taking fully-grown and developed cattle, and literally cutting the horns out, while the animal is swinging its head and bellowing in agony. No anesthetics were administered. The animal was given nothing but a hot iron where the horn had been, to cauterize the bleeding.

I felt sick to my stomach, and could not partake in helping with the duties.

When I got home that evening, I announced to my parents that I was going to become a vegetarian. I did not want to support the practices that I had witnessed, and the apparent disregard shown for relieving the suffering of the animals. My dad said, "Well, that's too bad.... That means you can't have any of these juicy hamburgers tonight." I succumbed, but my commitment to someday become vegetarian, when out from under my parents' roof, remained.

When I moved out to Montana, I began to learn about organic foods. When I came to Harvest Haven, saw how they raise animals on pasture, instead of the high-protein grain and whatever-else diets, and heard that they do not need to dehorn (due to their breed), and that they do not pump the cattle full of antibiotics and artificial hormones, a whole realm of experience opened up to me! I could have my organic beef burger and enjoy it too!

Read About Organic Grassfed Meats