The Truth Behind the Closed Doors

My name is Lori Thomas and I was born and raised in the suburbs of St. Louis, Missouri. In 2013 I graduated from the University of Missouri-Columbia and accepted a job as a farrowing manager at a sow farm in Thompson, Missouri. I learned more in one year of production than anything I ever read in a text book. To a city kid from St. Louis, this experience has changed my life forever.

My father grew up on a small farm in southern Illinois, which has since turned into rented farm land and a place for the cousins to ride dirt bikes and race go carts. My older brother followed in my dad’s steps and is now a successful engineer and I…. I just love pigs. I was pre-vet (small animal) until my junior year in college when I was offered a job working with pigs. For eight months, I helped a graduate student with data collection and daily chores of eight boars (male pigs). Upon graduation, I was still considering vet school but thought a year in production would be very beneficial. Little did I know, 365 days later, vet school was no longer what I needed to be happy, pigs were.

I am very passionate about the swine industry and because of that, I am passionate about agriculture. I want to share my knowledge about swine production and my story of what I have experienced behind the closed doors of the sow farm. I think consumers struggle to understand why we raise animals in the environments that we do and they fear the welfare of the animals. Coming from a background without agriculture, I can see these struggles and fears. I get it, but hear my story.

I spent exactly one year employed at a sow farm with roughly 10,000 sows and I was tasked with managing farrowing. To my city friends, I explained this as being a nurse to a sow and helping her deliver babies and then caring for these animals until they are weaned. What could honestly be better than playing with piglets all day? Unfortunately, it wasn’t all glamorous. There was power washing, fixing feed lines, treating sick animals, and a list that goes on forever (seriously). A normal day was a 12-13 hour shift, starting at 5:30 am. Farrowing had 15 workers plus management and we worked 12 days on, two days off. Inside the closed doors of this barn, was a family.

I learned a lot in that year that will stick with me forever. I was fresh out of college and was faced with management of people and pigs. It didn’t take me long to learn and practice patience, respect and commitment, to the people and the pigs.

Patience. It takes patience to work with animals. I am 125 lbs and trying to move a 400 lb sow into a farrowing crate (when she has ideas of her own), can be very challenging. Or the constant communication barrier I faced with most of my employees. Trying to teach a job to someone who speaks a different language than you, certainly takes patience. 

Respect. There were certainly times when your patience would spread thin. However; we never lost sight of respecting each other and the animals we cared for. For most people, this is a hot topic. What was the welfare of these animals locked inside of this barn? How was their quality of life? For the 365 days of which I was there, I think it was pretty darn good. My friends from home would ask why these pigs weren’t being raised outside, free range, instead of in a crate of any kind. I can see some of these thoughts, as I used to have them myself but at least for me, now it all makes sense. Recall, I was managing farrowing and when these sows farrowed, they were inside, in a crate. Why? With the genetics these pigs have today, they are capable of having several babies (12+, 25 in some cases). However; having this many babies without any assistance, can be challenging. By having them in crates, I am able to monitor the sow as well as her babies. We had 24 hour farrowing care, someone was always there. Not only assisting with delivering the babies (sleeving the sow, drying the babies, getting them up to mom to nurse) but also monitoring them in the days that followed. Are the piglets nursing? Is mom eating and drinking? Are the piglets warm enough? Is mom too hot? These ladies (sows) and their babies were cared for everyday in ways that wouldn’t be possible outside. Maybe having them indoors in a farrowing crate, isn’t so bad? She doesn’t seem to mind.

Maintaining respect of the animals was something we took very seriously. I always think about weaning. We had 60 farrowing crates per room and we would wean first thing in the morning. I would stand at the end of the aisle and count the piglets as the crew would remove them from the crate and into the aisle. I would get to 50 or so pigs and then we would run them out into the hallway. I remember a day when I was attempting to run them into the hall and these weaned pigs were not moving. No matter what method I tried, they were hardly fazed. It was extremely frustrating and apparently it showed. One of the guys, Auggie, stepped in and said he would try and he was instantly successful (he always claimed the pigs spoke Spanish and they weren’t moving because they couldn’t understand me). My point is we were watching out for each other. We didn’t want the others frustrations to get the best of them. We truly cared about the animals we worked with. Believe me, we spent a lot of time with them, they were part of the family.

Commitment. This was my life for a year. Remember, we are working with live animals. They don’t take holidays off. That’s right, we are open on Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s. These are easily still eight hour days. We would try to rotate so everyone had a holiday off but it was most certainly a challenge. Not to mention my favorite commitment of all, alarm calls. The technology that we have today is truly amazing and I wouldn’t have it any other way, but those darn alarm calls. I swear, it would always happen the second I got home for the night or the second I went to bed. Every farrowing room had a box which controlled the temperature, ventilation, water usage, heat lamps, lights, everything. If something went out of range, it would alarm. Another perk of having these animals inside. The environment was controlled and controlled to benefit them.  Most of the time, the alarms were all minor issues. However; a few were a bit more threatening. I was always on pig time. I may have clocked out, but I most definitely was always able to be reached.

My life was put on hold for this job (and I wasn’t the only one). Granted, this was a fairly large barn, and it was a new farm. We had our work cut out for us. But we did it and I don’t think I would have it any other way, with any other crew.

I would have taken anyone into our farm. I wasn’t hiding a thing. It is not all glamorous, but what job is? Agriculture is filled with many other professions outside of the pig farm, but I think the same principles exist: patience, respect and commitment. We are real people, with real emotions, who are passionate about what we do. I encourage you to ask any questions you may have about what we do, come and visit with us, hear our story.

Thank you for reading,
Lori

There Are No Snow Days in Agriculture

Let me start by saying that I am no fan of cold weather.  Absolutely hate it.  As icy and cold as it’s been across our state lately, I’ve been thinking about how especially thankful I am for farmers and ranchers that brave the elements to take care of their animals and the land.

Growing up with a dad who managed a large cattle feedlot, I learned early on that a change in weather could flip our family’s life upside down.  The worst such occasion was a horrible ice storm that crippled southwest Kansas in late December 2006 and January 2007.  My family had just gotten to Texas to visit my grandparents after Christmas when Dad got a phone call that the weather was getting a little western.  So we turned around and sped the entire ten hours home, only pit stopping in Oklahoma City to buy a few electric generators.

We arrived back in Garden City to find the roads completely iced, powerlines and trees down, and snow and ice everywhere.  Before it was all said and done, we ended up with three inches of rain, topped with over four inches of ice and some snow on top of that.  To be frank, it was my dad’s (and every farmer or rancher’s) personal version of hell on earth. 

Over the course of the next few weeks, I rarely, if ever, saw my dad.  He and the feedlot crew were working around the clock, 24/7.  As you can see in these photos, machinery was constantly running to clear snow and slop out and dump sand in pens.  The cattle still had to be fed, so alleys, roads, and bunks (what cattle eat out of) had to be shoveled and cleared so feed trucks could get the feed where it needed to go.  On top of that, power was out so they ran the office and the mill off of generators for seven days.

The feedyard employees are using equipment to clear mud out

of the pens and haul in sand to keep the cattle comfortable.

At Garden City Feed Yard the goal always, and especially during those times, was to keep cattle comfortable and take the absolute best care of them as possible.  That’s exactly what they did.  Were they able to make the conditions ideal?  Absolutely not.  Were the cattle feeling like they were living in paradise?  They sure weren’t.  But how would the cattle have fared without their human caretakers?  If they could, I’m sure that the cattle would have said “thank you” to the guys for caring about their wellbeing. 

There are no “snow days” when you are caring for other living creatures—these guys sacrificed time with their families, warmth, and often sleeping in their own beds to do their part.  That’s just how it works in this industry.  Putting your animals ahead of almost everything is simply a way of life.  The next time I feel myself getting ready to complain about how much I despise how cold it is, I’m going to stop myself and remember how thankful I am that farmers and ranchers, like my dad, are toughing it out so that I can have something on my plate to eat.  I hope you will remember that too.

Thanks for reading,

Lindy

Are Veterinarians Real Doctors?

Hard at work improving animal lives

 As a veterinarian, the worst question that I get is not “How do you deal with euthanasia?” or “Don’t you ever get tired of blood and guts?” or “How about those student loans?”  Honestly, the worst question I get is far worse, and actually all too common.  I can’t tell you the number of times that people have asked me “Why didn’t you just become a real doctor?” 

That question really just makes my blood boil.  I will tell you, I automatically have a problem with any person who asks me that question.  Why?  Because by asking that question, “Why didn’t you just become a real doctor?” that person has automatically devalued my degree, my livelihood, and most importantly, my passion.  I want to be a medical doctor for animals—I do not want to be a medical doctor for humans.  I don’t really understand why someone would want to ask me that question.  Frankly, it gets me pretty riled up.  I get angry, I get defensive, and I shut that person out. 

 The SAME thing happens when people who have never been on a farm, have never experienced the rewards of growing their own food, and have never realized the value that they receive at the grocery store, ask farmers why they choose to raise their crops or their livestock the way that they do, using the technologies that they have available.  It happens when they accuse farmers of raising crops that are “tainted” with GMOs, or when they accuse cattle, pork, or poultry producers of raising animals “inhumanely.”  When people cry out about the “florid, inhumane” conditions that farm animals live in, or the “unnatural, corrupted” crops that are grown, it makes those farmers’ blood boil as well.  When farmers hear such falsities, and such questions, they tend to react like any other person whose livelihood and passion are being questioned and put down—they get angry, they get defensive, and they shut down.  Sound familiar?

Being a farmer’s daughter from Kansas, I’ve lived my whole life answering questions like “Do you actually have running water in your house?” or “Do you still go to church in a horse and buggy?”  My family gets it--most of the time those questions are in jest, but we do get a bit defensive about things like that.  But when we really get defensive is when people are angered about our use of some of the most innovative technologies in the world (ahem, GMOs), but are still asking whether we have some of the same technologies that the ancient Romans had!  It’s a bit mind-boggling, to tell you the truth.

Any good farmer will be the first to tell you that the crops and animals they raise are safe, nutritious, and produced in a responsible manner.  They will tell you that they feed those products to their own children, and would be happy if you fed them to yours, as well.  However, they will not tell you these things if they feel like their whole lives are being threatened.  And that’s how many farmers feel right now.

Again, with this anger and defensiveness comes that urge to shut people out.  I will be the first to tell you, farmers can be some of the most defensive people out there.  It’s hard not to be when you feel your livelihood is being threatened.  However, if I’ve learned anything from my experience in being asked the “real doctor” question, it’s how to be gracious and accepting of it, and provide an answer that gives the inquirer the reply that they’re looking for, but also gives me the chance to enlighten them on important aspects of my job and maybe, for the future, let them know that the question is not necessarily appropriate when asked in that way.  Believe me, it’s taken a while for me to become accepting and gracious, but I believe that farmers are much more graceful and accepting than I will ever be, so it doesn’t take them long to come around. 

What I ask of the majority of consumers is that you take a step back before making accusations and asking some possibly offensive questions, and ask yourself, “If someone had no idea what I did in my job, and asked me why I was doing it wrong, what would I say?”  I think you would find that you’d be a little put-out and defensive, too.  But I think you would want to help that person see that you ARE doing a good job, and that you are proud of what you do, just like farmers are.  Consumers have a right to ask all the questions they want—they’re part of the food production process as well—however, I think if we all took a step back and thought about our approach, these conversations just might become a whole lot easier.

Veterinary Medicine Mobility Act

Veterinarians play a crucial role in the health and management of farm animals.
Photo credit/source

 

As a 3^rd year veterinary student, animal care is of top importance to me.  I believe it’s a great day when veterinarians, ranchers, and the government can join together and pass a law that not only benefits veterinarians and ranchers, but ultimately benefits the animals we strive to care for.

 

On August 1^st, the Veterinary Medicine Mobility Act was signed into law allowing veterinarians to carry controlled drugs outside of their clinics and across state lines.  This becomes extremely important in providing pain management, anesthesia, or humane euthanasia to patients that are unable to be brought into a clinic. 

 

The president of the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA), Clark Fobian, DVM, says, “To be a veterinarian, you must be willing to go to your patients when they cannot come to you, and this means being able to bring all of the vital medications you need in your medical bag.”

Check out more information about the Veterinary Medicine Mobility Act at the AVMA website: https://www.avma.org/Advocacy/National/Congress/Pages/VMMA-Campaign.aspx.

 

Best,

Alex Grieves

Hormones in Beef: The Rest of the Story

Alright, so I want to talk a little bit about hormones in beef cattle.  I mean we all know a lot about them, mass media tells about them almost daily, about how they are bad for us and how they increase the risk of cancer.  But what has always puzzled me is why we only hear about hormones in the beef industry, and about how hormone consumption in beef is going to kill us.  Well I want to tell you a little bit of the rest of the story.  Yes, it is true conventionally raised beef does contain hormones.  It contains 1.9 nanograms per 3 ounce serving.  This is compared to all natural certified organic beef which contains 1.5 nanograms per 3 ounce serving.  That is a difference of .4 nanograms per 3 ounce serving.  That is decimal point with eight zeros and a four behind it (.000000004).  There is not much of a difference.  Now compare that to a food like soybeans.  Soybeans contain phytoestrogens which have been proven to be hormonally active in humans, per three ounce serving of soybean oil there are 168,000 nanograms of phytoestrogens.  Per three ounce serving of cabbage there are 2016 nanograms of estradiol.  Both of these foods contain no meat and are used frequently in vegetarian and vegan diets.

According to USDA numbers an average per capita 60 pounds of beef is consumed per person per year in the United States.  That works out to be 320-three ounce servings per year per person.  Which in turn comes to approximately 1077.17 nanograms of estradiol per year from beef consumption.

Now I want to compare that number to something that is practiced by thousands of women every day in the United States: birth control.  What I have here is a progesterone based birth control product.  It contains .035 mg of estradiol per pill and is based on a 28 day cycle so there are 21 active pills in a dispenser of this product.  If you consider a woman who uses this product for one year, that is 252 pills or 8,820 nanograms of estradiol per year.  Remember the amount estradiol per year from beef was 1077 nanograms per year. Approximately eight times more estrogen from progesterone based birth control than from beef. Now let’s consider a woman who takes an estrogen based birth control pill. They contain 35,000 nanograms of estradiol per pill which for the same 252 pill year works out to be 8,820,000 nanograms of estradiol per year.  That is approximately equal to 875,868 lbs of beef.  Or on a hot carcass weight basis, that is like eating 1100 steers per year per person.  That works out to be just a little over three steers per person per day.  So in summary for every one pill of estrogen based birth control consumed it is like eating 3 whole cows by yourself, daily. 

If you want to trim hormones out of your diets, beef should probably not be the first place you look. 

Thanks for reading and please let us know if you have questions and leave your comments below!

~ Nick Henning

Cattle Enjoy Confinement

If you’ve even driven by a feedyard/feedlot you’ve likely seen cattle standing close together at the feedbunk, under the shade or just out in the middle of the pen. It sure seems like they are crowded in there, doesn’t it?

Well, did you know that cattle are gregarious? That’s just a fancy word for being sociable or fond of company, meaning that they live in close herds and social groups. So, while you may think that cattle in feedlots don’t have enough room to move around, they actually just like hanging out with their cow-pals. Cattle in feedlots have plenty of room to move around, play, lie down and eat; they would just prefer to hang out next to each other. It’s their natural instinct!

You’re probably thinking, “But Buzzard, what about when they are in large pastures with hundreds of acres to roam and graze on? Surely they spread out more to enjoy all that fresh, green grass, don’t they?”

Cattle are fundamentally a prey species, so grouping together is a way to keep the herd safer.

 

See all that green in the background? They could be spread out all over the place, but they prefer to stay together.

Nope! As you can see, the herding instinct doesn’t go away when they are on huge pastures. Even though they may have hundreds or even thousands of acres to roam, they still prefer to chill out in groups.

The point is that feedlot owners and employees want to keep their cattle as comfortable as possible and one of the ways they do this is by providing plenty of room for the cattle, but that doesn’t mean the cattle will take advantage of it. However, it’s important that they at least have the option.

Do you have beef production questions? Shout ‘em out – we’d love to hear from you!

Until next time,
~ Buzzard ~

Liam Neeson says 'Nay' to Banning Carriage Horses in NYC

Liam Neeson has quickly become one of the top action movie stars in Hollywood, so naturally, when he writes an op-ed piece in the New York Times, people take notice. He decided to write the piece to speak on behalf of the carriage horse industry in New York City, which has come under fire by mayor Bill de Blasio as an inhumane treatment of the animals and an outdated tradition, which he wants to replace with electric powered replicas of vintage cabs. Unlike many other actors these days, however, Neeson appears to be a pragmatic person who will evaluate a situation for himself and not espouse wild accusations about the treatment of modern farm animals.

 

 
Liam took the time to visit with the carriage horse owners, visited the stables where the animals are housed, and came his own conclusion that these animals are well-cared for. As an Irish farm-boy himself, he believes that “it has always been my experience, ALWAYS, that horses, much like humans, are at their happiest and healthiest when working.” So, he decided to increase the pressure on mayor de Blasio to come and see the horses and stables himself, which so far de Blasio has refused to do, despite his avid campaign to remove them from NYC. According to the article, horses having been pulling carriages in NYC for the past two centuries, likely longer. They have made an estimated 6 million trips in the past 30 years, and they maintain a remarkable safety record over their long history.

From my perspective, the carriage horse industry is one of the few ways New Yorkers can get a glimpse of a domesticated farm animal on a daily basis, and as we continue to see more and more people move into urban environments, the need for exposure to farm animals will grow even more severe. In a recent Fox News article, it appears that animal welfare activists have been picketing Neeson’s NYC home to harass him for his views on the industry. So far, Neeson has avoided the activists, but I respect his willingness to stand up for an NYC tradition that already appears to be highly regulated and gives city-dwellers a glimpse of working horses in their element.

Thank you Liam Neeson, for being an advocate for the New York City carriage horse industry, we need more celebrities like you who can appreciate the use of farm animals in modern environments!

According to a recent poll, only 28 percent of New Yorker’s support the mayor’s plan, but obviously this is a controversial issue. What are your thoughts on whether horses should continue to be used for NYC carriage rides?

-Hyatt-

Farming Practices... And Why We Do Them

Hey everybody, my name’s Bruce Figger and I’m from a small town in central Kansas called Hudson.

I’m currently a 2nd year veterinary student at Kansas State and I did my undergraduate work at Fort Hays State where I majored in Animal Science.  My family has a farm where we grow wheat, milo, and alfalfa in addition to raising Angus cattle.  In my spare time I like playing guitar, going to the lake, and just hanging out with my friends.

I have been involved with agriculture pretty much all my life.  Unfortunately not everyone has had the same opportunities to be involved with food production as I have.  The gap between food producers and consumers is growing and I am excited to be part of what Food For Thought is doing to bridge that gap.    

I recently came across an article on Huffington Post titled “9 Facts About Factory Farming that will Break Your Heart.”  This article was full of misconceptions and scare tactics about how terrible conditions are at these “factory farms.”  Now, I could go through these so-called scary facts about food production one-by-one and explain why these practices are performed or how they’ve been over exaggerated for a good news story (that was sponsored in partnership with Chipotle… riddle me that), but since I was home on spring break last week I decided to take a look around our family farm and see what I could find that, if spun the wrong way, could be seen as heartbreaking.

So here are four practices on a non-factory farm that could break your heart, and why we do them:

#1 We Confine Our Cattle… Sometimes:

Everybody knows that cows eat grass and grass grows for free, so why would anybody need to keep them locked in a pen?  Multiple reasons exist for this practice.  One of the biggest ones is to feed cattle a specific ration so that they can gain weight as efficiently as possible to make it to slaughter weight using as few resources as necessary, this is the idea behind feedlots.  But cow-calf producers occasionally keep their cattle in pens too.

 

The pictures to the left show two groups of cattle in dry lots.  The group in the top picture is heifers that are getting ready to give birth to their first calves, they will join the group in the bottom picture after we make sure they have delivered their calves safely and everyone is healthy.  They will all go to pasture once the grass is ready.  We keep them in confinement to make sure they are healthy, have access to good feed throughout the winter, and to catch them if they need help calving, which brings me to...

 

#2 We use Chains to Deliver Calves… When Necessary:

This is a picture of my dad and me helping a cow who was having trouble delivering her calf.  This may seem unnatural, after all there are chains involved.  But sometimes during calving, difficulties can occur that require assistance, and these are big, slippery calves, so we use small chains that are like a choke collar for dogs.  We put the chains on the end of the calf’s legs near the feet to pull the calf out.  This practice is far from the norm for births, most cattle have no trouble delivering calves all by themselves.  But these calves aren’t out of the woods yet because...

#3: We Pierce Ears of Calves at Very Young Ages:

This is my brother tagging a calf that was born today, these tags have a sharp point that pokes through the cartilage of the ear then bends down to hang visibly from the ear.  This can be painful to the calf, no way to deny that.  Also it can be stressful to the calf and its mother because for all they know, we are attacking.  Pain and stress are things we try to avoid in our livestock, but in a procedure like this the benefits outweigh the costs by a long shot.  Tagging takes less than a minute and results in a calf that can be identified if it gets lost or sick or has to be moved to a new pasture.  A few seconds of pain and stress makes it possible to take care of these animals on an individual level.

#4 We Feed Antibiotics to Our Cattle to Enhance Their Growth:

To the right, is another picture of my brother hard at work putting out mineral supplement to our yearling calves on wheat pasture.  This mineral contains Monensin, which is an antibiotic in the category known as ionophores.  Ionophores make up about 30% of the antibiotics sold for use in animal medicine.  They kill a specific group of bacteria in the rumen (a compartment of cattle’s stomachs where fermentation takes place).  These bacteria produce methane, which the cattle belch off.  Killing these bacteria lowers the amount of methane produced and allows other microorganisms to make products cattle can absorb and use to grow.  Ionophores are not used in human medicine at all, so using them in cattle won’t lead to development of resistant bacteria that could harm people. 

So there you have it, folks, four common practices that could be seen as cruel or unnecessary if spun the wrong way, and that’s just in two days.  I’ll keep an eye out for more, but until then if you see or hear of something that concerns you about where your food comes from, ask a farmer. 

Eat Beef,

Bruce Figger

Calving Season

Hello everybody! My name is Jacob Hagenmaier, and I am a veterinary medicine student at Kansas State University. I am very passionate about providing a safe, wholesome food supply as well as the great stories people involved in agriculture have to tell. One such story is calving season. Right now is the end of our spring break, and while many students across the nation spent the last week enjoying sandy beaches or snow covered mountains as the perfect getaway, my break was spent in the beautiful Flint Hills of Northeast Kansas on our family ranch. March is a busy time for many ranchers, because that is when their cows are due to calve. Calving season varies within different operations, but early fall and spring tend to be the most common. Calving season is a very intense and strenuous time for cattle ranchers. Some nights, not a wink is spent sleeping due to continually checking on the pregnant females and assisting with births if needed. Still, calving season is one of the most rewarding and fulfilling parts of being involved in beef production. All the hard work spent feeding, delivering calves, putting down straw for bedding, and monitoring herd health is well worth it to see newborn calves bursting with energy and ready to go to grass around May!

Since our herd consist of predominately cattle that are 100% black, I get especially excited to see a calf born with a little bit of color.  The bull calf pictured above tends to be my favorite this year because of the "Joker-like" face pattern -- google "Joker from Batman" and you'll see what I mean! Within 12 hours of birth, all calves on our operation are given a shot that contains minerals to boost their immune system, a pill with antibodies against causes of scours (Bovine term for diarrhea), and a tag which identifies their mother. Around mid April to the first of May, the newborn calves and their mothers will be taken to pasture to feast on the fresh grass that comes with spring.

That's all for now... I better get back to studying :/

Best,

Jacob

Dairy Carrie vs. HSUS

Aaaaand we're back - after a brief hiatus from the blog we're back in full force!

Picture from dairycarrie.com

As a vet student, and someone who cares a ridiculous amount about the well-being of animals, I am constantly outraged by the Humane Society of the United States misleading Americans.  Let's get one thing straight, when you donate to HSUS you are in no way benefiting your local animal shelter and helping animals in need - you're contributing to a power (and money) hungry organization that lobbies against agriculture.


Recently, Wayne Pacelle, the President and CEO of HSUS, wrote an open letter to agriculture journalists and leaders.  This letter is just as misleading as the sappy commercials I see on TV.  Blogger, Dairy Carrie, has such a phenomenal response to this - I had to share.  Enjoy!

http://dairycarrie.com/2014/02/10/dear-wayne-pacelle/

-Alex

How are cows killed?

Last night while making dinner, I was watching one of my favorite shows, "Bizarre Foods" on the Food Network. This particular episode was based solely on the state of Wisconsin.  In one of the stories, the show's host, Andrew Zimmern, traveled to a local slaughter plant owned and operated by a former vegetarian lawyer turned Buddhist butcher. The small plant bought and processed locally sourced cattle, hogs, and sheep and turned them into a variety of specialty meat products. Upon describing the slaughter process of this particular plant, Andrew commented that here, each beef animal was restrained individually and shot with a captive bolt gun, which was different from the way it was done in large slaughter houses. Seeing as I had spent countless hours over the past 3 years conducting animal health and welfare research in several different slaughter houses across the country, I knew this was not in fact true.  So just how are cattle actually killed in large slaughter houses? The answer is........ exactly the same as Andrew described!!!

Animals are quietly moved by trained animal handlers into specially designed, low stress handling corrals from the stockyards and lead into a portion of the corrals called the "snake" which uses the natural behaviors and tendencies of cattle to move them individually into a restrainer specifically designed to prevent cattle from injuring themselves or from becoming excited and scared.

Once the animal is in the restrainer, a specially trained worker utilizes a penetrating captive bolt gun to render the animal unconscious and insensible. The captive bolt gun (pictured to the right)  fires a high velocity pneumatically driven steel rod through the frontal bone of the skull and into the brain. It is called a captive bolt because the metal rod aka "bolt" is retained as a part of the gun after firing and not free to continue though the head. This does not cause true instantaneous death (but likely result in it), which requires destruction of the brainstem, but does instantly render the cattle completely unconscious and unable to feel any pain or process and receive information from any of their senses if performed correctly. Typically most plants run well in excess of 95% success rates for correct first shots that result in instantaneous unconsciousness and insensibility (Grandin, 2005).

The cattle are then "shackled" with a chain around their hind leg and quickly lifted over an in-floor tank where the jugular veins and carotid arteries are severed with a razor sharp knife. This process is known as exsanguination or "sticking"  and the massive and complete blood loss that results is what kills the animal (assuming the captive bolt has not already done the job). The blood does not go to waste however, and is collected processed for its valuable plasma portion. Slaughter houses practicing Kosher and Halal kill methods done in accordance to the respective religious guidelines do not allow for the stunning of animals prior to exsanguination via brain destruction and instead rely solely on exsanguination of a conscious, sensible animal. (This is about my extent of knowledge on these methods)

It should be noted that about 90% or more of large slaughter houses are routinely audited and inspected by there customers (i.e. McDonald's, Walmart, Whole Foods, etc.) to ensure the highest level of animal welfare practices demanded by consumers and set by veterinarians and other professionals. . Additionally, ALL plants producing meat for human consumption are subject to regulation and mandatory inspection from the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service.

Though smaller slaughter houses and specialty butchers may purchase and process fewer, higher priced animals (Organic, grass fed, etc.) the methods in which cattle are actually "killed" are not different in most cases.  Many times, smaller "Mom and Pop" slaughter houses might not even use a  specialized captive bolt gun and/or restraint devices, instead opting for a gun and a squeeze chute or a restraint free "knock box". In the hands of trained professionals however, these methods still work very very well.

Though not a process that anyone enjoys thinking about or doting over, folks everywhere are understandably interested about the way cattle are slaughtered and in my opinion, they deserve to know that the meat they enjoy eating is produced in an ethically responsible manor and comes from animals that are treated humanely. Humane slaughter methods must be ensured no matter if the slaughter house processes 2 or 2,000 animals a day.

Please don't hesitate to email me if you have any questions on the slaughter process in cattle: djr@vet.k-state.edu

DJ 

Working at the Cow Wash

Ask any farmer around and they’ll be the first to tell you they’re not in it for the money.  Some of them have a passion for the outdoors… some of them care about clothing and feeding the world… and you might even find a handful that love animals.  In fact – make that most of them love the animals they raise.  When a farmer goes out at 2 in the morning to pull a baby calf – and then brings the calf into their home to keep it warm until morning - that is pure love.

How far will a farmer go to keep his livestock happy?  As a huge animal lover, animal welfare is very important to me.  Livestock owners often get a lot of slack from the media for the treatment of animals involved in production agriculture.  There is controversy over naturally fed cattle, pigs raised in pens vs. pastures, and cage sizes for chickens – the list goes on and on.  Now I could really care less if the cheeseburger I ate was once “organically” fed, but something that is important to me is the quality of life the animals had on the farm.

 

So back to my question: how far will a farmer go to enhance the quality of life for his or her livestock?  An article posted on our first year vet school message board caught my attention.  There is now a machine that washes your cows, similar to a car wash.  And over 30,000 of these Swedish machines have already been sold.  That’s a lot of clean dairy cows.  If the “cow-wash” makes the cows happy, they produce more milk – now I’d say that’s a win-win situation for all.  Check it out for yourself!

http://newslite.tv/2010/07/22/cow-wash-machine-helps-boost-m.html

Enjoy!

Alex

Agriculturists Police Themselves

The agricultural community is capable of policing themselves and taking care of issues as they arise. My father and brother, Gary and Travis Theurer, have both been involved with a local animal cruelty case close to home. This past year, the Midwest has seen some of the worst drought conditions people have faced since the Great Depression in the 1930’s. This has resulted in drastic management changes by animal caretakers in order to keep the health status high of all the animals. On our farm and ranch, the drought has resulted in selling off some of our cows to have enough grass and forage available to feed all the cows in the summer, extra supplementation in the form of hay bales, lick tanks, and range cubes, and has also resulted in consistent monitoring of water situation to ensure all cattle had access to high quality water. However in this isolated incident, one particular cattle producer did not take the proper steps.

My father was contacted by the local sheriff department to see if he would be willing to help capture the animals and bring them home and care for them. Dad immediately wanted to help because he was informed of the condition of the animals and wanted to do anything he could to nurse them back to health. My dad and brother drove up to this ranchers’ place and gathered all the cattle and hauled them home. Both my dad’s and brother’s responses were, “These are the thinnest cattle I have ever seen. I’m surprised they even have enough energy to walk. These cows need a lot of care to help them along.” At home, the cattle were fed a forage diet. We were initially worried to start the cows on a high quality grain diet because the cows have not seen enough feed and would over-eat any grain product placed in front of them resulting in metabolic acidosis causing more harm to the animal rather than good. We developed a gradual step-up ration diet that would initially meet the minimal cattle nutrition requirements needed and then increased in order to add weight to the cows to get them back towards adequate conditions. We went to gather the cows the first part of July and they have currently added approximately 300 pounds due to the water and nutrition supply my family has been able to provide to these animals. I saw these animals a few weeks after they arrived at home when I was down visiting for the weekend and I saw them again a couple weeks ago. The progress they have made has been remarkable just do to some management practices. Video of the cows and news report of the animal cruelty case can be found here:

http://www.kake.com/home/headlines/Animal-Crueslty-Trail-Underway-In-Wellington-170373686.html

The reason why I chose to write this for a Food For Thought blog was just to show the ability of production agriculturists to not only care about their own animals but all of the livestock sector. The drive and passion people can have is outstanding in agriculture sector. While it was a sad and isolated event that animals suffered, people directly involved with production agriculture stepped in and tried to fix the problem the best way they could.

Until next time,

Miles Theurer