The Gastrocast

I’ve just read this:

I actually heard of one organic producer in New England proudly promoting that his cows were soooo happy, that after milking they ran into his fields to graze. Well, animal science tells us that claim is simply not likely to be true - ask any bovine animal scientist, who will tell you the only way to get a cow to run out into a pasture is if the cow is starving, i.e., unhappy. Cows, being herd animals, are actually most contented packed together chewing their cuds or eating grains in the safe confines and shade of a feeding shed or barn. Apparently cows’ instincts keep them on alert for predators while out in the open fields causing understandable stress.

Most traditional (non-organic) dairy producers use a balanced combination of pasturing, feed lots and barns to manage their herds. Producers will spend a great deal of time adjusting these combinations along with other practices to get the most milk production from their animals. High milk production is just about the best indicator of a happy and healthy cow: Unhappy and unhealthy cows produce less milk. Organic production methods yield an average 20 to 30 percent less milk per cow than conventionally raised cows. Virtually all published academic studies on organic dairy yields characterized them as "significantly lower" than conventional production. And who has the happy cows again?
It came from the Milk is Milk Blog–I’ve linked to it before, but I’m not going to link to it today: I won’t give it any more traffic than necessary. (The litter brain won’t even allow comments).
So my first question is–has this dude ever been near a freaking cow, or on a farm? Or is he just some Big Interest Dairy Association Yahoo (Bidet for short)?
Every year our neighbor closes off their biggest field in about April. By July the Grass is high and just beginning to dry. The Hay is cut and the bales pulled off of the field. Meanwhile their meat and dairy cattle graze between 4 or 5 smaller pastures equalling more space. These pastures, however, lay such that there is no good way to hay them and are partially wooded. In mid-July the cattle are let back onto the now hayed field. The cows run–yes run onto the grass, literally kicking up their heels. And then they roam about the entire field as if greeting an old friend. They graze there day after day through the winter, migrating there through other fields they are free to graze on. I personally think they like the field because it is Heaven on Earth, overlooking a quiet bay. The point though, is they run there–and they are not starving or mis-treated by any means. They are after the fresh air, and the nutrient rich, fresh grass which the haying has stimulated. They are happy. They are HAPPY. and  they have to be called in from the field for milking–they don’t want to stand around the Milking Shed all day chewing their cud, packed together. 40 -70 cows packed together is hot. Hot is not good during the spring, summer or fall. The cows enjoy an at least 500 square foot circle of space around themselves. The only way a cow needs to feel "on alert for predators" in an open field they know is if they are stressed and believe themselves to be in danger already–otherwise they would run from cars passing by. I have never seen them herd or crowed together when I took a short cut across the field, or when the dogs were chasing rabbits.

As for milk production–the reason Organic production of milk is 20-30 percent lower than "conventionally raised cows" is because they aren’t treated with the ubiquitous Growth Hormones and other crap to force them to produce more milk. Which in turn is better for the cows! Would you rather have less milk from happier cows who are more relaxed and well treated, or milk from some sort of Bovine Milk Factory running at maximum production, needing al sorts of Medicines to keep them gowing–medicines and stress which end up in your milk?

Again, I am not an expert or Bovine Scientist. But I have been around cattle, worked on farms and drink Raw Milk. I stand behind my claims and I am passionate because I care. My commments are generally backed up by my own experiences, or those of people whom I respect as having an open mind. I am not here to bash anyone, other than those who obfuscate the truth for whatever ungodly ends.

Popularity: 8% [?]

Did I forget to mention that the USDA is still allowing "chicken litter" to be fed to cattle?

"In early 2004, the F.D.A. proposed banning letting cows eat poultry litter and plate waste, but the rules were never adopted." (NY Times)
I wrote a bit about this crap here, but I’ve come to another conclusion about where this will inevitably lead.

Don’t get me wrong. I am not an activist for the Vegan Front, or the Animal Liberation Army. I am for responsible consumption and the end of Corporate Stupidity. I want my (our, deat freinds)  food products to be contamination and modification free. I want my beef and chicken to taste as such and not be tampered with, or otherwise altered in any way. Largely why, when I can, I raise my own–at least then I can be certain. But beyond that–I have concearns that what is going on now is leaving lasting scars in terms of biological diversity, etc.

Now to be clear, by "poultry litter" I mean chicken shit, and usually the sawdust, or paper scraps used to line coops. I don’t have a problem with this waste product in general. In fact this weekend I dumped 5 wheelbarrow loads of "litter" from my own hen house on our garden–great fertilizer. Where I do take exception, though, is when it finds its way into the food chain–as cattle feed. That’s just wrong. And stupid–not only because some farmers allow their chickens to be fed rendered cattle scraps which will then get back to the cattle as litter–thereby obfuscating any sort of Mad Cow Control, but also because of the new world threat–Avian Flu.

It will only take one tightwad asshole farmer with litter for brains to make the leap and ruin us all. . . .Hmm I’ve got to put down my chickens because they got Avain Flu in my overcrowded poultry operation, all won’t be lost–I’ll sell the litter to Beefy Ag as cattle feed. . . .and soon the mutant Cattle/Bird flu stalks the land.

How do we think these things happen? At some time or other pork and chickens crossed. Spanish Influenza, Swine Flu, Hong Kong Flu, Avain Flu they all have the same roots. We need to demand, now, that the USDA stop taking graft from the major Agri Corporations and protect the food chain and citizenry from profit mongering at our expense. Rendering Plants be damned–quit making food out of scraps. Make fertilizer instead. (Sorry, that’s another issue. . . there’s already enough chemically made fertilizer to destroy the known world, we don’t need natural ones). Slow down the production of factory farmed meats–it’s all Government subsidised anyway. Once again, we’re paying to make ourselves sick whether we like it or not. And stop feeding us chicken litter, before we’re forced to fly the coop for good.

Popularity: 11% [?]

When I think of Kobe beef I imagine steers housed in lavish barns, fed choice grains hand harvested and selected for quality, drinking beer out of their troughs while being massaged from head to tail by topless virgins. . . But that’s just me. Perhaps that’s what the myth and orbital price have led me to believe is behind Kobe Beef’s value.

Back in reality, True Kobe Beef is beef from 4 breeds of so called Wagyu cattle, specifically from Kobe Japan. " Wagyu" stands for "Japanese Style Cattle". The main bread, Tajimna-ushi, or Japanese Black, is raised for its rich marbling which leads to tender, moist meat. Further, it is true that Kobe Beef is pampered–in Japan. The cattle are typically fed grains and well cared for grasses. During the summer the cattle get to enjoy a diet full of beer. It seems to stimulate their appetite in hot weather and allows for richer fat-marbling. In addition to this, they are given Sake rub-downs and ARE massaged daily (although I haven’t been able to ascertain if their caregivers are topless). All this is said to lead to happier cow, and better beef. If all this is true, then perhaps the Japanese are right to pay over $100 a pound for this luxurious treat. After all, it is a true small quantity, age-old, craft product with out the taint of mass-marketing, cruelty and graft, right?

Head West (or keep flying East) from Japan and enter BSE and all associated fears. It seems that since 2002, due to outbreaks of Mad Cow in Japan the US banned all imports of Japanese Beef. Even though it seems that a well maintained, highly regulated herd which is ONLY fed grain products, Kobe Beef was lumped in with the Mad Cow crowd. So theoretically Kobe Beef should not be appearing on menus, right? WRONG.

Apparently some Tajimna-ushi cattle were imported before the restrictions and have been bred with Angus cattle and are being sold as Kobe Beef to premium restaurants right here at home. Hmmm. What bold entrepreneur decided to hand raise a rare type of cattle which requires a lot of care and special handling? Surely they are dedicated to an all natural, even organic system and raise these precious cattle in small herds, justifying the quality and expense, right? Right? No.

If you buy Kobe Beef in America today you are getting the overpriced product of possible, indeterminate breeding (by which I mean–not purebred and no way of telling which bloodlines are being mixed):
 "An inferior breeding program can mean cattle that have been cross-bred with American breeds so often that they are only shirttail cousins of their Japanese forefathers."
 "Snake River Farms, the largest and probably the best American wagyu company, started about 15 years ago. It is a subsidiary of Agri Beef Co., the nation’s eighth-largest feedlot operator. For the first seven years, it raised beef for the Japanese market, offsetting the transportation costs with the lower cost of growing beef here. As its herd grew, it gradually introduced its product to an American audience.
Today Snake River Farms raises about half of the wagyu grown in the United States (it also produces highly rated American Kurobuta pork). At first the company wasn’t sure there would be any interest among Americans. Now, says Jay Theiler, its president, the business has quadrupled over the last four years." (from LA Times) Did someone say, "Cash Cow"?

I have yet to find information stating that the American-Kobe Beef is given anything close to the consideration the Japanese give it to deserve its reputation. But the fact that Agri Beef, among others is involved makes me think it is not. And are consumers being informed of where their Kobe Beef is coming from, do they care? No, and I think not. If you can afford to pay for Kobe Beef, you can afford not to care where it comes from–or at least to believe the cost means it really is from where its name says its from. Sounds like big business is winning, once again, through false advertising.

(from the Seattle PI)

Popularity: 8% [?]