1. Beef Grant Donnelly & Vicky Ramos Race, Poverty, and the Urban Environment Professor Raquel R. Pinderhughes, Urban Studies Program, San Francisco State University, Spring 2003. Public has permission to use the material herein, but only if authors, course, university and professor are credited.

2. Introduction This presentation focuses on the cradle to grave life-cycle of beef, paying particular attention to the social, environmental and public health impacts of the processes associated with beef production and consumption through each process. We will begin our presentation by looking at the beginning of a cow’s life by describing the and breeding and birthing processes of cattle. Then we will examine the raising processes of cattle from birth to the time they are ready to be sent to slaughter houses. Next, we will analyze the working conditions and business practices at the slaughter house/meat-packaging plants. Then we will examine the consumption and distribution of beef and how it relates to marketing schemes and land use. We will conclude by looking at the waste created by beef production and consumption.

3. Did you know that... There are over 1 billion cows alive today in six continents around the world. 25% of the Earth’s land is used as pasture for cattle raising. In Australia, the number of cows exceeds the number of people by 40%, and is a major cause of land degradation and soil erosion due to overgrazing. In South America there are 9 cows for every 10 people. In Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Brazil, the # of cows equals or exceeds the # of people. In America, there is one cow for every 2 ½ people.

4. Some more interesting #’s The United States produces 22% of the total beef output in the world, & North and South American continents combined produce 43% of total output. USSR produces 18% of total output. Western European countries produce 17% of output. Even though only 0.2% of the US population is involved in ranching, total cash receipts total 24% of the farm sector. The beef industry is the 4 th largest manufacturing industry in the country, and generates 36 billion $ annually. California is the largest dairy producer in the states, with of average of 665 cows per dairy farm, while the national average is 100/dairy farm. California’s milk production/cow is 20,788 lbs, 17% higher than the national average.

5. Production Locations in USA

6. Production Locations in USA Cont. There are five defined areas for beef farms in the United States which include: –The Range Region: Has a great amount of grazing land. –The Corn Belt: Has exceedingly fertile soil, making it a region devoted largely to the growing of crops, which is perfect for the finishing of cattle. –The Appalachian & Great Lakes: Region provides nutritious grass on the rolling terrain. –Southeastern Region: The land is fairly inexpensive, making farming cheap.

7. The Reproductive Process The reproductive process begins with the first heat/estrus period which occurs when a heifer (female cow) reaches puberty. Puberty is first observed as early as six months of age, to one year. The heat period is short and rarely lasts longer than 18 hours and occurs in intervals of approximately every 3 weeks. A heifer is usually first bred two to three months after her first period of heat, to ensure that she has reached a desirable age and size ( Neumann, A.L., and Roscoe R. Snapp. Beef Cattle.). The desired weight of a heifer is 600 pounds to ensure that her body has developed to successfully give birth. It is also desired that a heifer is bred after being a year old because when heifers are bred as yearlings, maturity is often delayed 3 to 4 years, and they may never reach their full mature size. When a heifer is bred before she reaches a certain age and size, her first few offspring will average slightly lighter weights than calves produced by heifers bred with the desirable conditions ( Neumann, A.L., and Roscoe R. Snapp. Beef Cattle.).

8. Methods of Mating There are three methods of mating, which include: hand mating, pasture mating, and artificial insemination. With hand mating a bull is kept separate from the cow herd, and whenever a cow is observed to be experiencing heat she is turned into the isolated area with the bull, and is kept there until the heifer has been served. The heifer is immediately removed from the pin after service, to allow other heifers to be served when they experience heat as well. This process becomes even more unnatural when an attendant is used when the bull or heifer might need assistance during their mating ( Neumann, A.L., and Roscoe R. Snapp. Beef Cattle.). Pasture mating is slightly different as the bull is allowed to stay with the breeding herd throughout the breeding season. This process saves the labor of inspecting the herd each day to determine which cows are in heat and then driving them in the isolated pin for service. From a breeding perspective, this process is not as affective as hand mating because if there is more than one bull in the pin with the breeding herd, it is almost impossible to determine the sire of each calf, which is often important when trying to sell at an auction. ( Neumann, A.L., and Roscoe R. Snapp. Beef Cattle.).

9. Methods of Mating Cont. In pasture mating, bulls wear themselves out by repeatedly serving a cow while she remains in heat. With this method, a cow is sometimes served six or more times by several bulls, and often a cow that is in heat the next day might not be served because of the exhaustion of the bulls from the excessive activity prior. Pasture and hand mating techniques are most commonly used on beef farms, because beef cows run together day after day and are much less inclined to ride one another. With this familiarity there is less chance that heifers will mount each other (which is a common behavior during heat, and typically detects when one is ready to be bred). Beef cattle are not heavily monitored and therefore estrus periods are not expected like they are on dairy farms where artificial insemination is often used. The breeding of diary cattle is necessary because pregnant cows produce more milk, and in turn their male and occasionally female offspring are used to produce beef. The nation’s 9 million diary cows produce about 7 million calves a year. Diary cattle are subject to confinement through the milking process and are therefore heavily monitored to where periods of estrus are expected and charted to better assess when a diary cattle can be served to be more efficient with milk production.

10. Artificial Insemination Artificial insemination of dairy cows was commercially developed in the late 1930’s. The technique quickly became popular because the process promises greater profits by genetically manipulating a herd over time to produce more milk (and also to produce more desirable traits for beef). Today, artificial insemination is used in 90 percent of United States diary herds, and as a result milk production has grown significantly from about 7,000 pounds per cow to about 22,000 pounds per cow (Lovenheim, Peter. Portrait of a Burger as a Young Calf ). There are two commonly practiced forms for collecting sperm for artificial insemination. The most popular method is by using an artificial vagina. In this method, a bull will mount a dummy or a live “jump stock” and at the moment of ejaculation a worker will cover the tip of the penis with a tube and catch the semen. The other method is electric stimulation, which is also called electro- ejaculation. With this method, a probe is fitted with electrodes and placed up a bull’s rectum and a micro current is delivered from five to thirty volts to stimulate the sacral and pelvic nerves. These methods are not natural behaviors for cattle and are cruel because of the manipulation and force of such an act, and have been adopted for expediency in mass production which further dehumanizes the cattle to be a product for consumption. (Lovenheim, Peter. Portrait of a Burger as a Young Calf ).

11. Giving Birth Regardless of the method of conception, a cow does not give birth until nine months after she becomes pregnant. During labor, assistance should not be given except when it is absolutely necessary. The process of rushing in and taking the cow is likely to cause injury to both the cow and her calf in the form of torn membranes and strained ligaments. Assistance is occasionally needed in the event of a problem, and is usually given by fastening small ropes or chains above the calf’s pasterns to avoid injuring the soft hoofs, and pulling backward and downward each time to remove the calf. When born a membrane surrounds the fetus and should be removed, especially the clearing of the nostrils to facilitate breathing. Normally the mother cow takes care of this process. The umbilical cord is about twelve inches and always ruptures during the act of birth.Typically a newborn spends forty minutes with their mother before being removed and placed in solitary confinement in their own cage.This confinement is a terrible injustice for the mother and calf, but illustrates the priorities of such industries keeping profit and production in mind over treatment ( Neumann, A.L., and Roscoe R. Snapp. Beef Cattle.).

12. After Birth After birth cows are usually numbered in sequence of birth and are tagged accordingly in the left ear. Usually at this point, all bulls and freemartins (female twins) from diary farms are taken to auction and relocated to beef farms. For the first ten weeks the calves are fed milk replacer, which is a formula of dried skim milk with additives, including antibiotics to help prevent diarrhea (antibiotics unknown). After ten weeks, beef cows are able to eat chopped alfalfa and corn, which is a standard diet for cow being raised for beef. Cows ingest a huge quantity of plants on pasture and then slowly digest them later, made possibly by their four-part stomach (Lovenheim, Peter. Portrait of a Burger as a Young Calf ).. To ensure that the animal reaches a slaughter weight of approximately 1,200 pounds at sixteen months, the cow is typically fed corn for finishing. Since corn is relatively expensive, they are often fed an unnatural diet of high bulk grains and other “fillers” (including saw dust) until they reach a desirable weight (PETA). Cows are kept in small pins to deprive them from any exercise so they can concentrate all their energy on producing more flesh and fat for human consumption. The are fed growth hormones to fatten them faster and and are genetically altered to grow larger than nature naturally intended.

13. Dehorning A bull is typically dehorned to curb aggressiveness in order to lessen feedlot disturbances. This is especially important when animals are shipped in some distance and are kept in crowded cars or trucks for several hours to prevent damaged hides and bruised carcasses. Also, animals with horns require more shed room per animal, which is not conducive to profit making. Dehorning is done through the process of breeding desirable traits of non-horned animals, also with the application of chemicals, but is most commonly completed with a bell dehorner. (Lovenheim, Peter. Portrait of a Burger as a Young Calf ).

14. Dehorning Cont. The dehorning process is usually done when a bull is two months old. The dehorning iron is heated and fitted over the horn and held firmly against the head until the horn matrix has been destroyed. This operation is painful to the animals, especially because calves are simply thrown to the ground and held firmly and sometimes snubbed to a fencepost when this process is being conducted, this process is also completed without any anesthesia or pain relief to the animal. Not only is the act of dehorning painful and extreme torture to the animal, the conditions that create the perception that this is necessary is also horrible as cattle are crammed and packed into feed lots at an excessive rate to where it is believed that horns and aggression will injure other animals. The dehorning process is otherwise pointless, and with free space to roam and grow this process would be unnecessary altogether.

15. Castration Bulls must also undergo castration, which typically results in improved texture, tenderness and flavor of the beef, and produces a quieter disposition, which is important on beef farms. Castration is usually completed when calves are 4 to 10 weeks old and the calf is placed on either side and is either held or “hogtied”. The castration process is completed in two ways: the first being the use of a knife that simply removes the testicles from the scrotum. The second method is an attempt to cut off the circulation in the testes by clamping the spermatic cord and the blood vessels, so the testicles will eventually fall off. The castration process is another example of the cruel production practices of raising beef cattle for food as this process is done without anesthesia or any sort of pain relief for the animal undergoing the painful operation ( Neumann, A.L., and Roscoe R. Snapp. Beef Cattle.).

16. Off to Slaughter Once cows make their market weight they are sent to an auction, which leads them most often to a slaughterhouse. Cattle raised for beef are born in one state, fattened in another, and slaughtered in yet another. During transportation, cattle are crowded into metal trucks where they suffer from fear, injury, temperature extremes, and lack of food, water and veterinary care (PETA). At the slaughter house cows are brought on the kill floor and are shot in the forehead at close range. Typically it only takes one shot to kill the animal, but occasionally a second shot is needed. Once dead, a chain is wrapped around the left hind hoof, and the body is mechanically lifted until the head is about a foot off the floor. The “skinning out the head” process begins by cutting away the skin from the sides of his head, over the animal’s eyes, and around the animal’s horns. The ears are removed with a straight knife. The head is bent back, and the Adam’s apple and the first cervical vertebra are cut through. The mandibular glad, near the lower jaw is removed and examined, and then the cheeks are cut and checked for cysts and parasites. The cheek flesh normally throbs as the muscles are still contracting, and finally the tongue is removed (Lovenheim, Peter. Portrait of a Burger as a Young Calf ).

17. Slaughter House (cont) Next, the cow’s chest is opened with an electric saw. The top half of the esophagus is cut, which is called the weasand and the remainder is tied off. The anus is tied off as well, which will keep the animal’s insides from spilling out and contaminating the rest of the meat. The four-chambered stomach is cut loose and the kidney, heart and lungs are removed separately. The liver is cut open to check for parasites, and the lungs are examined for abnormalities such as tuberculosis. Then using a four-foot long electric saw, the hanging carcass is split down the middle. The carcass chills overnight and will be cut into quarters and hung in the cooler. Afterwards the meat is distributed (Lovenheim, Peter. Portrait of a Burger as a Young Calf ).

19. Working conditions at Slaughterhouses Over the last 20 years, the beef industry has changed dramatically by what is called the “IBP Revolution”: -IBP is one of the four largest beef-packaging firms in the country. They wanted to lower costs of beef production by firing all their skilled butchers and unionized workers and replacing them by an assembly-line work force that was characterized by: * being unskilled and having no prior similar training. *being un-unionized and receiving no benefits. *performing one task for an 8-hour shift on the assembly line. *high rates of illiteracy, Spanish-speaking only, immigrant workers (Schlosser).

20. Working conditions cont. The IBP revolution set the trend for all modern-day slaughter houses and allowed them to increase profits by producing more beef per minute through assembly-line work (Schlosser). Today, at the ConAgra/Monfort meat-packaging corporation in Greeley, Colorado (1 of the 4 largest firms in the country): Only 1/3 of the labor force is unionized. 25% of the workers are undocumented immigrants. 1/3 of the work force is illiterate and have no writing skills. 2/3 of the workers speak little or no English. Average worker quits or gets fired every 3 months and never receive any benefits which are usually given after 6 months to a year of working there. Annual turnover rate is at 80%, & avg. salary is $9.25/hour.

21. Slaughter houses are the most dangerous of any factory job in the country: -The injury rate to workers is 3x higher than any factory in the nation. -25% of the workers in the meat-packaging industry nationwide suffer and injury/illness beyond minor that require medical attention. This only accounts for cases that are actually reported. -The most common injury to workers involve self-inflicted lacerations with knives since this is the most common tool used by workers in the assembly line. It is also common to inflict lacerations to other workers working in close proximity to each other (Schlosser). Working conditions at Slaughterhouses cont.

22. Other physical problems experienced by workers: -Cumulative trauma to the muscles, bones, back, and joints; tendonitis, carpal tunnel, shoulder and back problems are all common problems experienced by workers at slaughterhouses. -Every 3 seconds for an eight-hour shift, workers cut through meat with their knives. -Through these repetitive patterns, a knife becomes dull, and workers need to exert more physical effort to perform the same job. -This activity done day after day, 40 hours a week (not including overtime), for months at a time take a serious toll on the body and health of workers.

23. Working conditions cont. The night cleaning crew at the slaughter houses have worse prospects for on the job injury and health effects: -They get paid 1/3 less than the average meat packing worker. -Work with high pressure hoses that shoot water at 180 degrees, which is usually mixed with chlorine and is often related to respiratory problems, headaches, and nausea from the inhalation of fumes. -The foggy conditions increase the risk of injury because vision is reduced to 5 feet distance. It is common for workers to accidentally shoot each other with hot water from hoses. -Conveyor belts are kept running so that it facilitates cleaning. Every year, there are reports of people losing limbs (fingers, arms), and in worse cases, there have been reports of workers being beheaded or torn to pieces after falling from conveyer belts and into running machines. -Another cause of death involves suffocation from hydrogen sulfide fumes when cleaning 30 feet high blood-collecting tanks.

24. The concentration of power within the meat-packing industry. The growth of the fast food industry has consolidated the meatpacking industry, which has increased the concentration of power and total transformation of beef production: -McDonald’s is the largest purchaser of beef in the United States, and because of its need for uniformity and efficiency, has reduced its purchasing of beef to 5 of the biggest packers. -In 1968, McDonald’s purchased beef from 175 local suppliers, which made the beef packing industry more competitive. -Today, the top 4 meat-packing firms (ConAgra, Excel, IBP, National Beef) kill 84% of the nations cattle, which is the highest market concentration of beef in the 20 th century (Schlosser). Another reason behind the growth of these beef corporations has resulted from the merging of some of the nation’s largest meat packing businesses.

26. Concentration of power & its social impacts: Over the last 20 years, 600,000 ranchers have gone out of business with 800,000 remaining. In the last 20 years, rancher’s share of every dollar spent on beef fell from 63 cents to 46 cents. Small ranchers blame the depression of cattle prices over the last 25 years on these large firms as a result of their monopoly over beef production and pricing. The largest meat-packing firms have control over the beef market by setting prices among themselves, at any given time, and not revealing the true cost of beef to smaller firms. They also control market prices through “captive supplies”of cattle, which are used to drive beef prices down during inflation. Big meat-packers such as ConAgra, have the capacity to hold up to 200,000 cattle in their feedlots, which they can sell for several months, and keep beef prices artificially low in times of inflation. Small ranchers cannot compete with their prices, and lose sales and profit.

27. Beef Consumption & The Food Pyramid The consumption of meat and other animal products is taught and advertised as part of a healthy and well-balanced diet from the food pyramid’s daily-suggested servings. Children are exposed to the food pyramid and other dietary supplementary educational materials that are actually the outcome of extensive political lobbying by the meat and dairy industries. Many millions of dollars were poured into the campaigns from these industries to produce food charts that have been donated to schools and are used as educational materials that advertise for the consumption of their products. The ideas behind the four basic food groups still provides the foundation of most planning in schools, in hospitals, in the military, in prisons, in government institutions, in public service cafeterias, and in households across the country. (Diet for a New America: Your Health, Your Planet. Prod. Ed Schuman and Judy).

28. Advertising Advertising to children uses a “cradle to grave strategy, by developing a brand loyalty in a young consumer, leading to a lifetime of purchases ( Macklin, M. Carole, and Les Carlson, eds. Advertising to Children: Concepts and Controversies.). Fast food chains spend around 3 billion dollars on television advertising annually but also market their products in other ways: - The operation of “play lands” bring in children, who bring in parents who bring in money. The development of play lands disproportionately effect the poor, as fast food restaurants have developed into gathering places for families with young children, because American cities and towns spend less money on children’s recreation. Urban areas that are home to a larger population of poor and working class people especially have a lack of space and funding for such recreation. - Successful marketing has been including a toy inside children’s happy meals to add a reward incentive for children who are often attracted to toys more than food (Fast Food Nation).

29. Advertising Cont.

30. If fast food’s manipulative advertising through television, play lands, cartoon, and toys wasn’t enough, fast food chains are now gaining access to school campuses to further promote their products. (Fast Food Nation). - In 1993, District 11 in Colorado Springs started a nationwide trend, becoming the first public school district in the United States to place ads for Burger King in it’s hallways and on the sides of it’s school buses. - Advertising in schools is a technique adopted by schools with the most financial need. Schools with revenue shortfalls are most often, if not always found in poor and working class neighborhoods. - Children now facing an inadequate quality of education are now subjected to the promotion and advertising of fast food industries seven hours a day, 150 days a year in school to help pay for their own education. Children do not have a choice of being subjected to such material because law mandates them to attend school.

31. Health Impacts of Consumption What is never discussed in advertisements and the food pyramid that promotes the consumption of animal products including beef is the adverse health effects of such consumption. - Diets based around animal protein are high in fat and cholesterol and contribute to obesity and heart disease. - The consumption of protein and calcium are heavily stressed for a healthy diet, which are most often consumed through animal proteins, instead of plant-based diets. The average American consumes 90 to 120 grams of protein per day, while the ideal protein intake for a human being in 20 to 40 grams per day. People are eating far more than is necessary and far more than is healthy ( Robbins, John. May All Be Fed: A Diet for a New World). - If we ate nothing but wheat (which provides 16 percent protein), or oatmeal (which provides 15 percent), we would easily be getting enough protein. Because of the focus of animal protein based diets in the food pyramid, plant based sources, which are lower in fat, and whose long-term health effects are not harmful like meat diets, are frequently ignored.

32. Health Impacts of Consumption Cont. -It has been continually proven that the consumption of meat and high- fat dairy products is known to be a leading cause of high blood pressure, arteriosclerosis, heart attacks, and strokes. - Because crowding creates a prime atmosphere for disease, animals on factory farms are vaccinated with antibiotics, which remain in their bodies and are passed on to the people who eat them, creating serious human health hazards (PETA).

33. Land Use Less than half the harvested agriculture acreage in the United States is used to grow food for people. The majority of it is used instead to grow livestock feed. - By cycling our grain through livestock and into beef, we only produce 6 percent as much food available to humans as if we would eat the grain directly. - It takes 16 pounds of grain to produce a pound of feedlot beef. It takes only one pound of grain to produce a pound of bread. - A study completed by the University of California Cooperative Extension used agricultural experts to determine that an acre of prime land can annually yield either 40,000 pounds of potatoes, 40,000 pounds of onions, 30,000 pounds of carrots, 50,000 pounds of tomatoes, or 60,000 pounds of celery. But, if that same acre of land is used to produce beef, the yield is significantly less at only 250 pounds. - These findings are especially important when you take into consideration that 40,000 people starve to death on this planet every day (Institute for Food and Development Policy). What is worse is that while people are starving and dying from malnutrition everyday, people in the U.S. are investing their time, money and time into dieting because of their over consumption of such products (Robbins, John. May All Be Fed: A Diet for a New World).

34. Land Use continued Land use for grazing and for producing feed is more commonly found in developing countries because of cheaper land: In Mexico, where millions of people are chronically malnourished, 1/3 of the nation’s grain production is used to feed livestock, where 25 years ago it accounted for 6% (Rifkin 149). In Brazil, the demand for clearing land for cattle grazing and feed production has/is steadily increasing, often displacing land that had been previous used to grow local staple food crops like white corn and black beans, which increases the price of these crops and decreasing the ability of people to buy them. 23% of cultivated land is used to produce soybeans for animal feed of which more than ½ is exported to Europe, Russia, Japan, and the USA.

35. Mas Land Use While much land and resources worldwide are devoted to the production of beef, it is produced as a market commodity that is consumed primarily by nations and people all over the world world who can afford it. Most humans who have relied primarily on grains and plants for most of their calories. For example, In Jamaica, which is considered one of the poorer countries in the world, beef is the #1 source of protein for the wealthiest 25% of the nation, while wheat flour is the #1 source for the poorest 25% of the nation (Rifkin). Beef consumption ranks 13 th as a source of protein for the bottom 25% people in Jamaica. America contains 5% of the world population, but consumes 23% of beef produced in the world. The average American 65lbs consumes of beef annually, and on any given week, 91% of all US households purchase beef (Rifkin). The correlation between increased income and increased beef consumption is parallel throughout the world.

36. Land Use and farm workers Less than half of the land under cultivation in the USA is used to grow food for people. Most of it is used to produce feed for cattle. The way we grow our food today follows the conventional model of agriculture which is dependent of the heavy use of pesticides and fertilizers. The effects of pesticide use on farm workers have been devastating to their health and to the environment: -Farm worker communities experience cancer rates 30% above the national average. Children are most impacted by cancer such as leukemia. -Respiratory illnesses and skin problems are common among farm workers. -The majority of farm workers do not receive health benefits, and have very little opportunity to defend themselves from these conditions because many don’t speak English. -The contamination of the environment due to runoff, aquifer contamination, and drift, are all serious problems that arise from the use of these harmful chemicals. -Even though these problems are widespread throughout farm worker communities, it gets minimal attention by the government, and the process to prove causation of these problems on agricultural practices is very difficult.

37. Land Use Continued The transformation of land from deforestation has ill effects on the local, regional and global communities. - Locally, the indigenous people are dependent upon the forest for their livelihood, because the forest provides them with food, and all the materials they need to function as well as spiritual elements that assure the survival of their community. - Forests provide biological diversity and balance, as they are homes to a variety of plants and wildlife as well as water and soils. Many species of plants and animals are only able to survive in their natural environment, and die along with deforestation. - The global environment is dependent on tropical forests because they help regulate the climate in terms of rain, temperature and wind. The forests are also major carbon sinks on the Earth and with the elimination of such forests, global warming continues to be a growing threat as the greenhouse effect continues to grow.

38. Fast Food Working Conditions The working conditions in slaughterhouses are not at all comparable to the conditions in fast food restaurants, but workers are poorly trained, and work long hours for low wages. About two-thirds of the nation’s fast food workers are under the age of twenty. No other industry in the United States has a workforce so dominated by adolescence (Fast Food Nation). To keep costs low, the fast food industry seeks out teenage and other marginalized workers like recent immigrants, the elderly and the handicapped who are most willing to accept part time positions and low wages because they are typically unskilled workers. (Fast Food Nation).

39. Fast Food Working Conditions McDonald’s food is predominately prepared with innovative technology, which allows a small number of workers to produce an enormous amount of goods cheaply. Often times machines are programmed with standardized cooking times to ensure customer satisfaction and avoid food waste. The food is already assembled and prepared outside of the restaurant allowing quick service inside. With this simplification of jobs, management no longer needs to depend upon the talents or skills of their workers, because of the reliability of machinery. McDonald’s and other fast food corporations actively prohibit unions from forming, by firing employees when they begin to organize and hire new people, which reinforces a lack of worker protection, making the workforce easily replaceable and cheap.

40. Generated Waste

41. Generated Waste Cont. Animals feeding under the condition to gain three pounds a day produce an extreme amount of waste. Beef cattle that are 500 pounds produces about 30 pounds of waste per day, and a beef cattle that are around 1,000 pounds produces around 60 pounds of waste a day. Animal waste with raising beef cattle is not only limited to manure and urine, but also includes: disposal of dead animals, spoiled feed ingredients, silage drainage, and other materials only partially consumed during operation (Lovenheim, Portrait of a Burger as a Young Calf pg.217). Cow manure is neither a liquid nor a dry solid, making handling difficult. To handle manure, either a sufficient amount of water needs to be added to handle as a liquid, or a sufficient amount of drying to allow handling as a solid. Animal waste is able to be recycled as fertilizer and compost, which makes the soil more fertile to grow crops, but these practices are not able to accommodate such high amounts of waste, and the majority ends up as pollution in our waters. Studies in the United States and Europe show that livestock farms in general have the potential to contribute large amounts of nitrogen to the atmosphere as ammonia (Citizens Legal Environmental Action Network, Inc. v. Premium Standard Farms, Inc. (D. MO. 1998), Second Amended Complaint).

42. Generated Waste Cont. Although the amount varies based on weather, spray field application method, type of livestock species, and manure storage method, the impact can be significant. Up to 80 percent of a swine lagoon’s nitrogen may change from a liquid into a gas in the process known as ammonia volatilization (Seaboard Farms, Inc. Environmental Protection Agency Region 6, Emergency Administrative Order, Docket Number: SDWA-06-02001-1239). The environmental effects of animal’s wastes are very extensive. There are multiple ways that the waste causes water pollution, kills fish, degrades aquatic habitats, and threatens drinking water supplies. Holding areas can break, spill, or fail, sending wastewater into streams, lakes, rivers, or estuaries. Liquid waste can be over-applied or inappropriately applied to farm fields through irrigation pivots with resulting runoff into lakes, rivers, and streams or seepage into groundwater. Since animal waste usually collects itself within a pasture, pollution is often caused from runoff during a rainstorm. Run off pollutes ground water as well as drinking water. In 1996 factory farms produced 1.4 billion tons of animal waste, which is 130 times more than humans did. To put this amount in to perspective, animal waste produced in a single year would fill up 6.7 million train boxcars, which would circle the Earth more than twelve and a half times. This waste most often winds up in our rivers and streams.

43. Generated Waste Cont. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, factory farming pollutes U.S. waterways more than all other industries combined. This water pollution has damaging effects. For example runoff from animal waste is linked to a 7,000 square mile “dead zone” in the Gulf of Mexico that can no longer support aquatic life. In many cases, leakage occurs because holding facilities are not lined. Over the last few years some states have required that they be lined and lining includes clay, concrete, and plastic. Concrete liners can offer greater protection, but concrete can crack if builders do not follow specifications related to soil suitability and structural reinforcement. Despite the fact that these specifications contribute to liner stability, there are no requirements that compel builders to follow them (Marlene Halverson, The Price We Pay for Corporate Hogs, Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, Minneapolis, Minnesota (July 2000), p.49). Additionally, heavy metals accumulate in the soil sludge in the bottom of holding areas, reaching toxic levels until they are emptied out, or abandoned after many years (Division of Water Quality, North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Raleigh, North Caroline Inspection Reports of March 5, 1998). Salt present can also impact ecosystems, making drinking water undrinkable, making irrigation water unusable, and increasing the blood pressure of salt- sensitive individuals (Water Quality Impacts of the Lagoon and Spray field System, NRDC, pg.31).

44. Generated Waste Cont. Fast food containers also are often made of paper, as it is a rigid and able to hold shape over a wider temperature range than plastic or Styrofoam. Food containers are also often coated with waxes and plastics to prevent soaking or leaching (Greenpeace). Containers with such coating are completely non-recyclable and non-biodegradable.

45. What does this all mean? Are cattle bad for people and the environment? Would we be better off without cattle as a solution to these social and environmental problems? Are humans and cattle compatible: can we coexist in the world without compromising environmental and human health and sustainability. How will our perception change after knowing these facts? How should our attitudes towards beef production and consumption shift. Why is it that in India, cattle are sacred to the tradition, religion, and economic needs of Indian people in the face of all of the “evils” we’ve just reviewed related to beef?

46. Sacred Cows vs. Mad Cows ( The information on the next 6 slides are taken from Vandana Shiva’s Stolen Harvest: The hijacking of the Global Food Supply, Ch. 4 In India, cows are sacred-seen as Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth and mother of prosperity and food systems. Their worship and reverence of cows are not in vain, as is the case with pastoralist and people who lives are inextricably linked and interconnected to animals. There are almost always ecological and economic reasons why different peoples develop a close relationship to other beings. In India’s case, cattle are central in the ecological balance, economic stability, spiritual beliefs and values, and social integrity of the nation.

47. Sacred vs. Mad cows Ecological stability Cattle provide 700 million tons of recoverable manure, half of which is used as fuel, and the other half is used as fertilizer. By using manure as biofuel, India is liberated from using: -27 million tons of kerosene, 35 million tons of coal, 68 million tons of wood, all of which are scarce in India. 2/3 of the power requirements of Indian villages are met by cattle dung fuel from some 80 million cattle (Shiva 58). Dung provides organic fertilizer for the fields, enhancing food productivity. Soils treated with manure have 2.5 times as many earthworms as untreated soils. Worm-worked soils are more water-stable, contain more organic carbons, nitrogen, calcium, magnesium, potassium, sodium, and phosphorous through their droppings, are more aerated because of worm movement, and have a 20% higher water-holding capacity than unworked soils. Cows eat crop waste like straw and grass from uncultivated land and do not compete with humans for food.

48. Sacred vs. Mad cows Economic stability To replace animal power in agriculture, India would have to spend $1 billion annually on gas. Through the export of hides, skins, and other products, livestock bring $150 million into India’s economy. Women provide nearly 90% of all labor for livestock management. This includes milking cows, and food processing in the dairy industry to make curd, butter, ghee, and buttermilk. Also includes collecting dung, and caring for sick cows to health. Women are the primary experts in animal husbandry in India.

49. Sacred vs. Mad cows Spiritual beliefs/values & social integrity There is protection of other living beings other than humans under India’s constitution. The cruel treatment and disrespect of life is not socially and politically acceptable. India has a more holistic view of cattle. Cows are valued as beings, creatures that have their own right to exist and to be treated ethically. Feeding them inappropriate things and treating them only as market commodities or production machines violates spiritual and cultural beliefs. Maintaining an abundant cattle supply is necessary for India’s social fabric: of the 70 million households that depend on livestock for their livelihood, 2/3 are small and marginal farmers and landless laborers. A decline in animal wealth would destroy the rural economy and rural livelihoods.

50. globaled.ausaid.gov.au/primary/ casestud/images/india2.jpg

51. Sacred vs. Mad cows The balance of the role of cattle in Indian society is being dismantled by the expanding industry-cattle market and agribusiness: India’s constitutional protection of animals and rural livelihoods is being challenged by international trade agreements such as GATT. Exporting raw hides and furs would threaten India’s cattle wealth as well as the livelihoods of craftspeople, shoemakers, cobblers, farmers, and other small producers. Green revolution technology and the use of chemical pesticides and fertilizers replace the crop-livestock-soil interdependence, produce high-yielding crop varieties that reduce straw production. Hybrid crops deprive soil of nutrients and result in a deficiency in fodder to feed livestock. More chemicals, fossil fuels, tractors, and trucks have to be imported to replace the energy and fertility that cows gave freely to the rural environment. Trade-liberalization policies in India are increasing the slaughter of cattle for meat exports and the Ministry of Agriculture provides 100% grants and tax incentives to encourage the setting up of slaughterhouses.

52. Sacred vs. Mad cows According to a 1996 Union Ministry of Environment report, at least 32,000 illegal slaughterhouses established themselves in the proceeding five years after trade liberalization of cattle. By 1995, the total quantity of meat exports had increased more than 20 fold to 137,334 tons. Between 1991 and 1996, cattle, buffalo, and other livestock populations have only increased by half that rate, meaning that more meat is being exported than is being replenished. Not only is India exporting large #’s of cattle, but are also diminishing the rich diversity of cattle breeds, which results in the lost of genetic traits that make cattle more resistant to disease and more apt to survive adverse conditions. Al-Kabeer is one of the biggest export-oriented slaughterhouses in India, slaughtering 182,400 livestock every year, who’s dung could have provided the fuel needs for 90,000 families of 5 in one year. In 4 years, the amount of rupees (Rs) spent on kerosene increased fourfold. If these quantities of livestock weren’t slaughtered in Andhra Pradesh (city where Al-Kabeer slaughterhouse is located), farmyard manure could cultivate 384 hectares, producing 530,000 tons of food grain. The state of Andhra Pradesh now must spend 9.1 billion rupees to import nitrogen, phosphorus and potash, which were all previously provided by livestock during the duration of their life.

53. “There is a difference between ecological boundaries and socially constructed boundaries. The difference between herbivores and carnivores is an ecological boundary. It needs to be respected for the sake of both cows and humans. The difference between the value of human life in the North and the South is a politically constructed boundary. It needs to be broken for the sake of human dignity.” Vandana Shiva

54. References Andreas, Carol. Meatpackers and Beef Barons: Company Town in a Global Economy. Colorado: University Press of Colorado, 1994. California. California Department of Agricultural Resources. Resource directory Guide 2000. Californians for Pesticide Reform. Fields of Poison: California Farm workers and Pesticides. California, 2002. Diet for a New America: Your Health, Your Planet. Prod. Ed Schuman and Judy Pruzinsky, and Michael Wiese. Perf. John Robbins. Videocassette. Wellspring Media. 1994. Fink, Deborah. Cutting Into the Meatpacking Line: Workers and Change in the Rural Midwest. Chapel Hill and London: The University of North Carolina Press, 1998. Lappe`, Frances Moore. Diet for a Small Planet: Tenth Anniversary Edition. New York: Ballantine Books, 1982. Lovenheim, Peter. Portrait of a Burger as a Young Calf: The True Story of One Man, Two Cows, and the Feeding of a Nation. New York: Harmony Books, 2002.

55. Refrences Macklin, M. Carole, and Les Carlson, eds. Advertising to Children: Concepts and Controversies. London: SAGE Publications, 1999. Miner, J. Ronald, Frank J. Humenik, and Michael R. Overcash. Managing Livestock Wastes to Preserve Environmental Quality. Anes: Iowa State University Press, 2000. Neumann, A.L., and Roscoe R. Snapp. Beef Cattle. 6 th ed. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1969. Pearson, A.M., and T.A. Gillett. Processed Meats. 3 rd ed. New York: Chapman & Hall, 1996. Pecora, Norma Odom. The Business of Children’s Entertainment. New York: The Guilford Press, 1998. Rifkin, Jeremy. Beyond Beef: The Rise and Fall of the Cattle Culture. New York: Penguin Books, 1992. Robbins, John. May All Be Fed: A Diet for a New World. New York: William Morrow and Company, Inc., 1992.

56. Refrences Schlosser, Eric. Fast Food Nation: the dark side of the all-American meal. New York: Harper Collins Publishers, 2002. Shiva, Vandana. Stolen Harvest: The Hijacking of the Global Food Supply. Cambridge, MA: South End Press, 2000. United States. Department of Agriculture. Agricultural Statistics 2002. Washington: United States GPO, 2002. United States. Department of Agriculture. Consolidation in U.S. Meatpacking. Washington: United States GPO, 2000. United States. Department of Agriculture. An Economic Research Service Report: U.S. Beef Industry Cattle Cycles, Price Spreads, and Packer Concentration. Washington: United States GOP, 1999.