The effects of selective breeding and genetic manipulation can be seen in many ways as cruel treatment in the cattle industry, especially when talking about dairy cattle and beef cattle. As stated by United Kingdom levy board for milk production, the European Milk Development Council, “The average dairy cow now produces more than 6695 L of milk per year, approximately 20% more than her counterpart from just 10 years ago.” This is twenty times more than the average calf needs, meaning dairy cattle are exploited for their milk to satisfy the demand in the growing industry. Like humans, cows only produce milk when they are pregnant, meaning dairy cattle are pregnant most of their life. If not for the abuses of milk production within dairy cattle, …show more content…
The “Belgian Blue” is highly sought over as it has the a naturally occurring gene that breeders have taken advantage of to create more meat on the animal, in this case the Belgian Blue is “double-muscled.” This unfortunately has been capitalized negatively to the point where females of the Belgian Blue cattle cannot give natural childbirth and must have cesareans (European Commission Scientific Committee). The treatment of these animals due to only being able to give birth through cesarean is greatly diminished because because the number of caesareans that can be performed is physiologically limited. It is commonly accepted that five caesareans is a maximum that a cow can physically sustain (Kolkman et al). So, not only is the cow going to be born just be slaughtered, but they also have to endure a relatively invasive surgery to bring their young into a world in which their fate is identical. The Belgian Blue is only one example of the exploitation of many different cattle species that share this naturally occurring “double-muscled” gene. The use of genetic manipulation within the industry of animal agriculture plays a substantial negative role in the lives of cattle and their treatment and should not be a frequently
By 1990, Ontario was the home of over 9300 dairy farms with over 450,000 cows. Over 1.3 billion dollars of milk was produced resulting in a total exceeding 4 billion in dairy product sales at the retail level. We can infer that the growth in the dairy industry was due to a dramatic increase in milk production per cow over the past 10 years due to genetic screening. An emphasis on genetic screening is inevitable; for instance, researchers at the University of Guelph have successfully cloned dairy calves. As a result, approximately 30% of Ontario dairy farmers have become breeders and derive a significant amount of revenue from the sale of breeding stock. Emphasis on genetic breeding and herd management is on the rise as the Ontario Milk Marketing Board issued quotas to limit the amount of milk that can be delivered to processors. However, we see a decline in the number of dairy herds within Ontario that are a part of a milk testing program from 7100 in 1985 to 6000 in 1990. John Meek believed this trend would continue unless proper action was taken. Lastly, technological advances have allowed for electronic milk testing systems,
Through the process called genetic screening, average milk production per cow increased dramatically in Ontario over the past 10 years. This trend is likely to continue into the future.
I was really excited to read the article “Power Steer” by Michael Pollen. I’ve seen several of his books at local book stores, as well as different television shows featuring his work. The purpose of Michael Pollen’s article was to educate himself and others on the process of producing industrial steak in America, and making a financial profit along the way. He felt that “Ignorance was no longer tenable.” In doing so, Michael decided to purchase an 8 month old calf numbered 534 for $598. This totaled $1.60 a day for room and board due to the cattle not being weaned yet. Throughout Michael’s educational journey, he was able to learn about the different problems associated with animal feeding operations. This includes health problems that cattle could cause to humans, such as
In the US today cattle are part of everyday culture. With more than 93 million cattle in the dairy and beef industry, and tens of thousands in the rodeo business, cattle are definitely a huge part. Lately, there has been many concerns with the bovine friends along with multiple misconceptions. Rodeos may look tough on animals, and todays society is not educated well enough on the beef and dairy industry. People don’t realize that these animals are happy, healthy, and very well cared for.
What does one think of when they see cattle at the local county fair? Do they classify them as a red cow or a black cow, or do they know that each cow is possibly a different breed? In today’s era, most individuals do not understand all the subtitles beneath the title of simply cattle. There are a variety of breeds, and each breed offers different benefits and usages. What lies beneath the title of just cattle is more diverse than black and white.
which results in healthy cattle. We use our cattle for milk and meat, and you wouldn’t want
Farming practices like the use of growth hormones in cattle has created a new dilemma when considering welfare and health of factory farm animals. Moving even beyond the farm to the actual dinner plate, the effect consuming factory farm raised animals is still under debate but the fact still remains that the animals display compromising health issues. For instance, dairy cattle are given a growth hormone called BST, or bovine somatotropin, is given to dairy cattle during lactation cycles to sustain milk production. The fact that cattle are producing more milk by administering a naturally occurring hormone is not really the
Most of the animals under this condition will develop illnesses, abnormalities, go insane, or die before they make it to the slaughterhouse (Alfie, 2010). In the U.S., over 10 billion animals are raised and killed each year for food about 9 billion chickens, 250 million turkeys, 100 million pigs, 35 million cows. The vast majority of these are not raised on small family farms but, rather, in the major agricultural facilities called?factory farms, also known as Confined Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs). The idea of factory farming originated in the 1920s with the discovery of vitamins A and D. When mixed with feed; farm animals were capable of growing without sunlight or exercise, which enabled them to be raised more efficiently in barns throughout the year (Fieser, 2015). Factory farming is a form of capitalism. Capitalism is an economic system that is privately controlled by owners for profit and self-interest (Fieser, 2015). Many philosophers have proposed the principle of equal consideration of interests, in some form or other, as a primary moral value; but, we shall see in more element shortly, not many of them have documented that this principle applies to members of other species as well as to our own. (Singer, 1989). In today society the consumer is much more interested in knowing how the chickens are raised, what they?ve been eating
Every year, an average American will consume approximately one hundred-twenty six pounds of meat. This meat can be traced back to factory farms where the animals are kept to be tortured to turn into a product for the appetite of humans. The terrible treatment these animals are forced to endure is the outcome of the greed and want for a faster production of their product. The industry of factory farming works to maximize the output of the meat while maintaining low costs,but will sadly always comes at the animals’ expense.
Thin cows will have inadequate energy reserves to sustain them through the lactation which means the farmer will loose money.
A bull being used for artificial insemination can breed up to 500,000 cows in their lifetime, which is usually only 5 to 10 years. After their death, a bull’s semen that is kept in the correct way, can still be used to breed generations down the line. The time for keeping semen frozen is projected at 40-45 years old. A bull that is known greatly in the show cattle industry for being deceased and still able to buy semen from them is the bull, Man Among Boys. With artificial insemination, a person can breed for the qualities they want or need, unlike natural breeding which they would receive only the qualities from the same bull that is located at their farm. Also, an advantage of artificial insemination is the availability. Anyone can find semen sales anywhere from a local cattle farm or online. And finally, fewer sires on a person’s farm is needed because they would receive a stick of semen instead of an entire
The meat industry today is not what it was nearly a century ago. While improvements are thought to have been made, an ever changing society has brought upon new problems that have been piled on to the previously existing ones. While these problems are not like those found in The Jungle, they do parallel how by exposing what is going on in the meat industry; new regulations would be the answer to the noted problems. The increased demand for meat has made it a rushed mutated production instead of a means to raise livestock for consumers. Taking into consideration the demand for cheap meat that will be used for in quick and high demanded products such as frozen and fast food, this demand of meat has greatly skyrocketed. Animals whose sole
Which brings us to the quality of the milk, lots of commercial farms put steroids in there cows to produce more milk than a regular cow could produce, prolactin, steroids including estrogens, progesterone, corticoids, and androgens, these are just some of the steroids commercial farmers inject in there cows. Sometimes when a cow produces too much milk they could develop mastitis in cows, mastitis is an infection or inflammation in the udders which makes them produce chunky milk it can be potentially fatal in the mammary gland and very expensive for the dairy commercial/industrial farms says HDB dairy, if the udders of a dairy cow doesn 't work they often get shot and get butchered for meat just because the farm was pushing them to hard
Farmers are using different technology for breeding. They used selective breeding to produce animals that exhibit desirable traits and they get more benefit from it. For example, using breeding techniques farmers makes cows which produce more milk with less lactose, and sheep which produce more wool. Farmers accept this new selective breeding technology because in the past, farmers would use growth hormones to promote such qualities. This became problematic when residue of the hormones remained in the meat, leaving it with a foul taste. When researchers began to clone transgenic animals, it became possible to develop certain traits in animals, which increased the quality of their yield. When a farmer would like to raise the standards of a herd, the breeding process is very slow and sometimes incomes can decrease (Wilmut 23). Many times when relying on sexual breeding alone to mass-produce these animals, there are chances of breeding out the desired traits (Freudenrich). Transgenic animal cloning will result in higher quality meats and dairies without the use of artificial hormones. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration released in January 2008 concluded “edible products from normal, healthy clones or their progeny do not appear to pose increased food consumption risks relative to comparable products from conventional animals.” After 2008, US Food and Drug Administrative agree to use
Dairy cows produce more milk than what a calf needs in a day. The calves are gently separated, with no harm done to the cow or calf. The article also states that the FFA promotes cows being constantly artificially inseminated on “rape racks” to keep milk production flowing. The FFA does promote the dairy industry, but nothing called a “rape rack” exists. They are called head locks or a cattle chute and they keep the cows in place for the breeder. They don’t harm the cow at all. Also, cows are bred at certain times, and they do get breaks from being milked, these are called dry