Cattle Synthesis Essay

Industrial farms use antibiotics in animal feed and water to prevent disease in farm animals. Many farms use antibiotics before an infection has even occurred.

Typically, this is in part due to the overuse of antibiotics and the large amount of waste produced on feedlots. In Debra Miller’s book Factory Farming, it was said that the Center for Disease Control and Prevention estimated that infections relating to infected meat make around 3 million people sick each year, and said infections kill at least one thousand people annually (46). As the amount of feedlot meat consumed goes up, it is important to note that this number will dramatically increase accordingly. By the same token, CAFO meat has been found to carry deadly and dangerous diseases, as noted by Rachel Lynette saying, "Many people have become sick and even died from eating tainted meat... Some of the more serious illnesses include: salmonella, E. Coli, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CDJ), swine flu, and avian flu," (34). These diseases harm can be contracted easily among humans and can harm both physical and mental health. On the contrary, many people argue that the diseases can be controlled by administering antibiotics to animals. Michael Pollan interviewed one of these such defenders of the factory farm systems, Doctor Mel Metzin, who works as a veterinarian at a CAFO. When he asked about what would happen if drugs were banned from feedlots, he responded with, “We’d have a high death rate,” (60). It may seem that a simple fix to the contaminated meat issue is to give the

Factory farmed animals are not only poor, but also low quality. Since the animals, pigs for example, are in contact with each other so close, they are sprayed with antibiotics to keep germs from spreading. Those antibiotics are used many, many times, resulting in very low quality meat and are harmful to our human body.

Focusing on cattle (since Tenderloin comes from a cow), most industrial cattle farms are called ‘C.A.F.O’s (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations). Basically, they are unhealthy ‘farms’ where cattle are cramped into unsanitary, small, unnatural spaces. To put it lightly, the industrial farming of cattle is incredibly harmful to the animal’s health. In the book “The Omnivores Dilemma” by Michael Pollan, he talks about how “… 534’s eyes look a little bloodshot. Dr. Metzin had told me that some animals are irritated by the feedlot dust. The problem gets especially serious in the summer time...” (Pollan 80).

Because E. Coli O157:H7 is found in cattle intestines, a key method to prevent E. Coli O157:H7 contamination is to prevent fecal matter from splattering on the beef.12 However, this was not a priority for the meat processing and feedlot industries, which was focused instead on minimizing costs and maximizing profits. The feedlot sectors held responsibility due to the poor conditions it raised cattle. In order to minimize costs, cattle were kept in “medieval conditions” where they were without clean water and sewage disposal. Because cattle deposit around 50 pound of manure everyday, the result of the poor sanitation conditions is that cattle spend most of the day in their own feces, coating their hides with waste. In addition, the animal feed contained fecal matter from other animals. The meat processing industry further exacerbated this problem through their slaughtering techniques. In order to maximize profits the cattle were slaughtered at high speeds by employees who were increasingly composed of poorly trained, poorly paid, and politically vulnerable immigrant workers. To slaughter the cattle, workers must first remove the cattle’s hide before physically removing its inner organs. However, if the hides are not properly cleaned, pieces of dirt and fecal matter will fall into the meat. Furthermore, if the organs are not removed

In the past century there has been a substantial change in the way human beings raise and keep animals meant for food. While in the past there were great numbers of widely spaced small individual farms, now there are relatively few, but extremely large industrialized farms. And as the numbers of animals kept and slaughtered for human consumption increases, these industrialized farms, known as Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations or CAFO's, are having more and more of an impact on the environment and people around them. The concentration of animals causes a major problem with the waste products they produce, as well as the gases, chemicals, and other types of byproducts. And the increased use of antibiotics in the animals is beginning to have a profound effect on the health of not only the environment but the communities that exist around these industrialized farms. CAFO's, and their secondary industries, are also a large consumer of oil, gasoline, and other fuels which can have an indirect, but devastating effect on the environment. Luckily there are some who have come to recognize the problems, and potential future problems, involved in this type of animal farming and have begun to inform the public to the dangers these farms pose. And in response to this information, the public is beginning to force changes in the way these CAFO's operate and the impact they have on the environment and

This is due in part by the previous statement to get higher yields out every animal raised. Cattle, chickens and pigs alike are all subject to certain fattening diets, modern breeding techniques and growth hormone treatments. These forced practices have very adverse, life altering and threatening affects that lead farmers to use antibiotics in order to keep diseases at bay. The Committee on Drug Use in Food Animals states, “doses are used when pathogens are known to be present in the environment or when animals encounter a high stress situation and are more susceptible to pathogens “, (1999, p. 28). It is important to point out that the use of growth hormones and antibiotics dramatically increases body mass, drastically shortens the lifespan of animals such as cattle and is being detected in food for human consumption.

Factory farming is the industrial production of raising animals such as cattle, poultry, swine, and sheep for meat. Many questions and concerns within the field are based on animal treatment and the cleanliness of the factory farm facilities. These questions and concerns are needed to guarantee the safety of both the animals and consumers. The unhealthy living environments combined with excessive antibiotic use in factory farms causes concern in the meat processing industry.

The effects of factory farming is not worth the damage that is done to the health of the environment, animals, and people. The idea of a factory farm is to produce meat at a faster pace, but the way these companies accomplish this task makes life a living hell for the animals. For example, “They’re often given so little space that they can’t even turn around or lie down comfortably. Egg-laying hens are kept in small cages, chickens and pigs are kept in jam-packed sheds, and cows are kept on crowded, filthy feedlots”(Factory). The animals on these farms have to experience constant fear and agony, especially since most factory farmed animals will be genetically manipulated to grow larger or to produce more milk or eggs than they naturally would, and suffer severe pain throughout their entire life(Factory). Animals, especially cows, are being abused not only physically, but mentally as well.. For example, “just within hours of birth, calves are taken away from

Why did cattle ranching develop on the Great Plains? Cattle ranching developed on the Great Plains because vast fortunes were made. The cattle industry was based on some very important factors which were wild cattle, wild horses, and grass. These factors made cattle ranching very profitable, but however, for the cattle barons the bonanza didn’t last forever. In the North the market for beef was growing huge, and that meant ranching was a good way to live.

Presently, speculations have risen about the amount of antibiotics used in the livestock industry and the desire to consume antibiotic-free meats. What is not understood, however, is the USDA has been monitoring the amount of antimicrobial residue in meats for several years. If unsafe levels are detected the meat is not allowed to be sold for human consumption. Yet, fast food chains such as Subway and Chipotle are claiming to go completely antibiotic free within the next decade. The practicality of this becoming a reality is slim due to the need to control, treat, and prevent diseases. To truly understand the importance of the antibiotic usage in cattle it must first be understood what antibiotics are and the reasons they are used. Additionally, the use of vaccinations should be taken into account for the

Our food should not be treated like sweat shops; I am talking about CAFO (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations). Allen Trenkle, Ruminant Nutrition Expert Iowa State University said, “Animals evolved consuming grass and some research found that a high corn diet results in e coli that are acid resisted and that are the more harmful e coli” (qtd. in “Food Inc.”) The cow’s diet and living conditions in these CAFO’s are really bad; “Their fed corn because it’s cheap and the cows get fatter on a corn diet. They stand ankle deep in their own manure all day long if one cow has e coli the other cows will get it, and when they get to the slaughter house their hide is caked with manure. When they slaughter four-hundred cows an hour they don’t take precaution of how to get the manure off the cows and that’s how e coli end up in our meat.” Michael Pollan (qtd. in “Food Inc.”) “To date, mad cow disease is not a crisis in public health; but it’s becoming a crisis in public trust.” (qtd. in Food-Borne Illnesses.) Our food-safety system is failing and we need to be concerned about this issue.

Industrial farming feeding practices and mistreatment of animals poses many health risks to consumers. Animals raised on industrial farms are confined in feedlots and neglected in these contaminated facilities. First, industrial farming animals have no access to sunlight, fresh air or open pasture. Often, they are densely packed in cattle pens filled with their own waste. Additionally, during long distance transports they are not given food, water or time to rest. As a result, agribusinesses deliver unhealthy and treacherous food to supermarkets that deceive the public into buying food that is not safe. For instance, because factory farms use antibiotics excessively to prevent disease in animals consumers become antibiotic resistant themselves, which is very dangerous when they are hospitalized. Then, the antibiotic overexposure common in consumers who

Because of such horrible conditions, Factory farmed animals are given antibiotics to help combat for the rapid spread of disease. In fact, eighty percent of antibiotics sold in the U.S. are used for meat-producing animals. Even if the animal isn’t sick yet, the antibiotics are still administered to the animals to promote growth. Over the years, this has directly contributed to human antibiotic resistance and the infections they cause in humans. Even though we are not directly consuming the antibiotics, we are consuming an animal that has.

The conditions in which meat livestock live in is not exactly that of a large open green field in which they are free to roam and be merry. In the Economist article, Cows down: The beef business (2008) the effects of the ill conditions cows talks of how a