Fritz Ranch Case Study

The top four meatpacking businesses hold 20 percent of the nation’s cattle in company owned feedlots or cattle bought before-hand, sometimes using secret pricing contracts (138). These farmers are doing everything they can to make a living. This includes rotation practices that big companies would never care about.

In the second section of Michael Pollan’s book, The Omnivore’s Dilemma, pastoral grass and “organic foods” are the main focus and many agree that grass is a far better choice for animals that graze. By switching a cows diet back to normal food, will impact the market of food prices because the supply would not be able to keep up with the demand, thus making the food market a disaster, or at least that’s what I picture when I think of the outcome. The demand for beef now is so great that these cattle are being slaughtered at roughly 12 months, that’s not even half of the total life-span they’re supposed to live. A grass fed cow takes about 4-5 years to be ready for some great steaks, but thanks to our wonder crop, “corn”, we can slice that

The beef industry is an important asset to United States agriculture as a whole. Over a million agricultural entities benefited from the sales of cattle and calves in the year 2000. Gross totals from sales of cattle and calves in 2000 totaled $40.76 billion accounting of 21% of all agricultural receipts making the beef sector the largest single agricultural enterprise. Direct and indirect employment in or related to the production and processing of beef supports over 1.4 million full-time-equivalent jobs in the US as well. Cattle are produced in all 50 states and their economic impact contributes to nearly every county in the nation and they are a significant economic driver (Lawerance and Otto, 2000).

A Brief History of Agricultural in the 21st Century and how it applies to grass fed Beef

As the United States grew in the beginning of the 20th century the demand for meat was always needed. Fortunately for the young state of Oklahoma the prairie lands of the Great Plains were a perfect area to feed the numerous heads of animals sent to the butchers that fed America. In 1907, there were 1,206,800 animals within Oklahoma; nearly all farmers in every country of Oklahoma raised hogs (Goins and Goble, 171). Oklahoma’s ranching economy changed in the youthful years of statehood as the profession of ranching became more commercialized with intent to maximize the meat per hoof, which would increase the profit margins (Baird and Goble, 194). One way the ranchers maximized the meat per hoof was the replacement of Spanish breed longhorn cattle for the heartier English breed, Hereford (Baird and Goble, 194). “Herefords were raised in such numbers that many referred to Oklahoma as ‘Hereford Heaven’ (Goins and Goble 172)”. As mentioned before plains of Oklahoma were ideal for grazing

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.

A major criticism of organic foods is the obvious price increase included with purchasing organic products. While there are numerous reasons for the price premium associated with organic foods, the most obvious reasons are the cost of organic supplies such as feed and fertilizer to make a profit. George Siemon, CEO of the Organic Valley co-op, states that “A ton of organic cattle feed can cost from $350 to $400 a ton versus $220 or less for a ton of conventional feed,” illustrating a major price difference for simply fertilizing a crop (Simon). With access to more resources than organic farmers, conventional farmers will often spend less in the overall farming of a crop than organic farmers, increasing their profits. Conventional farmers often use materials such as “sewage sludge, which is cheap to buy, and chemical fertilizers, which are both cheap to buy and cheap to transport” (Simon). Using these potentially hazardous chemicals for crop production runs the major risk of chemical runoff and contamination of local water supplies or reservoirs, which will directly affect

The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association is a trade association and policy group that represents all segments of the cattle industry: producers, feeders, and breeders. The association has over 28,000 individual members and represents over 230,000 people in the industry. The current president of NCBA, Scott George, is a cow/calf producer from Wyoming with a long history in the dairy industry and policy groups as a member of the Farm Bureau. In addition to its role in U.S. policy, the NCBA conducts research, marketing, and promotional work for cattle ranchers. The NCBA’s vision is “an industry united around a common goal of being the world’s most trusted and preferred source of beef and beef products.” The economic interests of the cattle

The sooner the world realizes that organic farming has many for effects on a variety of different categories other than just how the foods are simply healthier for us, the easier organic farms will become the more common form of farming. Overall, organic farms have an extraordinary amount of benefits for many animals total health and treatment. They can easily be classified as a higher quality farming than industrial

B/F Cattle Company has a closed cowherd, with all of the females being sixth or seventh generation Balancer and products of Brett’s breeding program.

The state led the nation in cattle and calves, beef cows, calves, cattle on feed, total value of cattle and calves, and cash receipts—1993 sales. Texas also has been number one in number of farms and ranches and total farm and ranch land. The Texas ranching industry has changed drastically from its early beginnings. The day of the longhorn and the sprawling King Ranch have been replaced by the rise of commercial feedlots, sophisticated slaughter and meat-packing industries, spreading use of computers, and an intensive search for export markets. On many ranches hunting leases have replaced cattle raising. King, Kenedy, and O'Connor would perhaps think it outlandish, as well as entrepreneurially interesting, that on some ranches, ostriches and zebras are now more plentiful than

In The epilogue of Fast Food Nation, Eric Schlosser talks about a man named Dale Lasater who worked with cattle. Dale was fighting against the Beef Trust, which would not buy his cattle. Many Americans who eat beef today may feel like someday Mad Cow Disease will develop, “Meat is off the menu. Achieving replacement level fertility, reducing food loss and waste, reducing biofuel demand for food crops and shifting our diets, will all go some way to closing the gap between food available and food required.”(“5 Ways Cattle Help The Environment”) Eric Schlosser, makes the reader focus on Dale Lasater and his property line, and how it did not go well due to a decrease in population. Many fast food companies should make sure to have

In On the Range, a chapter of the book Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser, Schlosser is with a man named Hank, a local rancher, who offered to give Schlosser a tour of the city of Colorado Springs. The Chapter takes place in July of 1997, in Hank’s town of Colorado Springs. After the tour, they went to Hank’s farm twenty miles from the city. Before Reagan, ConAgra, IBP, Excel, and National Beef only slaughtered around 21 percent of cattle, but after they slaughtered about 84 percent. Reagan allowed companies to merge which made them larger. This put Colorado farmers in a tough economical situation, with most leaving their farms. Not only are farms starting to vanish but the state in general is losing their farming culture. Schlosser went to Harrison

The value of livestock on Texas farms rose from 10.5 million to 43 million between 1850 and 1860. The number of cattle in Texas have decreased due to more and more ranches being bought out for houses and buildings being

There is a big hunt coming up and Artemis hears there will be a huge prize for winning the hunt. So Artemis goes down to sign up and runs into another competitor that is competing for the same prize. The competitor says to Artemis,“Hello my name