Mad Cous Disease or Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy Essay

countryside, but even there they could not escape the disease: It affected cows, sheep, goats, pigs

Thin cows will have inadequate energy reserves to sustain them through the lactation which means the farmer will loose money.

Mad cow disease is to serious and deadly that it is not worth the risk of eating beef from a feedlot. Michael Pollan stated, "Mad cow is a brain disease that is always fatal. It is spread by eating the brains of infected animals" (56). Clearly mad cow disease will kill anyone that gets infected so it is not worth the risk to eat CAFO beef. In addition, "Ground-up cattle brains were put into cattle feed and some of those cows got mad cow disease. Human beings who ate infected beef also got the disease..." (Pollan and Chevat 56). This shows how completely unnatural CAFOs are and why people should not eat or buy CAFO meat. It also illustrates just how dangerous mad cow disease is; that people should be cautious by boycotting CAFO beef. However, an author for the Los Angeles Times, Paul Roberts said, “there has never been a confirmed case of mad cow disease connected with anyone eating U.S. beef" (Rodgers). Evidently getting mad cow disease in the U.S. is unlikely. Pollan retaliated by saying "Then people in England began dying of a sickness called mad cow disease" (55-56). This shows that although people have not eaten infected beef in the U.S. they have in other places. Therefore if people want to stay safe then they should not eat the beef produced in CAFOs so that they do not get mad cow

This technique rarely works because many workers are poorly trained and the slaughter line moves so fast. The cows are then hung upside down and the workers slit the throats of the cows. After the cut, the cows begin thrusting around do to the immense pain, and are left there until they bleed out and die. Many of the cows are also hit and kicked and stomped on if they do not cooperate. In the video No Mercy - Calf Farm Cruelty Exposed it depicts many cows getting hit repeatedly in the head with a hammer. The cows are clearly still flailing and moving after the first blow. It takes many blows before the cow stops moving and it can feel every blow until it falls unconscious or dead. After watching that video Dr. Terry Engle stated

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

“I’ve heard horse guys talk for years that if you have a good mare, you can breed her to anything,” Brett said. “If you have a mediocre mare, it doesn’t matter what you breed her to, you are going to have a mediocre colt. I think cows are the same way; you’ve got to have a good set of foundation cows that work in your environment.”

Mad Cow disease has been heavily spoken about on the international news. Our hopes are that the disease will not spread into the United States, even though several people have died from the disease.

I am a co-owner of a cattle company were we raise and sell Purebred Hereford cattle, a few years ago we purchased two show heifers from Perez Cattle Company in New Mexico. After I was done showing them, we turned them out on pasture to get bred by our new herd bull. Later that fall we began to do pregnancy checks and those two were the only who that were open. We didn't know why, because we had the bull semen tested again and nothing was wrong. We then realized that they had gotten too fat, coming for a terrain like New Mexico, where there's not an abundance of grass to a place like the Flint Hills of Kansas. We then got their diet adjusted and they got bred to calve in the fall. We also saw a problem like this with another cow that was putting

Would you get your child their vaccinations when they needed them? Of course, you would! Well just like a kid needs certain shots throughout their childhood, calves need to be vaccinated, too. Some people may argue that vaccines are not helpful or they do more harm than good, but for a cattle farmer, vaccines are critical in maintaining a successful cow calf production. Cows are exposed to many different diseases, many of which are fatal, so farmers must ensure the health of their herd.

Sickness – Sickness can occur at any stage of the animal’s life. Sickness can have numerous effects on a beef cow, ultimately leading to a changed appetite, decreased energy, and if not treated could spread to the rest of the herd or lead to death.

The effect on the cattle will take two to eight years from the time of infection to appear as a full case. The animals that are infected by this disease will resemble those that have rabies. Mad Cow disease will not spread as rapidly as rabies does, however. Symptoms of this infection will develop over a period of two to six months. As the disease sets in and the clinical signs are in place, the animal will deteriorate and either die or will be destroyed to prevent more instances of Mad Cow disease (www.cattle.com).

cow is 2-8 years, most of the BSE infected cattle did not start to show signs

"Mad Cow" disease or BSE has never been detected in the United States. No definitive links have been found between BSE and a human form of the illness.

affect most farmers is how do they know if a cow has BSE. Cattle affected by BSE

Dairy Cows are animals that a lot of people love. They are animals that a lot of farmers have and they cherish the moments that they have with them. Dairy cows make up 90% of the dairy herd in the United states. Farmers take pride in raising them right out of the womb and up until the day they die and make sure that there herds are safe everyday and get the proper care that they need and deserve.