Cattleman can be an animal rights activist

Elko Daily Free Press
By DAN L. GRALIAN
May 23, 2008

As a livestock producer, I am not an “animal rights activist.” But, I am an advocate for proper care and handling of livestock - and for that matter all animals in general.

When the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) released a film they had taken with a hidden camera of a “downer” cow being abused by employees of the Hallmark/Westland packing plant in California, we all said it was deplorable but an “isolated” incident.

As it turns out, we were wrong.

As part of the organization's ongoing investigation, the HSUS sent camera carrying undercover investigators to four livestock auction barns in four states - Maryland, New Mexico, Texas and Pennsylvania.

They selected the Texas auction barn because they had received a complaint. They had long-standing concerns about the Pennsylvania facility and the New Mexico auction barn was chosen for its close proximity to the feedlots. Maryland was selected because it was close to Washington, D.C.

The HSUS claims it found cases of downer cow abuses at all four locations. And I believe the HSUS. I saw the photographs it posted on its Web page. In one case in Westminster, Md., a downer cow was left lying unattended outside a sale barn area even after they closed for the night. The next day the HSUS investigator called the local humane society to dispatch the animal with a firearm and put her out of her misery.

You can see this footage and more on the Web site www.hsus.org.

I am embarrassed! I am ashamed! And I am outraged!

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Surprise! Conventional Agriculture Can Be Easier on the Planet

Wired Magazine
By Joanna Pearlstein
May 19, 2008

The path to virtue, we all know, begins with organics. Meat, milk, fruit, veggies — organic products are good for our bodies and good for the planet. Except when they're not good for the planet. Because while there may be sound health reasons to avoid eating pesticide-laden food, and perhaps personal arguments for favoring the organic-farmers' collective, the truth is that when it comes to greenhouse gases, organics can be part of the problem.

Take milk. Dairy cows raised on organic feed aren't pumped full of hormones. That means they produce less milk per Holstein — about 8 percent less than conventionally raised cattle. So it takes 25 organic cows to make as much milk as 23 industrial ones. More cows, more cow emissions. But that's just the beginning. A single organically raised cow puts out 16 percent more greenhouse gases than its counterpart. That double whammy — more cows and more emissions per cow — makes organic dairies a cog in the global warming machine.

How about that burger? Organic beef steers take longer to achieve slaughter weight, which gives them more time to emit polluting methane. And if you're eating hamburgers made from grass-fed cattle, don't award yourself any prizes just yet. While pastured beef offers some environmental benefit — these cows don't require carbon-intensive corn for feed, and the land they graze stores carbon more efficiently than land used for crops or left alone — they're burping up nearly twice as much methane as cattle fed grain diets, according to the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization. If you really want to adopt a climate-friendly diet, cut out meat entirely. Researchers at the University of Chicago showed that the meat-intensive diet of the average American generates 1.5 more tons of greenhouse gases per year than the diet of a vegetarian.

But even organic fruits and veggies are a mixed bushel: Organic fertilizers deliver lower-than-average yields, so those crops require more land per unit of food. And then there's the misplaced romanticism. Organic isn't just Farmer John; it's Big Ag. Plenty of pesticide-free foods are produced by industrial-scale farms and then shipped thousands of miles to their final destination. The result: refrigerator trucks belching carbon dioxide.

Organic produce can be good for the climate, but not if it's grown in energy-dependent hothouses and travels long distances to get to your fridge. What matters is eating food that's locally grown and in season. So skip the prewashed bag of organic greens trucked from two time zones away — the real virtue may come from that conventionally farmed head of lettuce grown in the next county.

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ABC Wants You to Fight Global Warming One Cheeseburger at a Time

Business & Media Institute
By Jeff Poor
May 14, 2008

It’s not enough for the media to try to brainwash the public the Earth is in peril due to global warming. Now they’re telling you what to eat.

This is something you might expect to hear at a PETA rally, but instead it was ABC’s May 13 “World News with Charles Gibson” telling you to curb your beef consumption to lower greenhouse gas emissions.

“You are staring into the face of one thing scientists say you can do to fight climate change,” ABC correspondent Dan Harris said as the face of a cow filled the screen. “Leave this cow alone and eat less beef. According to the United Nations, 18 percent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions comes from sending beef and dairy products to your kitchen table.”

The beef industry is a huge part of U.S. agriculture. According to Dan Otto and John D. Lawrence, two professors at Iowa State University, the beef industry represents $188.4 billion of direct and indirect economic activity throughout the U.S. economy. However, Harris rationalized that all this economic activity is a threat to the environment.

“Here’s why – cows are fed corn and soy, which are grown using fertilizers made from fossil fuels,” Harris said. “The food then has to be transported to the cows, which requires loads of fuel. And those cows, um, pass a lot of gas, which may sound funny, but the methane they release is 23 times more harmful than carbon dioxide. And, then there’s even more fossil fuel burned while slaughtering the cows, which involves heavy machinery and getting the food to the supermarket and then to you.”

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