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Better living through chemistry (cont’d)….
It’s a problem that apparently is growing: the wholesale use of antibiotics is causing drug resistant immunities to build-up in humans as well as animals. We just can’t depend on drugs to battle disease as we once did. E.coli is one of them. Industrial agriculture is based on antibiotics. All commercial animals…cattle, chicken and pigs…are fed them routinely as a preventative. They have to, because in the way they are raised, they’d die otherwise. So you get them too, whether you’re buying meat at the supermarket, a restaurant or McDonald’s. More than that, those cows you see gracing lovely landscapes (unless you’re looking at Thistle Hill and similar farms), are…
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On this, I’m not so sure…
At first glance, it’s another case of Pointy-Head Over-reach. Bureaucrats cracking down on a blogger when he has the temerity to recommend the Paleo (Cave Man) diet even though he’s not a professional nutritionist. What he seemed to be doing was recommending the diet to his readers based on his happy experience with what it had done to cure him of diabetes. We recommend the diet, too. But to others, we’re too weak and addicted to coffee, sugar and wine. (Not a complete list) But a careful reading of the story from North Carolina indicates the authorities are making a good point. That you can go too far in passing…
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Grandpa knows best….
It’s interesting to watch our old friend Kit Pharo move in the direction of becoming a “healthy eating” advocate. For those of you who don’t know him, Kit is a very successful Colorado rancher who raised himself from rodeo vagabond to head what may be the largest bull stud operation in the country. We’re not sure whether it’s becoming a grandfather, or just age, but Kit now regularly writes about eating right. Until recently, he’s been far more into raising cattle at the lowest cost than he was about the quality of the meat they produced. Here’s the latest from his on-line blog: Carbage – Several people said our pre-sale…
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A peek behind the curtain….
If you feel the meat you’re eating isn’t as tasty as it was when you were little, you’re right. Studies show that the percentage of meat qualifying for “Choice” and “Prime” has dropped way down. It’s the result of hurrying the cattle with hormones and grain. But time is money, and Industrial Ag, and their handmaidens in university research, keep coming up with ways to grow beef faster if not better. Dr. Sue Beal sent us this story on the latest wonder drug in your supermarket beef. http://chronicle.com/article/As-Beef-Cattle-Become/131480/?sid=cr&utm_source=cr&utm_medium=en Dr. Allen Williams, the university professor who blows the whistle on the conflict of interest in “scholarly research” in this article is…
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First they came for the raw milk farmer…
…and eventually it will be locally-grown meat. (In fact, it’s already started.) The unholy alliance of Industrial Agriculture and Big Government are engaged in a campaign of harassment and intimidation targeting the small farmer who sells his products directly to the consumer. It’s all under the guise of protecting consumer health, but in fact the real danger to the consumer is that food in the fancy wrapping in the supermarket. This isn’t political, though Michelle is the only one closer to the President than Big Ag’s lobbyists. But this campaign to discourage local food production has gone on through several Republican and Democrat administrations. It seems to be intensifying now…
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Better living through chemistry…
More and more, I find myself wondering how long man can continue playing with Nature before we pay the ultimate price. Experiments with that ultra-flu virus make me think that way. So does reading that scientists in the Netherlands have developed a glob they think is artificial beef. The first hamburger will be ready to serve in the Fall. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/9091628/Test-tube-hamburgers-to-be-served-this-year.html There’s a somewhat limited market for a $400,000 dollar hamburger but mass production will kick in and take care of that. But what would be the real price of such a burger? And I don’t mean all the un-calculated real costs in energy and transportation and minerals involved in production. I…
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You should know….
….that all the big producers are patting themselves on the back for their humane treatment of animals. McDonald’s has joined Chipotle in campaigns to get their suppliers of pork to stop keeping their pigs in gestation pens. They’re crates really, about two feet wide, so the sows can’t even turn around. From the Wall Street Journal: McDonald’s Corp. is pushing its pork suppliers to stop confining sows in small pens known as gestation stalls, moving to address concerns raised by animal-welfare advocates—and catch up with some competitors. The burger giant on Monday said the pens are “not a sustainable production system” and there are alternatives that “are better for the welfare…
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Two old cowboys “chew the fat”…..
While I can be hard on government ag agents, it was one of those critters (since reformed) who set us on the path to grass fed cattle and, indirectly, Devon. His name is Jim Gerrish, a consultant now, who lives and works out of Idaho. Jim visited Thistle Hill almost 10 years ago, when we were still a traditional operation using chemicals, feeding grain, and not really interested in eating our own meat. That really shocked Jim at the time and he immediately pointed out a cow that we should slaughter and taste. Jim also recommended moving our calving to the Fall, to spare the cows the stress of Virginia’s…
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Want to make pork unhealthy?
Just feed your pigs anti-biotics. That’s the finding of a new study. All the pork you buy at the store has been raised in confinement houses, much as chickens are grown. To keep them from getting sick and dying, they are dosed with anti-biotics. It also apparently aids feed conversion so the hogs grow faster. The result, not surprisingly, is that pigs have now developed anti-biotic resistant genes. And of course, that resistance is passed on to the consumer. Ironically, taking the anti-biotics also encourages the growth of e.Coli in the pigs. It’s what is called a “lose-lose” proposition, exception for those big food companies. Here’s a link to the…
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‘Tis the season….
…to start feeding hay. And at Thistle Hill, rather than put the hay in rings or feeders, we unroll it onto the ground. It’s the way cows are used to eating, of course, but just as important is the extra organic matter that finds its’ way back into the soil. And by taking a new area each time, we spread not only the nutrients but the cows do their part by spreading their manure. Saves on fertilzer costs. This is the view from the rear window of the tractor cab as the bale in the foreground is un-rolled. The lighter colored cows are Senepol; the darker are Devon. Some farmers…