The commercial beef cattle industry is one of the strongest agricultural industries in the United States of America. Since the late fifteenth century, cattle have dominated the North American continent, especially the United States. Much has changed, however, since their first arrival to America. Breeds have evolved and practices have improved. Possibly one of the only things that has not changed is the hard work, time, and effort that the American farmers and ranchers spend each day tending to their herds. There is around 89.3 million head of cattle in America and about 315.1 million people. That means that for approximately every four people in the United States, there is one beef cow. Beef cattle help expand our nation’s relations by providing exports. Some of our top export markets include Canada, Japan, Mexico, South Korea, and Hong Kong (Field, Thomas G.). An in-depth study of the commercial beef cattle industry reveals an industry overview, production and marketing phases, and products of beef.
Bovine have been a part of this world for the existence of mankind. They have been used for all necessities; such as, food and draft power. Europeans first brought cattle to the United States when they came over by boat. Since this time, the beef industry has played a big part in the U.S. economy, especially, the sale of live cattle. As stated by Thomas G. Field in Beef Production and Management Decisions Fifth Edition, on average forty-six billion dollars are shown via cash receipts annually. Nebraska, Texas, Kansas, Colorado, Oklahoma, Iowa, California, South Dakota, and Missouri each generate over one billion dollars in cattle sales per year. It also takes many other resources for a farmer or rancher to run cattle...
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...tical human assumptions about how beef is raised and whether or not it is healthy. Thanks to these people, the industry has become stronger and more united. There is currently, and forever will be, a major need for beef. The effect of this is that there will always be a need for beef producers, processers, and advocates. To keep cattle prices on the rise, and continue the economic growth we are currently seeing throughout the United States, we will have and need some very influential advocates to make sure the world knows the facts about the commercial cattle industry. This in-depth study revealed many of those facts including an industry overview, production and marketing phases, and products of beef. Thanks to the American farmer and rancher the commercial beef cattle industry has and will continue to be a dominant agricultural industry throughout the U.S.A.
...in the market. Diversified mid-sized family farms used to produce most of our meat, but now, only a few companies control the livestock industry. This has resulted in driving family farmers out of the market and replacing them with massive confined feeding operations that subject the animals to terrible living conditions that subject our food to contamination. Major food corporations are only concerned with minimizing overhead in order to deliver the consumer cheap food, regardless of the health implications.
Lundberg describes how the demand for animal protein was incredibly higher than the production. She quoted Marlow’s article stating, “A nonvegetarian diet requires 2.9 times more water, 2.5 times more energy, 13 times more fertilizer, and 1.4 times more pesticide than does a vegetarian diet and the greatest difference comes from beef consumption” (Lundberg 483). She then questions: "Do we really want to wait until it’s too late to change our way of eating?” (Lundberg 485). These two points will make readers subconsciously pause to answer this question themselves, put themselves in the situation imagining the products used and having an immediate reaction to it.
Hasheider, Philip. How to Raise Cattle: Everything You Need to Know. St. Paul: Voyageur, 2007. Print.
The. The "Meat Industry" Encyclopedia Americana. Grolier Online, n.d. -. Web.
A growing issue in the world today is the use of antibiotics and growth hormones in the animal production industry. However, for over sixty years, Americans have been exposed to hormones on a regular basis when they consume beef. Organic Consumer Association: On average, eighty percent of all feedlot cattle are given hormones to help them grow at an increased rate. (Communication Foundation) “In 1988 the European Union banned the use of all hormone growth promoters.” (Organic Consumer Association)
Within the United State there is only one set of standards to grade beef and beef products being distributed interstate. The USDA put these standards in place after the Wholesome Meat Act of 1967 which states that, “USDA has authority to control movement of unfit meat and meat products and to require poultry products in interstate and foreign commerce to meet Federal inspection standards.” There are seven standards in place for commercial beef sale in the United States; they are on a sliding scale. Excellent quality beef is labeled as prime, which has a high degree of marbling or fat throughout the back, loin, ribs, and rump. Prime beef is going to be mainly used in steakhouses and restaurants throughout the nation. The quality of this particular type of beef is superior to the next standard of beef, choice...
There is no humane way to raise beef cattle to meet the world's growing demand. Let's take a look at one of the biggest beef based corporations in the world, Tyson. Tyson slaughters and packages 170,938 cattle every day! That number is not including any other of the corporations who are
the country's beef industry to suffer. Since 2003, the United States have only had three reported
had money to buy beef and cattle which was in great demand. A cow that cost 4
In the early twentieth century, at the height of the progressive movement, “Muckrakers” had uncovered many scandals and wrong doings in America, but none as big the scandals of Americas meatpacking industry. Rights and responsibilities were blatantly ignored by the industry in an attempt to turn out as much profit as possible. The meat packers did not care if poor working conditions led to sickness and death. They also did not care if the spoiled meat they sold was killing people. The following paper will discuss the many ways that rights and responsibilities were not being fulfilled by the meat packing industry.
For as long as there have been horse slaughterhouses in the United States, they have been an issue of controversy (Associated Press State and Local Wire, 8/7/01). Currently, only two slaughterhouses that produce horse meat intended...
Ironically and rather unfortunately, the present situation is that while the poor nations of the world are starving their own populations to produce and export beef, the rich, who are able to afford beef, are dying from diseases. Rifkin has several chapters dedicated to the host of illnesses those beef eating individuals are susceptible to. The titles include, “Sacrifice to Slaughter,” "Cows Devour People, “and "Marbled Specks of Death." One point he makes is that because of the widespread use of antibiotics among the cattle industry, the “human population is increasingly vulnerable to mor virulent strains of disease-causing bacteria” (12). Rifkin further attests that beef, but ranks second as the food posing the greatest cancer risk. The reason is simple: beef is the most dangerous food for herbicide contamination and ranks third in insecticide contamination. Eighty percent of all herbicides in the United States are sprayed on corn and soybeans which are used primarily as feed for cattle and other livestock. When consumed by the animals, the pesticides accumulate in their bodies. The pesticides are then passed along to the consumer in the finished cuts of beef. Large feedlots have other sources of potential chemical contamination in beef including use of “industrial sewage and oils in feedlot mixtures and aerial spraying of insecticides on feedlot cattle” (13).
An abundance of Americans have no idea that most of the food that they consume are either processed or altered in one way or another. “Almost all beef cattle entering feedlots in the United States are given hormone implants to promote faster growth. The first product used for this purpose is DES (diethylstilbestrol) it was approved for use in beef cattle in 1954. An estimated two-thirds of the nation's beef cattle were treated with DES in 1956. (Swan, Liu, Overstreet, Brazil, and Skakkebaek)” Many people enjoy the various meats that comes from a cow, but that would probably change if the consumers knew that cattle is one of the most processed meat source in the market today because of the synthetic hormones that the cows are given. “ The three synthetic hormones are the estrogen compound zeranol, the androgen trenbolone acetate, and progestin melengestrol acetate. (Swan, Liu, Overstreet, B...
Domesticated Cattle belong to the family Bovidae and sub family Bovinae, which appeared in the Miocene approximately 20 million years ago. There are more than 800 different cattle breeds recognized worldwide. Cattle are considered the most important and significant domesticated economic animal (Loftus et al. 1994). In addition to milk, cattle contribute other important commodities including meat, hides, traction and dung. The taurine and zebu cattle were probably domesticated and kept around for easy access to food, including meat, milk & their products and for their use as load-bearers and plows. The many archaeological records for domestication of wild forms of cattle (Bos primigenius) indicated that the process
Cows are naturally very gentle and calm creatures. These smart and sweet natured animals have been known to go to great lengths to escape slaughterhouses. More than forty-one million of these sensitive animals suffer and die a painful death each year in the United States. When cows are still very young they are burned with hot irons, there testicles are torn or cut off, all without painkillers. Most beef cattle are born in one state, live in another, and are slaughtered in another. The cows who survive the gruesome transportation process are shot in the head with a bolt gun, hung upside down by there legs, and taken onto the killing floor where there throats