The Life of a Factory Farm Cow Raised for Beef
Today, over 32,459,000 cattle are slaughtered for beef in the U.S. (2013) Cattle raised for beef start life on the range being grass fed for the first 7-8 months, then are rounded up, auctioned, and transported to feedlots (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations or CAFOs) where they spend the remainder of their short lives being fattened and readied for slaughter. Feedlot cattle are fed an unnatural (cows are herbivores and ruminant animals who should only eat grasses) diet of corn and cereal grains, which causes them deep intestinal distress and disease; by-products of ethanol or alcohol production (distillers grains); growth hormones; and antibiotics and other chemicals to fatten them quickly, causing liver damage, abscesses and infection to nearly all feedlot cattle.
Here’s the life of a factory farm cow raised for beef (or CAFO, feedlot, industrial farm cow)
- Cows are separated from their calves as soon as they are born, causing unbelievable distress, severe depression, and bellowing between mother and calf that can last for weeks. Calves are separated immediately, so cows can be artificially impregnated again.
- Calves are painfully branded with hot fire irons searing their flesh, causing third-degree burns, and calves bellow in pain.
- Feedlots on factory farms are crowded, manure-ridden, dusty, full of open sewers and choking air quality full of ammonia fumes, and cattle by the thousands can barely move or walk.
- Feedlot air is thick with harmful bacteria subjecting cattle to the constant risk of respiratory infection.
- Feedlot cattle are routinely implanted with grow-promoting hormones (synthetic estrogen), antibiotics (Rumensin and Tylosin), and other agricultural chemicals and drugs to fatten them quickly (and unnaturally) and prevent common physical disorders and disease these cattle get due to their unnatural diet.
- Feedlot cattle are fed high quantities of corn to cause marbling of their flesh, which contains much higher levels of saturated fat and less omega-3 fatty acids than grass-fed meat (USDA grading system rewards marbling). Animal scientists have testified that most feedlot cattle are chronically “sick” due to being fed a highly unnatural diet.
- Feedlot cattle are forced to eat a diet that is completely against their biology causing continual metabolic disorders (cows are herbivores and ruminant animals that should eat grasses).
- The FDA still permits feedstuffs containing animal by-products to be fed to other non-ruminant animals. Therefore, at a feed mill mixing feed for pigs, for example, there is still the possibility of cross-contamination of feed going to cattle.
- Cows are slaughtered at 14-16 months now, a dramatically shorter life with CAFOs or industrialized feedlots, versus when they were raised entirely on grass where they would typically live 2-3 years. This is due to a highly intensive diet to fatten cows as quickly as possible using enormous quantities of corn and grains, fat supplement and protein, and an arsenal of new drugs.
- Slaughterhouse statistics – a high speed assembly line of workers now kills 250 cattle every hour; it’s a system wrought with human injury, severe animal suffering and inhumane treatment, and is highly dangerous to workers.
- Slaughtering is done where cattle are first “stunned” and hung up by their back legs to bleed to death, but the stunning often fails or is done improperly, and the cattle are still conscious, kicking and fighting through the whole process. Eventually the animals throats are slit, whether they are conscious or unconscious.
- USDA enforcement is weak due to federal budget cuts and increasing numbers of animals being sent to slaughter, leaving workers and animals unprotected and standards and regulations unenforced.
In addition, factory farming and CAFOs produce nearly 50% of all human-caused greenhouse gasses and carbon pollution contributing to climate change; significant water pollution contaminating rivers and oceans; novel and deadly pathogens harming our environment; natural habitat destruction; and significant public health impacts.
Actions you can take:
- Stop buying and eating beef products, or reduce eating beef to once a week, once every two weeks or once a month, and continue reducing your consumption. You can also buy products with the seal “Animal Welfare Approved” on the packaging. This certifies that the farms the animals were raised on maintained the highest animal welfare standards.
- If you do buy beef, buy only 100% grass fed, free range beef from a small local farmer.
- Buy alternative vegetarian products that are not made from animals, including veggie meatballs, veggie burgers and any animal-free vegetarian alternative product available at local grocery stores or natural food stores.
- Learn more about factory farms and industrial animal agriculture and why it’s such a significant threat to animal welfare, the environment, natural ecosystems, habitats and wildlife, and human health.
- When you dine out, ask local restaurants to buy only humanely raised meat from small local farms.
- Call your politicians and ask them to get involved and support animal welfare laws, and keep track of their voting record. Here’s some ideas.
- Spread the word! Tell others about factory farming. Share on social media and help get the word out!