I recently read a book by Peter Singer titled The Way We Eat:why our food choices matter. In this book Singer talks about the origins of the food that we eat. The section that particularly hit me was on modern animal agriculture, and the factory farms that raise the majority of the meat that we eat. These farms, termed “factories” by Singer, are terribly cruel to both the workers and animals. The livestock is raised in an unnatural fashion, being fed things that they don’t naturally eat and pumped full of hormones and chemicals in order to survive in the harmful environments they are forced to live in.
As I browsed the web for something to write about I came upon an article about a farmer who is raising cattle the way that they are naturally supposed to. The cattle are fed hay in the winter and graze during the months when there is grass. These cattle are given no hormones to promote grow, and follow a more natural life style. The calves are given more time with their mothers, and cows wait an extra year before they breed. This system is much more humane than that used for cattle who live their entire short lives pumped with antibiotics, living ankle high in manure.
Raising cattle in this way leaves much less of a carbon footprint than using conventional methods . The cattle eat grass rather than corn, which means the hundreds of gallons of fuel used to grow, fertilize, and transport the corn is not used. The only thing the cattle eat that requires transport is hay, and that is only for the winter. The hay also uses very little or no fertilizers to grow, and does not need to be transported nearly as far to get it to the cattle.
This is how cows are meant to be raised, eating grass, having families, and living out their lives in peace. Although it would be completely impractical for everyone to eat meat that is raised wild (game meat such as venison, bison, elk, moose, various antelope ect.) animals that have lived their entire lives in the wild and experience a quick death are the best ethical option for meat. These animals had a real life, which is much more than the hogs and beef that are “raised” in what look much more like factories than the rolling green hills that are printed on meat packages.
outdorrsguy 