Pasture-Based
Farming Enhances Animal Welfare
Many of the news clippings below
explain how farm animals benefit when they are kept out of the
feedlots and allowed to mature on pasture at a normal rate of growth
and production. Other items show how factory farming compromises
their health and well-being. As you will see, there is a dramatic
difference between the two systems of production. Choosing meat,
eggs, and dairy products from grass-based farms is a highly effective
way to enhance animal welfare.
Healthy Eggs: What We Knew in 1932
In the 1930s, animal scientists were trying
to determine the best diet for cows, pigs, and chickens that were
raised in confinement. It was a time of trial and error.
In a 1993 experiment conducted by the U.S.
Department of Agriculture, breeding hens were taken off pasture
and fed a wide variety of feed ingredients. When the birds were
fed a diet that was exclusively soy or corn or wheat or cottonseed
meal, the chickens didn’t lay eggs or the chicks that developed
from the eggs had a high rate of mortality and disease.
But when birds were fed these same inadequate
diets and put back on pasture, their eggs were perfectly normal.
The pasture grasses and the bugs made up for whatever was missing
in each of the highly restrictive diets.
“The effect of diet on egg composition.” Journal
of Nutrition 6(3) 225-242. 1933.
Could This be the Tipping Point?
On January 30th, the Humane Society released
a video of extreme animal cruelty taken by an undercover reporter
working at the Hallmark Meat Packing Co. in Chino, California.
The video shows pictures of sick and injured cattle being prodded
by forklifts and shocked with electric probes in an effort to get
them to stand up. “Downer” cattle—those that
are too sick or lame to walk—cannot be slaughtered according
to federal law. The workers were attempting to get around this
ruling by forcing the animals to stand up. Click
here to see the video. We want to forewarn you that it shows
graphic pictures of extreme abuse.
To make matters even worse, meat from this
slaughter facility goes to the school lunch program in dozens of
states around the country.
Refusing to buy feedlot meat is one way to
protest this horrific behavior. Writing to your government representatives
is another.
Humane Slaughter
Ranchers who raise their cattle on grass from
birth to market do not send their animals to large slaughter houses
such as the Hallmark Meat Packing Company where extreme cases of
abuse were recently documented. (See post directly above.) Instead,
they slaughter the animals on the farm or take them to small, independent
slaughter facilities.
Ranchers who drive their grass-fed cattle to
an abattoir go to great lengths to keep the animals calm. Some
bring along cattle that are not earmarked for slaughter to give
the animals the comfort of being with their herd mates. Many ranchers
watch the entire slaughter process to ensure that their animals
are being treated humanely every step of the way.
Some ranchers practice “field slaughter.” In
this case, they approach the animal out on the pasture, making
sure not to trigger alarm. Then they kill it with a bullet to the
head. The animal dies instantly and has no opportunity to experience
pain. Other ranchers contract with a specially designed mobile
slaughter facility that comes to the farm and manages the entire
process from killing the animals to preparing the carcass for the
aging process.
Typically, a grass-based ranch has fewer than
150 animals, and the owners can identify each animal by sight.
Their goal is to make sure all the animals are well fed and cared
for and do not experience unnecessary stress at any time of their
lives.
To find a pasture-based rancher in your area, click
here. Ask the farmers about their slaughtering protocol.
Feedlot diets
are a recipe for animal discomfort and disease
Consumers are beginning to realize
that taking ruminants off their natural diet of pasture and fattening
them on grain or other feedstuff diminishes the nutritional value
of the meat and milk. But what does a feedlot diet do to the health
and well-being of the animals?
1) The first negative consequence
of a feedlot diet is a condition called "acidosis." During
the normal digestive process, bacteria in the rumen of cattle, bison,
or sheep produce a variety of acids. When animals are kept on pasture,
they produce copious amounts of saliva that neutralize the acidity.
A feedlot diet is low in roughage, so the animals do not ruminate
as long nor produce as much saliva. The net result is "acid
indigestion."
2) Over time, acidosis can lead
to a condition called "rumenitis," which is an inflammation
of the wall of the rumen. The inflammation is caused by too much
acid and too little roughage. Eventually, the wall of the rumen
becomes ulcerated and no longer absorbs nutrients as efficiently.
3) Liver abscesses are a direct
consequence of rumenitis. As the rumen wall becomes ulcerated, bacteria
are able to pass through the walls and enter the bloodstream. Ultimately,
the bacteria are transported to the liver where they cause abscesses.
From 15 to 30 percent of feedlot cattle have liver abscesses.
4) Bloat is a fourth consequence
of a feedlot diet. All ruminants produce gas as a by-product of
digestion. When they are on pasture, they belch up the gas without
any difficulty. When they are switched to an artificial diet of
grain, the gasses can become trapped by a dense mat of foam. In
serious cases of bloat, the rumen becomes so distended with gas
that the animal is unable to breathe and dies from asphyxiation.
5) Feedlot polio is yet another
direct consequence of switching animals from pasture to grain. When
the rumen becomes too acidic, an enzyme called "thiaminase"
is produced which destroys thiamin or vitamin B-1. The lack of vitamin
B-1 starves the brain of energy and creates paralysis. Cattle that
are suffering from feedlot polio are referred to as "brainers."
Typically, feedlot managers try
to manage these grain-caused problems with a medicine chest of drugs,
including ionophores (to buffer acidity) and antibiotics (to reduce
liver abscesses). A more sensible and humane approach is to feed
animals their natural diet of pasture, to which they are superbly
adapted.
Feedlot cattle
succumb to dust pneumonia
Stripped of all living matter,
feedlots can become a mud bath in wet weather and a dust bowl in
dry weather. When it's dusty, the cattle are at risk for "dust
pneumonia," according to USDA-ARS researcher Julie Morrow-Tesch,
PhD from Texas Tech University who studies the behavior and physiology
of feedlot cattle. She reports that "The level of dust on feedlots
can be high, which springs the cattle's immune system into action
and keeps it running on a constant basis." She has found that
many of the respiratory deaths in feedlot cattle can be attributed
to dust pneumonia.
Animals that are kept on pasture
do not have "dust pneumonia" because they are in a natural
environment where the dirt is carpeted with a dense mat of nutritious
grass and legumes.
How much
ammonia can chickens tolerate?
Typically,
large amounts of ammonia accumulate in confinement poultry operations,
peaking when the animals reach market size. The levels can reach
as high as 50 parts per million. To see how chickens react to ammonia
fumes, scientists exposed them to concentrations of 0, 25, and 45
parts per million. Not surprisingly, the researchers reported that
the chickens "foraged, preened, and rested significantly more
in the fresh air than in the ammonia-polluted environments."
The scientists noted that the hens were equally distraught when
the ammonia levels were 25 or 45 ppm, leading them to conclude that
"ammonia may be aversive to hens" even at very low concentrations.
The preening pastured hens in
the above picture have the good fortune of breathing unpolluted
air all of the time. (Click on photo to enlarge.)
("The preferences
of laying hens for different concentrations of atmospheric ammonia."
Applied Animal Behavior and Science,
2000. 68:307-318.)
In the feedlot,
it's considered "natural" for cattle to be sick
Feedlot Magazine, a
monthly periodical for the cattle industry, offers a candid portrayal
of animal welfare as seen from the point of view of the feedlot
manager. "Subacute acidosis" is a condition that comes
from feeding ruminants an excessive amount of grain, i.e., the amount
given to most cattle being raised in feedlots. Animals with this
condition are plagued with diarrhea, go off their feed, pant, salivate
excessively, kick at their bellies, and eat dirt. But according
to the industry, this is a normal and expected situation. "Every
animal in the feedlot will experience subacute acidosis at least
once during the feeding period," the article notes. It then
goes on to reassure readers that this is "an important natural
function in adapting to high-grain finishing rations..."
We beg to differ. There is nothing
"natural" about subacute acidosis. It's a chronic belly
ache brought about by switching animals from their natural diet
of pasture to an artificial, high-grain concentrate.
Read
the article in its entirety...
Two years
and Bossy is hamburger
The typical dairy cow raised
in a confinement dairy is injected with hormones to increase her
milk production. Then after only two year's on the job, she's slaughtered
and turned into hamburger because she's either sick, lame, fails
to breed, or is a less than stellar producer. The average cull rate
in the dairy industry is 30 percent. That means that each year,
almost a third of our dairy cows are slaughtered and replaced with
new heifers.
A cow that's treated well, spared
the hormones, and raised on pasture can be expected to produce milk
for ten years or more. The cull rate in a grass-based dairy can
be as low as 7 percent. The money that a farmer saves by not having
to replace a third of the herd every year helps offset the fact
that a cow free of artificial hormones produces less milk. Bossy
gets the respect that she deserves and consumers get hormone-free,
nutrient-rich milk.
The low-tech
solution to preventing shipping fever? Don't ship them!
Around six months of age, virtually
all the calves being raised for the meat market are rounded up and
shipped to distant feedlots. About a week after arrival, a high
percentage of them come down with "shipping fever," a
viral infection that is the biggest killer of beef cattle. The disease
costs U.S. and Canadian producers more than $1 billion a year. The
cause of the disease is simple. The shipping ordeal stresses the
animals, which compromises their immune systems. Then they are thrown
in with calves from other ranches, exposing them to a host of new
viruses.
To combat shipping fever, the
USDA's Agricultural Resource Service (ARS) developed a genetically
engineered vaccine, which the ARS then licensed to pharmaceutical
giant Schering-Plough. Soon, there will be yet one more drug in
the feedlot arsenal and yet more revenue for Schering-Plough.
A better way to fight the disease,
say producers of pastured products, is to keep the calves home on
the range. Calves that stay on pasture live such low-stress lives
and are exposed to so few viruses that they rarely get sick.
Grassfarmers
experiment with low-stress weaning
Weaning is a stressful time
for calves, especially if they are weaned just before being shipped
to distant feedlots. Calves that are raised and finished on pasture
are not subjected to the stress of shipping because they remain
on the farm from birth to market. But the calves still have to be
separated from their moms, so a number of grassfarmers are experimenting
with ways to ease this transition. One technique is called "across
the fence" weaning. In this case, the calves are removed from
their mothers but are kept separated from them by only a minimal
fence. Because the cows and calves can still see, smell, and hear
each other, weaning tends to be less stressful.
Another stress-reduction technique
is called "delayed weaning." In this variation, the calf
remains with its mother for a few months longer than customary.
Ranchers report that the older calves accept separation more easily.
There may be advantages for the producers as well. Jim Girt of the
River Run Farm in Clatskanie,
OR has found that his late-weaned calves were healthier and weighed
90 pounds more at slaughter than closely related calves that had
been weaned at the normal time.
Pastured
cattle can follow a natural eating schedule, resulting in less stress
and injury
When allowed to range freely,
cattle enjoy a twilight grazing session. They like to graze in the
early evening because the temperature is more moderate, the flies
are less persistent, and the grass tastes sweeter.
Most feedlot cattle, on the other
hand, are fed in the morning. This means they have nothing to eat
in the evening when their instincts are telling them to graze. This
could be why they are more aggressive in the early evening, says
animal behaviorist Julie Morrow-Tesch. She believes that the nightly
pushing and shoving matches that she has witnessed on Texas feedlots
"are a substitute for cattle's instinctive twilight grazing."
She estimates that these evening melees cost feedlot operators an
average of $70 per head. The cost would be even higher if environmental
factors were taken into account, she says, because the disruptive
behavior "can raise dust levels above allowable limits."
One possible solution is to feed
the cattle in the evening. Morrow-Tesche tested this theory and
found that evening feeding halved the number of aggressive incidents.
But a more far-reaching solution would be to raise the animals on
pasture. Grassfed animals are not only "better behaved,"
their meat is more beneficial for consumers.
Read
more about the Morrow-Tesch study...
And
now—pot scrubbers!
In the "what will they think
of next" category, feedlot nutritionists have been experimenting
with substituting kitchen pot scrubbers for hay. Feedlot cattle
need some roughage in their diet in addition to the grain concentrate
or they will become sick and gain weight more slowly. But why bring
in all that bulky hay, reasoned investigators, when pot scrubbers
might do the trick? To test this novel idea, the scientists fed
a group of steers a high-grain diet and then inserted either zero,
four, or eight plastic scrubbers into each animal's rumen (stomach).
The experiment appeared to work. "From day 113 to 152, steers
provided with pot scrubbers had 16% greater average daily gain than
those fed the 100% concentrate diet without pot scrubbers."
Wouldn't it be gratifying if
the money spent on this questionable study had been spent on exploring
the health benefits of raising animals on pasture?
(Loerch, S. C. (1991).
"Efficacy of plastic pot scrubbers as a replacement for roughage
in high- concentrate cattle diets." J
Anim Sci 69(6): 2321-8.)
Sickness
rampant in feedlots
In a 1999 study, Oklahoma State
University researchers scrutinized the health of 222 calves that
were raised in South Dakota and then shipped to Kansas to be fattened
in a typical feedlot. The main focus of the study was a common feedlot
disease called bovine respiratory disease or BRD. During the 150-day
stay at the feedlot, half of the cattle were treated for BRD, some
of them more than once. Even more troubling, examination of the
animals at slaughter revealed that 37 percent of the animals that
had not been treated for BRD had lung lesions characteristic of
the disease. In total, 87 percent of the cattle had been either
treated for BRD or had suffered from the disease and escaped diagnosis.
(Gardner, B.A., et al,
"Health of Finishing Steers: Effects on Performance, Carcass
Traits, and Meat Tenderness." J. Animal
Science, 1999. 77:3168-75.)
A
novel way to recycle your phone books
Animal researchers have discovered
an efficient way to recycle paper: feed it to cows! In a dubious
feeding experiment, scientists ground up telephone books, glossy
magazines, computer cards, computer printout sheets, newspapers,
cardboard boxes, feed sacks, brown bags, and coasters. Then they
soaked the paper in whey to make a sort of paper mache. "Based
on in vitro digestibilities," they reported in the Journal
of Dairy Science, "we conclude that it is possible to recycle
selected paper/whey combinations through ruminants."
Possible, yes. But desirable??
(Becker, B. A., J. R. Campbell,
et al. "Paper and whey as a feedstuff for ruminants."
J Dairy Sci 58(11): 1677-81.)
Ascites—a
common condition in factory-raised broilers—causes severe
distress
Forcing meat chickens to grow
quickly, which is standard industry practice, can result in heart
failure or "ascites." The underlying problem is that the
chickens develop so rapidly that their heart muscles cannot keep
pace. Ascites kills millions of birds worldwide and costs the industry
an estimated $500 billion per year.
The toll is not just financial.
Canadian researchers investigating the course of the disease determined
that during the final stages of ascites, birds are severely distressed.
"In advanced stages, the birds are unable to reach the drinkers
and become dehydrated. Death is usually preceded by prolonged agony,
and is likely a result of dehydration, starvation, respiratory failure,
and heart failure. Given the severity of symptoms and chronic nature
of this condition, the ascites syndrome must be addressed as an
animal welfare problem."
("Ascites in Broiler
Chickens from a Welfare Point of View" A. A. Olkowski and H.
L. Classen. Department of Animal & Poultry Science, University
of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, S7N 5B5, Canada)
Compared
with factory farms, Tweedy's Egg Farm is a "Chikin" Sanctuary
DreamWork's delightful summer
2000 movie "Chicken Run" failed to convey the abusive
conditions found in our modern poultry facilities. In the movie,
the cartoon hens are trying to escape from Tweedy's Egg Farm to
an idyllic island where they can free range. Although Tweedy's Egg
Farm is far from ideal, it is decidedly better than American confinement
operations. At Tweedy's, the chickens are treated to individual
bunks, roomy coops, and have plenty of room to roam outside. Compared
with confinement operations, Tweedy's Egg Farm is what heroes Ginger
and Rocky would consider a "Chikin Sanctuary." Our factory
birds would be trying to escape to Tweedy's---not away from it!
Fattening
animals in feedlots increases their risk of heat stress and death
July and August are high-risk
months for cattle in Midwest feedlots. The heat, humidity, and long
hours of daylight can result in a four percent mortality rate. Inadequate
shelter is a primary cause of the heat stress. Another is the fact
that the animals are standing on concrete, dirt, and manure which
trap the heat, making the ground at least eight degrees hotter than
a natural, pasture environment.
Researchers
are turning bison into feedlot cattle
Bison are superbly adapted to
year-round range feeding. They are extremely hardy, tolerating cold
weather better than cattle. In addition, they cope with the limited
forage available in the winter months by an automatic slow down
of their metabolic rate. Even when confined to a feedlot and fed
a constant ration, bison will eat less and put on less weight in
the winter months, clinging to a physiology that allowed them to
survive on the open plains.
Efforts are underway to sabotage
these survival traits. For example, researchers theorize that raising
bison under artificial lighting conditions will "trick"
them into thinking winter is over, speeding up their metabolism.
The animals will then eat more of the artificial feedlot diet and
increase their rate of gain. Not mentioned is the fact that they
will also pack on more saturated fat and lose more of the rich store
of omega-3 fatty acids and selenium they gleaned while on pasture.
Read
more about on-going efforts to turn free-range bison into feedlot
cattle...
Let
them eat grass!
Although most feedlot diets supply
enough nutrients to satisfy minimum vitamin requirements, mistakes
do get made. In an incident reported in a veterinary journal, cattle
being fattened in a feedlot were fed a diet deficient in vitamin
A. (The vitamin had been added to the rations, but had been destroyed
by heat and humidity.) Deprived of this key vitamin, the cattle
suffered blindness and convulsions. Interestingly, heifers fed this
same vitamin-A-deficient diet were free of symptoms, and, when tested,
were found to have adequate levels of vitamin A in their blood.
The researchers were puzzled until they discovered that the heifers
had been able to forage on sparse grasses and weeds found along
their fence row. Apparently, the grass was so rich in vitamin A
that even these meager gleanings were enough to compensate for the
vitamin-deficient feedlot diet.
("Divers TJ, et al,
"Blindness and convulsions associated with vitamin A deficiency
in feedlot steers." J Am Vet Med Assoc
1986 Dec 15;189(12):1579-82.")
Raising
chicken and cattle on the same pasture benefits both
In sharp contrast to the previous
story, chickens and cattle can be of great benefit to each other
when raised together on pasture. Ideally, the cows graze the pasture
first, followed by the chickens a few days later. The chickens eat
the fly larvae that are just emerging from the fresh cattle manure,
reducing or eliminating the need for chemical fly control. In addition,
the chicken manure increases the protein content of the pasture.
Glen Fukomoto from the Cooperative Extension Service on the Big
Island of Hawaii found that four weeks after being grazed by chickens,
the grasses were 37 percent higher in protein. (20 percent versus
14 percent.) The cows were treated to this extra helping of protein
the next time they grazed the pasture. And since the chickens were
raised drug-free, their manure was free of toxins. The cattle got
no hidden surprises.
(For a detailed account of life
on a multi-species, holistic farm, read the article on Joel Salatin's
Polyface farm featured in the July, 2000 edition of the Smithsonian
magazine.)
(Fukomoto, G., "Pastured
Poultry Production, An Evaluation of its Sustainability in Hawaii."
Livestock Management, April 1999, LM-1.)
Can
bubblegum replace fresh pasture??
In 1999, the Department of Animal
Sciences at the University of Illinois designed a study to determine
the desirability of feeding stale chewing gum and its wrappers to
cows. The researchers found that feeding the novel mixture was "safe"
and practical. In fact, they concluded that the innovative feed
improved the overall diet. "Results of both experiments suggest
that chewing gum/packaging material can replace up to 30% of corn-alfalfa
diets for growing steers with advantages for improving dry matter
intake and digestibility."
Needless to say, the scientists
did not bother to determine how the bubble gum and aluminum foil
wrappers influenced the nutrient content of the meat.
(Wolf BW et al, "Effects
of a return chewing gum/packaging material mixture on in situ disappearance
and on feed intake, nutrient digestibility, and ruminal characteristics
of growing steers." J Animal Science
1999. 77:3392-7.)
Cheap
chicken. You get what you pay for.
To bring us cheap chicken, commercial
producers have been dramatically speeding the growth rate of broilers.
In 1950, chickens took 12 weeks to reach four pounds. Today, through
a combination of selective breeding, growth promoters, and high-energy
feed, broilers reach four pounds in just six weeks. This speedy
growth saves us money at the check-out stand.
It also kills a growing number
of birds. Commercial chickens grow so quickly that their hearts
and lungs can barely sustain them. As the demand for oxygen increases,
their hearts beat more rapidly. If the demand continues, their right
ventricles become enlarged and eventually fail. Called "ascites,"
this condition kills millions of birds worldwide and costs the industry
an estimated $500 billion per year. (Learn
more about ascites...)
More and more consumers are rejecting
this false economy.. They are choosing to pay more for healthy birds
that are raised outdoors without the use of growth promoters or
feed antibiotics. Their families get a richer supply of vitamins
and omega-3 fatty acids in the bargain.
Switching
cattle from grass to grain can be lethal
Few people realize that a diet
with a preponderance of grain is an unnatural diet for ruminants
such as cattle and bison. Even when a high-grain diet is introduced
slowly over a period of weeks, which is the standard practice in
feedlots, numerous health problems can arise, including "Sudden
Death Syndrome," a lethal disease.
The following experiment is a
striking example of the foreign nature of a grain-based feedlot
diet. In an effort to better understand Sudden Death Syndrome, researchers
fed a starchy, grain-based meal to an Angus steer and a Jersey cow
that had been maintained on alfalfa hay. Within hours, the contents
of the rumen of the animals became much more acid, plummeting from
a normal pH of 7.1 to 3.8. "Both animals exhibited anorexia
[an unwillingness to eat] and depression..." The cow developed
laminitis (a painful inflammation) and dehydration. After two days
of testing, the animals were switched back to hay. It proved too
late for the Jersey cow, however. She died despite "fluid,
corticosteroid, and antihistamine therapy."
To an animal unaccustomed to
eating large amounts of grain, one grain-based meal can be fatal.
Grassfed cattle, bison, and sheep remain on their original diet
of pasture and hay their entire lives and never have to undergo
the stress of adapting to an artificial diet.
(J.R. Wilson et al, "Analyses
of rumen fluid from sudden death lactic acidotic and healthy cattle
fed a high concentrate ration." J. of
Animal Science, 41:1249-1254, 1975.)
Cattle
gain faster on afternoon hay
Cattle that put on weight quickly
get to market sooner— increasing profits
for the producer. Commercial feedlot operations speed gain by feeding
animals grain, treating them with synthetic hormones, and doctoring
their food with antibiotics. Grassfarmers have found a better solution:
feed the animals the type of food they like. When the animals' preferences
are taken into account, they eat more and put on weight more quickly.
A surprisingly simple way to
increase weight gain in the winter months is to feed animals hay
that was harvested in the afternoon. A USDA study shows that cattle,
sheep, and goats will eat 50 percent more of this afternoon hay.
Why? Grass has a higher percentage of carbohydrates at this time
of day, and the researchers speculate that the animals like this
high-energy, sweeter, more digestible grass.
(Data below comes from Shewmaker, G.E., et
al, 1999. "Diurnal Variation in Alfalfa Quality and Implications
for Testing, Western Alfalfa Improvement Conference Proceedings,
June 1999.)
Feeding
afternoon hay to dairy cattle increases milk production just as
much as synthetic hormones
Sugary afternoon hay appeals
to dairy cows as well. Amazingly, a team of USDA researchers found
that feeding hay harvested in the late afternoon rather than early
morning increased milk production by as much as 10%—results
"equivalent to those obtained by using the hormone bST."
What's more, the cows fed afternoon hay gained weight, while the
cows fed morning hay lost weight. The researchers estimated that
harvesting hay in the afternoon increases the value of the crop
by $15 a ton.
With so many concerns about hormone-laced
dairy products, one wonders why these observations have not received
more media attention. (To learn more, read Late
Afternoon Cut Hay Makes More Milk.)
Dairy
Cows Raised on Pasture are Healthier
I n a website devoted to grass-based
and seasonal dairying, Appropriate Technology Transfer for Rural
Areas (ATTRA) reports that grass-fed dairy cows are healthier than
cows raised in confinement: "By getting cows out of the barn,
cow comfort is improved. Grassy pastures tend to be drier and cleaner
than confinement facilities, and fresh, well-managed forage is more
nutritious. Farmers report that they don't have the pneumonia, scours
and mastitis they did when their cows were raised in a high-input,
confinement setting." To read more about grass-based dairies,
go to the Appropriate
Technology Transfer for Rural Areas (ATTRA) website.
Pastured
pigs are healthier, too!
Pigs raised on pasture are healthier
than pigs produced in confinement. Specifically, they have fewer
problems with respiratory diseases, rhinitis, as well as foot and
leg problems. A survey of Missouri hog producers demonstrated that
hogs raised on pastures had the lowest health costs.
(Kliebenstein, J.B. et
al. 1983. A survey of swine production health problems and health
maintenance expenditures. Preventive Veterinary
Medicine. Vol. 1. p. 357-369.)
Raising
chickens indoors under constant light depresses their immune systems
Most of our commercial broilers
are raised indoors in crowded sheds with the lights left on 23 hours
a day. The constant lighting speeds their growth, getting them to
market a few days earlier. But the unnatural light also depresses
their immune system by suppressing their production of the immune-boosting
hormone, melatonin. A new study reveals that birds with low levels
of melatonin are more vulnerable to disease. The response of the
poultry industry is to dose the beleaguered birds with more vaccines
and antibiotics.
(Kliger et al, 2000. "Effects
of photoperiod and melatonin on lymphocyte activities in male broiler
chickens." Poultry Science 79:18-25.)
Feedlot
diets subject cattle to varying degrees of gastric distress
In their natural habitat, cattle
eat grass, along with relatively small amounts of grain when the
grass is going to seed. In the feedlot, they are fed large quantities
of grain. Unaccustomed to this starchy diet, the animals can develop
a condition called acidosis. According to Todd Milton, Ph.D., Extension
Feedlot Specialist at the University of Nebraska, "... we cannot
prevent some degree of acidosis during the feeding period, rather
we must manage to prevent cattle from the more severe acidosis challenges."
(Milton, T., "Managing
nutritional disorders with high-grain rations in beef cattle."
Proceedings of the 2000 Intermountain Nutrition Conference, January
25-26. Publication 164 of the Utah Agricultural Experiment Station.)
Wild
turkeys thrive on grass, bugs, berries, seeds, and nuts
Turkeys raised on pasture have
a diet that resembles their original diet. Zoologists studying wild
turkeys found that "the youngsters instinctively peck at moving
things - which are usually protein-rich bugs or larvae." While
adult turkeys "prefer grass and other plant leaves, along with
berries and bugs." Click
here for more information.
Grass-fed
animal products get a bonus supply of vitamin E
The chart below shows the relative amounts of
vitamin E in corn and grass. As you can see, when animals are raised
on fresh pasture, they get considerably more of this important vitamin.
When consumers choose grassfed products, they, too get an extra
helping of this immune-boosting, age-defying antioxidant. Learn
more
Feedlot
diets low in vitamin A can cause blindness and convulsions
When cows graze on high quality,
fresh pasture—their natural diet—they have ample amounts
of vitamin A. When they are switched to an artificial grain diet,
vitamin A deficiency is common. Very low levels of vitamin A result
in "hypovitaminosis A, which is characterized by poor weight
gain, ataxia, convulsions, night blindness, and total blindness.
When we eat meat from feedlot animals, we, too, have less than optimal
amounts of vitamin A. What is best for the cattle is best for the
consumer.
(Booth, A., M. Reid, et
al. (1987). "Hypovitaminosis A in feedlot cattle."
Am Vet Med Assoc 190(10): 1305-8.)
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