I am a fourth-generation dairy farmer and cattle rancher. I
grew up on a dairy farm in Montana, and I ran a feedlot operation there for
twenty years. I know firsthand how cattle are raised and how meat is produced
in this country.
Today I am president of Earth Save International, an organization promoting organic farming and the vegetarian diet.
Sure, I used to enjoy my steaks as much as the next guy. But if you knew what I know about what goes into them and what they can to do you, youd probably be a vegetarian like me. And, believe it or not, as a pure vegetarian now who consumes no animal products at all, I can tell you these days I enjoy eating more than ever.
If you’re a meat-eater in America, you have a right to know that you have something in common with most of the cows you’ve eaten. They’ve eaten meat, too.
When a cow is slaughtered, about half of it by weight is not eaten by humans: the intestines and their contents, the head, hooves, and horns, as well as bones and blood. These are dumped into giant grinders at rendering plants, as are the entire bodies of cows and other farm animals known to be diseased. Rendering is a $2.4 billion-a-year industry, processing forty billion pounds of dead animals a year. There is simply no such thing in America as an animal too ravaged by disease, too cancerous, or too putrid to be welcomed by the all-embracing arms of the renderer.
Another staple of the renderers diet, in addition to farm
animals, is euthanized pets - the six or seven million dogs and cats that are
killed in animal shelters every year.
The city of Los Angeles alone, for example, sends some two
hundred tons of euthanized cats and dogs to a rendering plant every month.
Added to the blend are the euthanized catch of animal control agencies, and
road kill. (Road kill is not collected daily, and in the summer, the better
road kill collection crews can generally smell it before they can see it.) When
this gruesome mix is ground and steam-cooked, the lighter, fatty material
floating to the top gets refined for use in such products as cosmetics,
lubricants, soaps, candles, and waxes. The heavier protein material is dried
and pulverized into a brown powder-about a quarter of which consists of faecal
material. The power is used as an additive to almost all pet food as well as to
livestock feed. Farmers call it protein concentrates. In 1995, five million
tons of processed slaughterhouse leftovers were sold for animal feed in the
United States. I used to feed tons of the stuff to my own livestock. It never
concerned me that I was feeding cattle to cattle.
Watch the full documentary below
Quoted from Howard Lyman's' book Mad Cowboy
http://www.madcowboy.com/01_AboutPS.000.html
Mad Cowboy Official Website
http://www.madcowboy.com/
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