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Cows are amongst the gentlest of breathing creaturesThomas de Quincey
none show more passionate tenderness to their young when deprived of them
and, in short, I am not ashamed to profess a deep love for these quiet creatures
UpThe time cattle could walk on pastures is also coming to an end as here small confinement is the message as well.
Cattle at feedlots gets a very unnatural diet (to fatten them up). But this diet causes chronic digestive pain. Acoording to the Journal of Animal Science (T. G. Nagaraja and M. M. Chengappa - Liver Abscessed in Feedlot Cattle: A Review - 1998), this diet also causes potentially fatal liver abscesses in more than 30% of the cattle raised for beef.
Cattle raised for slaughter also get drugs on a regular base (to grow faster and against disease).
The health of the veal calf can best be described as anemic, weak and susceptible to disease.Stanley N Gaunt and Roger M Harrington - Raising Veal Calves
UpVeal Calves are "byproducts" of the dairy industry and are generally taken away from the mother when they are less than 1 day old. They are then put into dark and tiny crates.
In these crates they will stay till the last day of their live. After around four months they are brought to the slaughterhouse.
The calves are fed a (low in iron) liquid diet with little nutritive value so the flesh of the veal is white. By bordness, ill nutrition and lack of space calves get ill and frequently suffer from anemia, diarrhea and pneumonia.
Separating the calf from its mother shortly after birth undoubtedly inflicts anguish on both. Maternal care for the young is highly developed in cattle, and it is only necessary to observe the behavior of the cow and of the calf when they are separated to appreciate this. It is a consequence of keeping cows to produce milk for human consumption and we regret that we know of no way by which it can be avoidThe brambell Report
UpTwice (three on some factory farms) a day dairy cows are brought in the milking parlor where a system of rubber cups, plastic tubes and vacuum pumps extract her milk and pumps it into a refrigerated tank.
After four or five years when the milk production isn't profitable anymore the cow is slaughtered to be turned into soup, companion animal food or low-grade hamburgers.
As cows only give milk for about ten months after the birth of a calf, farmers need to rebreed fast, normally after forty to sixty days after a calf is born.
The calf needs to be taken from the mother as fast as possible so it would else drink the milk that is intended for sale and human consumption.
About 2,000 pounds of grains must be supplied to livestock in order to produce enough meat and other livestock products to support a person for a year, whereas 400 pounds of grain eaten directly will support a person for a year. Thus, a given quantity of grain eaten directly will feed 5 times as many people as it will if it is eaten indirectly by humans in the form of livestock products.M.E. Ensminger, Ph.D.
UpAlthough most cattle raised for their flesh spend time grazing on pastures a new trend is coming. Cattle feeders can use total confinement buildings with automatic feeding and waste removal systems. They buy feeder claves, put them in a feedlot and finish them as fast as possible to a market weight of about one thousand pounds. Together with growth promotants the cattle are fed high-calorie feed consisting chiefly of ground or flaked corn and soy meal or another protein supplement.
On conventional beef farms and ranches calves are allowed to remain with the herd on pasture or rangeland until they are sent to market at one to two years of age. Some farmers round up yearling calves, confine them and grain feed them for three to four months before sending them to the market. Others sell them after four to six months to be fattened by their purchasers.
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An action thriller that will reveal the true nature of irresponsible factory farm mega-corporations. The illusion is about to end. Created by Free Range Graphics (www.freerangegraphics.com)
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