A few year's ago I read an article called Power Steer by Michael Pollan, published in the New York Times in March 31, 2002 which you can get download a full copy of for a few dollars from the New York Times (Click here for direct link, that worked Jan 2005). The article explains in graphic detail the process of raising cattle on huge feedlots in the USA, and following the life of a real steer that he bought, No 534, from calf to beef.

It reveals a picture of animal prisons if not animal hell, with thousands of animals packed in pens in lots of 150 or so animals stretching for tens of miles. They are fed prepared rations predominantly of corn / maze, which can be laced with growth hormones to keep the animals growing fast and antibiotics to ward off illness that could result from the unnatural lifestyle and diet. What effect will residues in the meat have on the people who consume them? And to produce the huge amount of corn these animals eat requires lots of artificial fertiliser, using lots of oil to make it and helping global warming along nicely in the process.

Just one quote from it ‘I asked David Pimentel, a Cornell ecologist who specializes in agriculture and energy, if it might be possible to calculate precisely how much oil it will take to grow my steer to slaughter weight. Assuming No. 534 continues to eat 25 pounds of corn a day and reaches a weight of 1,250 pounds, he will have consumed in his lifetime roughly 284 gallons of oil.’

The more I thought about it, the more this article really worried me. It has reinforced our determination at Fowlescombe to make the farm as environmentally sustainable as possible and to pay particular attention to humane treatment of our animals. A recent concern is that with livestock production everywhere being subject to the harsh realities of global economics much that is good about British livestock farming will be lost. Farms that treat their livestock as sentient creatures rather than commodities do have higher costs and will be driven out of business. Feedlots are springing up everywhere including the UK , though thankfully British welfare rules and prohibition on using growth hormones and antibiotics in their diets give some protection.

In the USA some 80% of cattle are slaughtered and processed by 4 meat processing plants. Just think how far the animals must travel to slaughter. We are lucky in Devon and our animals travel only 10 miles to a local small abattoir where the animals are handled skilfully and with care. But harsh economics, not to mention the demands from all sorts of new rules and regulations, threaten the survival of many of these traditional local abattoirs.

Some final observations of my own, having spent over 20 years working off and on in the USA . It takes about 24-28 months to produce traditional grass-reared UK beef. The ‘power steer’ method produces a large beef carcass in 12 – 14 months. Not for these poor animals the opportunity to eat grass or express their natural behaviour (other than eating and excreting), let alone roam on the range as in our rose tinted view of cattle in the States. The beef may seem cheap in terms of US$s to produce, but at a great expense in terms of environmental and welfare costs, and perhaps the human soul. At dinner tables across the States I have seen the vast majority of people leave half their food. One wonders if they just went back to cattle on the range, and had plates with half the food, then ate it all whether the world would be a much better place.

I should also point out that there are excellent farms in the US , and many groups of people fighting for a more sustainable system. Farmers’ Markets are an idea the UK has taken up from the States. But the profit targets of big industry seem to take priority over sustainability and much else. Few Americans know where their food comes from – which is happening here now. Children grow up assuming food is what you get in a plastic package from a supermarket and pop in a microwave to cook.

And if you want to read some more try Michael Pollon on beef industry, hormones, antibiotics. Or try a search engine with the words 'Power Steer' or 'cattle feedlot'. And it is not just cattle - click on this link to see sheep lots.

Regards, Richard