The Beef Industry Ch. 2, Slaughterhouse Blues From Roundup to Restructuring:

 Branding is a communal activity on the Flying W Ranch  Social event after a long winter  Neighbors come together to work, eat, and share stories  Take turns going to nearby farms  Whole families participate, everyone has a job  Ranching is not a job but a way of life Branding Day on the Ranch

 Ropers chase calves into corral and rope them- most prestigious task  Rastlers (usually children) hold calf down  Branded, tagged, vaccinated, and castrated by men  Workers are gentle, care about animals  Calves are more frightened then harmed The Process

 Technology changed the branding process  Instead of today’s butane fire, ranchers used wood fire to heat the brands  Instead of ear tags, numbers were carved into flesh with a knife  No hormone implants were used  Some outfits try to recreate these old methods Transition…

The Cattle Kingdom  Beef industry began in Texas, spread quickly after the Civil War  Between millions of cattle were driven from Texas to Kansas and other states  Processed in Chicago and Eastern states  1827-Chicago’s first slaughterhouse  Became prosperous with outlets through the Great Lakes, Erie Canal, and later, Rail Roads  The “Yards”- could held 21,000 cattle, 22,000 sheep, 75,000 hogs

 Within a decade the Great Plains became dominated by free-range cattle  1874-First barbed wire in U.S- no more free-range cattle  1870s- invention of windmill and spread of irrigation systems turned S W states into a new corn belt  Increased production of corn encouraged grain-fed cattle  By the 20 th century, the cowboy era disappeared  Cattle ranching was still profitable The Cattle Kingdom

 Previous to the 1900’s, cattle were not slaughtered until they were 4-5 years old, then was pushed back to 2 years  Chain grocery stores of the1940’s increased demand for meat and supported the trend to “baby beef”  In 1960, half the cattle on feed in the US were in the Corn Belt; shift to Plains Go West, Young Steer, Go West

 Calves are weaned at 300 lbs.  “Transient” cattle go to the prairie to fatten up before going to the feedlot  They graze and eat corn stubble until they reach “feeder weight” lbs.  Some calves are broken into trough feeding early  Cattle stay in feedlots 4-5 months  Slaughtered at 1,100-1,300 lbs. and are between months old Home on the Range: The Short, Happy Life of a Beef Cow

 Feedlots buy cattle from ranchers, or raise them as “custom feeders”  Custom Feeders are cattle boarded by feeldlots- “Bovine Hotels”  Cattle are transported in 18-wheel trucks  Unloaded at feedlot into metal pens holding up to 500 head  Transportation of cattle causes loss in body weight- 5-6% for long hauls and 2-3% for short hauls Home on the Range: The Short, Happy Life of a Beef Cow

 Feedlots market cattle when they are “finished” or ready for slaughter  Owners are charged either a flat rate, or a mark-up of the food and medicine that the feedlot supplies (currently $1.60/day in Kansas to board a cow) Home on the Range: The Short, Happy Life of a Beef Cow

The End to a Way of Life  Today, less than 2 out of 100 Americans work on farms or ranches, yet beef production is the largest part of the agricultural economy  It takes 1 person to tend 1,000 head of cattle in a conventional feedlot  Feedlots maximize growth rate: Cattle in a feedlot eat lbs. & are given hormones, gaining about 3 lbs./day  Feedlot cattle produce up to 30 lbs. of manure/day  Manure is spread on fields to fertilize the crops or dumped into manure lagoons

 Urban Industry- problem of smells  Industry began with packing pork in barrels for export to West Indies  Technology redefined the meat packing industry with refrigeration, the railroad, and machinery (problem of preservation)  Meat packing industry became dominated by corporations The “big 5”- Swift, Armour, Morris, Cudahy and Wilson --actually 3- IBP, ConAgra and Smithfield From Hogsheads to Disassembly Lines

 Meat Packing Industry has low profit margins, must be efficient  Previously butchers were skilled craftsmen, paid well  Developed the production line (disassembly line) involving individual repetitive jobs and deskilling of the labor force  Lowering of wages (unskilled labor)  Plant capacity became the key to cutting costs; cost is cut in half switching from to 25 head to 325 head an hour production rates The Rise of the Meatpacking Industry

 Comparison between the family operated ranch and corporate owned feed lots  No community  No skills  No relationship to the animal  Just a job  Degradation of environment as well as social status of workers  Treatment of cattle