The Beef Industry

 Branding is a communal activity on the 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 is a way of life

 Everyone has a job  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

 Technology changed the branding process  Instead of today’s butane fire ranchers used wood fire to heat 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  Today’s methods are more humane in general

 Beef industry spread quickly after the Civil War  Between millions of cattle were driven from Texas to Kansas and to other interior states  Processed in Chicago and other Eastern states  Good economy for ranchers  Within a decade the Great Plains become dominated by free-range cattle  1874-First barbed wire in U.S- no more free-range  1870s- invention of windmill and spread of irrigation systems turned South Western states into a new corn belt  Increase in production of corn encouraged grain-fed cattle  Today, beef production is the largest component of the U.S economy  50%of U.S beef is raised by farmers with 100 head of cattle or less,and 1/3 of those farmers have 50 head or less

 Calves are weaned at 300 lbs  They graze in pastures and eat corn stubble until they reach “feeder weight” lbs  Some calves are broken into trough feeding early, called “back-grounding”  “Back-grounded” calves gain 2lbs per day, about the same as pasture-fed calves  “Back-grounding” costs more than pasturing

 “Transient” cattle go to prairie to fatten up before going to feedlot  Cattle can go to feedlot at anytime in their lives  400lbs-light feeders 600lbs-heavey feeders  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

 Feedlots buy cattle from ranchers, or raise them as “custom feeders”  Custom Feeders are cattle boarded by feeldlots- “Bovine Hotels”  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)

 It takes 1 person to tend 1,000 head of cattle in a conventional feedlot  Feedlots are as efficient as possible, calculating food and hormones to maximize growth rate  Cattle in a feedlot eat 24-32lbs and gain about 3lbs/day  Feedlot cattle produce up to 30lbs of manure/day  Manure is spread on fields to fertilize the crops  Cattle stay in feedlots 4-5 months  Slaughtered at 1,100-1,300lbs and are between months old

 Previous to eh 1900’s, cattle were thought to be bland at a young age, and were not slaughtered until they were 4-5 years old  Post 1900, cattle maturity was pushed to 2 years  Chain grocery stores of the1940’s increased demand for meat and supported the trend of “baby beef”

 Urban Industry- problem of smells  Industry began with packing pork in barrels for export to West Indies  Problem with meat preservation  Beef slaughtered only as needed  Technology redefined meat packing industry with refrigeration, the railroad, and machinery

 1827-Chicago’s first slaughterhouse  Became prosperous because of outlets through the Great Lakes, the Erie Canal and later, the Rail Roads  Called the “Yards”- could hold 200 horses, 21,000 cattle, 22,000 sheep, 75,000 hogs  Meat packing industry became dominated by corporations due to increase in technology (mainly refrigeration) which allowed the packers to work year round (not just in winter)  The “big 5”- Swift, Armour, Morris, Cudahy and Wilson

 Toady’s “Big 5”- actually 3- IBP, ConAgra and Smithfield  Meat Packing Industry has low profit margins, must be efficient  Previously butchers were skilled craftsmen, paid well  Developed the production line (disassembly line) involving the chain system (controlled by overseer), individual repetitive jobs and deskilling of the labor force  Lowering of wages (unskilled labor)

 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