Sustainable Thursday

We have been hearing a lot lately about eating organically and sustainably. I think everyone knows what organic is but what exactly is eating sustainably? According to the website sustainabletable.org, it is about several things.

First it is about Conservation and Preservation. What is taken out of the environment is put back in, so land and resources such as water, soil and air can be replenished and are available to future generations. The waste from sustainable farming stays within the farm’s ecosystem and cannot cause buildup or pollution. In addition, sustainable agriculture seeks to minimize transportation costs and fossil fuel use, and is as locally-based as possible.

Second is Biodiversity. Farms raise different types of plants and animals, which are rotated around the fields to enrich the soil and help prevent disease and pest outbreaks. Chemical pesticides are used minimally and only when necessary; many sustainable farms do not use any form of chemicals.

Third is Animal Welfare. Animals are treated humanely and with respect, and are well cared for. They are permitted to carry out their natural behaviors, such as grazing, rooting or pecking, and are fed a natural diet appropriate for their species.

Fourth would be Economically Viable. Farmers are paid a fair wage and are not dependent on subsidies from the government. Sustainable farmers help strengthen rural communities.

Fifth is Socially Just. Workers are treated fairly and paid competitive wages and benefits. They work in a safe environment and are offered proper living conditions and food.

If you go to sustainabletable.org, you can read about each one of these topics in much more depth.

The one thing that really stands out to me though is the way factory farms treat their animals. Here is what sustainabletable.org says about that.


Every year, hundreds of thousands of animals raised for food experience terrible living conditions because the majority of meat, dairy, and poultry production in the U.S. takes place in industrialized or factory farms. These factory farms are large, profit driven companies which view animals as units of production, rather than living creatures, and exchange the animals' health and welfare for efficiency and profit. While views differ about the degree of comfort and freedom that farm animals deserve, most people can agree on a minimum standard of cleanliness and space, and that animals should not needlessly suffer.

The basic structure of industrial farms is at odds with the well-being of the animals they raise. Confining animals indoors as closely together as possible, rather than letting them graze on open land, exposes them to high levels of toxins from decomposing manure. To counteract the disease inherent in such conditions, animals are given constant low daily doses of antibiotics which are contributing to problems with antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Though they are also exposed to pesticides, other unhealthy additives, and types of food they wouldn't normally eat. The animals can also be bred and given hormones only to increase production.

Life on a Factory Farm

Other common practices, such as debeaking chickens or cutting off cows' tails, are said to increase efficiency and safety, but they also cause discomfort, pain, and stress for the animals. Though these tactics may help "mechanize" the animals and can increase yields by causing less interference with production, this does not justify the resulting suffering. In every stage of development on a factory farm, animals suffer needless mutations and cramped, confined living conditions. Scientists have even linked animal stress to food quality and safety. When an animal is subject to stress and pain, it is more prone to disease and can produce lower quality meat, milk, or eggs.

Cows

The First Year
Calves born into dairy production are usually removed from their dam, or mother, after only about 12 hours. Once a male calf born into a dairy factory farm is weaned, he will be raised for veal, castrated and sent to feedlots to be fattened, or in rare cases raised for breeding. The heifers, or young female cows, will be raised as "replacement heifers" on the same farm or sold to another dairy farm. All calves born into factory farms undergo procedures usually unnecessary outside of a factory farm setting. They are dehorned, have extra teats removed (if a heifer), and are usually fed a milk replacer (a dried product made from cheese-making by-products or other sources of proteins like soy). The use of a milk replacer brings up concerns about the spread of BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or Mad Cow's Disease) because some of the allowable protein content in milk replacers is derived from cow's blood cells. Common practice on dairy factory farms also includes tail docking, or the removal of approximately two-thirds of the tail. This painful procedure is conducted without anesthetic and is supposedly meant to keep the cow from developing infections caused by constant exposure to manure. Studies have shown that this process not only causes the animal a significant amount of pain and stress, but also has no benefit for the animal's health. In fact, tail docking has been shown to moderately increase stress for cows because they are no longer able to use their tails to swat flies. This results in a greater number of flies around the cattle and the use of other fly-avoidance behaviors. For these reasons, the American Veterinary Medical Association officially opposes the routine tail docking of cattle.

Breeding and Growth
In the U.S., dairy cows have been bred to produce higher and higher amounts of milk, and evidence shows this practice has led to a higher occurrence of disease. While the average dairy cow produced almost 5,300 pounds of milk a year in 1950, today, a typical cow produces more than 18,000 pounds. In addition to the breeding, in order to artificially increase milk production, a certain number (estimated around 33%) of dairy cattle are injected with rBGH, an artificial growth hormone.

For the duration of their productive lives, factory farmed dairy cattle are kept in one of three types of housing units: tie-stall barns, where they spend their life tethered by their neck to a stall; free-stall barns, where cattle are kept indoors and provided stalls for milking and rest; or dry lots, which is an area with no vegetation where the cattle are kept between trips to the milking barn11. Beef cattle are usually raised on dry lots, but so are some dairy cows. In all of these situations, cattle are in high concentrations and often suffer diseases of the feet and udder from standing in their own manure and being exposed to harsh weather conditions. Stripped of the ability to graze, cattle are given feed which contains some straw and grass, but also protein sources from "by-product feedstuffs", including meat and bone meal, an inappropriate food for herbivorous (vegetarian) cattle. The harsh living conditions, excess hormones, and inappropriate diet provide a perfect mixture for disease and injury.

Slaughter

Once beef cows have grown to an adequate size and dairy cows are no longer producing milk at an acceptable rate, the cattle are taken to be slaughtered. In August 2008, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced it will draft legislation completely banning the slaughter of any downer-cattle (those too sick or lame to walk) - though as of September 2008 no legislation or regulations had been passed. Before May 2008, USDA regulations stated that downer-cattle could be slaughtered for food if they passed the ante-mortem, or before slaughter, inspection at the slaughterhouse. This practice of slaughtering sick or injured cattle caused much pain to the already suffering animal, as they were pushed, prodded and shoved into the slaughterhouse by any means possible, since they were unable to walk. While slaughterhouses are required to meet USDA standards for cleanliness and humane treatment during slaughter, they are also in the business of killing animals: the faster the slaughter and butchering, the more meat produced and the more money made. Because of the pressure to slaughter animals quickly, mistakes that result in the violation of USDA regulations and lead to the mistreatment of the animals, unavoidably occur. In some slaughterhouses, almost 400 cattle per day are slaughtered, and at this speed it is "nearly impossible to guarantee each is slaughtered within the regulations". Cattle are ushered as quickly as possible from farm to truck to slaughter, sometimes resulting in injury. In addition, slaughterhouses have been reported as regularly failing to completely stun animals before the slaughtering process begins. This results in cows being hung and bled while they are still conscious.

Pigs

The First Year
On a factory farm, just before giving birth, a sow, or mother pig, is placed into a small crate on her side, completely limiting her movement, but still allowing the piglets to feed16. Sows will often spend their entire life encaged in the crates or in a cramped pen that encourages pregnancy17. The piglets' teeth and tails are clipped soon after birth. The practice of tail clipping or docking is done to prevent the piglets from biting each other's tails, but this phenomenon has only been observed in pigs in a factory farm environment.

Growth and Development
Once the piglets are weaned, they are separated from their mother and confined in pens with concrete floors. Rooting, or digging in the dirt and straw, is a natural activity for pigs; and when restricted from this activity, they show visible signs of stress and aggression, such as tail-biting. The concrete floors have also been linked to skeletal deformities of the feet, and the poorly ventilated confines have resulted in frequent lung damage and pneumonia.

Slaughter
The stress and mistreatment pigs experience during transport, in combination with illness and injury from the poor housing conditions, causes many pigs to die on the way to the slaughterhouse.

Chickens

Breeding
Broilers (chickens raised for meat production) have been bred to grow muscle at a rate faster than ever and now reach market weight in half the time than they did in the 1940's. This fast rate of muscle growth is often not matched by bone growth and can cause serious deformities and loss of the ability to walk.

Growth and Development
Approximately 98% of chickens used in egg production live in a cage of only about 48 sq. in. (about half as big as a piece of letter sized paper). Broiler chickens are often reared at similarly high densities in pens with concrete slatted floors or occasionally litter (straw) covered concrete floors. Because of this high density and a limited ability to forage, chickens often display aggression and can peck each other to death. In order to prevent this, it is common practice to sear off approximately half the chickens' beaks, which has been shown to cause severe and lasting pain. The close quarters is also a haven for the spread of disease.

I for one will be seeking out sources to purchase sustainably raise meat. Perhaps a co-op needs to be started!