This Did You Know post, explanation here, comes from an anonymous reader who does not want a link. But remember that any submitted suggestion get credit and a link if desired. I did know that buying beef from humanely raised cattle was a good thing. I also know that grass fed and grass finished beef tastes better and is healthier to eat than conventional, mass produced beef. But I did not know this….
Many dairy and beef cattle operations crowd their animals in so close together that the cows are standing in mud, urine, and manure. These cows, when they do the normal thing of swatting at flies with their tails, fling manure . To prevent this, their tails are cut off. Chopping off cow tails has been banned in Great Britain and a few other countries, but not where most of the meat for U.S. and Canadian consultation is produced. At first I was skeptical, but it is indeed true. You can read more than you ever wanted to know about it at this PDF link.
Hopefully the next Did You Know post will be more upbeat. Feel free to send a suggestion!
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{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
This is indeed quite a disturbing post. I wasn’t aware of the things you mentioned about the cows until I read the book ‘Food, Inc’ recently. The question we need to ask ourselves is, “do we want to eat beef from cows that are so inhumanely raised?” Until we can stand together to act as one voice, these big companies will continue to raise cows so inhumanely.
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Oh Will that is terrible news to me. I remember when my sister used to milk the cow, I was the one holding the tail. This is not only painful, but painful because they are tortured by the flies, its like tickling feet and not being able to defend. Anna
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What a sad story. I am glad I am vegetarian. Although I never became one out of principle, with all the information coming out now it must be hard to even enjoy eating meat (fish even worse probably). It’s good you post this, the more people know, the better.
I read about this. Sometimes strong rubber bands are put around the tails to cut off blood. The tail eventually dies and falls off. That is abuse!
I knew that factory farms were inhumane, but this latest bit is news to me. I agree with Anna. Not only do the cows have to endure the pain of having their tails being amputated, but also not being able to use their tails for what tails were intended for. And you know that fly bites are not healthy for the cow, either.
Ftom the picture you posted, it also looks like there is no care taken when the tail is amputated, wither. It looks like a haphazard almost jagged cut. Factory farming is just terrible, from all perspectives, unless of course you are a big factory farming corporation. Then it improves the bottom line, the only thing that really matters
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