The Gift…

Animals play important roles in most of our lives. I have never lived in a house without a pet; and we currently have a dog and three cats enjoying the comfort of our home. When I moved to the farm in 1997, I learned about a new type of animal: a food animal. This animal exists for the sole purpose of providing food and other resources for all of us. It serves a very different purpose than a pet.

As much as my pets enrich my life, at the end of the day, I believe that the gift that my bovine food animals give to me is more precious. When my cattle leave the feed yard, they travel to a packing plant in order to give the gift of nutrition. Their gift nourishes my family as well as yours.

• I believe that my cattle play a critical role in providing needed nourishment.
• I believe that it is ethical to kill animals for the benefit of humans.
• I believe that it is possible to end a food animal’s life humanely.

Dr. Temple Grandin has revolutionized cattle handling and humane care at the level of the packing plant over the past twenty years. From changes in equipment – to employee training – to auditing – to camera placement to further verify compliance, Dr. Grandin’s work plays a critical role in bovine care at the time of slaughter.

The quality of my bovines’ end of life experience is important to me. As a result, I make it a priority to take periodic trips to the packing plant. I have witnessed every aspect of the slaughter process, and I believe that my packing plant partner does an excellent job of remaining committed to a painless and humane death experience for my cattle.

I cannot imagine my life without cattle and the resources that they provide. I consider myself blessed that I can spend my days caring for animals that give the gift of nutrition. 

Beef’s Big Ten pack a powerful health punch:

• Zinc: helps maintain a healthy immune system
• Iron: helps the body use oxygen
• Protein: preserves and builds muscles
• Vitamins B6 and B 12: help maintain brain function
• Phosphorus: helps builds bones and teeth
• Niacin: supports energy production and metabolism
• Riboflavin: helps convert food into fuel
• Choline: supports nervous system development
• Selenium: helps protect cells from damage

Each time that I load my cattle on the truck to ship to the packing plant, I am thankful for their gift. I respect that gift as I appreciate the beef meals that I feed to my family as well as the other beef products that come from cattle.

I recognize the sacrifice that my animals make to improve the quality of my own life, and I honor them by offering quality care while they are on my farm.

 

 

 

Fast Food Nation…

Eric Schlosser wrote Fast Food Nation in 2001, four years after Matt and I moved to Nebraska to go to work on the family farm.  I had heard of Mr. Schlosser because of his participation in the filming of the movie Food, Inc. but I had never read his book until a couple of weeks ago.

Sometimes the only way you can take a really good look at yourself is through somebody else’s eyes.

I read Fast Food Nation because a group of high school students from Omaha asked me to.  They read the book as part of a class requirement and were looking for another point of view.  The book focuses on food production practices and cultural eating changes relative to the growth of fast food restaurant chains.  Beef production, in particular packing plants and feed yards, appear as a center stage topic.

I felt a myriad of emotions as I read Schlosser’s words.  While I agreed with his desire to promote good health through a balanced diet and physical fitness, the beef industry that he described in the book was not the one that I participate in.

When I look out my window, I see something very different from what the author describes.  I see my feed yard as a place of integrity, where cattle are well cared for and enabled to make safe and healthy beef.  My husband and I also work hard to be environmental stewards using a combination of crop farm and cattle farm to create a sustainable and productive cycle.

There is a quiet beauty on our farm that is priceless…

While touring the major beef packing plants intermittently during my 16 years as a cattle farmer, I also saw something very different from what the author describes.  I toured Swift (JBS) in 1998, Cargill in 2001, National Beef in 2012, and Tyson just two weeks ago.  I believe that these packing plants are well run.

In fact, they are all audited on animal welfare, sanitation and food safety practices to ensure quality and professionalism. Most of them have Temple Grandin’s proposed camera surveillance system to ensure constant compliance in addition to third party auditing on animal welfare standards.  Additionally, all of them have USDA and FSIS (Food Safety Inspection Service) inspectors in the plants anytime that they are operational to protect for food safety assurance.

Safe and healthy beef is always my goal–it is what is on my dinner table…

As I think about the book, this quote from James Thurber keeps circulating through my head:

There are two kinds of light – the glow that illuminates and the glare that obscures.

It is my hope that my Feed Yard Foodie blog is the light that illuminates—showing each of you how I raise cattle and grow the beef that you purchase to feed your families.

It is my opinion that Fast Food Nation is a glare created by a predisposed elitist— obscuring the U.S. beef production system in order to fit a desired hypothesis.  No where in the book can I find a cattle farm like mine or a balanced description of a packing plant.  For a more extensive book commentary and links to additional literature, please click fast-food-nation-thoughts-for-the-blog-with-links1

I would like to thank the three classes of students (along with their teacher) from Omaha for reaching out to me and inspiring me to read another point of view relative to the industry that I have grown to love.  Looking through someone else’s eyes is a great intellectual exercise and allows me continual personal growth and improvement.

Interestingly enough, the students from Omaha decided that Mr. Schlosser would like my feed yard.  They likened it to the In and Out Burger restaurants that the author endorsed at the end of the book.

What do you all think?

Did You Know?

• Did you know that every animal is inspected by a USDA employee before it is cleared for harvest?
• Did you know that FSIS (Food Safety Inspection Service) inspects all carcasses during the harvest process to ensure that your beef is safe?
• Did you know that federal law states that meat can not be shipped or sold without the USDA inspection seal that is given once the above two things have happened?
• Did you know that this week the Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack, threatened to furlough USDA and FSIS employees for at least two weeks beginning March 1st which would effectively shut down meat production in the United States?
• I can tell you that knowing the answer to all of these questions has led me to several sleepless nights this week.  Yesterday afternoon, I decided to write the Secretary a letter which is listed below.  If you are compelled to contact the Secretary, you can send him an email at: Tom.Vilsack@usda.gov

 

Dear Secretary Vilsack,

 I write to you today with a heavy heart.  I am saddened, I am ashamed, and I am angry.  I feel all of these emotions because of your threatening words regarding a forthcoming furlough of FSIS employees.  As you know, that furlough would shut down the 6290 packing plants and processing facilities across the United States because it is illegal to slaughter and ship meat without the USDA inspection seal.

 Not only would this furlough directly affect the thousands of employees of those packing and processing facilities, but it would also affect every farmer in the nation and the millions of consumers that purchase the products that we work so hard to grow.

 My husband and I own and operate a diversified farm in Dawson   County, Nebraska.  We raise both crops and cattle using a combination of traditional and organic farming practices.  Our livelihood revolves around food animal production, and we have spent the last two decades tirelessly working to build a viable farming business.  This business becomes non-viable if animals cannot be slaughtered for meat production purposes.  Even the 2 week shutdown that you threaten will cause great hardship to us.

 Whether your threatening words are signs of a new reality or simply an attempt to play politically motivated games with Congress, they negatively affect our family farming business.  Scare tactics that involve the production of food are simply irresponsible and I am gravely disappointed in your behavior.  I believe that it is your job as the Secretary of Agriculture to calmly lead our nation’s food growers and aid them in their vital task of feeding their fellow countrymen. 

 Forgive me, sir, but it certainly appears to me that you are being severely derelict in your duties.  As I watch from Nebraska, the livelihood of my farming business is being jeopardized in the name of politics.  You, President Obama, and the rest of the administration are threatening the food and fiber of our country with your actions.  I would like to take a minute to remind you that you are tampering with both my livelihood and our country’s food security.

 In the coming weeks, I sincerely hope that you will designate FSIS inspectors as “essential personnel” and exempt them from the furlough.  Additionally, I pray that you will discontinue engaging in scare tactics that negatively affect farmers like me who work so diligently to raise safe and healthy food.

 I invite you to take some time to visit my blog site so that you can learn more about two of the many farmers that rely on you for leadership and support.  You can access my blog site at http://www.feedyardfoodie.com/.

 

Sincerely,

 Anne Burkholder

Cozad, Nebraska

How Do I Feel?

The most frequently asked question that I receive from urban dwellers is, “How can you take care of animals for several months and then send them off to be killed?”  Quite honestly, this is a question that I ponder regularly as I think about why I believe that it is an admiral vocation to raise food animals.

My cowboy and I will put this steer “on the bus” to go to harvest this afternoon…

I believe that I am a person of great compassion, and I spend each day trying to use the abilities that I was blessed with to be a positive contributor to my community and my country.  I care very deeply about the people and the animals that fill my life.  When I crawl into bed at night, the last thing that I ask myself is, “did I make a difference today?”

This great group of kids brought a smile to my face week after week. I hope that I have touched their lives as much as they have touched mine…

Last week, someone asked me why my blog is so personal in nature.  The simple truth is that my family and my farm are so intertwined that I would struggle tremendously if I tried to separate them.  I am an American—I am a wife—I am a mother—I am a cattle farmer.  I wear many different hats, all at the same time.  Who I am and what I believe in play a pivotal role in what I do each and every day.

If you look carefully on the track, I am the one in the bright pink shirt and hat—I was a “support runner” for my daughter Megan. Here we are completing the last 800 meters of the 1/2 marathon that we ran together over the past couple of weeks. Megan is in the green shorts and white t shirt striding ahead to “finish strong”!

Here I am checking the health of my cattle at the feed yard…I “support” them too.

So, if I care—if I feel compassion, how can I send my animals to death?

The sole reason that my cattle feed yard exists is to raise cattle to make beef.  My cattle were brought into this world for the purpose of contributing to our country’s food supply.  While I believe that it is my moral obligation to provide good care to every animal on my farm, I also recognize that my cattle exist solely to produce food.

I know that each time that I bring cattle onto my farm, that their next destination will be the packing plant.  That is the reality, and it is one that I am comfortable with.  Quite honestly, spending my days caring for those animals gives me a greater appreciation for the food that I put on my dinner table.  When I look at the steak or the hamburger that I am serving to my family, I know that an animal has been sacrificed to provide this food.

This steer also shipped to harvest today…His beef will feed many people…

I carry a great appreciation for the animal that gave his life to feed my family.  I also feel tremendous pride that my hard work enabled that animal to grow, flourish, and produce healthy and great tasting food.

This is the goal…

There is absolutely no way that I could be a cattle farmer and not believe that it is ethical to raise food animals—As a person of compassion and feeling, I could never separate myself to the extent that I could spend my days caring for cattle if I did not believe that raising those animals for food production was an admirable vocation.

Up at the feed bunk and eating breakfast (while also curiously watching me take their picture)…

I recognize that my cattle are sentient beings—I know that they feel and I do my very best to ensure that they are comfortable and well cared for while they are on my farm. I also know that prey animals (like cattle) live in the present and have no concept of the future.  Because of this, I (and my packing plant partners) are able to devise a system at the harvest facility so that the cattle do not suffer when their life ends for the production of food.

I eat this meal with both gratitude and a sense of personal pride…

I send my animals to harvest knowing that I have done my best to offer good care to them.  This fulfills my goal of  producing safe and healthy beef.  I am thankful for the food that they provide me, and I am proud to be able to turn the natural resources that our farm is blessed with into a great tasting and healthy protein source.