Grass fed "humanely" raised farm animals

The Wednesday, June 1, New York Times has a story on the front page of the "Dining In" section about humanely raised meat. It is headed, "Give 'em a Chance, Steers Will Eat Grass" and is written by Kim Severson.

We read that "Although vegetables and fruit grown near the city have been the stars of the Greenmarkets for almost 30 years, pork, beef and lamb from local pastures are fast becoming the new darlings of the stands....

"The number of beef cattle raised on pasture is less than 1 percent of the 33 million animals slaughtered in the United States each year, said Jo Robinson, an author who runs eatwild.com, devoted to the grass-fed movement. But it's a fast-growing slice of the beef pie: four years ago, she said, only about 50 farmers were dedicated to raising grass-fed beef for market, and now there are over 1,000.

"Since 2000 the number of Greenmarket farmers selling pasture-raised protein -- eggs, beef, lamb and pork -- has grown from 9 to 25. All the animals are raised no more than a half-day's driving distance from New York, and by Greenmarket rules the farms must be small and independently owned. The farms are sustainable, which means essentially that none of the animals eat on feedlots and that they spend time outside, where their waste helps fields and pastures stay healthy. They are given no growth hormones, and antibiotics only when they are sick."

The issue of slaughter is raised. About a local pig farmer, Severson writes:

"Then there's the difficulty of finding a place to slaughter the animals that is close enough so that transportation costs don't eat into the profits and long drives don't add to the animals' stress. Ms. Yezzi and Mr. Small, whose practices are certified humane by a nonprofit organization called Humane Farm Animal Care, take most of their pigs to a government-approved slaughterhouse about 20 minutes away. The costs for such careful treatment mean that the couple pay more than $200 a pig just for slaughtering and processing. The extra labor, the extra time and the land required to raise the rarer breeds, along with the higher processing costs, mean that the couple are paying almost 10 times as much as their competition at larger commercial operations in the Midwest, Mr. Yezzi said. That's why a pork chop can cost $11 a pound. But it's a price that Mr. Yezzi's customers don't seem to mind paying."

(It is important to remember that not all grass-fed or organic meat comes with a Humane Farm Animal Certification. Those unfamiliar with the practices of some of the larger commercial slaughter operations should check out the 2001 Washington Post story, "They Die Piece by Piece" available on line at http://tinyurl.com/d2mtm or the horrifying undercover footage from the US's largest kosher slaughterhouse one can view at: http://www.goveg.com/feat/agriprocessors/ )

The Times article tells us:
Local pasture-raised animals are so appealing that some people who once shunned factory-raised meat are adding beef and pork back to their diets.

It presents a great opportunity for letters reminding people about lives of the other 99% of animals raised for food, and singing the praises of plant-based diets. A good resource for information on that issue is the site http://www.FactoryFarming.com.

You can read the full New York Times piece on line at: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/01/dining/01anim.html
The New York Times takes letters at letters [at] nytimes.com

Always include your full name, address, and daytime phone number when sending a letter to the editor. Shorter letters are more likely to be published.


(DawnWatch is an animal advocacy media watch that looks at animal issues in the media and facilitates one-click responses to the relevant media outlets. You can learn more about it, and sign up for alerts at http://www.DawnWatch.com. If you forward or reprint DawnWatch alerts, please do so unedited -- leave DawnWatch in the title and include this tag line.)