Antibiotics and Our Meat Supply
Thursday, February 18th, 2010For many years it has been customary for farmers to give their livestock antibiotics regardless of the health of the animal. Proponents argue that antibiotics promote growth and prevent disease, which in turn creates cheaper meat. They insist that this is good for the consumer. Whether you agree or not, most farmers do not have a choice in the matter. Antibiotics are included in most feed on which both big-scale and small-scale farmers depend. Therefore most of the meat in the United States has traces of antibiotics.
A few weeks ago on “Oprah,” she interviewed Michael Pollan. I showed a portion of the show which included a Food IQ Quiz in an article called “Food, Inc.“ According to this quiz the amount of antibiotics administered to livestock was staggering. It was 28 million pounds of antibiotics a year. These antibiotics are given to healthy and sick market animals. These are animals being raised for meat.
After years of being exposed to antibiotic-laden meat, doctors and health officials are beginning to see a correlation with antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria. Denmark is one of the first nations to discontinue the widespread administration of antibiotics in all of its farm animals. Of course, farmers can give medicine to sick animals. Katie Couric recently reported about antibiotic-free animals. Watch the report for more information.
As I watched the report, I was very disappointed with the woman representing the National Pork Board. She was convinced in spite of the evidence of success in Denmark that reducing the amount of antibiotics would hurt the American consumer. Change is hard for some people, but I believe that soon there will be a huge change in the way that farmers conduct their business and raise their animals. I hope that it will be a move back to the way our great-grandparents raised food.
Years ago some farmers went against the grain like Applegate Farms (mentioned in the news report) and Cross Creek Cattle Company. We do not give our animals antibiotics. If one animal should become ill, then they are immediately separated and treated in a humane manner. We follow the veterinarian’s instructions and restore the animal’s health. However, we also remove the animal from the grass fed beef program.
We will not sell a cow that has been treated with antibiotics, growth hormones, and/or steroids for human consumption in our all-natural, grass fed program. We do not have many problems with sick cows. In fact I cannot remember the last time that an antibiotic had to be administered to any in our herd. We provide ample room for grazing, good quality hay, great pastures of grass, and clean drinking water. We consider these things preventive medicine.
Since we do not feed the cattle grain, then we do not have to worry about antibiotics being delivered to our animals in feed. Eating grass fed beef from Cross Creek Cattle Company is safe. No need to worry. Our reputation depends on it. We will not sell meat that we would not serve in our own homes. Therefore, there are no antibiotics in our meat supply.
