by Catherine Haug, July 6, 2013
Today, animal products at the supermarket come from livestock raised in CAFOs (Confinement Animal Feeding Operations), which means that they are kept in an industrial barn with little room to move, and without ever setting foot in their natural habitat: pasture. Generally they have ill-health and are fed antibiotics on a daily basis to keep them alive until slaughter.They are often abused and mistreated by the humans who are supposed to watch out for their welfare. Is this the kind of meat/eggs/milk you want your family to consume?
Their excrement is washed off the concrete floors and flushed down drains where it contaminates local groundwater – water often used by vegetable farmers to water their crops; water that feeds local wells.
They are fed mixed feed of grain (mostly corn), soy and alfalfa, all of which are likely GMO. This means that good fertile farmland is being ruined by synthetic fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides.
Read on for a historical perspective and a comparison of products from grass- vs grain- fed livestock. See also related post: Cattle as a Conservation Tool (reference to a Nature Conservancy of Montana article).
