The Cows Are Coming Home

I really hate to make fun of something that deserves a more serious look. It’s no laughing matter. But in the most recent cases of Mad Cow disease, the beef industry as well as the USDA and the FDA have only themselves to blame. For some reason, after years of tests and result, the suspected cause of Mad Cow has not been eliminated because… well, it’s just cheaper to make a cow mad than to keep it contented.

So, how DO you make a cow mad? You feed them chicken droppings, blood and bodily parts from other animals because it’s less expensive than a purer diet.

Here’s a quote from the AP via MSNBC…

“…the feed ban has loopholes allowing cattle to be fed poultry litter, blood and restaurant leftovers, all potential pathways for mad cow disease. The Food and Drug Administration promised to close those loopholes last year but has not done so.”

The first things that come to mind is to ask WHY haven’t these loopholes been closed and WHY is our domestic cattle industry STILL using feeding methods suspected as making our cows mad? I’m not against a man earning a living wage but these guys are getting both and arm and a leg for just a single pound of ground beef and if you want a decent roast for the dinner table, the price goes up to include a firstborn male child! Cattlemen used to gripe that they were not able to make a decent living raising beef cows but this is no longer the case. These folks are the second most profitable food industry in the US (After citrus). There ain’t no excuse for making our cows mad enough to poison us!

There’s also some question as to just what the USDA and FDA are doing to earn their paychecks as well because if there are still letting these unfit bovines to continue to be a nuisance, maybe they need to be fed some chicken poop too!

Here’s one last thing to consider. I found this article on the web, dated from 2000. It comes from a researcher in the UK and has some very disturbing implications. It’s a fairly extended read but you may come away with a new perspective on Mad Cow… or at least, something else to think about over your next steak.