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CAFO's, And Eating Healthy


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2021 Feb 5, 12:18pm   591 views  20 comments

by NuttBoxer   ➕follow (0)   💰tip   ignore  

One thing this fake pandemic has done is make people more aware of how unhealthy they are. So in the spirit of promoting healthy living(not fake band-aids like masks), wanted to share this post from my local meat CSA:

"What the Heck is a CAFO?!:

Why Pastured Meats are an Ethical Solution

to a Global Environmental Issue



We Are What We Eat



I have recently been eating up (pun definitely intended) a book called “The Third Plate,” by ChefDan Barber. A great read for many reasons, but perhaps the best part about it is the social question he poses: how do we progress as a society, in a mindful and sustainable way?



What we put in our bodies directly influences not only our health and our planet, but also the trajectory of the future . Can we shape a brighter future simply by making more conscious choices?



“The Third Plate” examines the history of American agricultural and food industries, how the two industries are deeply intertwined (in more

ways than you’d think), and how shifts in industry shape our communities, lifestyles, and futures as a whole. Where have we gone wrong in our journey through history? Well, to start, we have allowed quantity to become of far greater importance than quality, and we haven’t complained because cost dipped. What’s that saying, “you get what you pay for?...” If we are what we eat (referencing the general American diet), then we are cheap, unhealthy, and headed for a mess of a future.



WTF is a CAFO?!



“A CAFO [concentrated animal feeding operation] is a specific type of large-scale industrial agricultural facility that raises animals, usually at high-density, for the consumption of meat, eggs, or milk. To be considered a CAFO, a farm must first be categorized as an animal feeding operation (AFO). An AFO is a lot or facility where animals are kept confined and fed or maintained for 45 or more days per year, and crops, vegetation, or forage growth are not sustained over a normal growing period (Environmental Protection Agency [EPA], 2009),”

( cdc.gov ).



These animals are not let out to pasture, and instead spend the majority of their lives roaming the same small, barren, feces covered plots of land (sometimes even enclosed). I will never forget the day I was driving along Interstate 5, when my 5 year old (at the time) daughter said to

me, “mommy, why do the cows that live in the dirt smell so bad?” She pinches her nose and frowns, “they look sad, they have nowhere to play! The other cows we saw on the grass weren’t stinky, and they were playing! I think all cows should live on the grass, don’t you mommy?” Her observation is one we all make when we compare a CAFO to a pastured animal operation,

pastured animals live better lives.





The Dirty Truth



Living in such stagnant and grotesque conditions requires a certain level of “maintenance” to ensure the animals are “healthy,” with pathogens like “salmonellosis, cryptosporidiosis, and giardiasis [...], and E.coli [...]

( cdc.gov ),” prevalent in most CAFO operations. The use of

“sub-therapeutic antibiotics [on] their animals, [increases] the possibility that disease-resistant bacteria can emerge in areas surrounding CAFOs. Resistant strains of pathogenic bacteria in animals, which can be transferred to humans [through] the handling or eating of meat, have

increased recently [...]. The antibiotics often are not fully metabolized by animals, and can be present in their manure. If manure pollutes a water supply, antibiotics can also leach into groundwater or surface water,

( cdc.gov ).”

Image courtesy of Wordpress.com

There has been much conversation around the negative effects of CO2 emissions from CAFO farms, but it seems to me that little attention is paid to the smaller-scale (or less publicised) effects of condensed farming, like water pollution. These immediate effects on our environment deserve as much concern as the longer-term fears we house about climate change. I do not intend to downplay the seriousness of environmental crises like climate change, merely pose the question: what about the other issues? Stories of watershed destruction receive little national attention, yet water covers 70% of our earth. We cry foul when the ocean acidifies, but what about local wells becoming undrinkable, rivers changing color and fish floating to the surface… There are so many issues at hand it can feel unmanageable at times, but there is hope in the education of our people. When you stop supporting factory farms, and you ARE making a difference right then and there.



It is time for change, are you ready to make the switch?



How Did We Get Here?



We didn’t always have massive CAFO farms and monoculture crops, there was a time not long ago that families had farms with many animals and plants, and they coexisted in a beautiful network of give and take, struggle and success. The land fed the animals, and the animals maintained the land through grazing, enriching the soil with feces, and “tilling” the soil by walking and rooting.

image courtesy of

Modern animal production looks much different. Most farms have done away with diversity, choosing to specialize in only one animal, often maxing out the space and resources available to them. “Modern farms have [...] become much more efficient. Since 1960, milk production has doubled, meat production has tripled, and egg production has quadrupled [Pew Commission on Industrial Animal Farm Production, 2009]. Improvements to animal breeding, mechanical innovations, and the introduction of specially formulated feeds and animal pharmaceuticals have all increased the efficiency and productivity of animal agriculture. It also takes much less time to raise a fully grown animal. For example, in 1920, a chicken took approximately 16 weeks to reach 2.2 lbs., whereas now they can reach 5 lbs. in 7 weeks [Pew, 2009]. New technologies have allowed farmers to reduce costs, which mean bigger profits on less land and capital. The current agricultural system rewards larger farms with lower costs, which results in greater profit and more incentive to increase farm size,” ( cdc.gov ).

Image courtesy of The Art of Unity

There you have it: our farming model is built on a profit-driven mentality, not quality or ethics. The same can be said for most industries, but when you take into consideration the fact that living beings are being exploited for profit, wasted when unpurchased or disliked (i.e. lesser cuts

discarded/restaurants only serving filet mignon), and our earth is being catastrophically pillaged and drained of its resources and vitality, the issue becomes much deeper and more pressing, than say the monopolization of the smartphone market.

Moving Forward…



In “The Third Plate,” Dan Barber’s vision of the future American diet isn’t just about eating less meat. It is about being conscious of how much energy that product requires, how many hours and resources and care was invested in the raising of each and every animal. The “third plate,” the new American dinner, should be focused on valuing all of the parts of the animal, how that animal or plant made its way to your plate, on mindful portions, and balanced intake of animal proteins and plants. If we start to consume parts of the animal that arent the “primo cuts,” not only are we honoring the whole animal, we are lessening our carbon footprint by limiting waste. By choosing locally raised, pastured animals, we decrease transportation emissions and we boost soil ecology, as well as support happier lives for the animals we consume and the livelihoods of community farmers. A well prepared sweetbread dish will win my heart ten times over a new york strip, but we have to change in order for the industry to change!

Aleya Folkers hand feeding Da-Le Ranch cattle in the pasture of Lake Elsinore

Holistic land management and regenerative farming are great steps forward, and away from the cruel and disgusting practices and conditions found at CAFOs. As a consumer, by choosing to buy from farmers with small, sustainable, eco-conscious or holistically-backed operations, you are voting with your dollar for a healthier planet, a healthier meal, and a healthier you. Don’t be fooled by “Cowspiracies” and meat-blasting documentaries, the healthiest of diets is a WHOLEsome diet, made with mindfully sourced, local, seasonal, and ethically raised ingredients. Veganism and vegetarianism “for the planet,” is unfortunately not as cut and dry as you may think (I will get into this issue in another post), but supporting farms that compassionately tend to their animals and/or plants, nourish and

replenishthe soil, and support their communities, is a vote for a better planet and a better future.



How Do I Pick The Right Proteins?



Shopping smart has proven to be more and more challenging as big businesses come up with creative ways to market products that may not be as healthful and mindful as you think. Labels like “natural,” “non-GMO,” and even “organic,” can be misleading. None of these labels guarantee humane treatment of animals, access to pasture, or that the meat is local (some meats are imported from very “exotic” places). The best way to be sure, is to build a relationship with your farmer or butcher.



We should all have intimate relationships with our food, it’s what nourishes us and gives us the ability to perform and flourish. By having conversations with your butcher about sourcing, animal welfare, etc., not only do you have the opportunity to make more healthful and mindful choices for yourself and the animal, but you push your butcher to educate themselves on these important aspects of what they sell. Unfortunately, many butchers do not have a deep relationship with their products, oftentimes there is little to no awareness around the proteins they sell. By asking questions, you push the butcher to also ask questions. By opting out of questionable meats, you push the butcher to ask why you are opting out of a certain meat, and perhaps that butcher will even go to management and share that there is a demand for more mindfully sourced animal proteins. You push the market as the consumer, you hold the power to transform the trajectory of our food systems, exercise that power!"

Comments 1 - 20 of 20        Search these comments

1   stfu   2021 Feb 5, 3:40pm  

I've never milked by hand into a bucket (other than to prove I could do it - do you wanna see the star?) but I've done the portable milk machine with a vacuum line hook up and also both carousel and in-line milking parlors. The story is right. It used to be pretty sweet being a dairy cow. Now it's shit. Once you breed a heifer she goes into a 100,000 sq. ft. cement pad building and into a high tech environment that maximizes her potential via an implanted RFID chip. Maximum calories, minimum movement. They never go outside again. I'd wager there's more tech in a modern dairy operation than there is in a sheetrock factory. In fact I know it.

Ah, shit skiing - good times.
2   NuttBoxer   2021 Feb 5, 5:15pm  

Have you seen modern chickens? Fucking scary looking shit. Definitely wouldn't want to eat one.
3   Patrick   2021 Feb 5, 5:26pm  

We raised chickens from eggs and had them their whole lives, 6 to 7 years.

The have been bred to grow as quickly as possible, but that somehow makes them all die of cancer eventually. We were sad to see them all go that way.
4   NuttBoxer   2021 Feb 6, 9:29am  

I think this quantity over quality is the biggest health issue we face today(not fake pandemics). People want more years, doesn't matter if they're hooked up to machines, downing 30 pills a day, in-and-out of hospitals and doctors offices, as long as there's still brain activity coming across the hospital monitor when they turn 80.

I think we've actually regressed in quantity and quality of life over the past 100 years.
5   mell   2021 Feb 6, 9:33am  

NuttBoxer says
I think this quantity over quality is the biggest health issue we face today(not fake pandemics). People want more years, doesn't matter if they're hooked up to machines, downing 30 pills a day, in-and-out of hospitals and doctors offices, as long as there's still brain activity coming across the hospital monitor when they turn 80.

I think we've actually regressed in quantity and quality of life over the past 100 years.


Agreed
6   Robert Sproul   2021 Feb 6, 9:40am  

When some friends called my daughter stupid for being vegan I made them watch a video about CAFO meat production.
I think it ruined their lives.
7   WookieMan   2021 Feb 6, 8:42pm  

NuttBoxer says
downing 30 pills a day

Admittedly didn't read/watch any CAFO info. I'm sure there might be something to it and I will look at it more. You're right about the pills though. We have kids downing pills as young as 4-5 years old for some made up ailment.

I'm no bastion of health by any measure. That said, I haven't taken a pill in close to two decades. Only thing is heartburn, again, bastion of health. I broke my foot and had doctors throwing pills at me. That's their solution. Good and healthy eating is super important. Equally important is not trusting what is constantly being thrown at you for minor ailments that yourbody is telling you to adjust something instead of masking it with big pharma lipstick on a pig type shit.

Life is a business. Everything. Oaths be fucked. Understand everyone is out to get your money and you can live life better.
8   richwicks   2021 Feb 6, 9:29pm  

Patrick says
The have been bred to grow as quickly as possible, but that somehow makes them all die of cancer eventually. We were sad to see them all go that way.


Ever heard of Bret Weinstein?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLb5hZLw44s

Bret Weinstein made the news as he worked at Evergreen College and stood up to the racists demanding white people not be on campus for a few days.

The current hypothesis is that telomeres in genes exist to be a self destruct mechanism. Telomeres are thought to be junk DNA at the end of a DNA strand that encode no proteins. Every time a cell duplicates, the telomeres shorten. So if you end up with a cell replicating with errors, as it duplicates uncontrollably (cancer) it ends its duplication when the telomeres no longer exist.

His hypothesis was that mice bred for lab research were bred repeatedly at a young age, and since there was no evolutionary pressure to have short telomeres, a population with unnaturally long telomeres showed up and became predominate. These animals ALWAYS develop cancer if they get old enough, but they have an amazing ability to correct cell damage, so they are largely immune to poisons. As a result, the drug development we've been using for the last several decades, are dangerous to humans, because we don't have the same regenerative abilities that these mutant mice do.

Basically lab rats are young forever, but they develop cancer as a result in every case and they are not good models for human beings anymore.

His research was buried, it it is thought, because it threatens the entire model of animal testing.

I used to know a veterinary PHd who did drug development. She changed fields because a lot of drugs that go through animal testing failed human testing and the drug was dropped. The reality, the terrible reality, is that there are more drugs for dogs that are safe and effective than there are for humans.
9   NuttBoxer   2021 Feb 7, 10:13am  

Robert Sproul says
When some friends called my daughter stupid for being vegan I made them watch a video about CAFO meat production.
I think it ruined their lives.


Not sure if you caught it, but the person who wrote this works for a meat CSA that we subscribe to. There are still farmers who raise their animals right, and they do deserve our patronage. Steer your friends toward local meat where they can view the farm themselves if they want to.
10   NuttBoxer   2021 Feb 7, 10:16am  

WookieMan says
Only thing is heartburn, again, bastion of health.


Used to have chronic heartburn until I changed my diet. Now I only get it when I eat things I shouldn't. Our diets tend to be highly acidic if we aren't careful. Just saying you don't have to live with the heartburn if you don't want to.
11   WookieMan   2021 Feb 7, 11:06am  

NuttBoxer says
WookieMan says
Only thing is heartburn, again, bastion of health.


Used to have chronic heartburn until I changed my diet. Now I only get it when I eat things I shouldn't. Our diets tend to be highly acidic if we aren't careful. Just saying you don't have to live with the heartburn if you don't want to.

I like beer.... lol. Outside of that my wife feeds me healthy stuff. When given free rein to do what I want, it's bad.

She'll travel and it's homemade burgers and all sorts of grillables. If left on my own I'd likely weigh 300lbs no doubt. I'm admittedly slightly overweight, but I don't think I'd be labeled that visually as the goal post keep moving as to what is not considered overweight or fat. I'm sure Fauci is in charge of that....

Still athletic and can dominate pretty much anything I can compete in, even with the young guns. Age is happening though and I've tapped the brakes on more aggressive forms of activity. Hoping to get get out to Montana again this year, but I'm not gonna do the crazy shit I would in the past. Last year almost killed me. I've always made fun of helmet wearers until I became one. Yeah.... they work. Early season conditions and rocks can be deadly regardless of your skill.

10" of fresh pow at Big Sky today. I'm jealous. I wish last second flights weren't so expensive.
12   NuttBoxer   2021 Feb 8, 1:25pm  

WookieMan says
I like beer.... lol.


Pretty big beer fan myself. Although I have definitely cut back quite a bit, and certain types I won't really drink anymore. I think since I've cut out a lot of added sugars, I'm more susceptible to headaches. But I don't think I've ever noticed beer causing a heartburn problem. It's usually lack of vegetable combined with pizza, or similar.
13   Eric Holder   2021 Feb 8, 1:44pm  

NuttBoxer says
I think since I've cut out a lot of added sugars, I'm more susceptible to headaches.


Is there an explanation for this?
14   Bd6r   2021 Feb 8, 2:23pm  

NuttBoxer says
I think since I've cut out a lot of added sugars, I'm more susceptible to headaches.

Interesting...we also cut out most of added sugars, and now I get headaches after drinking a measly liter of (strong Belgian) beer! Never used to happen before.
15   richwicks   2021 Feb 8, 6:57pm  

Robert Sproul says
When some friends called my daughter stupid for being vegan I made them watch a video about CAFO meat production.
I think it ruined their lives.


@Robert Sproul - your daughter cannot be a vegan, she can be a vegetarian. Veganism means eating nothing that comes from an animal - no eggs, no milk, no honey - absolutely nothing an animal produces. Vegetarian means basically you don't kill any animals.

There's never been a society that has been vegan ever, because it's not a sustainable diet. Plenty of vegetarian societies though. 1/2 of India is vegetarian.
16   NuttBoxer   2021 Feb 10, 11:30am  

Eric Holder says
Is there an explanation for this?


Sugar dehydrates, as does alcohol. Sugar is a key part of the fermentation process as food for yeast. I'm guessing that cutting out my exposure to sugar has decreased my tolerance to it's dehydrating capabilities. The amount of sugar varies by beer type. Darker beers tend to be sweeter, so it's more noticeable with a Stout vs an IPA.

There's actually worse stuff that sugar does though. We went to this cupcake place my family loves the other weekend, and I ended up eating a whole one. Almost immediately after I noticed my ear felt inflamed, and that spread to my throat. The feeling persisted for most of the day. The ear that was impacted has a weak Eustachian tube, and gave me a lot of ear infections as a kid. When I used to do oil-pulling, noticed a similar feeling, so I believe there is infection that remains in that area of my body. The sugar fed it, and temporarily caused some inflamation. I can actually still feel it a little today(four days later).

Sugar is food for a majority of the disease we deal with. Eliminating sugar is like cutting off oxygen to germs.
17   Bd6r   2021 Feb 10, 11:33am  

NuttBoxer says
There's actually worse stuff that sugar does though. We went to this cupcake place my family loves the other weekend, and I ended up eating a whole one. Almost immediately after I noticed my ear felt inflamed, and that spread to my throat.

I now get nauseated if I eat rice (which I occasionally do, when I have to take an Asian visitor to lunch or dinner). Again, never happened before. I suppose it is carbohydrate (starch) overload.
We are not that strict in omitting sugars, just try not to eat anything with added sugar or vegetables that are too starchy.
18   NuttBoxer   2021 Feb 11, 1:52pm  

Rb6d says
I suppose it is carbohydrate (starch) overload.


Traditional rice is high on the glycemic index due to it's short chain starches(?) that quickly metabolize to glucose. Been a while since I read that book how our body metabolizes food in relation to glucose production. We rarely eat rice, but if we cook at home, it's basmati because of the longer chain. You can actually see the difference in the shape.
19   Robert Sproul   2021 Feb 11, 3:44pm  

richwicks says
Veganism means eating nothing that comes from an animal - no eggs, no milk, no honey - absolutely nothing an animal produces

Yup, that is pretty much how she rolls. I would prefer that she dial back to vegetarian, I worry about nutritional deficiencies. B12 is a vitamin that is a common deficiency in vegans.
20   NuttBoxer   2021 Feb 15, 10:48am  

Robert Sproul says
Yup, that is pretty much how she rolls. I would prefer that she dial back to vegetarian, I worry about nutritional deficiencies. B12 is a vitamin that is a common deficiency in vegans.


Many of the supplements made are vegan. Have her take the B12 from Seeking Health. MFL5 or something.

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