You'll notice a running theme with me in matters of prosperity, economics, politics, and things like food production and water stewardship. It always comes down to ... well, not being a (greed driven) pig! In the story of the "feedlot debate" between the cattlemen of my family, I found no "pigs" among the cows. In all my digging, I only found a bunch of cowboys trying their best to do the right thing the right way in responsibly serving their family, community, and fellow human. And for me, at the end of the day, that is all that matters.
But, I also know another side of this "It's about Pigs!" kind of stand on things. That is the stand where the "stander" is recklessly throwing stones with a serious lack of 1. education, 2. knowledge, 3. understanding, and 4. wisdom. If we want to get anywhere in the debates about food production in America - or any debate for that matter, we first need to seriously humble ourselves and stop being so quick to demonize every practice, process, and people group out there.
I know this because, once I was diagnosed with cancer, I got inundated with this type of opinionated citizen. And to some extent, surely I became one right along with them. I had a couple of experiences after that cancer diagnosis, including observing cattle standing on heaps of their own waste behind feedlot fencing, that caused me to seriously question the beef industry in America. I would drive by any one of the feedlots out near where I grew up, tilt my head to the side at the sight of it, furrow my brow and think, "Now, ... that... just can't be right. DOWN WITH 'EM ALL!" I also sadly decided I could stop the vegetarian phase of my cancer healing process and return to my beloved meat-eater self, only to order a steak in Texarkana that literally smelled and tasted like ... well, just like a feedlot smells. Let me be clear, I have never tasted ... Well, you get the point. It tasted rank and smelled like ... "a heap of waste." So, upon my return to carnivore-ism, I suddenly had so many questions.
Without yammering on here about it all, let me just cut to the chase. I'll do that by sharing a link to one of the best articles I've ever read on the subject. It is from National Geographic. Here ya go: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/foodfeatures/meat/
I would also like to point your attention to the whole new day we find ourselves in where beef production is concerned. It is a day of truly transparent accountability. Through a fairly new and emerging technology called Block Chain, we are potentially looking at a whole new cattle business. I'll point you to just one site on the subject. This is a great site out of Wyoming that is packed with information about how this works. Clearly, we have excellent options. Here's a quote from their About page:
"BeefChain creates a model for the rancher that accomplishes two objectives.
The first is to bring technology to the rancher in order to enhance traceability and prove humane handling. BeefChain’s RFID tags and other devices upload unique cow/calf information to the blockchain to establish immutable, auditable provenance to better capture the free range, grass-fed premium.
The second is to create an end-to-end supply chain solution we call “Rancher to Retail” through BeefChain invest-ment in feedlot and processing operations. These operations will allow BeefChain to offer exclusive, long-term relationships with buyers across the globe.
Here's their site link: https://beefchain.com/
In my latest release from the album, I tell the story of the "feedlot debate" between the cattlemen of my family. You can hear it here: Four Down Now, I'm going to go cook a big fat pot roast while ya'll sort this out for yourselves.
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