A disillusioned vegan visits cattle feedlot and comes away impressed

Came across some bullshit on the internet today.  It’s so full of poop that I don’t even want to post that much about it, but I have to because of twitter.  Oh twitter, I love you so.  I love your constant chatter, your interesting users, your ability to bring people together- I just think you’re rad.  But sometimes twitter, you just annoy me.  Like that time you lost all my followers, that wasn’t fun.  Or the time you wouldn’t let me change my profile picture for months, that was mean too.  But your most annoying habit is actually one of your best traits, the hashtag.  Ah, the hash tag.  For those who don’t know, a hashtag “helps add tweets to a category…(and) have the ‘hash’ or ‘pound’ symbol (#) preceding the tag…”  I love the hashtag, just as much as I love twitter.  This allows me to keep up on all the great vegan tweets out there simply by searching under #vegan.

So what’s the bitch about anyway?  Well today my #vegan twitter feed, which is normally full of great people talking about vegan stuff, was clogged with poop like this:

Now, I know that Consumer Freedom has chief propagandist, Rick Berman, at it’s helm- and I know that the behind-the-scenes funding comes from, among others, Coca-Cola, Cargill, Tyson Foods, and Monsanto.  So, needless to say, I’m not buying into what they’re peddling if you know what I mean.  But the tweet?  Yeah, that little bad boy was all over my twitter- as if this was a revelation.

Oh, normally I’d take this with a grain of salt- like I said.  But, since it was there and apparently I had nothing better to do that click on a link that I knew was just going to piss me off, I read the the poop-filled article.  The article is about a vegan, Ryan Andrews, visiting Magnum Feedyard, LLC- a USDA “family farm” and also a CAFO (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation. A CAFO has more than 1,000 animals.) and his experience there.  (Here’s a preview: he compares Magnum to a Holiday Inn for cattle.)

I really don’t want to drag this out, so here’s the best from the article:

When it started in 1993, Magnum had 4,500 cattle. Now they have 22,000. And operations are managed with 8-13 employees (depending on the time of year).

8 – 13 employees care for 22,000 animals. I have 9 companion animals living with me and it can get hairy caring for them on occasions.  Imagine the care that 22,000 animals are receiving.  Oh wait, Andrews addresses that.

Speaking of cleanliness, Magnum wants the cattle to be clean and comfortable.  I know, I know, I can see my animal welfare comrades shaking their heads – but think about it. From a profit standpoint, if animals aren’t comfortable, they aren’t going to eat. If they don’t eat, they don’t grow. If they don’t grow, they won’t be much use to the dude wanting to buy a big steak.

Yes fellow vegans, think about the lives of those animals from a profit standpoint- insert ironic statement about being antithetical to the core vegan belief that humans have no right to use animals in any way here.

And this gem,

Magnum recently started composting manure and moralities (i.e. cattle that don’t make it). It’s gotten more expensive to send deceased cattle to processing plants that manufacture pet foods, so this was the next best option.

None of the cows make it.  None of them do- all 22,000 will be slaughtered at some point.

Confusingly, Andrews goes on to say…

Now, to be clear, we don’t require meat in our diet.  And I don’t think we should be using cows for food, doesn’t matter if the cattle are kept on a feedlot or chilling in a waterbed listening to John Tesh. But that’s my own value system and I’m well aware that 97% of people in the U.S. eat meat on a regular basis.

What the hell is he trying to say?  If you can’t beat them, join them?  I don’t understand not living to one’s values and going so far as to promote the very thing you stand against, I just don’t.

Then the whole article closes with this…

People want meat.  And Magnum’s feedlot system is dialed in.  They’re producing safe and cost-effective meat in, arguably, the most cattle-conscious way (short of opening up those pens and letting them run free).  Rock on Magnum.

Andrews is apparently a vegan who is okay with the loss of 22,000 sentient beings.  I’m not.

If you’d like to read the poop-filled article for yourself, you can by clicking here.