Genius

The angle Michael Pollan takes to make write his book Omnivore's Dilemma in chapter 4 is nothing short of genius. He buys his own cow to track it through the process from when it is born until when it is ready to be sold as meat. Again, the top priorities of the top meat packaging companies are; money, money and guess again, money. And so their whole operation is centered around getting the animals ready to slaughter in the quickest time possible. He writes that it used to take a calf about 5-6 years to reach its 1,220 pounds. However now, due to the increase of corn in their diet along with vitamins and supplements they are able to reach that staggering weight in only 14 months. Another thing that the farmers have become very adept at is tricking not only the cattle but also the bacteria in the cows rumen. One of the fine features of evolution is that not many organisms can digest grass. However, due to bacteria int he rumen of cows they are able to digest and extract the necessary vitamins and minerals from grass. When cows are transported, it seems that they are either not fed or fed very little, and in most cases lose around 100 pounds on their voyage. When they arrive at the farm the farmers need to feed them grass for a while so that their bacteria, now sensitive, can get back on track. Once they become strong again then the farmers begin to feed them corn. I think this is an amazing procedure the men in this line of business have figured out. One question to asks ourselves is if the cow will get sick if fed corn then why is corn allowed to be fed to them? Is this a type of animal cruelty? Or is it th fact that only a weakened rumen will be affected by surplus corn intake. I think the people in control of getting cows ready to be slaughtered have definitely taken a lot of time to get the process down pat. I still do think that it might not be the most ethical way to handle cows, but if I was a farmer trying to makes a buck as quick as possible I am not sure I would be able to risk the temptation.