The beef industry in the United States of America was once a small business, but over time the population has increased, along with the need for beef production. Beef is now produced all over the country and the United States is one of the largest producers of beef (Cook 2015). To specify, steak in particular, is a specific form of beef that has undergone constant laws and regulations to become adequate enough for large consumption. During the presentation in class, my partner and I spent time discussing the different processes it takes to produce steak across the country that varied from the packaging process to the fuel needed to produce the meat across the country. To specify, meat packaging was heavily discussed during the presentation
…show more content…
This written implosion will narrow down the process of meat packaging and focus on the production of animal feed and the production of feed lots.
To produce the mass production of steak in the United States takes a lot of cows, and to produce such a large amount of cows involves producing large amounts of animal feed. The two forms of animal feed that are used in the process of producing beef are corn and grain. Most people would like to believe that cows are grass fed or allowed to graze freely among acres of land, but unfortunately, that is not the case. Though it does sound quaint to allow all of the cows to be fed its natural source of food, free range/ grass fed cattle causes more environmental harm than good. Free grazing of cows tends to cause over-grazing, which is the process of constant eating of a specific land field in which a location is exposed to long periods of feeding without the time to recuperate. …show more content…
The change to corn and grain feed was more likely due to the expenses of owning land for cattle to graze on as well as the amount of space it would take to raise all of the cattle that produce beef into areas that adequately feed all of them. Grain fed or corn fed cows are slaughtered much younger because they are able to grow quicker from the high amounts of feed available to them. The reason why the feed is available to them is from government subsidies. Government subsidies have made corn and grain extremely cheap in comparison to grass, which not only benefits the steak consumer but big farms and small farms as well (Robbins 2012). Thus, expenses probably initiated the change to corn and grain feed alternatives. The United States is also one of the largest producers of corn and grain in the world. As of last year, the United states has produced over 14,215,532 bushels of grain and the United States also produced 128 over million tons of corn in the past year (USDA 2015). Although these large numbers go to other industries, and not just the beef industry, these numbers do show the large amount of consumption Americans use yearly to produce the things needed to live comfortably, whether or not these numbers shown high amounts of over consumption. Such high amount of feed can also infer that the feed needed to provide for the cattle is relatively cheap for small farmers and
This written implosion will narrow down the process of meat packaging and focus on the production of animal feed and the production of feed lots.
To produce the mass production of steak in the United States takes a lot of cows, and to produce such a large amount of cows involves producing large amounts of animal feed. The two forms of animal feed that are used in the process of producing beef are corn and grain. Most people would like to believe that cows are grass fed or allowed to graze freely among acres of land, but unfortunately, that is not the case. Though it does sound quaint to allow all of the cows to be fed its natural source of food, free range/ grass fed cattle causes more environmental harm than good. Free grazing of cows tends to cause over-grazing, which is the process of constant eating of a specific land field in which a location is exposed to long periods of feeding without the time to recuperate. …show more content…
The change to corn and grain feed was more likely due to the expenses of owning land for cattle to graze on as well as the amount of space it would take to raise all of the cattle that produce beef into areas that adequately feed all of them. Grain fed or corn fed cows are slaughtered much younger because they are able to grow quicker from the high amounts of feed available to them. The reason why the feed is available to them is from government subsidies. Government subsidies have made corn and grain extremely cheap in comparison to grass, which not only benefits the steak consumer but big farms and small farms as well (Robbins 2012). Thus, expenses probably initiated the change to corn and grain feed alternatives. The United States is also one of the largest producers of corn and grain in the world. As of last year, the United states has produced over 14,215,532 bushels of grain and the United States also produced 128 over million tons of corn in the past year (USDA 2015). Although these large numbers go to other industries, and not just the beef industry, these numbers do show the large amount of consumption Americans use yearly to produce the things needed to live comfortably, whether or not these numbers shown high amounts of over consumption. Such high amount of feed can also infer that the feed needed to provide for the cattle is relatively cheap for small farmers and