Meat, GMOs, Disgusting Feed and the History of Feedlots

If you are a vegan, congratulations!  If not, you owe it to your health to eat organically-grown and humanely-treated animals. Slaughtered animals for the industrialized meat industry are unhealthy and are often fed disgusting foods that they weren't designed to eat. Mankind seems inclined to unnaturally crowd and both animals and plants and not treat life with respect. Crowded unnatural conditions for cattle and poultry are similar to the crowded, disrespectful and unnatural conditions for wheatgrass grown in trays.

Unnatural crowded conditions for animals and plants are bad enough, but for confined animals, the food they are fed can be downright unhealthy and disgusting. One of those unhealthy foods is surplus candy unsuitable for sale to humans. When the price for corn was $315 per ton, candy sold to feedlots was only $160 per ton. That's a substantial savings!

Some Meat and Dairy Comes from Candy-Fed Cattle

Sugar in candy has a high percentage of simple carbohydrates. The industrialized meat industry seeks high carbohydrate feeds. Candy is even higher in carbs than unprocessed corn. Corn syrups used for candy are very concentrated. Cheap carbs create increased profits. They make factory-farmed meat cost less to produce. Cheap carbs also increase profits for the assembly line milk industry.

Some factory farm feedlot managers mix 3% candy with other forms of cattle feed.  Even at only 3 percent, the additional profits are significant. As disturbing as candy may seem, it is not the most disgusting feed for confined animals.

Dead Cattle are Fed Back to Feedlot Cattle

Governments ban some animal byproducts as feed for the industrialized meat industry, but not all. Factory farmers can feed other byproducts & blood from dead cattle back to feedlot cattle.  In other words, feedlots turn unsuspecting animals into cannibals!

Here is a list of prohibited and accepted dead animal parts allowed in Washington State:

Chicken Excrement is also a Popular Feed

Feed for the meat and milk industry can also include chicken littler pellets. About 20 years ago, nearly all alfalfa dehydration equipment used to produce alfalfa for animal feed ended up in Arkansas.  Some of that equipment now dehydrates chicken droppings from factory farming chicken and egg operations.

As a result, alfalfa is not used as feed as much as it once was. Feedlot operators now feed "chicken litter pellets" to cattle as a replacement for alfalfa. Producers of chicken litter pellets promote it as a better feed than alfalfa because it has a higher protein content. "The problem may be less the poop itself than the smorgasbord of other substances it frequently comes with, including feathers, heavy metals, bacteria, antibiotics, and bits of rodents."

Use Certified Organic or Buy From Farmers You Know

Not all meat animals eat such bizarre cheap food. Yet, if you have eaten meat from confined animals, they probably did. If you want to ensure that you don't consume those kind of animals, buy meat with the Certified Organic logo or buy meat from local farmers you know.

Even without organic certification, grass fed beef is better for your health than feedlot beef. Whether corn used in feedlots comes from candy or the corn itself, it is not natural for cattle. Their natural food is grass and other leafy greens.

Prior to GMO agriculture, feedlot operators fed cattle diets consisting mostly of alfalfa pellets, a leafy green vegetable. Except for pesticides used to grow it, alfalfa was fairly free of poison residue. That's not the true with what is fed to confined animals today. Corn, candy or chicken litter pellets contain the highest concentrations of herbicides in history. Corn and the corn syrup used to make candy also contain the highest levels of pesticides in history.

Why Does GMO Corn & Candy Contain So Much Poison

Before GMOs, herbicides could not be sprayed on a plant like corn without killing it. Before GMOs, farmers could not spray herbicides directly on food.  For thousands of years, farmers depended on mechanical means to remove weeds.

Likewise, farmers seldom used pesticides. When they did, they sprayed the poison on the outside of the plant. Most of it washed away during rains. Now, farmers no longer need to spray pesticides on corn. Thanks to ghoulish genetic manipulation, the plant itself is a pesticide! Every kernel of corn will kill any worm that tries to eat it!

Corn, candy and other corn products are loaded with pesticides and herbicides. That's true both animals and humans. Meat byproducts and blood fed back to confined animals contain additional toxins. Dehydrated chicken droppings are obviously also loaded with toxins. Governmental agencies assure us that such feeds are not harmful to human health, but common sense may indicate otherwise.

Feedlots that Use Alfalfa Pellets Produce Better Beef

Before the popularity of chicken litter pellets, Kansas was home to more than a dozen alfalfa dehydrators owned by several family agribusiness corporations. They built them to produce alfalfa pellets for the meat industry. As chicken litter pellets started replacing alfalfa, most of these family businesses sold their equipment to the chicken litter companies who then moved the dehydrators to their own locations near the chicken "industry." The dehydrated alfalfa agribusiness in Kansas is nothing like it once was. Only one animal feed family remains that dehydrates alfalfa pellets for animal feed.

Both alfalfa and corn are GMO and contain resulting poison residue. Even so, alfalfa is a much better feed choice for confined animals. For one thing, alfalfa contains less poison residue. For another, leafy greens are what most farm animals were designed to eat. They should be eating leafy greens like grass and alfalfa, not corn, candy, meat, blood, sawdust, crab guts and chicken feces.

Alfalfa Family has an "Organic Sideline"

The one agribusiness family that still produces pesticide-based alfalfa in the semi-arid region of Kansas is the only meat industry alfalfa business that remains. For nearly 70 years, this family corporation has helped provide feed more than 200 billion cattle, poultry and hogs slaughtered as food for the American consumer.

In more recent years, the family established fields to grow organic wheat grass, barley grass and alfalfa for the natural food marketplace. Many products for the plethora of "organic" green superfoods in the natural food marketplace contain ingredients grown by this family.

About 15 years ago, the family set aside several irrigation circles for certified organic wheat grass and barley grass. For a few weeks each spring, the family agribusiness harvests organic whole food greens for humans from those fields.  They usually harvest the grasses in the early spring. After that, the family goes back to alfalfa for animal feed.  They harvest their pesticide-based alfalfa during the remaining spring, summer and fall.

Supplying organic greens for plastic tub superfoods has helped this agribusiness family survive despite the decreased use of alfalfa for the meat industry. They discovered a profitable "organic sideline" to their pesticide-based agribusiness by producing organic greens for the natural food marketplace.

The Other Producer of Organic Greens in Kansas

Whether one is a vegan or omnivore, we all need to consume more dark green, leafy vegetables. The Centers for Disease Control discovered that only 10% of Americans eat enough of these foods.  Green superfood powders, tablets and capsules are a convenient and economical way to add more of these important antioxidant foods to your diet. Any superfood powder is good as long as it has a vibrant green color. Pines offer the best superfood powder because Pines is the only 100% certified organic producer of whole food green superfood powders.

We do not believe in the duality of growing GMO crops with an "organic sideline." Pines is a 100% organic company. We are a vegan-friendly grower of organic wheat grass, barley grass and alfalfa. Our sincere organic family farmers use modern facilities designed for human food. We produce only certified organic, Kosher and Non-GMO Project Verified dark green leafy vegetables. Pines has never been involved in the meat industry.

During our 40 years, we have never grown GMO foods nor have we ever used herbicides and pesticides. In fact, for four decades, Pines has taken a strong stand and has spoken out against the chemical abuse and destruction of resources that goes on in the dry region of our state.

The Ancient Ogallala Aquifer is Depleted and Contaminated

Most of the dry region of Great Plains is above the once-massive Ogallala Aquifer.  About half of Kansas is in that region.  That region is where agribusiness grows most of the feed for confined animals and for their feedlots. The lack of rainfall in a region not appropriate for corn and alfalfa requires immense amounts of water for irrigation. Besides the horrible conditions and terrible feed given to the confined animals, the feedlots themselves also require massive amounts of water.

In addition, millions of confined animals, waiting for slaughter, consume copious amounts of water to wash down their often-disgusting feed. Water is also needed to flush away their waste. Thus, the problems of animals prepared for slaughter in feedlots goes beyond unnatural and contaminated feeds. Producing meat in feedlots, hog barns and other confined animal situations has led to contamination and depletion of "fossil water" of a once-pristine aquifer.

Sincere organic farmers do not believe in wasting water resources. For example, besides being 100% organic, Pines grows its crops in areas that do not require irrigation. We depend entirely on natural rainfall. Pines is strongly opposed to growing GMO corn and alfalfa using what little is left of the Ogallala aquifer in the semi-arid regions in Kansas.

After 70 years of pumping water to grow alfalfa and corn, many wells are now dry.  Both those crops require tremendous amounts of water. Growing them in dry regions is not sustainable. Further, factory farmers have contaminated the remaining irrigation wells with herbicides and pesticides. Unfortunately, they even irrigate their certified organic, wheat grass, barley grass and alfalfa grown in that region with water contaminated with toxic chemicals.

Your Choices Reflect Support of  Sustainable Agriculture

If you oppose the abuse of animals and are against environmentally-destructive, poison-based factory farming, we encourage you to buy your green superfoods from Pines. If you use other brands, contact the company to ask where they source their whole food leafy greens. Hopefully, they will tell you they obtain them from Pines.

Besides not using irrigation, we grow our quality organic wheatgrass and alfalfa in glacial soil and harvest it at the best time. After decades of research, Charles Schnabel and other scientists determined the best growing and harvesting standards. The intensity of the green color between our products and others demonstrates the difference. One reason for poor color is that dehydrators built for the meat industry do not produce the quality of greens as our modern, human-food-grade facilities.

Another reason results from waiting too long to harvest cereal grasses.  To achieve a healthy color, cereal grasses need to be grown correctly and harvested at the correct time. Likewise, if alfalfa has a good color, it must directly harvested, immediately dried, and packaged in ways to prevent oxidation. Unfortunately, most alfalfa used in "green" superfoods is nothing more than ground up bales of alfalfa hay.

To hide poor color resulting from these practices, some green superfood companies blend wheatgrass, barley grass and alfalfa with algae or other dark colored ingredients.  Algae, such as spirulina, is very slow to lose color. As a result, it makes a great cover-up for poor color of cereal grass and alfalfa. When companies hide poor quality cereal grass and alfalfa, it cheats consumers from the full effect of nutrient-rich leafy greens that are grown properly and harvested at the peak of nutition

Cattle Eat Quality Dark Green Feed and So Should YOU!

As leaders in sustainable agriculture for more than 40 years, Pines grows and harvests the most nutrient-dense whole food leafy green vegetables. If your brand does not source its green powder ingredients from Pines, please ask them to contact us. Our ingredient website provides details.  We grow and harvest our exceptional greens correctly. Our greater nutritional density makes them the best value. We are pleased to partner with other companies that share our concern and commitment to sustainability.

If you use meat, insist on humanely-treated animals.  Make sure their diet consisted of organic greens, not GMO corn, junk food, dead animal parts, sawdust and/or chicken excrement. Animals deserve to be treated with respect and fed quality greens.  You deserve quality green, too!  Choose wheatgrass and other greens that are grown with respect. Choose greens grown naturally, harvested their nutritional peak and stored to prevent oxidation and loss of nutritional potency.