Comments on: Food for thought#2

By: possum

possum — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 09:40:58 +0000

“…how lucky we are in NZ to have the vast majority of our beef grass-fed…”
But does anyone know what percentage of these grass fed cows are completely grass fed? Or are they “finished off” for market or milk production, with grain (corn)
Here in NZ over a million tonnes of grain is imported to feed cattle…so some of them are obviously being fed corn…??!!
Corn production HFCS & the like, is big money & a total “cornspiracy”

By: Nathan Palairet

Nathan Palairet — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 12:11:27 +0000

I really loved The Omnivore’s Dilemma. It really opened my eyes to the cattle industry in the US and how lucky we are in NZ to have the vast majority of our beef grass-fed. I may not be a vegetarian, but I do like to know that my mince or steak hasn’t been living and sleeping in a layer of excrement 30cm deep for most of their lives. This is another reason they need to pump all the drugs into the cattle feed. But the thing is – they were only fed corn in the first place to get rid of the monumental stockpile of corn that they have. In the early 70s, the Secretary of Agriculture, Earl Butz encouraged overproduction, and instead of holding any excess away, to dump it on the market. Any person with a rudimentary knowledge of economics knows that flooding the market will drive prices down, and it has reached a point where it now costs more to grow a bushel of corn then to buy it. The only reason why farmers can make a living (while being up to their eyeballs in debt) is through government subsidies. Without the intervention of Mr Butz, the corn farmers and the cows would be better off. There wouldn’t be any HFCS (high fructose corn syrup) either, as that was another way to get rid of as much corn as possible. Anyway, I urge you to read TOD and to see Food Inc and King Corn – they really open your eyes to the modern food industry.

By: Spud

Spud — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 04:00:03 +0000

LOL

By: Camden Whelk

Camden Whelk — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 03:55:53 +0000

My god! Imagine all those Americans suddenly getting their sex-drives back similtaneously! What is the rest of the world do to? Throw more chickens at them!

By: al zhiemer

al zhiemer — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 05:14:59 +0000

I’ve seen photos of those feedlots.Shocking.Same go’s for pigs and chickens .Not even much point turning vegetarian as they get you through genetically modified seed and chemical fertilisers and everything else they do to “food”.
Put it down to greed.

By: Moana Mackey

Moana Mackey — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 03:04:53 +0000

We’re don’t realise how lucky we are in New Zealand. Omnivores dilemma is a good book. I also recommend ‘my year of meat’ – along similar lines but follows a woman making a tv cooking show promoting american beef to Japanese housewives who decides she should know the story of the meat she’s promoting. She meets a guy in Louisiana who developed breasts and lost facial hair etc because he was eating chicken necks and presumably the estrogen concentrated in the thyroid gland.

By: Spud

Spud — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 03:00:53 +0000

Thankyou for for these posts.

By: Spud

Spud — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 02:42:51 +0000

Oooh, that’s terrible! This has to be stopped. When will people learn?