Animal Ag’s Panic Over Plant-Based Diets | Rising Anxieties

All right.

We have two articles from Ag Daily, which really makes me think that sometimes I think they don't worry about us at all, and other times I think they really are panicked. Alright, the first one is by, is by, uh, Farm Babe. Uh, that is, um, Michelle Miller who, I just laugh every time I say it, she calls herself Farm Babe. She writes a column for Ag Daily.

Anyway, No, veganism isn't the only way to eat sustainably. Obviously somebody's been, she thinks that a lot of people think that it is, which, you know, it is. But uh... all right, so she points out that if you Google sustainable diets, you will frequently be told, at the very least, you need to drastically reduce your intake of animal products.

I'm so happy to hear that. Sometimes I think it's just in my little bubble, but apparently a lot of people are getting that info. The United Nations itself recommends moving toward a plant-based diet to support sustainability. This must be driving them nuts. But you knew there was but coming, didn't you?

There's a lot more to sustainability than it might seem. Actually, no, Michelle, there isn't. It's exactly what it seems. If your goal is to support sustainability, you can absolutely do that. If your goal isn't, you know, who cares? Like. It's a planet, we will find another one. Um, you can absolutely do that and still eat meat and other animal products Well, no, but, you know, um, and then she goes, you know, they, they go through all the numbers and, and who knows, you know, I'm not gonna compete with the numbers.

Like they, they have their numbers, we have our numbers. She says that livestock specifically accounted for 4.3% of all GHG global... uh. Greenhouse gas emissions. Well, this seems like a substantial amount... yeah, it does... when compared to the 28% of emissions caused by transportation, it doesn't.

So maybe we should get rid of transportation instead. And of course these numbers are all like, it depends on what you count. Um, it doesn't seem to me that switching to plant-based diets truly would help emissions very much. That's their best argument? Alright, so research published in the Journal of Animal Science, well, I'm sure that's a reliable source, shows that eliminating all livestock from the, a agriculture industry would reduce greenhouse gas emissions by only 2.6% to 2.9% in the United States.

Okay. Uh, well let's do it. 'cause there's plenty of other reasons to do it. And even if that's all it is, that's something, uh, but you know, as I said, the numbers, everybody's got different numbers.

Uh, I'm not gonna, i'm not gonna parse through that 'cause I don't have the patience. Um, all right. The elimination of livestock and agriculture would also have some negative nutritional impacts. Oh, I thought we were talking about sustainability. But no, we're talking about nutrition and that's even that this, I'm on firmer ground with this, with the numbers.

So I mean, this is just total bullshit. Alright, check this out. Uh, it could lead to an overall all lack of vitamin B12. That's my favorite article since they add vitamin B12 to the animal feed and that's why they get it. So you might as well just take a supplement instead of getting it from the animal.

Um, long chain Omega-3, you know, the Omega-3 is an issue. Uh, it's not irreplaceable, but it's an issue. We should be better about it, but get this... and omega six fatty acids in the US population. If there's one thing we get enough of, it's omega six fatty acids. And if you don't, if, if you're not obsessed with nutrition, like just take my word for it.

That's nonsense. We have so far too much omega six. Alright, I'll shut up. Alright. Um, she also talks about complete protein sources. You know, we've known for a while, like maybe 50 years that that's bullshit. Um, and then, uh, it's even found that plant-based meat alternatives have a higher or similar carbon footprint to well-maintained pasture raised beef.

It, it has been found? Like maybe you wanna tell us where that's been found because that's ridiculous. Ah, that's a ridiculous statement. Um, and of all things, pasture raised beef, which has, you know, the highest carbon footprint. Unbelievable. Getting back to the environmental side of this. Yeah, I think that's what we should, since that's what the article is about, livestock provide a lot of environmental benefits.

I bet you're surprised to hear that. Uh, and her point is that, this is one of my favorites. I actually wrote a, a, an article, uh, a letter to the editor, I can't remember to what editor, about this. Like it was the first thing I ever did in animal, in in animal activism. Um, the grazing uses about 29% of all US land.

She does admit that, but that, that's grassland pasture and rangeland and the land used for grazing, often it, you couldn't use it for crops. So, uh, because it's, you know, and that's probably true. It's not, it's not arable land that's too rocky, arid, or steep, she says. And um, and since it can't be used for other food production, quote, livestock are using land that would otherwise have no purpose.

Apparently the only possible use for any land in the in, in the world is to feed humans. That's it. No other purpose.

Unbelievable. Uh, she points out that livestock are also up cyclers by, which means they eat a lot of garbage. Um, and you know, there's, this isn't totally false, I don't think. They do eat a lot of garbage, and they are byproducts, uh, brewers, grains, cotton seed, pea, pulp, beet tops. Why wouldn't people eat bee?

It's just talking about things that people wouldn't eat, but they could eat beet tops, grass clippings and potato peelings. They could also eat potato peeling. Well, I'm getting di, I'm getting distracted. Um, in fact, 40% of animal feed ingredients are byproducts. I mean, there probably is some truth in that.

There is probably, I, I don't know whether we could use all these things for other purposes. We probably could 'cause we always come up with a way to use everything for everything. But on the other hand, it, you know, it's good to keep in the back of your mind that, that most of what animals, farm animals eat is garbage or not most, but 40% of what animals eat are is garbage.

'Cause I think people find that distasteful. Um, there are other, I mean by garbage, I mean, you know, these leftover stuff that you throw in the garbage after you make the food. Um, there are other benefits that livestock can provide. Um, improving biodiversity, that's a good one. Providing wildlife habitat. Yes. Cows are well known for, for, you know, building wildlife habitat.

Oh my god. And ha... oh, but now we're getting into the, this is their new favorite. Enhancing carbon sequestration, contributing to nutrient cycling when grazing. Alright, that's that. I don't even know what that means, but, um, uh, manure and waste from live... this is the real thing I meant that they love to talk about their, their new thing.

Manure and waste from livestock also has a usage. Talks about, um, capturing, uh, methane in methane digesters and turning it into fuel. And that's California's fault. They provide the market for the whole country and it's a disaster. A dis... as you know, 'cause I talk about it all the time. Um. And the other good thing is that they're always reducing their impact on the environment, which I guess is better than increasing.

I don't know. Um, she suggests that if people are gonna switch to plant-based diets, they should do it in other countries. What? Because, because their animal agriculture isn't as efficient there as it is here. Wow. That's a good one. Yeah. Let's have people in Africa do it 'cause we don't wanna do it.

And we're, you know, so much better than they are in every way. Um, all right. That's the only one article from Ag Daily showing that they're panicked about, uh, about animal... well, at least environmental activism. And here's, um, another article. This is by one Brandy Buzzard. Interesting name. Um, the high Costs of Feel Good Farming.

And she's talking... what is she? She's like a rancher, I think. A rancher speaker... she can speak... and pioneer for modern and sustainable agriculture. Oh my God. Alright, it's prop 12. She's still, they're still obsessed with Prop 12 and, um, I, I'm not gonna go through all this 'cause, you know, you've heard it all before.

Uh. And, um, and how terrible Cal, how, how terrible Prop 12 and how, um, she finds it unconscionable that one state can dictate the farming practices of the other 49, which is absolutely not what's happening. One state can dictate what's being sold in their own state. That's how it really is. Um, and that is true, and the Supreme Court has held that.

Oh, and she's, um, she, they're still trying to get Prop 12 passed. They've, they've failed, you know, in their Supreme Court challenge and they've failed in the Congress, but now they're, they're trying to get the Save Our Bacon Act and the Food Security and Farm Protection Act into, uh, the Farm Bill. Which, you know, maybe someday Congress will pass a farm Bill.

Doesn't seem like it. Doesn't seem like they'll ever do anything, does it? Um, and according to the Nash, this is, this is my favorite part. This is the part I really wanted to tell you about. According to the National Pork Producers Council, a reliable source, I'm sure, constructing Prop 12 compliant facilities costs roughly $4,000 per sow.

The average United States sow farm has around 3000 sows. You do the math. Just kidding. I'll do it for you. That's a cool 12 million on average to construct a Prop 12 compliant facility. Alright. I was even, I mean, $12 million, you know, drop in the bucket for these people. But I was surprised it was that much.

And then she stuck in something 'cause she was forced to apparently that made me think, oh yeah, all right. I was reading that wrong. Um, so my pork industry leader husband said... even her pork industry leader husband said, I don't think you can say that, Brandy... said, I should clarify that a retrofit of a stall housing barn to a pen, housing barn instead of a new build would be less than $4,000 per sow, but those costs vary widely.

And so I totally missed that. I was thinking that she was talking about turning, you know, a a, um, a cage facility into one that gives the sows a little bit more room, which is what we're talking about doing in order to be prop 12 compliant. And, uh, and no, she was talking about building in a whole new facility. Of course, that's gonna cost $12 million.

And then she does, so she doesn't need, she doesn't know how much it costs to retrofit one. Unbeliev, these people are unbelievable. Um, what we do know, she says, is there are far too many people who have never had to manage land or livestock, especially under unpredictable policies and weather. These poor farmers, you know, these poor, poor farmers, and they do it for us... and they still have a lot of influence over the livelihoods of those of us who do.

They just don't want any laws at all. They don't want any laws at all. Alright, this is from, um, Investigate Midwest, which is an interesting site. It's not an animal, um, protection site at all, but it's a, it's a progressive site, keeping an eye on animal agriculture. Uh, and this article is by Juan Vasalo. Um, and, and not just animal agriculture, I think just, you know, uh, like a progressive view except on animal rights issues.

But even on animal protection issues, you know? You know what I mean. Um, Oklahoma's ban on Chinese owned farmland made an exception for Smithfield Foods. I just thought this was really interesting. So Oklahoma, uh, you know. MAGA state, uh, like really wanting to protect, um, American industry. So they wanna get all foreign, um, they want their farmland not owned by foreigners. They want it owned by Americans.

And, um, and China is, you know, the one they're really scared about. Uh, and so they pass measures limiting foreign ownership of farmland. And the main concern was about Chinese nationals and companies buying agricultural land in the state.

It's mostly anti-China rhetoric that is driven legislation and, you know, I don't think this is just racism. Obviously, China is, is, is in competition for leadership in the world and you know, let's just assume that, that there reasonable reasons for this. So there is, um, only one Chinese owned company with farmland in Oklahoma, and that is Smithfield that owns, uh, you know, of course, uh, is now owned by a Chinese conglomerate.

And, um, that's the only, the only place that's owned by the Chinese. They exempted it 'cause it's a pork facility, I guess. And they wouldn't wanna get rid of that. Uh, the article goes on in quite some detail, but I don't bore you with it all. But, you know, pork, we don't wanna lose pork. And I don't know what the motivations are here, but, uh.

It's just such bullshit. We're all worried about China, let's pass this law, and let's exempt the only Chinese company that happens to raise pigs. This industry just owns us and you know, so, uh, let's turn America in, which it already is, but could become even more so into the factory farm for the world. If people in China want pork, why can't they raise their pigs in China?

No, they have to use America. I sound pretty MAGA myself, don't I? Um, but, uh, alright, just a little something more about what the industry is worried about. Remember avian flu in the cows and then it was gone? Well, it's back. Um, first case of avian flu detected in Wisconsin dairy herd. It's not only back, but it's in Wisconsin where it's actually never been in dairy before.

It's been in chickens before in Wisconsin, but never been re... I mean, as far as we know, it's never been in, um, in dairy herds. And so, um, they they, found it by this, uh, testing the National Milk testing strategy that they do. And, uh, it as it, it's already been detected in, in, um, in some poultry flocks as well.

So it's not surprising, but, you know, I just thought I'd let you know that it's definitely, it is definitely around again. They do seem to think, you know, it has something to do with it being winter. I don't know whether, whether this is really seasonal, but what do I know? Um, alright. Also from Dairy Herd, just to just, I'm not gonna read this whole article, but I'm just gonna remind you of five livestock diseases that could impact us food security and economic stability.

Also the lives and deaths and suffering of millions of animals. But, you know, who's counting? Um, and in case you've forgotten, you probably have heard of most of these, but you know, they're all still around. They're all still something to worry about. We should get rid of this industry because it's gonna kill us all.

Um, foot and mouth disease, African swine fever, new world screw worm, uh, which is not in the US yet, but they're really panicked, highly pathogenic avian influenza, that's bird flu, which you know cows get it. So I don't know why we still call it bird flu and porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome.

So something to keep an eye on, which I'm sure we'll be hearing more about. And in, in relation to that article, I just took this article out of Watt Poultry. Why is vaccinating against Avian Flu still such an issue? It is interesting, isn't it? Because avian flu is this huge problem and um, and you can vaccinate the birds against it.

Does seemed like a big job, but, you know, um, and this is by Benjamin Ruiz, uh, this, and he is writing the Latin America Poultry at a Glance, and he, this is really comparing the United States and probably other countries as well, um, as compared to Mexico, which does vaccinate its poultry. Despite the experience of other countries as well as with other diseases, reluctance and controversy remain.

And, um, and he says that winter is here in the northern hemisphere and avian flu is lying in wait, so maybe he thinks it does have, it is a seasonal disease. I don't really know. Um. And he's talking about, uh, advisors to the Dutch government have, have issued a very strong warning that the current strategy for dealing with avian influenza is outdated, and the situation in the country is serious.

Um, that the traditional method of simply culling, which is their word for killing, um, infected flocks, is no longer sufficient, particularly because the disease has become endemic in wildlife. So we do have a solution to, or a way of managing bird flu right now, as you know, is to kill all the birds and breed them again, um, and kill them in horrible, horrible ways.

Uh, but apparently even doing something that horrible is not good enough. Um, reactive culling has become a futile measure. For these Dutch experts, the only viable long-term solution is preventive vaccination. And then he goes through the experience in, um, in Mexico where they've been, they've been, uh, vaccinating poultry against avian flu for 30 years.

They've had a lot of success and, um, it's mostly for egg producers because the broilers, which is what they call the poor little chickens who people wanna eat, um, have such short lifespans. Uh, but the reason that it isn't a problem is because of international trade and I guess it's not just the US but they can't export their product and he doesn't understand why some countries don't wanna do this.

Now, I don't know anything about the science, obviously, you know me. But, uh, I mean, I can understand why at least in the US it's a problem because vaccination, I mean, people, people who are anti-vax wouldn't wanna buy the, the chicken and the eggs. This might be the one thing that could cause people to not wanna buy, uh, the, the dead birds and, and, and the eggs. I, I think it's a huge problem for them.

Um, alright, finally, this is a horrible little article, so I'm just gonna leave you with something really depressing. This is from Hordes Dairyman. Your surplus calves have value. It's just talking about, it's just so sodid. These people are so sordid and they're talking about, um, surplus calves.

And these are calves born to dairy cows who are either male and, you know, of no use to the dairy producers or apparently there's, there are also a lot of females, which of course they call heifers, um, entering this, I guess, you know, they produce more, more babies than are needed and they're taken away from their mothers who, who grieve, uh, of course. And um, but that's not what this article is talking about at all. They're just talking about what we can do with them and how we can make money off of them. And it, there are only four major companies that produce veal in the US. There should be none. Why is veal still in existence?

But they also raise them for beef. They just make, they just grow them longer so that they're bigger and then they sell and then they kill 'em for beef. They didn't used to do that, but, but it's become, it's become a thing. Um. And surplus calves, that's what they call them, surplus calves, are the calves you don't wanna keep in your herd to maintain your lactating herd.

It can be bulls, but we're seeing more and more heifers enter the stream. Not only do surplus calves need to leave the farm... they don't actually need to do that. You want them to leave the farm, but they don't need to, so that's an interesting way to put that. But as a dairy farmer, you want them to leave quickly. I bet you do. Because raising extra animals can be costly and may put a strain on your operation. God forbid that would happen.

And, uh, so of course they're, you know, these animals are very delicate. And apparently the Dairy Farmers of Canada issued new policies for this, um, for tighter regulation on when and how calves may be transported and within what timeframe they may be in transit.

Um, and these new policies, this article says were put in place in the interest of increasing calf comfort, but participants in Lock's study shared that they hesitate to welcome such changes in the US out of concerns for increased costs and labor, which you know, like really, really are a lot more important than calf comfort.

These are newborn animals. Um, dairy farmers and dairy beef producers already wanna do right by the animals. Well, there's not a whole lot of evidence of that. I'm sorry. The key is making the right connections and finding solutions. Yeah, ones that don't cost any money. All right. As I said, I'm leaving you with, with the, that, that depressing comment on, on human nature or whatever this is we're talking about here.

And, um, all right. So, uh, you can hear our, um, our next interview, which will come out this Friday is with Melanie Kaplan, author of Lab Dog. We just spoke with her. She's terrific. And this is a really, it's a really well done book that has loads and loads of information of what's happening, particularly to dogs in research and built around her story of, of adopting a beagle who had been in research.

Thanks for joining me today on, on Rising Anxiety. I'm really thrilled that you were here. Don't forget to tune into The Hen report and the Our Hen House interview, and don't forget to subscribe. Please subscribe either on your favorite pod catcher or on YouTube or somewhere else or everywhere.

And, um, just we're in our end of year fundraising, um, effort and it's really, really important to us to get, you know, some money in the bank cause it basically lasts us through the rest of the year. So we have this great match going on. It's a double match. Um, as long as we raise $20,000 from listeners, we will get $60,000.

Like, unbelievable, right? So if, if, if you, if you are able to, um, please donate whatever you can or become a flock member at ourhenhouse.org/support. And thanks for tuning in and don't forget to like the episode as well or leave a comment on YouTube or Apple Podcast. That also really helps us out.

Bye.