The Cost of Raising a Steer on Pasture vs. On a Factory Farm

One of my most popular posts ever (second only to the one on the cost of raising pigs) has been this one: The Cost of Raising a Steer:  How Much Does Our Beef Cost Us?  Over the three years since I posted this, I've gotten several questions in the comments.

Today I got a real poser, and I'd like to share it with you:

"I have a project for school due soon and one thing I have to figure out is how much it costs to raise a free range cow, versus the cows treated in factories, and how much money is made from each of them. If you happen to know any of this information that would be amazing and greatly appreciated for my project is due on Tuesday. Thx so much and pls respond asap, your information is already so useful and you seem like a very knowledge person for this type of thing, thx and hope to hear back. :-)"

Let me start with a disclaimer:  I am NOT at all knowledgeable on this subject!  Everything I know about it I did NOT learn in kindergarten. In fact, everything I know about this subject I have learned from other people who ARE very knowledgeable on the subject.

I do, however, love our cattle.  I love what we're doing and I love sharing what I've learned.  So now that that's settled, how did I answer this young person's question?

Their question was so good and the answer so complicated that I thought they deserved their own post.  So thank you, Tristan, and here's the answer to your question . . .

I'll try [to answer], but this question doesn't have a black-and-white answer that you can write down in neat columns to compare. I hope your teacher or professor will be open to seeing this. I listed the costs for raising our pastured steer in this post; unfortunately, I can't give you a comparative number as if he had been raised in a CAFO (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation) or factory farm. In fact, I doubt any such number exists, and here's why: 

The costs of raising beef in CAFOs far exceeds the list of expenses that get written down on paper. The feed is GMO (Genetically Modified Organism) and a high concentration of grain, which is not the natural food a cow's rumen is designed for. This creates health issues for the animal. In addition, the crowded conditions lead to disease and injury, which requires the use of antibiotics, which contributes to antibiotic resistance when the meat passes into the food chain for humans. Then there's the problem of waste disposal from all the animals crowded together in one place, leading to flies, pollution, odors and a general negative environmental impact. These are just a few of the related impacts which can't be quantified--and that is without even mentioning the quality of life for the animal. 

Here's a link to an article that has photos of two ways to raise cattle.  I think that illustrates the ethical issue of humane treatment very clearly, in addition to the issues of overcrowded animals in unhealthy conditions.

Here's an excellent interview with Michael Pollan on PBS, talking about a feedlot steer he bought and followed through its process to learn some of the things you're asking about.  In this article he mentions the statistic that if an animal is fed grass or hay for the last few days of its life, the E coli in its intestines plummets by 80%. But the CAFO way of handling this problem is to throw antibiotics at the animal, and those are passed on to us in the beef. This Michael Pollan article is very long, but it's a thorough discussion of some of the issues I've mentioned, and more. 

You'll notice there aren't very many numbers in that article! But I believe it clearly shows that the cost of raising beef in CAFOs instead of on pasture is one our society can't afford. I hope this helps you with your paper.

My answer to Tristan's question came from things I've learned from many other, much more knowledgeable people.  But I have learned a few things myself.  As a firm believer that a picture is worth a thousand words, here are some of things that I've learned personally . . . 

You can't calculate these things on a balance sheet, but they are very, very real.  Be sure to show this post to your teacher, Tristan--and I guarantee you'll get an "A" on your paper!

Meet Our Meat and Eggs

Some months ago we were discussing our little farm with some new friends.  At the time, we still had the pigs, although slaughter-time was drawing near.

Our friend (let's call her Mary) said that she could never eat one of our pigs; even though she would never see it, the thought that we had raised it and then had it killed would make it impossible for her to eat it.  She said that if we ever invite her over to dinner, please don't serve her pork.

I said okay, we would have chicken.  But when Mary found out we slaughter our meat birds ourselves, she was even more horrified.  She could never eat our chicken, either.

I said, "Well, at least our animals have a wonderful life and a very quick and easy death compared to the thousands of chickens or pigs crammed into factory farms which have horrible lives and more horrible deaths."

"Surely not the ones we buy at our local Bi-Lo?" said her husband, whom we'll call George.  "Absolutely!" I replied. "Unless you buy 'natural' or 'organic' meat from Whole Foods or Earth Fare, you can be sure that any meat you buy in any local grocery store has died a horrible death following a horrible life."

The time is drawing near when we may be hosting a meal at which George and Mary will be present.  I have agonized about what to serve.  They've refused to eat our chicken or pork.  We don't have any of our own beef yet, but would I really go to the store and buy "mistreated" beef just for them, when we have a freezer-full of our own humane, pastured meat???  Or even more ridiculously, would I go buy "mistreated" chicken or pork???

For a rare change, I was on Facebook today and saw one of their ads that pop up according to information you have told FB about yourself.  I just got a glimpse of something about Tyson mistreating pigs before it disappeared.  So I went searching on Google.  Such a modern woman!  :)

There I found a movie for which I will include a link at the bottom of this post.  I'll give you two warnings in advance:

1)  It's on a website called "ChooseVeg" whose goal is to convert you to a vegetarian.  I am not and will never be a vegetarian.  I believe ChooseVeg is throwing the baby out with the bath water.  Yes, their featured factory farms and slaughter houses treat animals in such a way that makes you glad there is a hell--and hope there's a special corner there reserved for every person who appeared in this video!  But there is no law that says animals MUST be treated that way!  In case you haven't noticed, I'm showing you a different way through these pictures.  And if you argue that everyone can't raise their own animals like us, I'll agree--and I'll also encourage you to check out the farms in my blog list.  There are many, many of them out there humanely raising natural meat, milk and eggs for conscientious consumers.

2)  The other warning is that the video is extremely graphic.  If you're like me, you'll probably be clapping your hands over your mouth, moaning and exclaiming in horror, all the while thinking longing thoughts of Hell!  But if you ever intend to eat a bite of meat (or eat an egg or drink milk) again in your life, you owe it to your self respect and to God, the Creator of all animals who made man stewards of them, to watch this video all the way through.  I really mean that!

I have made several decisions and resolutions:

I am no longer agonizing over what to feed George and Mary.  I will unapologetically serve them our chicken or our pork.  I'll warn them in advance and let them know that if that is not agreeable to them, they are welcome to bring something from home.

And then I'll encourage them to watch this video.  Ignorance may be an excuse--until someone tells you the truth.  There is no excuse for willful, blind ignorance of the truth!

I'm not buying any more meat in grocery stores unless I drive all the way to Whole Foods or Earth Fare and pay their exorbitant prices!  Those prices are worth a clear conscience.  I will picture our happy, content animals as I drive an hour there and an hour back.

I'm also going to get Herb to watch this horrible video so he will understand why Kara and I keep insisting that he buy organic milk (until we have our own).  And I'm going to do everything I can to help him get our milking parlor built!

Now watch this video!
Meet Your Meat

Musings on Meat: Blessed by a Chicken

Advisory:  Some of these photos may be considered graphic by some viewers.

My sister-in-law just emailed me this quote from a column in a San Francisco newspaper--right after Herb and I finished butchering our second batch of 10 chickens in two days.

Yes, this is really funny--and it is really sad!

It also goes right along with what I was musing on this morning as we murdered our meat.  (I don't really consider it murder, but I couldn't resist the alliteration.)

Yesterday after we butchered the first ten chickens, Kara and I went to Chef Mart to get some more supplies.  I mentioned to the owner that we were butchering chickens, and a woman customer said, "Oh, I could never kill an animal that I had seen in person.  When I eat fresh lobster in a restaurant, I just tell them to pick one out for me.  I don't want to see it before I eat it."  She said that she prefers to buy her chicken in the grocery store, so I told her in a few words why we do what we do: natural, humanely raised and slaughtered, antibiotic- and hormone-free instead of chickens crowded 20,000 to a barn, never seeing the light of day.  She was completely unmoved and uninterested.

As we conversed, she went on to say that she and her husband used to buy a side of beef and have it cut up to order, but the place they used had closed down, and she didn't know where else to go.  I suggested a place I know of and mentioned that they have locally-raised grass-fed beef.  "Oh," she said, "I like mine corn-fed at the end.  It tastes better."

While Herb plucked and I eviscerated, I recounted this experience to him.  Together we marveled that here is a woman who wants to eat meat--she just never wants to see the animal it came from.  She doesn't care if the animal is raised in inhumane conditions or if it is raised in a way that makes its meat less healthy.  She wants cheap, good-tasting meat with no inconvenience or unpleasantness to herself.

Yesterday morning as we went outside at 6:30 am to feed animals before butchering chickens, I saw that one of the ducks had escaped the barnyard.  It was over below Kara's house, and as I came out the door, it spooked and took flight.  It was hard to capture its graceful winging in the dim light as it soared over the chicken tractor--minus the ten roosters who had spent the night on death row--on its way back to the barn.  It was too far away to be sure, but by its size I'm guessing it's a drake.  Chances are 5 out of 8 that this drake will end up on death row himself in a few days.  But he has had his night of freedom and his morning of glory, catching my breath with the grace of his flight.  Please remember this as you read the rest of my musings.

As I walked out to begin butchering my first chicken this morning, I thanked the Lord for this opportunity that we have.  Yes, it is hard work--back-breaking, neck-cramping, foot-aching, sweaty work.  And yes, it is hard to kill an animal that you have raised from birth.  But it is also a privilege to experience first-hand where our food comes from and everything that is involved to get that piece of fried chicken on our plate.

I also thanked the Lord for Herb who talks to each chicken as he carries it from the crate to the killing cones.  As he puts each chicken in the cone, he says, "I'm sorry, girl.  I hope you had a beautiful life, and I hope you have a quick death.  Blessings on you."  And with one swipe of his large, sharp knife, he ends its life.  I've said it before, and I'll say it again:  If you have to be a chicken, this is the way to live and the way to die!

I've "sanitized" this photograph for those of you who might wish to read my thoughts without riling your sensibilities.  But I would like to challenge you to think of your food in a different way.  Look beyond yourself and how you feel, and think about the animal and the process and the people that make it happen.

When I took this photo, I left off the bottom of the cone with the blood dripping down.  But remember how you laughed at the newspaper article above, finding it ridiculous!  If there is meat on your plate, an animal died, and blood was shed.

I'm not asking you to help shed that blood.  I'm not asking you to look at photos of it.  I'm not asking you to come help feed our chickens and pigs.  And I'm certainly not asking you to raise any of your own.  Most people will never have that opportunity.

But I AM asking you to acknowledge the animal.  Give it the dignity of acknowledging its existence, its daily fight to live and its eventual death that you might eat.

Acknowledge the planning and the work involved for that meat to end up in your fridge, sanitarily packaged.  And, unless you buy your meat directly from small farmers like us, acknowledge that the people who did all the "dirty work" to prepare your meat are poorly-paid
low income workers who stand for hours in freezing processing plants, gutting chicken after chicken after chicken.  These are people who do this job because they can't get any other.  NO ONE says at age five, "When I grow up I wanna be a chicken processor!"

I never used to think like this.  I told Herb that we couldn't possibly sell our chickens at a price that would pay for their purchase and their feed, plus pay us a salary for all our work.  When I said that the only way chicken can be so affordable in the stores is by cramming them into barns 20,000 strong and by hiring the poorest of the poor to process them en masse, he jokingly told me that I sound like a Marxist!  :)

I used to buy my chicken in little styrofoam trays, wrapped in plastic wrap, boneless and skinless--about as far from anything resembling a feathered, clucking bird as it could be.  Ditto for my beef, pork, lamb or fish.

I still don't think I could butcher and eat one of my laying hens.  They have names!  I know what color egg most of them lay.  I know their personalities.  That is a privilege and a blessing for which I am thankful.

But so is this--getting to this fridge crammed full of chicken, waiting to be frozen.  Of course it is a privilege to eat such healthy meat that tastes so good.

But far greater is the privilege of having rushed to the Post Office in the dark to bring home a box of peeping baby chicks, teaching them to drink one by one, carrying water twice a day, checking their feed every few hours, cleaning out their smelly litter, moving them in heavy crate-loads into the chicken tractor, dragging the heavy chicken tractor to a new place on the few occasions Herb wasn't around to do it, enjoying their eagerness as they moved to fresh grass, faithfully feeding and watering twice every single day without fail for 12 weeks, until finally, it was time to make sure they were comfortable for their last night and that they died quickly and were processed sanitarily so that their life and death were not in vain, but able to nourish our bodies.

Maybe it's a bit much to give credit for this to a flock of clucking chickens and squeakily-crowing roosters, but these chickens have nourished my soul, as well.  I have had the responsibility for their lives in a God-given Kingdom task.  They have brought me to reflect on all these things--and it is good.

Our Chicken Feed Dilemma

First, a little history:  In March 2009, when I got my first batch of chicks at a local feed store near Chattanooga, I asked the proprietor if their chick starter was vegetarian, and he assured me it was.  (As you will see, I should have read the label!)  I bought their Tucker Milling chick starter, and the chicks prospered.

When we got this batch of chicks, I had picked up a bag of Dumor Chick Starter at Tractor Supply because I was there, and it was convenient.  Then the chicks got diarrhea (see this post on that subject: http://zephyrhillfarm.blogspot.com/2010/08/some-things-are-naturally-hard-on-farm.html ) and I decided they needed  medicated feed.  So I went to the first feed store to get another bag of the Tucker Chick Starter.  The diarrhea went away in two days, and the chicks prospered.

Recently Herb and I were checking out a new-to-us feed store nearby to see what was available.  The chicks were about 7 weeks old and ready to get non-medicated feed.  I asked about chick starter to check on prices, and the man showed me two kinds they had.  In trying to see whether they were medicated, we started reading labels.  There are paper labels sewn into the bottom seams of every bag of feed.  Sometimes the way they're sewn on makes them hard to read, so we were peering closely.  Imagine my surprise when I read the Tucker label and found that the fifth ingredient was: "Pork Meat and Bone Meal"!  The other brand had no animal products in it, but it was medicated.  Needless to say, we left without buying any chick feed.

As we drove home, Herb and I ruminated :) on how wrong it seems to feed pigs to chicks!  As soon as we got home, I went to the barn to check the labels on our bags of feed.  I can't find the label for the chick starter, but sure enough, it contained pork meat and bone meal.  I literally felt sick.  We're raising our own chickens to have healthy, natural meat, and here we've been feeding them pork!  Next I looked at my laying hens' feed (at left).  Ah, relief!  "Wholesome Nutrition the way Nature intended!" 
Having learned my lesson, I read the label anyway:

It's a bit hard to read because the seam was right on top of the pertinent part so I had to tear it off and tape it back together.  But if you look closely, on the second line under the word "Ingredients," you can see two blurred words which are "Pork Meat" followed by "and Bone Meal, Salt . . ."

Gag!  ALL my chickens have been eating pigs all along!  I'm not sure about you, but I don't think "Nature" intended for chickens to eat pigs!  Have you ever seen an angry mob of chickens attack and devour a pig?  Or have you seen a nature documentary where a wily rooster hunts down a pig and rakes it to death with his spur?  If you have, please send me the link!  Meanwhile, if we don't want our chickens eating pigs, what do we do?

For our layers, the solution is easy.  We'll switch to feeding nothing but scratch, which is just grain, to supplement their free-ranging.

The only problem that can arise is that in some bags the corn has not been adequately cracked, and the chickens won't eat it.  (Of course, both the corn and soy, and probably the wheat, are genetically-modified.  I know from my research that it's almost impossible to find any animal feed that doesn't use GMOs.)

Our biggest problem is finding chick starter that does not have any animal products in it.  Herb found this bag of Purina chick starter at Tractor Supply.  Unfortunately, it's medicated, so it won't help us now.

Fortunately, it contains "No Animal Proteins or Fats" so we'll save it for the next batch of chicks in case they get diarrhea.

Unfortunately, Herb got it at a good price because it's being discontinued.  We don't know if we'll be able to get any more, but at least we know to look for Purina.  Way to go, Purina!

For now, we're tapering off the chick starter and increasing the scratch, and the chicks love it.  That's the good news!

The bad news is that new hatchlings can't eat scratch, so we still have to find an unmedicated, animal-product-free chick starter.  If you look back at the Dumor label (first photo), you'll see that--like the others--it says "Ruminant Meat and Bone Meal Free."  All that means is that there's no sheep or cow product in it--a lesson learned the hard way after mad cow disease resulted from feeding sheep products to cattle.  There's no animal product listed on this label, but there are an awful lot of unpronounceable ingredients that I have no clue about.  All I know to do is call the 800 number to see if they will tell me what's really in there.

Depending on the answer, we may have to start from scratch!

Some Things Are--Naturally--Hard on a Farm

Thursday afternoon (Aug. 19), Herb and I went out to watch the chicks for awhile.  I noticed at least three that had bottoms that looked like this one.  It looked to me like they had bloody diarrhea stuck on their little bottoms, and one had actually lost the downy feathers there.  I called Welp Hatchery, and all they could do was suggest two different antibiotics, although they weren't sure which one was needed.  I checked the feed and discovered that the 20% protein chick starter I had bought at Tractor Supply was NOT medicated, as recommended by the hatchery.  I had assumed that all chick starters were medicated; I knew that what I had bought at Flintstone Farm and Garden for my first batch of chicks was medicated, and the chicks never had any problems other than Carmen growing up with a bad personality, which I can hardly blame on the feed!

So I called the helpful people at FFG, and they advised me to try medicated chick food which has a coccidiostat (meaning, it stops coccidiosis) because coccidiosis causes bloody diarrhea.  My trusty Storey's Guide to Raising Chickens also said that while the chicks may survive coccidiosis, they will not thrive.  Hmm, meat chickens that don't thrive don't give much meat.  That's a no-brainer!  You never saw anyone get from here to there so fast, and home again with a new bag of chick feed.  Just to be extra-sure, I cleaned and bleached out the food and water containers and followed FFG's advice to add sugar to the water for 24 hours.

Two days later, the chicks all look like this:

Don't get the wrong idea:  This one's asleep.  Really!  It woke up a few seconds later and ran around and ate.  If only I could sleep like that at night!  Watching that dead-to-the-world relaxation did give me the idea of my previously posted slide show of the chicks' tips for insomniacs.

Except for the first one which still has some lingering diarrhea, the rest of the chicks all look like this lively and adventurous one that is climbing Mount Susan . . .

. . . and this miniature ostrich look-alike . . .

. . . and this perky Pepi-two, future layer of blue eggs . . .

. . . and this little bright-eyed beauty.  They are lively and energetic and growing!  Their wing feathers are coming in, and some of them are starting to sprout little tail feathers like the Rubber Chicken up above. 
Now, I'm all for doing things the natural way, but I am not in favor of it if it leads to sick animals.  I know some natural adherents NEVER give medications to animals because it isn't natural.  Well, I don't think raising animals on a farm is natural.  And I don't think raising chicks under a brooder light is natural, but I don't have a broody hen, and even if I did, she couldn't foster 32 chicks.  I don't think processing 25 chicks at once and sticking them in a freezer is natural, either.  And we have too much money invested in these chicks to let survival of the fittest be our modus operandi.  So we will be as natural as we can, keeping the animals' well-being and our financial investment in mind.   When the chicks are old enough, they'll go outside in a chicken tractor to forage safely for most of their food, and by the time we eat them, the coccidiostat will be long out of their systems, and we'll be assured they had healthy, happy lives in our care.

And for my next batch of chicks, I'm going straight to Flintstone Farm and Garden for their feed!