Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
imals that have been especially good to them, such as a good bull or a cow that delivered
many good calves. So naturally, it can be tough to send them off to slaughter. But farmers can
take comfort in knowing that this is the life cycle for their animals, and that their animals are
dying for a worthy purpose. They also can take comfort in knowing that they gave their cattle
a good, healthy life that was as close to natural as possible.
Beef and Dairy Processing
The goal of beef and dairy cattle farming is to harvest meat and milk that can be sold as
products customers want. In beef production, “processing” usually refers to harvesting (a term
often used instead of slaughtering) the animals and cutting and packaging the meat. For dairy
production, milk processing involves pasteurization or turning milk into other packaged
products. In some states, it is also legal to sell bottled raw fluid milk. Many farmers have
found they can get the most value from their products by making processing arrangements
that allow them to sell their meat or milk directly to their customers. This is a better option
than selling their animals to feedlots or selling their milk on the commodities market where
quantity can be more important than quality.
Dairies must decide what kinds of products they want to sell. Do they want to bottle it and sell
it as raw or as pasteurized grass-fed milk, or do they want to convert the milk into cheeses,
yogurts, or other products that may also have added value to customers? Either way, they
must either find the best processor to fit their goals or learn how to do these tasks themselves.
A growing number of small dairies are processing their milk themselves, either by bottling on
the farm or by making their own products, such as cheeses and yogurts. Dairy producers who
do not process their milk on their farms must pay someone to process and package their
products for them, participate in a cooperative that has a processing arrangement, or sell to a
processing company that buys milk to make its own products.
Some farmers butcher their animals themselves, but most must take their animals off-farm to
be killed and butchered. Usually, they load the animals into a cattle trailer and ship them to a
slaughterhouse. When the animals arrive at these processing facilities, they usually are
stunned unconscious, then hung up and cut so they bleed to death. Then they are skinned,
their heads and organs are removed, and the remaining meat is split in half (these halves are
called sides). These sides can be cut further into familiar retail cuts.
Knowing the Laws
