true, but as a negative side point, we hardly get any BSE anyways, and all of the cases are caught.
All the cases are caught? How can you say that? I'm assuming you are saying "we" as in we Canadians. Better check the way that disease traveled through the UK before sounding so sure of yourself.
The farmers I know say that it is just stupid short-sighted behavior to be feeding crap to cattle and not expecting fallout. The only reason that cattle aren't being fed what nature intended, ie. grass, hay, alfalfa... is to use up garbage. Garbage in, garbage out. Quit feeding cattle the guts and debris from rendering plants and the problem is solved. No need to test every animal.
piffka:-
That's for sure.
Do you think it might be linked to the age-old taboo on cannibalism.A lot of the garbage was cow.
The primitive races might know more than the authorities.
spendius.
It might also be due to bargain hunting.
spendius.
Hello Spendius. It seems like that taboo against cannibalism is somehow linked, doesn't it? These feedlot cattle are being force-fed what is left from the herd. It is awful... offal. Isn't it odd that a taboo against eating your own kind turns out to have modern-day ramifications like prion-based disease?
I don't raise cattle but my sister does. Those animals don't get fed anything but good ol' alfalfa and whatever grazing they find in their pastures. Those animals would never willingly eat another animal. It is grotesque that commercial animals are being forced to do so... that strictly vegetarian animals have blood & guts snuck into their feed. To me, it is a crime against nature, but who pays? The consumer.
I don't buy beef anymore except for high-quality organic beef from a company I trust.
this is a debate, so i need negative points as well, and it is inhumane to be making cannibals out of other species when we think it so wrong for ourselves.
mithrelsheep:-
I would have thought that piffka and myself had provided a negative point or two.
What are the positive points?
Us two are not making cannibals out of cows.It was the animal feed industry that did that.I think it has been stopped now in Christian countries but I don't know about others.
spendius.
piffka:-
Hello.
You might consider that the consumer's bargain hunting drive forced the hand of beef producers.A bit like kicking yourself up the arse in order to save up for a tropical holiday of a lifetime.A priority disorientation.Due to ads and being bored.
spendius.
As for not making cannibals of them, according to my sources, they still make them eat meat, which is just as bad.
Spendius, you'd enjoy the arguing back and forth re. Walmart... a place I detest despite it vaunted bargains.
Any "holiday of a lifetime" makes me nervous. What then? Kill yourself?
Sort of off topic, but a deer hunter in Michigan this season was dressing out a deer bare handed when he noticed lesions on the deer's lungs. Turns out the deer had contracted bovine TB from exposure to an infected cow, and so did the deer hunter. He's recovering, but slowly.
drmichelle,
We'd all kind of like to know how you made out in the debate
they (her and teammate) got a silver medal, even tough we actually scored higher then them, according to our teacher.
Good show, If you would like to elaborate a bit more you can be assured that I'll read it.
My interest stems from the time before I retired I was involved in both the conversion of "chicken litter" into a high protein addition to cattle feed and the production and sale of finished cattle.
I suspected at the time we cattle producers were shooting ourselves in the foot so as to speak but the cattle really liked the converted (by cooking-composting) chicken litter and it made the lower (and poorer quality) protein availiable in corn much more of a complete feed. Properly handled, they did very well on it.
As of yet nobody seems to know if the chicken litter contained the prionic material but the practice has largely been discontinued simply because of the risk that it may contain it.
