Beef Cows:

As far as the cattle's welfare is concerned, their conditions are, relative to the other factory farmed animals, much better. The main offenses that they face are: shipping; branding, de-horning, castration, feeding that is incompatible with their delicate digestive systems, and of course the brutal slaughter that must ensue to take down such an enormous being.

Before they reach the feedlots, where confinement becomes an issue, cows are usually allowed to graze outdoors. While this is highly preferable to the alternative, they are not provided shelter when conditions are unsuitable. In summer, the cattle may be out in the sun without shade. In winter they may have no protection from conditions to which they are not naturally suited. In one particularly cold year (1987), for instance, snow storms claimed the lives of 25-30% of the calves and 5-10% of the adult cattle. (1)

Some producers have brought the cattle permanently indoors where they endure similar conditions to pigs. Neither situation is ideal, as their is no reprieve from the negative effects of either and both methods involve the separation of mother and young at an early age, causing considerable distress to both.

Three major traumas inflicted on young US cattle, are: branding, de-horning, and for males, castrating , all of which usually occur within the first few weeks after birth almost never performed with the use of anesthetic! The calves are herded, roped and thrown one by one, pinned to the ground while knives and branding irons are applied. One employee cuts into the calf's scrotum and rips out his testes, and another cuts an identifying shaped chunk out of his ear with a sharp knife (so that he can be identified from a distance), as a third sears an identifying marker into the calf's thigh with a blowtorch-heated branding iron. (2)

The following instructions were given at a prestigious US agriculture college, as a student was about to castrate his first calf: "Remember, Josh, you got to rip 'em off. That causes trauma, and the swelling shuts off the blood. If you cut 'em off, you could get some serious bleeding." (3) Castrated animals have more fat, and therefore fetch a higher price. Steers are simply implanted with synthetic hormones to offset the natural hormone deficiencies caused by castration. (4) The hormone pellets are implanted under the skin of the animal which can incite abnormally violent behaviour if the implants get crushed: a surge of hormones floods into the bloodstream, and can cause an aggressive sexual behaviour called "bulling": Bulling is the act of a steer sexually mounting other steers, causing the victims severe muscle injuries and subsequent infections. (5)

De-horning involves either sawing away the horns or applying a caustic pasted that dissolves them. The horns are not merely insensitive bone. Arteries and other tissue have to be cut when the horn is removed, and profuse bleeding results, as well as intense pain. The reason for de-horning is crowding: cows are extremely peaceful animals and will, under normal circumstances not hurt each other. They are, however, crammed so tightly together that they cannot help it. De-horning often resulting in hemorrhage, maggot infestations and infections.

Once calves have lived out their childhood on a range, they are ready to be brought up to marker weight. This requires that they be shipped to a "feedlot", where their growth will be unnaturally augmented.

"It is difficult for us to imagine what this combination of fear, travel sickness, thirst, near-starvation, exhaustion, and (in winter)…severe chill feels like to the cattle. In the case of young calves, which may have gone through the stress of weaning and castration only a few days earlier, the effect is still worse." (6) To treat shipping fever, a dangerous antibiotic called chloramphenicol is doled out to the calves. (7) Not only may they have contracted shipping fever, but they have suffered a great deal of bruising, and may be crippled from the pounding they have taken. Incidentally "cripple" by industry standard means: "…an animal that must be carried or dragged from the vehicle." (8) Federal law limits the time that animals can spend in a railway car without food or water to twenty-eight hours, or thirty-six hours in special cases. (9)

By the early 1970's, ¾ of US cattle were trucked off to spend half their lives in feedlots. (10) Feedlots exist because farmers get paid by the pound not by the animal. "This may include such delicacies as sawdust laced with ammonia and feathers, shredded newspaper (complete with all the colors of toxic ink from the Sunday comics and advertising circulars), "plastic hay," processed sewage, inedible tallow and grease, poultry litter, cement dust, and cardboard scraps, not to mention the insecticides, antibiotics and hormones", as well as rendered animals. (11) The feed is designed to deliver the most protein and calories at the least expense - some researchers advocate feeding feather meal and blood to cattle; while others give a mixture of 50% grain and 50% broiler litter. (12) Illinois State University is promoting the concept of feeding cattle a combination of ground newsprint and table scraps from University dining halls. (13) Artificial flavors and aromas are, of course, added to all of the aforementioned to make these treats desirable.

Like dairy cows, beef cattle do not have stomachs suited for the concentrated diet that they receive in feedlots. Cows' instinctive drive is to eat almost constantly, since they evolved to eat fibrous low-calorie foods like grasses, leaves, and shrubs. They are, however, given access to nothing but concentrated feeds that contain far more calories than grasses; which are inappropriate for the animals' digestive system with its four-part stomach designed to digest grasses. Often, in an effort to obtain more fiber than their feedlot diets provide, the cattle lick their own and each other's coats. The large amount of hair taken into the rumen may cause abscesses. (14)

After about two months at the feedlot, the animals are sent to the slaughterhouse where a swift but brutal death awaits.

Temple Grandin, who owns a company that makes slaughter devices, estimates that only 20 - 40% of US feedlots have excellent handling: " (15)About 10% are chronic abusers who allow overt cruelty to occur such as throwing calves, abuse of cripples or the use of brutal restraints methods where live cattle are hung upside down prior to religious slaughter". (16) 50 - 70 % of feedlots subject animals to abuse or neglect stemming from incompetent or uncaring management. (17)

On some "farms", and ancient and barbaric poleax (a heavy sledgehammer) is used to slaughter the cattle: if the swing is a fraction astray the hammer can crash through the animal's eye or nose. (18) Humane, yet expensive methods (hence not frequently used) of stunning the animals prior to slaughter are the captive-bolt pistol, and electrical stunning,.