My Food Comes From The Grocery Store

Being in the Agricultural Industry, we have to deal with a lot of bull.

Pun somewhat intended.

There have been many debates on the existence of large dairies, feedlots, etc. Texas came back from school last night with some insightful information from one of his Animal Science classes. Long story short, people against these large operations suggest every one should produce their own milk, eggs, meat, etc. In other words, large feedlots (you could say our ranch is a large feedlot) shouldn't exist because the animals are not happy and are neglected. Instead, every family should have their own cow, chicken, pig, turkey, etc. in their backyard. Every person with their own 8-5 job should then come home after working all day and milk their cow, pick their eggs out of the chicken coop, and chop their turkeys head off - all so that these animals can live "happy".

This debate does not end here. When a housing development was put in next to a dairy several years ago in the town next to us, housing owners started to complain about the smell. Well, wouldn't you expect it to smell when you decide to buy a house next to a dairy? Instead of telling the housing owners to "ranch up", the dairy was put in jeopardy.

"It smells bad."

"There's too much dust."

"The tractors make too much noise."

"I can see a dead cow from my window."

All hypothetical, but likely, statements from these homeowners.

In many cases, after complaining about all the above and asked how they think the removal of a dairy/ranch/feedlot would affect them...

"Well, I just buy my food from the grocery store, so we don't need dairies or feedlots."

Seriously, people. I ain't making this up. No, I don't have sources for this information. But trust me, I've heard it before, and I will hear it again.

I'll end this little rant with the following picture I found this morning: