Latest / CattleUSA Daily / 72: 2 Common Myths About Beef; Hormones, Antibiotics, & World Hunger—And How to Shut Them Down With Facts

Transcript

72: 2 Common Myths About Beef; Hormones, Antibiotics, & World Hunger—And How to Shut Them Down With Facts · CattleUSA Daily

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Welcome to the Cattle USA Daily podcast, your go to source for
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the latest livestock markets, industry insights and the update
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shaping agriculture today. I'm your host, Lauren Moylan, a
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passionate advocate for agriculture, here to keep you
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informed and connected. Now let's dive into today's
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episode. Welcome to another episode of
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the Cattle USA Daily podcast. Happy Thursday everyone.
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Today we are back and talking more about some common
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misconceptions that we see out in the world against animal
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agriculture and specifically the beef industry and how as
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producers we can truly understand what consumers are
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thinking. The facts behind those and
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preparing ourselves for having these discussions and being able
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to stand up for animal agriculture.
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Quick one line fax tidbits of information that you guys can
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write down in your notes app. You can try and relate to your
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memory or just whatever that may be for you to be an advocate for
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agriculture and continue to get our consumers in an educated
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standpoint. Because if we're not educated,
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then how do we expect our consumers to be educated, right?
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We have to, as a producer base, first and foremost, be willing
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to stand up for what we believe in, but then also be educated
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ourselves. If we can't sit there and
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explain why your beef isn't full of hormones and antibiotics and
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what that looks like, then how can we expect our consumers to
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understand that, right? How can we expect them not to
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fall into misinformation and click bait marketing and
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everything else that is out there if we're not even educated
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on it ourselves? So that is what we're back
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talking about today. I did an episode on this last
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week and it was so much fun. So today I've got 2 claims that
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we're going to discuss with you guys.
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I'm going to give you the facts and then I'm going to give you
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some quick little tidbits of information that you can really
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relate to memory. And I'm also, before I give you
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the facts, I'm going to be giving you what people are
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thinking. Where, where is our consumer
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base really thinking about all of these things.
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So first and foremost, claim number one, let's jump right
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into it. Beef is full of hormones and
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antibiotics. This is a really common one,
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right? We see it all the time
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especially we have seen a lot of fear based marketing start to
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come out over the past couple years, really starting to label
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antibiotic use in hormone use in beef production.
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So when a label gets put on something, our brains
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automatically think that, OK, well, if this is staying
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antibiotic free, then that means that pieces of meat that juice
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like don't have that label on there.
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That means that's lower quality. That's that's where our brain
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goes. It was the same thing with GMOs
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5 to 10 years ago when all of that started coming out.
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Even when they were putting GMO free on orange juice and there's
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no GMO oranges, people still were buying the GMO free labeled
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orange juice because they thought that they were making a
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healthier choice for their family.
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People, what are people thinking?
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What are our consumers thinking? Consumers are thinking that
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cattle are injected with constant hormones and then
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they're thinking that meat is unsafe or unnatural because of
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the antibiotic use that we are using.
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So here's the facts, straight facts, no opinion.
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The facts on hormones growth promotions are used under strict
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regulation by the FDA. Strict, strict, strict
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regulation by the FDA. This is an important area to
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plug that if you can, right, that even if a producer chooses
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to use these, which is it is, it is a producer by producer
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standpoint. I'm not going to tell you
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whether it is right or wrong in any way, shape or form because
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every operation is different. So even if a producer is
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choosing to use these, they are under strict regulation and we
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have certain laws that we have to abide by in order for this to
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then become a consumer food product.
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Right? Next thing with hormones,
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hormone levels in beef are extremely, extremely small.
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For instance, A3 ounces of beef from a hormone treated steer
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contains 1.9 nanograms of estrogen.
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For reference, a potato has 225 nanograms and a soybean has
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about 1200 plus nanograms of estrogen.
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This is a great area to show that yes, if a hormone treated
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steer goes to slaughter, there is a chance of having some
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hormones come up in testing. But if they do, it is so minute
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that it's not even, it's barely traceable 1.9 nanograms.
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Do you have any idea how small that is?
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That is an insanely, insanely small amount.
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And then it's really great to take that and say, OK, here are
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things that we're not pumping hormones into, but they are
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naturally occurring, right? We're naturally occurring
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hormones in all of these vegetables that you are eating
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every single day. And then it's even better if you
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can add on top of that, that the human body makes far more
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hormones naturally than you would ever get from beef.
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Far, far, far more hormones every single day or every single
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month that the human body is making these hormones and
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cycling through that then you would ever see from beef at the
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store. OK, so that's hormones, that's
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the facts. Those are really great tidbits
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of information to write down in your notes, apps or just try and
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relay to your memory that you know what 3 ounces of beef from
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a hormone traded steer only has 1.9 nanograms of estrogen in it
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in comparison to potatoes that have 225 or a soybean that has
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1200, right? So really just reciting that
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into your memory. That way when that discussion
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comes up, you are equipped with three different main talking
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points for that. OK, Antibiotics.
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So here's the facts. As you all know, antibiotics are
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used to treat or prevent illness, not to fatten cattle
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up, which is a common misconception that we have
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started to see within a consumer population.
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And I know that you're probably seeing that and you're like,
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wait, what? People think we're using
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antibiotics to fatten cattle up. That just does, that doesn't
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make any sense. People have human antibiotics,
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so why would they think that animal antibiotics would fatten
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cattle up? I don't know.
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I don't have the answer to that. It is a concern that consumers
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have. So it's really important to
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really emphasize why we use antibiotics and then really
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emphasize the fact that no beef enters the food supply with
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antibiotic residue. This is federally regulated and
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we have levels that all beef gets tested for and has to be
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at, and we are almost always at 0 for that, right.
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And there are certain levels of residue that are allowed to be
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left, but it is so minute, so minute again.
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So really on this, emphasize the fact that no beef enters this
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food supply chain with antibiotic residue.
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And then with that, you can say, but even before an animal enters
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the food supply chain, how we're making sure that we are staying
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up to date on this. And all of that is with the
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strict withdrawal periods that we have with these antibiotics,
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really emphasizing the fact that we want to ensure food safety,
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safety with harvest. We don't want to send an animal
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to harvest that has had an antibiotic within that
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withdrawal period because then that animal doesn't get put into
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the food system and that's a waste of an animal, right?
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So we don't want that. And so really emphasizing those
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strict withdrawal periods, we are heavily regulated on our
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antibiotic use, what all of that looks like.
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And at the end of the day, emphasizing the antibiotic save
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lives and the beef that you buy is residue free.
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People that really want to push antibiotic free meat or meat
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that has never been touched by antibiotics, in my opinion,
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that's an animal welfare issue. Like if you want me to look out
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at my feed yard and see a calf with foot rot and not go treat
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it with antibiotics, that's an issue, right?
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That that animal is suffering. And we have a great proven way
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that I can go relieve that animal suffering and that it can
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live its best life, right? So I go into the animal welfare
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side a lot on antibiotics of hey, you know what?
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If that is a choice that you are making, awesome.
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But from a producer standpoint, this is where I'm coming from.
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We are not giving every single animal antibiotics.
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We are not pumping them full of these things to fatten them up.
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We are using them as a preventative measure.
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The same way that you would go to the doctor for an ear
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infection and get put on antibiotics.
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You're on them for two weeks. You might feel like some stuff
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in your gut for about a month after that, but then you're
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good, right? It's the same with cattle, the
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same exact way we are treating them for their cattle versions
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of ear infections and sore throats and all of these things
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that are preventable illnesses if we are able to treat them
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with high quality antibiotics that have been proven to work
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for generations. I think it is extremely
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important that as producers we are able to effectively
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communicate hormones and antibiotics and our decisions to
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use them within the industry. These are two areas that are
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under attack so heavily from our consumer population and we need
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to be able to stand up for them and say This is why This is why
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we are using these things and This is why you are safe to eat
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this beef. And that at the end of the day,
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no one cares more about safe, healthy beef than the people
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raising it. We would be out of jobs if we
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didn't produce safe, healthy beef.
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So we want to continue to provide that because guess what?
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I wouldn't be feeding it to my family unless it was safe,
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unless it was healthy and unless it was extremely nutritious for
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us. OK, Claim number 2, this one is
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going out of kind of the consumer population a little bit
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and more into, I don't know, world standings or I don't
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really know how to categorize it, but it is a claim that we
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see really often. It is we could feed more people
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if everyone stopped eating meat. That is the claim.
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And this really leans into the amount of land that it takes to
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raise cattle. And here's what people are
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thinking. We're just, we're going to dive
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right into it. Talk about what people are
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thinking and you'll understand more on this.
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OK? So what people are thinking
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crops are fed to animals instead of people.
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OK, that's a thought. We're going to dive into that #2
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plant only agriculture is more efficient and would solve global
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hunger. This is really leading into a
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global standard of why aren't we raising more corn, more
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soybeans, more rice, more things that can solve global hunger,
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solve food insecurity here in the United States, All of those
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things, right? OK, so let's dive into the
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facts. The facts of this cattle
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upcycle. Over 90% of what cattle eat is
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completely inedible to humans. So this is where we're thinking
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things like corn stalks or cotton seed holes or distiller
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grains or other byproducts that are completely inedible to
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humans. Cattle turn non human food and
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non human land into a high quality protein.
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This is where I really, really like to emphasize this, that
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they are turning their big upcyclers and they are turning
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food that we cannot eat and land that we cannot inhabit or can
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not farm. So non arable land where we
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can't grow crops on it into a high quality protein source.
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Are we going to be out there in the middle of a extremely rocky
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pasture planting soybeans? Probably not.
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There are some people that do it, and I commend you for
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removing all of those rocks and being able to have an amazing
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farm ground there. But for the most part, on
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extremely rocky pastures, no, we're not going to be planting
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soybeans. We're going to be running cattle
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on it because it is land that is not feasible and it would take
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more time than it is worth to make it arable.
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Right, So cattle turn non human food and non human land into
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high quality protein. At the end of the day, removing
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meat doesn't magically redistribute cows calories.
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It would actually worsen nutrient different.
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It would actually worsen nutrient deficiencies in
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vulnerable populations if we removed meat from the table.
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These people need meat the most, right?
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Yes, soybeans, rice, corn, all of these other amazing
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agricultural products are great options.
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But taking meat off the table does not solve, does not solve
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this issue. Beef does not take away food
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from hungry people. It adds protein to plates that
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couldn't grow it any other way. Point blank, period, end of the
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day, it adds protein to plates that couldn't grow it any other
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way. So really emphasize the fact
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that the cattle are turning that non human food and non human
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land in the high quality protein.
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And we're not taking away food from hungry people.
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We're actually up cycling it and turning it into an extremely
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high quality protein source that would otherwise what would we do
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with 90% of the food that cattle eat if like a, we probably
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wouldn't be growing it in the first place, but then think
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about all of the byproducts that cattle eat that would be just a
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huge waste and all of that jazz that it is just extremely,
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extremely important that we remember that with this
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argument. It goes into like a human rights
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thing, right? Like it goes into everyone wants
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to end world hunger, right? Like, I would love it if world
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hunger would end, but taking me off the table and taking beef
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off the plate is not going to solve that at the end of the
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day. So what can you guys be doing as
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producers? I want you to be opening your
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notes app. I want you to be writing these
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facts down. I want you to be like reminding
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yourself daily so that these are things that just get absolutely
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ingrained into your head and that you were then able and
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prepared to share when these conversations come for you, When
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you're having these conversations, I want you to be
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kind and I want you to be clear when you're correcting
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misinformation. People don't know better for the
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most part. Most people don't know better.
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They're listening to people on TikTok, the news outlets,
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everything else like that. That at the end of the day is
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just feeding them misinformation.
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And how would they know better, right?
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So be kind, be clear, and remember that when we stay
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quiet, the loudest voice wins, even if they're wrong.
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So as agriculturalist, as producers, it is up to us to use
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these facts, post them, say them, own the truth of
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agriculture because the beef community has nothing to hide
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and everything to be proud of. Let's feed facts, not fear.
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As agriculturalist, we have a role and a responsibility to
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show up and to know why we are doing what we are doing and to
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be able to share about agriculture and why the beef
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industry is such an amazing thing, especially here in the
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United States. So thank you guys so much for
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listening. I hope you guys enjoyed this
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podcast. As always, make sure you like
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subscribe, rate, review, do all of the things.
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We really appreciate it here at the team.
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I hope you have a great rest of your Thursday and we will see
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you all tomorrow on a Friday episode of the Cattle USA Daily
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podcast. Have a good one y'all.