 Healthy and robust Diamond F Brand Beef cattle grazing in open pasture |  |
These kinds of practices don't have to affect you!
In February 2008 the USDA ordered the recall of 143 million pounds of ground beef from a packing house in California after an undercover video, taken by the Humane Society, showed a despicable and unconscionable abuse of cattle.
The video portrayed downer cattle (non-ambulatory cattle that are too sick or weak to walk on their own) being pushed and moved by fork lifts, kicked, and prodded with an electric prod, and sometimes being force fed water which was poured down their throats.
Most of the meat has already been eaten
Most of the meat from these cattle has probably already been eaten, largely in school lunch programs. Now the USDA is scrambling to determine if any more of the meat is headed for other school lunch programs.
This is in direct violation of USDA rules regarding downer cattle, which are not supposed to enter the food supply because of the possibility of containing dangerous levels of E. coli, salmonella, and/or perhaps even Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE - mad cow disease).
No reported illnesses
Thankfully there have been no reported illnesses resulting from this meat, but the shock and disgust generated by the video is enough to make anyone sick to their stomach. The main concern with the recalled beef is that the potential for BSE is greater in older, downer cattle.
You can eat good, safe, and wholesome beef, free from worry about this sort of practice
You can easily avoid exposure to this kind of danger or inhumane treatment by eating ranch raised grass fed beef. Our beef comes from healthy, vibrant steers that only graze on grass meadows and pastures. Our cattle are all treated with the respect, love and gratitude they deserve, and we would never have a "downer cow" on our place.
We don't let our animals get that old or sick. If in the rare instance we have an animal that is so sick or injured it is beyond treatment (which almost never happens and if it does it's from an injury) we humanely put that animal out of its misery and bury it so it feeds no one.
Our Diamond F Steers have never been sick
Because of the way we run our operation, you can rest assured that any Diamond F Brand Beef is from steers that have never been sick a day in their lives. The USDA has approved our claim for "no antibiotics" because in our operating protocols we remove any animal from the Diamond F program if it has been sick or treated with antibiotics.
We maintain herd health through proper nutrition and grazing management. Cattle that are healthy, receive good nutrition, and are maintained in good condition, without undue stress are generally not susceptible to illness. In the rare instances that an animal does get sick, we reserve the ability to treat it with whatever means necessary, but if they have been sick, or are given antibiotics they will never become Diamond F Brand Beef.
The cattle became non-ambulatory after they were inspected
Secretary of Agriculture Ed Schafer said his department has evidence that the packing company did not routinely contact its veterinarian when cattle became non-ambulatory after passing inspection, violating health regulations.
Our cattle are inspected the day they are processed
Our processor is a small, family run business and does not hold cattle for any period of time. Our steers are gathered from the pasture and hauled to the processor on the day they are to be processed. They are inspected by a USDA inspector that same day.
You can be assured that the beef you eat is safe, wholesome, and raised humanely when you eat Diamond F Brand 100% grass fed beef.
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