Harris Ranch in Coalinga...a disgusting sight.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

I just came back on Hi. 5 from LA this past weekend and had the shock of my life when I passed by Coalinga and the Harris Ranch feedlot.

Being from NorCal, I am used to seeing the dairy cows in Marin and elsewhere roaming the hills, munching their way through the grass. A very bucolic picture. Of course I had heard of heard of feedlots, but had never personally experienced one.

What we saw in Coalinga disgusted both myself (full disclosure: I am a vegetarian) and my Mom. There were cows as far as the eye could see, thousands and thousands of them. It was 100+ degrees outside and the vast majority of the cows had ZERO sun coverage. The lucky ones under the narrow shade screens were packed so tightly together that many were laying on other cows. Most were left standing or laying in their own shit out in the direct sun. The overwhelming smell of shit -- even up driving on the freeway -- was revolting.

My Mom was so upset by what she saw she did not eat any meat the entire weekend, and is now paranoid about where the beef she is eating is coming from.

I find is deeply ironic that Harris Ranch advertises itself with the slogan "Beef the Way Nature Intended It to Be!" I did some research on Harris and it seems it is a 700+ acre "ranch" that has 70 to 100 thousand cows at one time.

I was not able to stop to take pictures, but I did find this on the web -- as good as this picture is, you still really had to be there.



If you currently purchase Harris Ranch beef - or any beef produced in a feedlot -- please consider what I saw in future beef purchases.

[maxsolomon]

1. that's the reality of it.

if you eat meat, eat organic, but know that in Murka, even that is no guarantee that the animal doesn't end it's life in the feedlot.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

4. Harris claims to be "natural"...

...no hormones or antibiotics, and all veg feed -- it gives one the (mistaken) impression they are "good guys" when it comes to their cows. :(

[aspergris]

16. "natural". irrelevant

I have NO problem eating beef that has been given hormones because I KNOW that there is no possible way those hormones are bioavailable in the meat.

bovine growth hormone won't survive the gut (no growth hormone will. that's why it's injected), and cattle implants are not going to be present in the meat either.

HOWEVER.

it's a different story with dairy cows. insulin like growth factors CAN be present in the milk

but I'm about science, not ANTI-science.

So, unless somebody can show me peer reviewed studies that a cow injected with various hormones will then have significant (iow biologically significant) levels of those hormones IN THE BEEF - it's a non-issue.

I think it's a feel good thing. It makes people FEEL good but there is NO science to support that hormones are an issue in beef, as far as bioavailable measurable quantities that could affect us.

I'd LOVE to see a study that proves me wrong. But i have never seen ANYBODY able to provide one

[SpiralHawk]

41. Ain't got no studies to cite, but I can feel beef hormones in me when I eat that meat

So, not to devalue science, but I trust my own senses more than I trust some bit of Ph.D. paper.

[aspergris]

44. i gotta say

I believe in science. and I understand peptide hormones to know it simply cannot be present in beef you eat LET ALONE that you cook before you eat.

growth hormone is a fragile hormone. feel free to read the labels.

You could drink 10 * the average human dosage of Hgh each day and get ZERO effect. It HAS to be injected.

I;m not dissin' ya. I'm just sayin'.

[Gormy Cuss]

35. Their claims are thinner than that. Veg feed = corn, not grass which is the natural diet

and they only promise that there is no measurable antibiotic residue in the beef, not that they didn't use copious amounts when the animal was still alive. As others have noted, 'natural' is pretty much a meaningless term.

[DebJ]

2. I just read an article this week saying that more cattlemen are

switching to grazing their cattle instead of the corn fed type like you saw because of the price of corn feed. Read it either on NYT or MSNBC.com.

[kestrel91316]

10. The NE Ag Extension veterinarian I chatted with in NOLA last week told me

that, at least in the Midwest, grassfed-only producers are still a tiny minority. It takes many months longer for cattle to get up to slaughter weight on grass than in a feedlot, unfortunately, and time is money. He told me that instead of whole corn in their diet they are now getting the ethanol producers by-product known as distillers grains, which is much healthier for the cattle because it's primarily fiber and protein with a minimum of carbohydrates (those got turned into ethanol).

Just an interesting perspective.......

[pitohui]

37. don't we have too many cattle on public lands already?

how many more public lands would we like to see eaten by free ranging, grass fed cattle?

[kestrel91316]

40. There's plenty of private pasture. You won't hear ME advocating

more grazing on already over-grazed drylands in the West. The Midwest is more suited for grazing.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

13. It's about time.

Corn is crap for cows -- totally unnatural for them to eat. When I was driving through eastern Arizona a month or so ago, I ran across many area that had free-range cows, grazing the way nature really intended them to. On one two lane road I was stopped by a large group of cows wandering down the road -- it was a blast to see.

I know CA is on the verge of passing new legistlation that would change the way chickens are farmed, I can only hope they will expand it to all farm animals in the future.

[BonnieJW]

3. I became a vegeterian in April.

I won't even eat organic meat because I can't stand the thought of the way these poor animals are killed.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

15. I made the mistake of watching...

"Fast Food Nation" -- the slaughterhouse scene just about did me in. :cry:

[LeftyMom]

5. BTW, In-n-Out customers, this is what you're eating.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

18. Yup. I just read that.

I have beena veggie for 20+ years, but the site of those feedlots I saw along 5 and 99 grossed me out so badly I am trying to go vegan for the 3rd time. Hopefully this time it will stick.

[LeftyMom]

22. Did you go by the cheese plant in Hilmar?

That'd do it. PU!

[Hell Hath No Fury]

28. I passed by a cheese plant...

at some point, don't remember the name though. I was really taken aback at the constant shit stench throughout the Valley. I don't know how those people live there. :scared:

[Ganja Ninja]

6. My landlord owns a few head of cattle.

He tells me that you can no longer have a cow butchered locally. They must be shipped out of state to a feedlot/slaughter house so the FDA can inspect the animal and the meat after it's slaughtered.

[DebJ]

17. That sounds ridiculous, since I recall hearing the FDA actually

inspects less than 10% of the meat we eat.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

20. That sounds like a lot of unneccesary bullshit...

especially how poorly the FDA does right now with its inspections. They are clearly centralizing the process so they don't have to hire more people and really look at the condition of animal and the meat Americans eat.

[fl410]

23. That is not true if you are processing it for your own use, (not for public sale.)

:-)

[JuniperLea]

7. Imagine the stress hormones in the meat

Not to mention all the others.

Sadly, not everyone can be a vegetarian. Chickens aren't treated any better... and the pollution in fish is another story.

Best we can do is free range chickens and eggs, and organic beef... there will still be stress hormones at some point, unless you buy strictly Kosher. Not a bad idea, actually.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

25. That is exactly what I thought about.

The cocktail of stress hormones that is running though those animals -- from what I read on their own site, those animals will stay in that lot for at least 3 months until they reach the right bodyweight for slaughter. That's 3 months of weather, shit, and stress.

Yes, there are some that will always eat meat -- I am right now looking for a supplier of organic, truly free-range beef that I can get for my Mom. And we are on the verge of getting a laying hen for the family -- 100% family pet, eggs when she feels like it. :D

It's a small start.

[JuniperLea]

36. It's a good start!

When I was a kid in the 60's, my grandfather, who was raised on Iowa beef grown in his own area, bought two calves and kept them in the back lot of his heavy equipment repair shop. He had a nice little fenced area, cut in half by another fence. He'd bring the calves to one side and let the other grow grass while the calves ate on the other. He fed them grain too, and grain for the last two months before... well, you know. He had a buddy who was the local butcher, and he filled his freezer, his three daughters' freezers, and had enough to give to the butcher in exchange for the butchering. The taste was completely different than what you could get even in the better butcher shops around.

I was really lucky back then. There were two chicken farms, two bakeries, strawberry fields, green bean and pea fields, and a dairy nearby. Fresh produce stands lined the roads in nearby Palos Verdes, which is now covered with gated properties, mansions, etc. We ate what would now be considered organic, range free, etc. Those were the days... and I'm all for bringing them back! I was in Girl Scouts and we took field trips to all these places. There was nothing to hide at all. Every animal we saw was treated very well. I miss that. And this was in Lomita, CA... a southernmost suburb of Los Angeles.

[LeftyMom]

34. Kosher slaughter is often even worse. Google agriprocessors.

[JuniperLea]

38. That's not the story in the local Glatt markets in Los Angeles...

They say the animals never even know they are about to die, and never know what hit them. And they are kept in stress free environments. There are huge signs in the Kosher butcher shops detailing exactly what the Rabbi attests to when he certifies the meats Kosher.

[LeftyMom]

42. Well sure, they have a product to sell.

Here's some video from the largest kosher slaugherhouse in the country (which also has some serious labor problems) that suggests that slaughter is neither fast nor stress free:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HZnQmc3U9I

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-ascm17R9A

[JuniperLea]

49. Ugh... no thanks.

That would lead one to believe the Rabbis are on the take... why would they put their approval on this? Ugh... corruption is everywhere I guess.

[LWolf]

8. I used to drive by 2 or 3 times a year,

when I lived in so cal. My family is in Oregon, and I made the trip regularly. The stench is something, as is watching them create mountains of manure in the pens with heavy equipment maneuvering through the cows.

I remember the cattle yards off the 15 down south, near Norco, to be worse.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

29. Yes, the amount of manure...

and water and waste runoff -- how can they possibly contain all of that and not contaminate the hell out of the area????

I drove down Hi. 99 and came back Hi. 5, so I got the full spectrum of the feedlot experience. :(

[LWolf]

45. I live in a semi-rural area now,

with small numbers of cattle out in pastures, eating grass. I pass them on my way to and from work, and am glad to see them with grass, space, trees and shelters. I can get local grass-fed beef raised this way, but most people can't. It's one consequence of overpopulation; diets need to change to accomodate ethical and sustainable food production. This area doesn't grow much besides grass and hay; the growing season for vegetables is quite short, and most fruit doesn't grow at all, or doesn't bear consistently.

[driver8]

9. I quit eating meat because of Harris Ranch.

It made me sick to drive past there and to see all of those animals just waiting to be slaughtered.

It really bums me out to drive past that place.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

30. Yes, I need to find some sort of feedlot free..

drive to LA -- it is too disgusting and sad. :( Is Hi. 1 safe?? Long but scenic in a good way -- I think I can do that! :D

[driver8]

33. Hwy 1 is safe...it just takes forever!!

We got caught in the rain and traffic on a trip and it took us over 10 hours to drive from San Jose to Los Angeles.

We have avoided that route since then.

[KansDem]

11. Check out the feedlot on Highway 54 in the Texas panhandle...

I've driven Highway 54 from Tucumcari, NM, to Wichita, KS, several times, and each time I pass this feedlot (it fits your description to a tee), it makes me gag and retch...

Yuck!!!

(I don't know who owns it...)

[Hell Hath No Fury]

32. I read that the Harris Ranch lot...

is tiny compared to some in Texas. :scared: I don't think I want that experience!

[AlCzervik]

12. the hamburger plant. You can smell that place 10 miles before you get there.

[hedgehog]

14. Where does the water for all these cattle come from?

I'm suspicious that it's water brought in from elsewhere. Essentially, farmers in the Midwest can't afford to raise cattle because they are in competition with feed lots using cheap subsidized water.


Part of the problem is that the consumer wants cheap food. Maybe we'd all be healthier eating a little less but a lot better.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

55. I have no idea, honestly.

The entire San Joaquin Valley is nothing but cows and agriculture -- all in a naturally arid environment. To make mattes worse, cities/housing developments are also booming along 99 and 15, bringing in hundreds of thousands of people into an area that does not have its own water source.

The whole Valley is a house of cards waiting to fall. :(

[flvegan]

19. As it is with all of the "meat" industries.

Intensive confinement and the feedlot is, quite sadly, the norm these days. A selfish practice for a selfish product. From what I've read, a good amount of that "free roaming grass fed" beef still spends a couple of their last months on a feedlot just like this. So much for that theory.

If you really want to see abuse, visit a battery (egg production) facility. Shameful what we do to animals for a mouthful of unnecessary (for most) food.

[Warpy]

21. Few people who know the reality of "finishing" beef

will continue to eat the stuff. There is nothing like a feed lot in August, and they're unpleasant even in January as the ammonia from the thick layer of shit the animals are standing in permeates everything for miles.

The only reason the animals are treated this way is to make sure their muscles are permeated with fat deposits, the "marbling" that beef eaters associate with tenderness. That means they are squashed together so that their muscles are not used and bored with nothing to do but overeat fat producing grains.

Since the fat in beef is exactly what is unhealthful, it makes no sense to treat it this way except for a cultural bias against the long cooking methods that tenderize the toughest of grass fed beef.

Harris isn't the only company that does this, they all do.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

48. I didn't know what that meant.

I am now trying to find a supplier of truly organic, grass fed, free range beef that does not involve feedlots for my Mom. I am finding out that even "organic" beef may invokve a feedlot at some point. :(

[PlanetBev]

24. Yeah, good old Highway 5

Sometimes you forget about Harris Ranch being along the way, and you think the guy next to you farted in the car.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

51. It was freakin' like that EVERYWHERE...

...in the Valley! Truly unbelievable -- a couple of hundred miles of nothing but shit smell. :puke:

[underseasurveyor]

26. Don't ever drive through CO, NE, or IA

Along I-80 in NE is a HUUUUGE feed lot and the stench is so overwhelming, gagging and it burns the eyes and nose, and it stinks for miles.
In Co. the Monfort feeds lots also stretch for miles.
And in NW IA. it's more the massive dairy farms vs feed lots. Then there's the hog barns. OMG buildings and buildings of hogs and the gargantuan shit pits:puke:

At least they have the good sense to shield these hogs and cram them in buildings so we don't have to witness the horrendous living conditions and abuses these creatures are subjected to. Heaven forbid I lose my appetite for pork chops.:sarcasm:

[Hell Hath No Fury]

52. OK, that's just nasty!

:puke:

Yes, I think if more people saw the conditions their food ws kept in, they would at least demand changes to how they are raised. :(

[izquierdista]

27. Coalingus is disgusting

Makes your tongue all black. Plus unhealthy -- lots of carcinogens in coal tar.

[OwnedByFerrets]

31. K and R

[HCE SuiGeneris]

39. I drive by there too often -- have actually vomited from the smell twice.

I now take 101 south and cut over on 46 from Paso Robles to I5

[Hell Hath No Fury]

53. We spent the night in Visalia before...

heading into Sequioa, and when we got out of the car to check into the hotel it smelled like there was an open sewer line right next to us! :puke:

We couldn't get into the hotel and the air conditioning fast enough.

I'll have to check out your route. :hi:

[HCE SuiGeneris]

54. Much more scenic, and only marginally longer drive time

if coming from, or going to the Bay Area.

[opihimoimoi]

43. Where are the cow cops when ya need um? Its Bovine Abuse #3

Flog the Owners...20 lashes

[Hell Hath No Fury]

46. No, even better...

...make them live for three months in their own feedlot. :evilgrin: That would do the trick! :D

[opihimoimoi]

56. Yeah...an no air conditioning either...plus some flogging too

[shanti]

47. and a disgusting smell!

something you never forget!

[ourbluenation]

50. and it doesn't matter what time of year...it always stinks to high heaven driving by there.

There's another stinky cattle ranch up near stockton somewhere. revolting.