Illinois Farm Families Blog

I've eagerly joined the ranks of Field Mom's touring the Illinois Farm scene and our first visit was to the Ward Family Hog Farm in Sycamore Illinois. As I flip through my notes I can still smell the odor of my little piggy friends wafting off the pages, this visit was not for those with sensitive snouts and bellies...no babies allowed.

I joined this group of Moms so that I could better understand how crops and livestock are farmed and sent to market. I was hoping to dispel a few rumors that are currently pervading our society regarding food safety precisely because its these rumors that send me running to anything labeled organic...and walking away penniless. And while I can't say that my visit to the hog farm rendered me an expert on the processes of how 270 pounds of "little" piggy gets to market, I can say that it clarified a few things for me.

Contrary to what we might remember from childhood movies and videos, pigs no longer wallow around outside in mud devouring buckets of slop tossed into their pens from well meaning farmers with big yellow boots. Instead they are kept inside covered facilities with slats on the floors to collect waste matter. There is intricate piping in place to funnel food and water into their pens. The piglets are kept separate from their older counterparts and then shuffled along to other housed facilities as they grow older and larger. When they are newly born they receive vaccines similar to how human newborns are vaccinated and they receive antibiotics and other medicines similar to humans when they get sick. At a glance, everything seems in order. The pigs looked well taken care of and were happy to see Steve (the farmer and our host) and curious about his guests. The food that they eat is a mix of soybean meal, corn, dried distillers grain and bakery products (i.e. Triscuits,bread, chips). The facility was well maintained, the farmers were gracious hosts and very open to answering a barrage of well intended questions, but despite this, there are two core concerns that make it hard for me to reconcile some of the rudimentary practices of pig farming; pigs are artificially inseminated and they are fed genetically modified grains.

Artificial Insemination

I suppose until now I hadn't considered that artificial insemination is what allows pig farmers to keep up with the demands of human consumption. Piggy sex as we know it, or rather imagined it (if ever), is not financially savvy. Instead, there are 10-15 companies that are known for providing boar sperm to a multitude of farms. A quick Google search lead me to this website where one could peruse their online boar store and choose from which boar they would like to purchase sperm and the tools required for successful insemination. While this process is said to increase bio security (because the farmer is not bringing a mystery boar with the "potential of spreading disease" on the farm), and makes economical sense (because it reduces the time between pregnancy), eliminates the guesswork of stock numbers from week to week (a farmer could have upwards of 1000 newborn pigs per week), and eliminates the need to have feed and care for a boar (which can be a very aggressive animal at times); I'm curious as to how this might affect future hog farming to literally have the seed of the industry in the hands of just a chosen few (consider today's recession due to the merging and acquisition of a few large financial banks) or even genetic modification (i.e. enviropig study). Still, this same process of artificial insemination is also practiced by organic hog farmers leaving the biggest difference between the two practices being pig feed, GMO vs. non GMO

GMO (Genetically Modified Organisms)

Now that artificial insemination seems to be the standard in today's farming practices, one of the major things that differentiate organic farms from non-organic farms tends to be the feed. Organic farms supply animals with non-GMO products. GMO’s are in about 80% of the conventional processed food in the U.S. compared to nearly 50 countries including well developed countries like Japan, Australia and all of the European Countries,many of whom don't consider GMO's to be safe and have actually banned them, and at the minimum required that the products be labeled accordingly. Eeeek! Thus given that so much of U.S. produce is GMO, farmers are really hard pressed to find organic feed for their pigs at a reasonable cost. According to some farmers, going "organic" is not very sustainable given the volume of product that farmers must produce to even break even.

Furthermore, most pig farmers find that they aren't breaking even and are hedging their bets on the futures market through the Board of Trade! I would have never thought that my time providing tours at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange would come full circle!

So where does this leave me? It leaves me with a ton more questions…

1. What are the safety measures in place to ensure that boar sperm is really just boar sperm and not modified boar sperm?
2. What happens when the boar sperm bank decides they want to increase their prices?
3. Are we devolving the pig and boar relationship by suppressing their natural urge to pro-create? (Side note – newly born boars are castrated and then housed alongside their female counterparts)
4. Why is GMO the only way to go for so many farmers? If so,why are there so many organic farmers that are digging their boots in and prepared to take the financial loss for a product?

I know I've opened up about a dozen cans of worms...or whether cans of Spam (hee hee), but what an opportunity to begin to put the pieces together! I’ve been exploring food safety for so many years via books, articles, Netflix documentaries and a doting mother, that so much information is swirling around in my head. I’m so grateful for the Illinois Farm Family Organization for even offering such an opportunity to us Momma Bears. In the end, we’re all looking to do what’s best for our families and our friends. We all want to live long, healthy and happy lives and we know that it starts with what we put in our own little pot bellies.

A few more photos... 

 Do you know how your little piggy in the freezer made it to market?

Amina Nevels, Chicago

It’s been a long time since I have been on a field trip, and outings with my children do not count. I felt like a 6th grade girl again, giddy to be traveling on a bus full of newfound friends (a.k.a the other “Field Moms). My first trip with the Illinois Farm Families Field Moms program proved to be exciting, informative and sure, a little bit smelly.

When one thinks of a pig farm, naturally the pungent smell might come to mind and you are certainly not wrong in that assumption. But waiting for us beyond the ammonia-laced smell of portly pigs was the Ward Family. It was so evident that they were all proud of their vocation and not just because they were providing for their own families. I got the sincere feeling that they were proud to be contributing to mine.

Upon entering the building, I was pleasantly surprised to find the pens extremely tidy and the pigs well cared for. Did you know pigs are pretty clean animals? We learned that Illini Farms teams up with farmers like the Ward Family by entrusting them with the care and wellbeing of the pigs. The Illini Farms network contracts growers like the Ward family to take care of the pigs when they leave the nursery until they reach market weight (200-250 pounds). The pigs are then shipped off to be processed into Farmland Pork products in the Chicagoland area.

A large part of my interest in becoming a field mom was to wade through all the conflicting information being presented to me from the media. I was becoming quite disgruntled listening to report after report of farmers and agricultural companies “doing it wrong” out there.

“There has to be someone who cares, someone who takes care of their farm and their livestock,” I reasoned.

I wanted to know what goes on at a farm before my food hits my plate?

Here is what I learned…

• Sows have baby pigs every 5 months, which usually results in 6-7 litters.
• The sows are artificially inseminated with boar sperm.
• Male and female pigs are separated in the stalls. Why separate, you ask? For healthier pigs.
• Vaccinations are administered to each pig at birth and a documented paper trail of the health and any medication given to the livestock is reported.
• Boars can be up to 700 pounds and are aggressive!
• Instead of pooping in their pens, pigs saunter up to the side of the pen, press their behinds up against the bars and eliminate. (I saw this up close and personal.)
• Under the building is an 8-foot deep hole, which collects the manure, which is then swirled up and run through pipes under the farmland to be distributed as fertilizer for adjoining farmland.

It was fantastic to connect with the Ward Family, I will never give up consuming pork and I cannot wait for our next tour!

Take-aways from the Ward Family Farm Tour

1. I was blown away by the cleanliness of the stalls and the farm in general. I think pigs get a bad rap as being messy, but the Ward Farm was immaculately maintained and well cared for. I was very impressed.
2. I was touched by the sincere love for farming expressed by the Ward family. You could see the enthusiasm and passion in their eyes.
3. I was glad to hear that antibiotics are only used on pigs that are exhibiting a struggle or illness.
4. I was equally impressed with the respect both the Ward Family and Illini Farms had for the animals.
5. This might be a stretch, but the pigs responded in such a positive way to Steve, that it is worth mentioning. I think if the farmers treated the livestock in a negative way, the pigs would scatter from him, but they did not. I personally think animals are pretty smart!

Elizabeth Rago, North Aurora

Up until this January, for the past seven years, my family and I were vegetarians. After long, hard thought, discussion and exhaustive research we made the decision to fall off the wagon and get back on the meat. While we agreed on all the pros, my husband and I had different concerns about returning animal protein. The hardest thing for me to reconcile when deciding to readopt an omnivore lifestyle was that my food was once a living being.

So imagine my discomfort when I came face to snout with hundreds of little Wilburs that were being raised at Old Elm Farms.  A big part of why I began our vegetarian mission was because of animal welfare. I saw documentaries and read books and articles touting the inhumane practices associated with today’s modern meat industry. I knew that if I was going to readopt this lifestyle I could not blindly pick up my neatly packaged, ready to cook meats and never consider the chain of events that got it to my grocer’s meat case. I wanted to meet the animals that nourish my family and see the farm operations for myself. 

What surprised (and relieved) me most of all were the farmers themselves. I was spending a lot of time worrying about the poor little piggies in terrible conditions, but I never stopped to think that there are people out there devoting their life’s work to raising these animals.  While is was a bit sad to see all the pink pigs, with curious, playful personalities nudging at the sides of the pens,  it was reassuring to see Steve interact with them and seem to know them as individuals. The pigs I saw were clean, comfortable, alert and active. As social creatures, it was nice to see them together in large, open pens that provided plenty of room and access to food and water. It was clear that while a product, they were treated with care and respect.  Steve talked about how he monitors the facility conditions and makes necessary adjustments. He checks each pen daily and separates any pigs that seem to be struggling or ill. Antibiotics are given as a last resort and pigs are never sent to harvest with antibiotics in their system. His wife talked about being woken in the middle of the night when an alarm goes off indicating that there is a problem at the barn such as temperature or problems with the water supply. Farming is a 24-7, 365 day job. That is the nature of raising living beings and crops.

The bottom line is that whether they truly care about the comfort or mindset of the pigs or not, pork farming is a business, and like most businesses, it’s intent is to provide a product that consumers want to buy. John, Steve and his family want to produce the best quality of meat they can. I’m happy that they have adopted practices that they believe will do this and that just so happen to also be the right, humane things to do.

Five take-aways/surprises:

1.  Raising pigs is a very health consious/clean business. We were wore coveralls and boot covers when we toured the finishing barns. Not so much to protect us-but to protect the pigs from diseases and germs we might bring them! Less disease means less need to treat them with drugs or antibiotics.
2. And while it may seem unnatural or unfair to keep them inside-it’s actually better for them inside. When pigs live outside-they are exposed to the elements, which can alter how they eat and drink. Cold, shivering pigs, need more food. Hot pigs roll around in the mud, that they and their buddies also poop in, along with birds and rodents., which exposes them to diseases, which then have to be treated. Yuck! Indoors, everything is controlled for optimum piggy comfort-from temperature, food and water, ventilation, and best of all-their poop falls through slats in the floor.
3. The overall respect and care for the animals. Even if it’s just to produce a better product, I heard over and over, from the farmers, to the corporate reps, happier, healthier pigs make better meat.
4. That no drugs can be in their systems when sent to harvest. And the incredible amount of tracking and paperwork that is done to be accountable for this. Also that keeping them inside (see my #2) helps prevent the need for antibiotics in the first place!
5. It’s all somewhat green/eco-friendly! Using the manure to fertilize the crops and feeding them bakery crumbs and discards are two ways this process is participating in some serious recycling!

Becky Martinez, Glen Ellyn

February buzzed by, literally and figuratively.   Granted it has three less days than other months and it’s usually plagued by clouds, snow or rain and chilly winds, so I suppose if it buzzes by there’s not much to miss.

But this February started buzzing for me from the beginning.  It must be all this focus on food and farming that has my senses on high alert for buzz words.  There is no shortage of them in food advertising as I mused on in my blog post “When Buzzwords Stop Buzzing”. 

The second week of February I flew to NYC and joined celebrity chef Danny Boome on a satellite media tour. We talked with television and radio morning show hosts about buzzwords, the ones we see most often on restaurant menus and on grocery shelves – organic, hormone-free, grass-fed, local and natural. Click here to watch the video.

A week later, I got an email asking me if these buzz words mean different things to a farmer than a consumer. I think that’s part of our problem in attempting to converse about food and farming. Definitions can be so ambiguous and seem to change depending on the person doing the defining.

As a farmer and a consumer I define organic, hormone-free and grass-fed as the how of raising a crop or caring for livestock. I think some people use them to define the nutritional content of food, however as Chef Danny said in our interviews the nutritional value of food depends largely on how it is prepared versus how it is grown.

Local, to me, is my community, my little niche in Northern Illinois.  It is the farms, the towns, the neighbors (who live on the other side of our square mile country block).  It is the businesses we patronize and organizations we support.  Locally grown for me is what I’ve found in my backyard garden or my mother’s garden and locally grown meat comes from farms of other family members.  But, local can also mean purchasing food that has been raised in a certain mile radius of a store or restaurant.  What’s the magic radius?  I don’t think anyone can say for sure.

Natural is probably the hardest to define.  Webster says “existing in or produced by nature” and to me that is farming.  We exist in nature; have learned how to reap its rewards, survive its challenges and how to make our lives better by caring for the environment better.  Are we perfect in this relationship? Absolutely not.  Are we improving every day?  Most certainly.

So, are the definitions of buzz words even clearer than mud now?  Yea, for me too.  I guess this is why this movement to converse, to respectfully listen to the opposite opinion, ask questions and broaden our scope of understanding is so important. 

This year’s group of Field Moms has already tackled some buzz words. I can’t wait to read more about their adventures and the buzzwords they try to define.

Katie Pratt

Grand Prairie Farms

Being a typical mom who wants to feed her family well, I was very excited when our Field Mom program officially started on February 23. I was determined to find out myself how our food is produced and by whom. It is not hard to panic in today’s environment when it comes to food production. Should I buy organic? Is the meat safe? Where did the meat come from? How do I buy locally produced food? And what does politics have to do with food production?

I joined the other field moms and a few farmers on February 23 when we started our year together, all full of questions. We had a lot of them answered on the bus on our way to Sycamore. Deb, Pam, and Jim were able to give us very concrete background information on farming in Illinois today.

While we were mostly talking about pork production, it was also obvious that all farmers have a lot in common: family farms are still the most common form of farming in Illinois where 94% of all farms are family-owned. Children join their parents from young age and learn to work on the farm. Some of them enjoy it and want to stay on the farm, some of them want to leave as soon as they are done with high school. But the common theme was the children’s attitude to work and their pride in growing up on a farm.

Our visit to the Ward family’s pig farm could not have been more informative. The farmers, John and Steve, were willing to answer all of our questions about pigs’ lives from birth to the slaughterhouse. How the pigs are fed, whether they are given antibiotics (only for medical reasons), are they given hormones (no), etc. We also had a long discussion on GMOs, why a farm is or is not organic (requirements on available space to access to organic feed), corn and soybean crops, the needed equipment, and the availability of land in Illinois where subdivisions are creeping closer and closer to farmland.

On our tour of the pig sheds, Steve was once more willing to answer all of our questions about the pigs. Why are the pigs kept inside (controlled environment, health and nutrition of the pigs); what the pigs eat (corn, soybean meal, bakery products); and how you make sure all of the pigs are doing well (an experienced farmer sees signs immediately). Yes, there is a smell in the sheds, but the pigs were surprisingly clean and they are able to move around. There were absolutely no signs of animals that had been mistreated (I expected chewed ears and tails as signs of stress).

My first visit to an Illinois farm (or any farm in the U.S.) was eye-opening. The amount of work, investment and time needed to farm is enormous. My guess is that even though there are differences between farms, the basic work and commitment to a lifestyle is the same for all of them. One of my reasons for joining the Field Mom program was to be able to tell my children where our food comes from and we have now been able to have several discussions on pigs and meat production in general. I’m looking forward to our next visit and learning about other farms.

I had an extremely informative day at the Ward farm, thanks to both generations of the family!

Five things I learned on our trip to a pig farm (there would be many more, but here are the first five):

• The price of farmland whether you buy or lease in Illinois is very high. It is hard for farm families to be able to buy more land to support more than one family.
• The life cycle of a pig from birth to slaughterhouse. I had no idea about the time it takes for a pig to grow to market weight, etc.
• The tour of the buildings where the pigs are raised was important. Heating/air-conditioning, cleanliness, etc. were important pieces of information.
• Information on how the pigs are slaughtered was informative and useful.
• Information on the use of hormones and antibiotics was useful.

Tanja Saarinen, Oak Park
Field Mom

 

Last Saturday was a busy day at our farm. We hosted 16 Field Moms from the Chicago-area for a tour, showing them how we raise pigs. The moms asked a lot of great questions, one in particular I often get asked is: 

What’s the difference between organic and non-organic pork?

The term organic speaks to a particular method used to farm. Generally speaking, pork that is certified organic comes from pigs that never receive synthetic vaccinations or antibiotics, are provided access to the outdoors, and meet animal health and welfare standards. The animals eat feed that is organic as well, meaning it is grown without most commonly-used synthetic pesticides and fertilizers. (There are some fertilizers and pest control products organic farmers can use on their crops.)

How is that different from my pigs? On my farm, we meet or exceed health and animal welfare standards too. We also use farming practices that include options like GMO crops and giving medicines when needed. For example, the feed my pigs eat consists mostly of corn and soybeans which may or may not be the same feed used in organic farming. On my farm, some of the grain comes from GMO seeds. Using GMO seeds and biotechnology actually allows me to use fewer chemicals on the plant as it grows, making less of an impact on my land and making it safer for the consumer and the farmer as we handle fewer chemicals. (If you want to know more about GMOs, click here.)

While on our farm, we do our best to keep all our animals healthy throughout their lives. Just like we give our kids vaccines to prevent illness and disease, the pigs on my farm are vaccinated early in their lives to ward off common illnesses. I’m in my barns every day monitoring the health and eating habits of the pigs. Like with my kids, I can tell by looking at their eyes and noses if they aren’t feeling well. If that’s the case, I pull that pig aside and, with my veterinarian, decide how to get them healthy again. Sometimes that means giving them medicines, like an antibiotic. If I do give them an antibiotic, I follow strict label directions and make sure that the animal doesn’t go to market until all the medicine has cleared their system. The pigs from my farm are marketed under the Farmland® label. Once my pigs arrive at the Farmland plant, like all meat, they are inspected by the United States Department of Agriculture and the Food Safety Inspection Service. I feel good about the pork I raise; my family enjoys it regularly.

Consumers today can choose to pay more for organic meat, but I hope they know it’s not safer or more nutritious than the pork from my farm. I’m confident the pork I raise is safe and healthy and contains no antibiotics. By the way, the moms also asked me what our family’s favorite cut of pork was – it’s the tenderloin. Here’s a recipe you can try tonight.

I hope I’ve helped answer the question. Post your thoughts and comments below and we’ll continue the conversation.

Steve Ward
Old Elm Farms
Sycamore, IL

Chicago blogger Emily Paster writes about food almost every day. She's also been interested in learning more about where her food comes from. In the fall of 2011, she accompanied the Field Moms on their tours of Illinois dairy and crop and livestock farms. Last week she was in New York to continue the conversation about food and farming. Here's her latest blog post on a topic many consumers want to know more about: 

My Thoughts on Antibiotics and Food
Let me begin this post by saying that I am serious when I say that these are my thoughts on the issue of antibiotics in farming. I speak for no one but myself. And I am by no means an expert on this topic. I am not a scientist, a veterinarian nor a farmer. I am a simply a concerned consumer.

I am fortunate in that, through this blog, I have had unique opportunities to ask my questions about antibiotic use in animal agriculture directly to scientists, veterinarians and farmers. Most recently, I attended the latest in the U.S. Farmers and Ranchers Alliance (USFRA) series of Food Dialogues, which took place in New York City on November 15. One of the three panels that USFRA presented that day was entitled “Antibiotics and Your Food” and featured a diverse group of panelists, including two large animal vets one who is also a dairy farmer and one who works for the American Veterinary Medical Association; an Iowa pork producer; a pediatric nutritionist; and Jean Halloran, Director of Food Policy Initiatives at Consumers Union. The panel was very informative and I encourage you to watch it for yourself here. I will also share with you my impressions.

Before I get into my thoughts on antibiotics and food, I want to disclose that I was at Food Dialogues in New York as a guest of the USFRA.  I was actually there to help judge the Faces of Farming and Ranching contest, a nationwide search for five farmers or ranchers who will have a unique opportunity to share their stories with audiences throughout the country. These farmers and ranchers were a passionate, inspiring group of men and women, old and young, from South Carolina to Oregon and everywhere in between and I loved hearing their stories. I encourage everyone to check out the finalists and vote for your favorites between now and December 15. I promise that you will enjoy hearing from this interesting and knowledgeable group and they may even change your image of what a farmer is. Because I was in New York to judge the contest, my travel was paid for by USFRA and I was compensated for my time.

However, even though I was at Food Dialogues under the auspices of the USFRA, I am not on any particular side in this debate. I do not have an ax to grind. I am neither pro conventional agriculture and anti-organic or the reverse. I am simply a consumer who cares deeply about the quality of my food, food safety, nutrition, equal access to healthy food for all, sustainability, and animal welfare. USFRA did not ask me to write about my experience at Food Dialogues, nor is the organization paying me for anything other than my work as a guest judge.  These thoughts are truly my honest impressions. And I may get some things wrong. If I do, I hope someone will tell me — in a civil manner of course.

We are all familiar with antibiotics. We take them ourselves; we give them to our children and our pets for infections such as strep throat or sinusitis. Maybe you or someone you love has battled a more serious infection and has need antibiotics to survive. My daughter Zuzu had a rare infection as a newborn and was hospitalized for six days. The antibiotics that she received likely prevented her from being permanently disfigured. So, we all know that antibiotics can do tremendous good.

Many of us also know that scientists and doctors are concerned about antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria, which seem to be increasing. The concern is that we will not have effective treatments for these bacteria going forward. There are many theories about why these resistant strains of bacteria are on the increase, such as doctors overprescribing antibiotics or patients not finishing courses of antibiotics.

There are also some scientists who believe that the use of antibiotics in agriculture has contributed to these resistant strains of bacteria. Let me stop right there to emphasize this point. It’s really important that we understand what the concern is when we talk about antibiotics and food. The concern is NOT that there are antibiotics in the meat we eat or the milk we drink. Animals that are being killed for food or cows that are milked cannot have antibiotics in their systems. The FDA tests for that. (The FDA only tests for a limited number of drugs, of course, which may raise concerns for some people.) The law requires that an animal that receives antibiotics for any reason cannot be used for meat or milked for a mandated period of time to allow the antibiotics to work through their systems. In short, we are not ingesting antibiotics in meat or milk.

The concern of consumer advocacy groups like the Consumers Union is that the use of antibiotics in agriculture is contributing to the increase of resistant strains of bacteria. Now, to understand this concern, it is important to understand how antibiotics are used in agriculture. In conventional agriculture, antibiotics are used both to treat sick animals and also prophylactically to prevent disease and to promote growth.

I’m going to pause here for a minute to discuss the difference between conventional and organic meat and milk. Organic milk and meat comes from animals that are never treated with antibiotics. That means that if a cow on an organic dairy farm develops mastitis — a common infection in animals that are nursing, including humans — the farmer cannot treat that cow with antibiotics if he or she wants to continue to milk that cow once the cow recovers from the infection. (No responsible dairies, conventional or organic, would continue to milk a sick cow.) I have asked numerous sources what happens to the cow in that instance and I haven’t gotten one clear answer. Some people say that the farmer can hope the infection clears up on its own; or the farmer can treat the cow with antibiotics but then has to sell her. I still am not sure what happens. I wrote a lot more on the difference between conventional and organic milk here if you are curious.

Even those scientists and activists who want conventional agriculture to reduce its antibiotic use acknowledge that it makes sense for farmers who want to do so to use antibiotics to treat sick animals, just as it makes sense to use antibiotics to treat sick people. (Of course, it is important to understand and factor in the wide-ranging effects that antibiotics can have on the so-called good bacteria that is part of everyone’s biome. The October 22 issue of The New Yorker contained a fascinating article on how little we understand about the role bacteria plays in our health.) Their concern is about the antibiotics given to animals to prevent disease and promote growth. As panelist Jean Halloran asserted, the concern is that this use of antibiotics is contributing to resistant strains of bacteria.

The farmers and vets on the panel dispute this assertion and claim that there is no proven link between this prophylactic use of antibiotics in animals and the rise of so-called resistant super-bugs. They argue that the use of antibiotics to prevent disease and to promote growth enables them to raise animals in a more efficient manner, which is both more sustainable and leads to reduced costs for the  consumer. They also dispute the notion that farmers are giving drugs willy-nilly to their animals and point out that antibiotics are expensive. Farmers have every incentive to use them wisely and indeed can only give antibiotics to their animals under the supervision of a veterinarian.

Where does that leave the consumer? Probably confused. I still am. But here’s my take-away. Resistant strains of bacteria are a real concern for us all. We all need to do our part to ensure that antibiotics are used responsibly. We shouldn’t demand antibiotics for every sniffle and when we do genuinely need a prescription for antibiotics, we should follow the instructions on that prescription.

As for food, if you want to buy organic milk or meat for whatever reason, please do so. But let’s all understand that there are no antibiotics in conventional milk or meat. Conventional meat and milk are safe products and no one should feel bad for buying them. I personally think that it is an acceptable and even commendable practice to treat animals with antibiotics when sick, as conventional farmers do. I don’t know much about animal welfare, but it seems potentially cruel not to treat a sick animal.

Do I continue to have concerns about the use of antibiotics as disease prevention or growth promotion? I do. While I am not convinced that there is hard proof that this use of antibiotics has contributed to the rise of resistant strains of bacteria, I find it plausible that it has done so. And I found many of panelist Jean Halloran’s arguments that we can produce safe meat and milk without a significant increased cost while reducing our use of antibiotics to be convincing. In short, it seems to me that benefits of reducing our use of preventative antibiotics in animals outweigh the costs. But I continue to have many questions and I will continue to explore this controversial topic.

Do you have concerns about how antibiotics are used in agriculture? Do you worry about resistant super-bugs? If so, have you changed your behavior as a result?

Emily Paster Chicago area
Emily Paster is a Chicago mom and food blogger. She shares her passion for all things food at www.westoftheloop.com. This blog was shared with permission from the author.

I think most of the moms out there will agree with me.                                                                                                            Grocery shopping with your kids is challenging.  I have three kids:  Bella, 6 years; Mae, 4 years; and Nolan, 3 years.  Walking through the aisles is a coordinated dance to avoid other carts, continuously apologize for the kids being in the middle of the aisle, and grabbing teeny-tiny hands away from the shelves of endless goodies.  Whew, I’m exhausted just writing that. 

Here’s what I am absolutely grateful for at the grocery store:  knowing that I can walk up to the butchers counter and order meat that is 100% safe for my family.  I am confident in purchasing chicken, pork, and beef for my family.  Farmers today are very concerned with providing your families (and their own families) with a very healthy and safe product.  I don’t have to look for those labels touting “Antibiotic Free”.  Farmers today do not routinely use antibiotics in their animals.  Plus, the FDA has strict guidelines to review and approve all antibiotics used in meat.  The US Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) monitors and tests meat to ensure there are no harmful residues, as laid out by the FDA, entering the food supply.

I can speak mainly on the pork side of the story, since we raise hogs.  We only use antibiotics to protect our animals’ health and welfare.  Those antibiotics are used under strict guidance from our veterinary team.  Pig farmers are also taking our commitment to the next level through programs like We Care® and Pork Quality Assurance (PQA) Plus certifications.  The We Care® initiative shows our commitment to practices that protect human health, which includes careful management of antibiotic use.  The PQA Plus certification is designed to help farmers develop good production practices, especially in relation to responsible antibiotic use and animal well-being.  Today, over 55,000 farmers have achieved PQA Plus certification, including my husband and myself.

Remember US and Illinois farmers support responsible use of antibiotics (in both humans and animals), and seek out specific, professional guidance from veterinarians before using any antibiotics.  We are continuously updating our research to ensure that we are only getting better at growing a healthy, well-balanced, and safe diet for our families and yours.  So, to my fellow mommies, don’t stress about the labels on meat in the grocery store.  Worry only about whether or not your kid is running over other shoppers with your cart. 

Kate Hagenbuch
Hagenbuch Farms
Utica, IL

Driving out for my first tour of the Martz grain and beef cattle farm near Maple Park felt a little bit like going back in time. Traffic thinned out - and included a lot more pickup trucks - a tractor drove down the road, and horses and cows grazed in gently sloping fields against a silo-dotted backdrop.

What awaited me next was an amazing learnathon:

• “Prime,” “Choice” and “Select” refer to meat grades from highest to lowest
• Marbling - the fat in your steak - is monounsaturated, which is actually good for you
• “USDA-inspected labels on beef can be misleading - all beef has to be USDA-inspected
• The term “grass-fed beef” is also misleading – at some point all cows are fed grass and/or roam in pastures
• More than 98% of cattle on feed in the U.S. are given hormones to aid their growth and strength
• You would have to eat 2,900 lbs. of implanted steer to equal the amount of hormones in birth control pills (example: Beef from a steer treated with estrogen contains 1.9 nanongrams – a billionth of a gram – while a girl prior to puberty has 54,000 nanograms of estrogen naturally occurring in her system)
• Nutrition wise, there is no difference between organic beef and "traditional" beef
• Antibiotics pass through cattle before they even go to market
• Market Day Ranch Steaks (we order ‘em every month) come from a packing plant in nearby Aurora – and some of the Martz cattle
• Farmers are eating the same beef we are at home
• A dedicated cattle nutritionist creates a very specific feed recipe for the cows
• Farmers and veterinarians are working to reduce antibiotic use in cattle by focusing on good nutrition and the use of vaccines in comprehensive preconditioning programs (before they get big enough for us to eat)
• A “squeeze” machine developed by Dr. Temple Grandin is used to keep cattle stress free
• One ear of corn can tell a farmer what to expect in terms of yields for the year
• Combines on the farm can harvest 12 rows of corn at one time (some combines can harvest 18!) and hold up to 25,000 lbs. of corn

On the drive home, my brain was filled to capacity with all things farms and food – the coffee and ginormous cream cheese frosted brownie deliciousness Lynn and Mike Martz sent with me helped.

Stay tuned as I learn and share more about the anything-but-slow-paced farm life.

Pilar Clark
Lisle, Illinois

 

Let’s keep with cow’s milk (my favorite kind)!  First, “Vitamin D” milk is whole milk.  People think that whole milk is bad for you because it has all that fat in it, right?  Wrong!  Whole milk has a whopping fat content of 3.5% (the average fat content of milk right from the cow).  Look through your frig & pantry, and I bet you’d be hard pressed to find a lot of foods under 4% fat.  If you like the taste of whole milk, as dairy farmers, we thank you, but if not, you have lots of other options.  Reduced-fat milk (that being either 2%, 1%, or skim, 0%, fat) offers you the same nutrients with a little of the cream scraped off the top.  A good friend of mind once said, “Carrie, I’m desperately trying to drink the Vitamin D milk, because I know I need the Vitamin D, but I just can’t stand the taste!”  She was worried about maintaining her bone density, as should many young women, especially those who are busy professionals that don’t get a chance to sit down for supper with a glass of milk every night.  I had a giggle, as I told her ALL milk, whether it be chocolate or strawberry, whole, 2% or skim, has all the same vitamins and minerals (A, D, calcium and so on) in each glass!  

When an animal is sick, it is my responsibility to care for it.  Sometimes, the best way for me to do this is to use an antibiotic.  However, that animal product (be it milk, meat or eggs) is removed or withheld from the food supply until that antibiotic has cleared the animal’s body.  All milk is tested for antibiotics on the farm and at the processing plant. Any milk that tests positive for antibiotics cannot be sold to the public and is discarded. I won’t give anything to my animals that I do not feel is safe for them, my family, and yours.  Furthermore, all mammals (that includes you, me, as well as the cows and pigs) produce hormones in our bodies.  It is part of how our bodies work.  That means that things that come from those bodies will contain hormones.  They are broken down by our body, just like other things we eat.  Just remember to keep things in perspective, vegetables contain hormones too.

So, whatever your fancy, you will always get a nutritious, good-for-you glass no matter what jug it is out of.  The pick at our house is “Mixed Milk”, a white skim and chocolate (1 or 2%) mix, served alongside pork tenderloin!  

Carrie Pollard
Po-Cop Dairy
Rockford, Illinois

Visit Carrie's blog at http://www.mycowsandpigs.blogspot.com/