On That Date, No. 10

“Milwaukee will soon be as famous for the quality of her dry bologna, or “cervelat wurst,” as she is for the excellence of her beer. Tons of this sausage are annually shipped for Western, Southern and Eastern points.

“The meat is cut by steam cutters of improved construction, and every possible facility employed in drying and getting them ready for market. This article is pronounced to be in every way equal to foreign make and is warranted to keep for two years.”

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Milwaukee Sentinel, July 18, 1870, p. 1.

On That Date, No. 8

“Iowa Beef Packers, Inc. [IBP], disclosed plans to built an air-conditioned, indoor cattle-feeding facility capable of turning out 50,000 to 100,000 animals a year.

“The Denison, Iowa, packer will invest about $5 million in the unusual operation, [an IPB vice president said]. To be located near Irvington, Iowa, the 1.5 million-square-foot facility will be the nation’s largest indoor cattle-feeding operation . . . Smaller indoor operations are run by many Midwest farmers.

“Cattle will be housed in a series of pre-stressed concrete buildings that will be air conditioned to maintain ideal temperatures for weight gain, the company said. The building will contain slatted floors over 8-foot pits that will collect manure, which will probably be sold to farmers for fertilizer.

“Feeding will be controlled by computer, Iowa Beef said. Ration recipes will be punched on computer cards, and the feed will be weighed and mixed automatically. An on-site feed mill will formulate the feed ration.”

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“Large Indoor Facility to Feed Cattle Slated By Beef-Packing Firm,” Wall Street Journal, November 9, 1965, p. 32.

On That Date, No. 6

“Animal rights activists told farm organization representatives at a Chicago conference that they kind of hog production they will accept involves a pasture system, for farrowing as well as growing and finishing.

[Conference] speakers make it clear that the animal rights movement considers confinement production of hogs ‘abuse and torment.’ They were particularly critical of stalls and crates for sows during gestation and farrowing and the films they showed indicated pasture production is the only system they consider acceptable.

“While speakers insisted that vegetarianism is not necessarily a part of the animals rights movement, many of the speakers were vegetarians; much of the literature distributed to registrants extolled the merits of a vegetarian diet; and the lunch entree was a cheese sandwich.”

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“Only Pigs on Pastured Condoned by Welfarists,” National Hog Farmer 26, no. 3 (March 15, 1981): 20.

On That Date, No. 4

“We are no longer a nation of farmers living in sight of our food supply,” a writer reminded the readers of one national magazine. “The journey between us and [our] food supply, once only as long as from our own field and garden to our back door, has been lengthening year by year.” _____________

Mary Hinman Abel, “Safe Foods and How to Get Them,” Delineator 66 (September 1905): 394, 396.