Death in the Afternoon
Killing a bull may be a necessity, but should not be a form of cheap entertainment
By JUSTINE R. LESCROART
Harvard Crimson
Editor’s note: Stories of this ilk are included in the blog to inform those in our industry how agriculture is being presented to and perceived by the public.
In Madrid, it was with full enthusiasm that I bought tickets to a bullfight. After all, I came abroad to learn about Spanish culture, and what’s more Spanish than a bullfight? I’d read enough Hemingway to find the stone ring and the matadors’ colorful costumes—in short, the whole experience—dazzling and awe-inspiring. (Sentences such as, “Bullfighting is the only art in which the artist is in danger of death and in which the degree of brilliance in the performance is left to the fighter’s honor” can’t but make one want to participate in, or at least observe, said sport.) I was ready for death in the afternoon.
Yes, I knew that the bull dies. However, I told myself, being born a bull in today’s world is bad news regardless. In the United States, many bulls are raised as beef cattle. Such bulls are usually born on cow-calf operations. At six to 10 months, they are weaned, and after about a year they’re sold to a cattle feeder or stoker/backgrounder who then prepares them for the feedlot (gives them grain, etc.). At a feedlot, the bulls live in pens and receive hormones and more grain. Once a bull is 18 to 22 months old, it is taken to a slaughterhouse and killed. (USDA beef is graded according to two criteria, one of which is age of the cattle. According to the website “The BBQ Report,” “Beef is best in flavor and texture when cattle is between 18 and 24 months old,” which accounts for why most cattle are slaughtered at this age.) Most slaughters are two-step. First, the bull receives a bolt of electricity or a metal rod to the forehead, which stuns it into unconsciousness. Next, its throat is cut, at which point it dies of exsanguination. It’s not exactly a pretty process, but if—like me—you really like hamburgers, the reality of the process is just something that you have to swallow.
FULL STORY
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