Immature beef cattle: cattle of the meat breed that do not meet the definition of adult cows or bulls. Non-adult beef cattle are further distinguished by weight grades of less than 400 pounds or 400 pounds or more at the time of death. The extent to which legislators protect cattle is often more related to the final consumption of livestock than to the welfare of the animals themselves. Enacted laws rarely focus on improving the quality of life of cattle, but protect those who raise, feed and slaughter cattle and those who consume cattle products. Cattle owners are likely to consider laws limiting the breeding, feeding and slaughter of animals undesirable, as such laws could increase costs and result in civil and/or criminal penalties if not followed. Consumers rarely consider livestock outside of their commercial use, and when they do, they usually don`t think of livestock in concentrated feed farms, but in small groups scattered across hilly fields. Even if true, these images of grazing cattle rarely acknowledge the absence of laws to protect how owners treat their livestock. Considered property, cattle fall victim to the void of laws known as acceptable husbandry practices. To advance American agriculture, Congress created the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) in 1862. As food safety concerns grew, the government tasked the USDA with mitigating the dangers of consuming unsafe meat products. The Administration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt removed the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) from the USDA, but retained the power to regulate meat and poultry, under USDA control, even though the FDA inspects the quality of drugs and feed. And the EPA regulates which pesticides and how many pesticide residues are allowed in animal feed.
The federal government began regulating meat production under the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 and the Federal Meat Inspection Act of 1907. The way the government implements meat inspection changes over time. Currently, the U.S. Department of Agriculture inspects the country`s meat products. It uses a Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) program, in which meat producers establish appropriate security controls and the government oversees those controls, with a greater focus on business processes than packaged meat products. After the discovery of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, better known as mad cow disease, the federal government tightened some laws that involve the slaughter of cattle. Previously, there was no significant legislation preventing meat packers from processing “killed cattle” (cattle too sick or injured to stand or walk alone), but shortly after the outbreak of mad cow disease, the government banned killed cattle from ending up on our plates. Whether the government is properly enforcing these regulations is controversial.
Farmers castrate cattle to encourage the docility of livestock. One of the reasons given for supporting this practice is that reducing a bull`s libido reduces its aggressiveness, and calmer animals are less dangerous. Some people also claim that castration also helps produce more tender meats. Castration often occurs when cattle are between two weeks and two months old. Some producers decide not to castrate the cattle, but to send the calves to feedlots when they are about eight or nine months old. Feedlot operators then castrate calves upon arrival. Animal keeper: a person who, at the time of the animal`s death, is the legal owner of the livestock for which benefits are claimed. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration revised the definition of livestock in 49 CFR 395.2 to include llamas, alpacas, live fish, and crayfish. This means that transporters of llamas, alpacas, live fish and spiny lobsters are included in the hours of service for drivers transporting agricultural raw materials in accordance with section 395.1(k)(1). This amendment follows the 2018 amendment to the Emergency Food Aid Act, 1988 and will come into force on December 20, 2018. Rodeos are competitive events where participants rope, tie and ride various animals, including cattle (bulls, oxen, calves). State law decides what is acceptable, although most laws allow the rodeo industry to define acceptable rodeo practices.
The Professional Rodeo Cowboy`s Association (PRCA) is the largest rodeo federation and therefore PRCA defines what is human. Some states pass laws to prevent certain events. For example, an event called a hitch involves a cowboy rope to a calf by throwing a loop of rope around the calf`s legs to catch the calf. Most rodeos require the cowboy to push the calf after the cowboy has secured the calf with the rope loop, but some states require that the rope does not bind when taught, but opens and therefore releases the calf. Rodeos usually refrain from rappelling down areas with this law instead of practicing this more humane version of the event. Branding is a technique that dates back at least to ancient Egypt. Modern cattle owners mark or tag their herd to identify their cows, prove ownership, and separate mixed herds. Below is a description of some common methods of tagging and tagging. Other brands: Some breeders tattoo the ears of cattle. Tattoos are not as easy to read and take longer than branding. Other breeders use ear tags or collars, but they may fall off (just as easy for other breeders to remove and therefore claim livestock as their own), or tags or chains get stuck on objects and can harm livestock. Section 42.09 of the Texas Penal Code recognizes cruelty to animals when a person intentionally or knowingly tortures an animal, even though the law recognizes an exemption for ranching or farming practices involving livestock.
In 2007, Texas lawmakers passed House Act 2328, which allows the judicial system to prosecute atrocity cases at a lower level. The current standard requires a person to intentionally or knowingly injure an animal, while the new standard would also hold liable a person whose careless behaviour harms an animal. The bill also defines “torture” as “any act that causes undue pain or suffering” that could facilitate the protection of livestock from painful practices. A 1999 case, Westfall v. The State concluded that the defendant, who had thirty years of experience in the livestock trade, had seriously misled his herd by not providing them with sufficient food, leaving the cattle malnourished, weak and suffering. Some cattle died in the mud, too weak to escape. The fact that the mismanagement was outside normal husbandry practices was sufficient to justify intentional or deliberate torture of livestock. Westfall v. Staat (10 S.W.3d 85). A few years later, in Mack v. The Court of Appeals found that Mack failed to adequately care for his cows, causing them to suffer from malnutrition, and therefore committed an animal cruelty offense under Section 42.09 of the Texas Penal Code.
Mack v. Staat (2003 WL 23015101). The federal government began regulating meat production under the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 and the Federal Meat Inspection Act of 1907. Over the next hundred years, Congress amended these laws and replaced them with a new legal code. In addition, Congress passed the Humane Slaughter Act of 1958 to protect livestock during slaughter, although many sources from slaughterhouses tell horrific stories that, if true, show that slaughterhouse operators cannot or will not ensure that cattle do not die quickly and die relatively painlessly. Middle English catel, cadel “property (real or personal), goods, treasure, livestock, (plural cateles) possessions”, borrowed from the Anglo-French katil “property, goods, wealth”, borrowed from medieval French (dialects of Picardy and French Flanders) catel, goes back to the medieval Latin capitÄle “furniture, wealth” (in Anglo-Saxon legal texts) “head of cattle”, name derived from neutral of capitÄlis “of the Chief, Chief, Principal” – more under Capital Entry 1 The above document is a guide to the definition of “livestock”. Currently, the USDA tests only one or two percent of cows slaughtered for BSE.