Government reports reveal disease, dwarfism, birth troubles in livestock are suddenly increasing! What has gone wrong with our livestock? What is it doing to our food? Your health is at stake! Read the astounding facts.
CATTLEMEN and poultry men have now been told by government reports that there is something drastically wrong with the livestock industry. Within a few years it will affect our food supply. Troubles are reaching epidemic proportions in many areas — in spite of medical science, mechanization and feed additives.
The Official Statistics
During the last few years we have been shocked by many news releases and government reports that cast a pall of gloom over the whole livestock picture. Some people have tried to ignore these troubles and hope they would go away. Not so! Livestock losses have reached tragic proportions no one even dared dream of twenty years ago. "Animal diseases are on the loose, EXPLODING throughout the world," admits the Los Angeles Times. An "overeating disease in sheep, enterotoxemia, is now costing farmers an estimated $10,000,000 a year in sheep losses. The disease is triggered by a diet of rich feed... which sets up rapid multiplication of the disease organism" (Press-Enterprise). Cattle are also hard hit by varied destroyers. From the Science page of TIME magazine comes this report concerning the three leading beef breeds: "Cattle breeders are in a fluster about dwarf calves, which are being born in ever-increasing numbers in the U.S. and Canada. Some unfortunate herds have produced 12% [dwarfs]. Considerably less than 12% can bankrupt a cattleman. Cattle experts believe the epidemic of dwarfism may be a result of breeding beef cattle for squat, spraddle-legged, 'blocky' figures." Most people who live in towns or large cities haven't been conscious of what's happening on the farms of our nation. Two decades ago dwarfism was a rarity. Today it is widespread among Shorthorn, Aberdeen Angus, and Hereford herds. Dwarfs rarely reach slaughtering age. When they do, their inferior meat is fit only for hamburger. The modern dwarf is a degenerate freak. It is NOT small by natural heredity like the superior quality Dexter and Brittany cattle, Shetland ponies, and bantam chickens. A leading cause of losses in commercial dairy herds is Bang's disease, or infectious abortion, which is just as destructive as dwarfism. The disease is increasing in spite of liberal use of "miracle drugs." Mastitis is also one of the most plaguing troubles that many dairymen have to battle continuously. To go with all the old troubles and diseases our cattle have had for ten or fifteen years, new ones are cropping up all the time. Bluetongue, blackleg, hoof-and-mouth disease, "lepto, " "cow asthma," rabies, anaplasmosis, and now vibriosis (which causes sterility) are already too prevalent for comfort. In many herds the disease-caused mortality rate of new-born animals is 20 to 40%. This can mean disaster.
Dangerous to Humans
Not only are these diseases a major threat to the farm economy, they are also endangering the health of the consumers! Notice: "Of the 200 or more infectious diseases that affect animals, upward of 100 (fully half) can be passed to humans, Dr. Steele [U.S. Public Health Service veterinarian] said" (The Denver Post, April 8, 1959). Diseases and dwarfism are not alone in destroying our livestock. Many cows, especially in the highly competitive commercial dairy herds, have become too weak to give natural birth. This situation has developed in just the last few years. Fifteen years ago — almost unheard of. Today — fully half the calves in many herds have to be forcibly extracted, causing great damage — sometimes even death — to the cow, and many times bringing death to the calf. Although increasing rapidly, this problem is rarely reported, since it is not a "disease." Not only are the varied losses heavy, but they are increasing! "Virus diseases of cattle are increasing in the United States. "Before the outbreaks in the past 13 years (since 1946), the United States was singularly free of virus disease of any consequence in cattle. "Recent changes in handling animals... may have upset the NATURAL BALANCE!" California Farmer, Oct. 1959. (Emphasis ours throughout article) Take note of the surprising warning that the farmer's own methods of animal husbandry may be responsible for his grief! All these major losses — diseases, dwarfism, and birth difficulties — are increasing so rapidly that at the present rate they could soon bankrupt the whole commercial livestock industry. Some producers are already on the verge of bankruptcy, and in a few tragic cases, farmers have lost every animal to disease. The total loss in all livestock, including poultry, is astounding. From Washington, D.C., AP reported in 1958: "Even in this day of miracle drugs and scientific advances, the nation loses more than $2,000,000,000 a year through livestock diseases and parasites. "This staggering loss is equivalent to about 15 per cent of this year's farm income." These troubles hit at the highest producers — the blockiest beef breeds, the milkiest dairy cows, the laying hens with faster early production. The most advanced strains within the affected breeds suffer most. Yet there are some very productive breeds that are almost untouched by any of these ailments. Some farmers almost never have livestock losses — they always show a profit. Why this difference? Why should Shorthorns, Herefords, Aberdeen Angus, Holstein-Friesians, Guernseys have greater onslaughts of trouble than Brown Swiss, Jerseys, and Devons? Why are there such differences in losses from herd to herd even within the same breed? And why should Scotch Highlanders, Brahmans, Galloways, Dexters, and others almost never have troubles of any sort, and consistently return a profit to their owners — and health to the consumer? Why is it that some commercial dairymen can count on only five or six years of production from a cow while other very productive milk cows can be expected to produce well until they are fifteen or more years old? Why is it that most commercial laying hens produce for only one year, while many back-yard flocks, that produce almost as well, are still going strong when six or eight years old? Is there a logical answer to these perplexing problems? Yes, there is. And it is of vital concern to all because it concerns the source of your health. Many popular misconceptions contribute to man's mismanagement of his livestock. It is assumed that man has many inalienable rights, and no responsibility to God or neighbor — that the world owes us a living — that the majority is always right — that if it makes more money, that makes it better — that cattle have to be bigger to be better — that an idea has to be popularly accepted to be good. These errors are so strongly implanted in the minds of the masses — so taken for granted — that even when a man starts repenting and trying to obey God, he may still unknowingly continue ruining the health of his livestock and the consumer — besides wrecking his economy. It is high time we study the principles that govern animal husbandry and avert disaster. You can change YOUR methods so that you shall have no need for worry! And the consumer can then eat your products without misgivings. Remember, noted veterinarians recognize that methods of animal husbandry may have upset the natural balance and thus caused these problems. What are the principles involved? Did you know that your Bible has something to say about this very problem?
What the Bible Says About It
There is a cause for prosperity and a cause for every sickness and disease. Notice what God promises for our cattle if we follow the right laws of agriculture. "And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe and to do ALL his commandments.... Blessed shall be... thy fruit of thy cattle, the increase of thy kine (cows), and the flocks of thy sheep" (Deut. 28:1-4). The same promise is given in more explicit detail in Deuteronomy 7:11-15: "Thou shalt therefore keep the commandments... He will also bless... the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep... There shall not be male or female barren among you or among your cattle. And the Lord will take away from thee all sickness..." (including cattle sickness). Notice that this all-inclusive promise of unrestrained success in life is dependent upon one factor: obeying God. God's ways were designed for the express purpose of automatically bringing success and happiness. One who believes what God says and obeys Him finds it impossible to be a failure. But our people have not obeyed God. We — and that includes farmers — have forsaken Him on a grand scale. Notice what is to happen to us as a penalty for this rebellion: "But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe to do all his commandments... Cursed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy land, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep... The Lord shall send upon thee cursing, vexation, and rebuke, in all that thou settest thine hand unto for to do, until thou be destroyed, and until thou perish quickly; because of the wickedness of thy doings, whereby thou hast forsaken me" (Deut. 28:15-21). Notice that a quick end is prophesied for our prosperous society because of our rebellion against our Maker. God is no respecter of persons. A quick end came upon the prosperity of our people of old. And our prosperity today is about to terminate just as quickly for the same reason! A hasty downfall such as herein described could come only at the death throes of an empire or nation — when sin reaps its devastating penalty after God's patience runs out. Today's mounting surge of livestock losses commenced in the middle forties — just after God started warning this heedless nation through The WORLD TOMORROW broadcast. God always warns His people before sending punishment upon them (Amos 3:7). When men rebel against God's ways, their own clouded thinking and consequent wrong decisions bring most of their grief upon them. God has given us instructions and examples to show us how to manage our affairs. But this darkened society has taught us to turn our backs on God's Word, the Bible.
Physical Creation Originally Perfect
A strong delusion has gripped the whole Anglo-Saxon world in regard to the principles of livestock husbandry. We have supposed that we have been improving our cattle to a now-near-perfect state. But near-perfect cattle do not suddenly "go to pot" as ours are doing! When God created man and the animal world, He did not create scrubs, as men have thought. He did a good job of His work (Gen. 1:24-27). He created physical perfection. Any scrubs that have come along since are a result of man's mismanagement — of physical sins. God reminds us: "I had planted thee a noble vine, wholly a right seed: how then art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine unto me?" (Jer. 2:21) "They have perverted their way" (Jer. 3:21). God gave us the standards by which man could have maintained that perfection. But man guesses and supposes, out of his own imagination, in order to devise his own standards of supposed excellence.
Quality of Feed Affects Livestock
Modern methods of producing feed crops and feeding animals have had considerable impact on the present livestock distress. God gave us a rich, bountiful land full of a great variety of forage crops for our livestock and wildlife. Animals that are allowed to instinctively graze and browse in native grasses, weeds, and bushes will never become ill if they have good heredity as well. But men, in the interest of greater, temporary profits for the moment, have in many cases cleared away the God-intended herbs and bushes that are vital in balancing the diet of livestock — so that they can plant a few quick-growing grasses and legumes. At first glance this looks good — if the farmer has his eye on money, only. But it is a well known fact that a limited diet makes an animal more susceptible to disease — just as it does us humans. Healthy cattle that have been allowed to browse and graze at will on bushes, weeds, and grasses, are likely to become susceptible to sickness within two or three years after being moved to a pasture containing only limited grasses. Some veterinarians tell us that a sick animal or barnyard bird, if not too far gone, will usually recover if turned out to shift for itself among native plants. Even the feed companies admit this if they are honest. Notice this quote from pages 3-4 of Ace Hi Feed Company's manual on the care and feeding of pigeons: "One little tip: if by any chance you have a very special bird that is off feed, or listless, remove it from the pen and let it forage for itself. This method surpasses anything else you can do." Not only variety, but also quality, of feed is important. In pasture fertility experiments at Missouri Experiment Station, 1946-1949, Dr. Wm. A. Albrecht, Chairman, Department of Soils, University of Missouri, at Columbia, Missouri, came up with some startling facts: A dairy herd, which began the experiment with only 25% conception, rose to 75% and then 100% in three years of treating devitalized soil with major and trace elements. Bang's disease (infectious abortion) dropped from 29% to 20% during the test, and heifers raised during the test had no Bang's disease at calving time, and their calves were likewise free from infection (Soil Fertility and Animal Health by Dr. Wm. A. Albrecht, p. 167). The cows which due to poor soil, grew up with weak constitutions, were gradually building health. The calves, having always had a good diet, grew up with sound health. Another of his carefully controlled experiments proved that trace amounts of copper in soil lets an animal build its antibiotic protection that will prohibit worms from staying in its digestive tract (Albrecht, p. 150). A healthy animal tends to repel both body parasites and contagious disease. There are cases in which one man's cattle are victims of anything from cattle grubs to hoof-and-mouth disease, while his neighbor's unmedicated cattle just across the fence are untouched.
Hybrids Too
For years modern man has been developing and raising all sorts of new varieties of hybrid corn in order to squeeze a few extra bushels out of each acre — and put a little more waste fat on animals in the feed lots. But is this endeavor motivated by brotherly love? A desire to increase quality, as we are told? Definitely NOT! In an experiment on 16 farms in Illinois, hybrid and open-pollinated corn were grown in neighboring strips under the same conditions, and the produce was tested by Armour's Institute of Research in Chicago. The open-pollinated corn tested 12 per cent protein. None of the hybrids showed more than 8 per cent. All the hybrids were short on 7 to 9 minerals, and all failed completely to pick up cobalt, whose deficiency is one cause of Bang's disease. By rapidly using some trace elements and leaving others untouched, hybrids unbalance and thereby poison the soil ten times as quickly as open-pollinated corn, horticulturists now admit. It is no wonder that God forbids the growing of hybrids (Lev. 19:19). When Mexican farmers in the U.S.A. try hybrids for home use, they usually quickly give them up. Hybrids, they discover, are simply no good for tortillas: the flavor, color, texture, and consistency are all inferior to that of open-pollinated corn. Those interested in quality prefer natural varieties and natural methods of production. Shortcuts to riches are not good for anyone. Lust leads to downfall.
Every Corruption a Health Hazard
Whenever a food or forage crop is corrupted in any way in the interest of unnatural, greedy, excessive profit, the animal or plant proteins are one of the first factors to be diminished. The carbohydrates are, in turn, increased. Is it any wonder that many of us have difficulty building muscle while others have problems with an excess of fat? "Protein deficiency in a parent animal causes a one-generation mutation — a degeneration — in the offspring — a loss, not a gain. Choosing breeding stock for fattening ability, with its failing physiologies, rather than for health and survival degenerates a species" (Albrecht, pp. 199-200). We must build both health and character: they cannot be bought. Besides the protein loss, there is also the loss of trace elements when the soil is depleted or the heredity of plants is forcibly altered. Many of the trace elements are vitally needed to help the animal or human body make proper use of all the nutrients in food. In some cases, experimenters have recently been able to tell us that certain deficiency diseases in animals and humans can be caused by the loss of certain trace elements. But man does not yet know to what extent our multitudes of new diseases are brought on by these deficiencies. In some cases, both degenerative breeding and deficiency are associated with the same disease. Degeneration weakens the animal so that it is more likely to become ill by malnutrition. Instead of using manure and natural rock fertilizers containing major, minor, and trace elements in proper proportions, men have tried to offset soil depletion by use of water-soluble chemical fertilizers, containing unnatural combinations of major elements which deposit in the soil poisonous residues ranging from washing soda to sulphuric acid (Make Friends With Your Land by Leonard Wickenden, pp. 63, 117).
Antibiotics Can Harm You
In a vain attempt to offset the harm he has brought upon his livestock, man has resorted to chemicals and drugs, which have no food value and serve no actual beneficial purpose. Doctors readily admit there is no drug without harmful side effects. Dr. Harry E. Kingman, Jr., Executive Secretary of the American Veterinary Association, stated that "medications in feed have done about as much harm as they have done good. "Livestock owners are [now] being encouraged," he continued, "to look to feed additives as disease control agents. This is an area where feed additives can do more harm than good (even from the viewpoint of veterinary medicine). "Continued administration of drugs is inclined to produce resistant strains of bacteria so that when you really need treatment, the drug is not as effective as it could and should be. "[There is also] the residual problem in which these drugs are found in human food, either in the milk, or in the meat. People who are sensitized to these drugs can have severe reactions to antibiotic contaminated foods." From D-X Sunray Farm Information Center, #312, July 24, 1959. It has been proved by government-backed and private experiments that chemicals in foods are partly responsible for many of our modern allergies, which were virtually unknown in the last century, before the advent of all these corruptions. Just how harmful are the chemicals in YOUR meat and milk? Notice this admission from Western Farm Life: "The presence of antibiotics in market milk is recognized as a danger by the Food and Drug Administration. "Accumulation of antibiotics in the human system reduces the immune response of non-specific infections. This could mean more colds, more influenza, more pneumonia, more of almost anything. [And that is exactly what we have been having] Coupled with this is the fact that the use of antibiotics to cure mastitis is not killing the bacteria, but simply breeding more resistant strains. The most dangerous of these is a staphylococcal microbe (staphylococcus aureous), a human killer. "Thus, as antibiotics are lowering our resistance to disease, their use on animals is also creating more dangerous disease bacteria." With such a drastic DOUBLE RISK forced upon the consumer, is it any wonder that we have so much sickness today? Who can blame those few hardy individuals who have turned against today's system and have moved out to the suburbs to produce their own food?
Why Use Chemicals
Some ask, "Didn't the authorities prohibit the use of harmful additives in raising livestock?" The answer is a definite "No." What the Food and Drug Administration specifically prohibited was not antibiotics or chemical additives in general, but stilbestrol pellet implants in chicken necks. When it was proved that growth stimulants used in the feed of 80% of our cattle and poultry causes cancer, the government made the feed manufacturers reduce its use to supposedly safe levels. Stilbestrol is frequently disguised under the innocent-sounding term "plant sterol." Being a plant derivative does not make a chemical harmless. Many of our potent poisons, drugs and chemical contaminants are derived from plants. Some will wonder why chemicals known to be dangerous are used in the production of our food supply. The answer is — money! "Cost of stilbestrol is low in respect to its average return. Each dollar spent for stilbestrol can be expected to return about $15 to the producer. No other feed additive has given as large or as consistent benefits in beef cattle supplements. Its use is almost standard practice in feedlots over the nation." Gulf Farm Review. These artificial hormones rob men of virility and make men effeminate and weak-willed. A whole host of chemicals, however, are profitable enough to make their use prominent despite these dangers. Experimenters in Mississippi State College proved that "use of a tranquilizer fattened steers 14 per cent faster, and gave a 23 per cent decrease in the amount of feed required per pound of fat." Experimenters and producers alike are interested in money, and in fat because it makes more money. If God had intended livestock to be just moneymaking machines to satisfy the lusts of men, He would not have said: "A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast: but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel" (Prov. 12:10). Most men are not interested in the welfare of their livestock; and they have also forgotten that Christ commanded: "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." (Matt. 22:39) Men are legally selling as food many products that are not fit to be put in the human system. We have too long been told that to be "well stuffed" is to be healthy. Proof of the opposite is all around us. Many supposedly well fed people in their thirties and forties are dropping dead of heart attacks all around us. Livestock are even more susceptible than man to corruptions that are standard in our diets. In a herd of 28 fine cattle, 13 DROPPED DEAD in three years when fed the degerminated grain so universally used in our nation (Annals N.Y. Academy of Science, 1948, V. 52, pp. 256-259). God created foodstuffs in a perfect, harmonious balance. Everything in nature — mineral, plant, and animal — has its working partners in the whole interdependent creation: nothing is complete when isolated. God is the author of cooperation and community spirit of a right sort. His whole creation eloquently attests to this fact. Soil feeds plants; plants feed animals and man; byproducts of plants and animals decompose in soil and feed myriads of microorganisms that turn inert minerals into balanced plant food. Then the cycle is repeated. All foodstuffs are composed of many mutually helpful component parts. Many times one part is useful only in helping the human or animal system use the other parts. But men want to isolate everything and then call it "pure." When one part is taken away by soil depletion, hybridization, chemical pollution, processing, or any other factor, there is a chain reaction of sickness and inadequacy throughout the whole interdependent life cycle. By actual test even the manure of a poorly fed animal has been proved to produce plants of inferior quality (Albrecht, pp. 179-182). We cannot breed plants to tolerate a starvation diet of chemicals and depleted soil. Neither can we breed animals to tolerate a starvation diet of corrupt forage crops. An animal of degenerate heredity cannot be made totally healthy by good feeding. We must have both fertile soil and good breeding in order to produce good animals and foodstuffs fit for human consumption. God holds the producer responsible for growing quality foods. He intended that farmers should be studious, progressive, well educated individuals fully capable of handling the responsibility of properly nourishing humanity. Health is important! God intends the farmer to be a pillar in his community. One who doubts this has only to study the complicated structure of the agricultural laws in the Bible. No other secular occupation has been given a set of Biblical laws even remotely comparable to the laws of agriculture. These laws cannot be fully understood without considerable educational progress. The production of the food that gives either health or degeneration is certainly an honorable position worthy of the dedicated effort of top quality men. God commands: "If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are" (I Cor. 3:17). In these days of utter corruption, many consumers will be willing to throw up their hands in defeat and cooperate with producers and processors — by continuing to use foods that are making the populace effeminate, cowardly, sick, and crippled. But it is still possible to obtain quality food if one is willing to put forth effort. The world's system was just about as corrupt in Christ's day as it is now. Leprosy and other degenerative diseases ran rampant. Yet Peter was able to boast that he had never eaten corrupt food (Acts. 10:14). Peter had been blessed with parents who were diligent in their efforts to rear healthy children. His resultant physical virility enabled Peter to accomplish great things in the New Testament Church. Are you doing as much for your children? To be continued next issue, with proof that wrong methods of selection and breeding are now critical factors in this crisis.
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