Honeybuns has a friend that lives in another state on a very LARGE FARM. During a visit recently they began discussing the guys business. On part of his land he raises free range cattle. You know, the "organic" kind! The cows feed off the grass, roam the pastures and are very happy!
They grow big and their destiny is fulfilled at the State Fair, the Long Horn Steakhouse, OR Billy Sims Barbecue! Who doesn't love a big juicy hormone free, steak! You know the kind! Those that are grown the old fashioned way, not in cattle pens where they are fed chemical filled scientific feed, but sweet green grass.
It's the expensive meat in the grocery store! It's all the rage now.
BUT, Houston, we have a problem.
The latest governmental mandate has come down. Normally "organic" farmers build ponds on their property for their herds. The cows lazily eat the grass of the pasture, share moos with their friends, have their babies, and often stroll over to the pond for a drink of water or perhaps a few laps on a hot summer day. This plan has worked for as long as cows have been growing in these United States.
Until now! We have a new environmentally correct law and it goes like this. Every farmers pond must be fenced so that the cows cannot get to the water. A pump must be installed to carry the water out of the pond to a watering tank on the banks of the pond so cow-thirst can be quenched there. The purpose of this "improvement" is to keep dirty cow feet and possibly bodily waste from cows out of the water. The theory is that such nasty things contaminate the water which would then soak into the ground, mingle with the underground water table and thus make the H2O unfit for human consumption.
Someone that has never seen a farm spent a lot of time on this one!
Now, let's think about this.
First thought: I know no one that drinks pond water!
Second: IF a cow is standing on the banks of a river or pond and nature calls, that waste sits there until the first rain. It then is washed down through the soil and layer of rock WITH the rain water to the under ground water table, just as it does if the cow is knee deep in pond mud.
(Someone PLEASE TELL our Washington employees that NO one carries little plastic bags or pooper scoopers around the pastures of America.) That's the way farms and cows have operated for hundreds of years.
And now you know! When you see a farmer standing in his pasture just shaking his head, contemplating a revolt or a tea party, give him a wave. He's wondering how long it will be before the powers that be demand that we all become vegetarians!
He's having a hard time and grieving over the lack of common sense in our country. Gotta feel sorry for him.
I'm having a hard time with it myself!
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