BEEF EATING ON THE RISE IN INDIA? SCIENCE VS FAITH

Are the Indians predominantly vegetarians? If so, is it due to culture, religion or economic compulsions? Very difficult to answer but if statistical pundits are to be believed most of the Indians population do not consume non-plant foods except milk and milk products and a small minority does not even consume dairy products. For those who are delighted to see figures, here are some data which may be of doubtful veracity but still some thing to go by! 20% to 42% of Indian population ( some say 39% only) are vegetarians while another 9% though vegetarians have no qualms about eating eggs. Diehard non-vegetarians  who consume meat and other animal derived foods regularly constitute 30% while the rest are fair weather non-vegetarians eating meat foods occasionally.   

Having stated the obvious, a crucial question that is always considered sensitive is how many people eat beef, derived from cows? Statistics may be hard to come by since most Hindus will not admit to beef eating due to peer pressure and sacredness of cow that is legendary in the country. Interestingly India to day tops the world in terms of dairy production, cattle production and beef export. Why is this interesting? Because what happens to millions of cows which become dry, not yielding viable volume of milk regularly? They cannot be killed in most of the States in the country and the present rulers in Delhi are known to oppose vehemently cow slaughter.What about Buffaloes? Since hardly any distinction is made between meat from cow or buffalo, both being categorized as beef, how can one differentiate dishes made from the meat derived from these two animals. This can be done only through sophisticated biological tests but no one seems to be bothered about this inconvenient question at any point in the meat supply chain. 

Indigenous breeds of cow that flourished in the Indian sub-continent include Bhadhwari, Desan, Gujarati, Sorti, Surati, Red Sindhi, Mahi, Sahiwal, Ongole, Deoni etc all of which hailed from one or the other part of the country. Imported breeds, considered exotic, which played a crucial role in the White revolution through cross breeding and animal upgradation projects during the last 5 decades include Jersey, Holstein, Brown Swiss, Red Dane, Ayrshire and Guernsey and to day it is next to impossible to identify any pure desi breed, if at all there are any. One of the contentions of those who start consuming beef is that only desi cows are sacred and they would not eat the meat if they were slaughtered! 

Some of the social and religious activists who uphold the sanctity of cows run the so called "Goshalas" where "spent" cows are given shelter and allowed to die gracefully due to old age when they reach that stage. There are some Goshalas who run production facilities for making many products from Cow's urine for curing or ameliorating an array of diseases ranging from simple itching to cancer. However these are far and few not being able to make any dent on the population of cows with no milking potential. The big dilemma a country like India faces is what to do with these spent cattle with out hurting the sentiments of a significant number of people across the country believing sincerely that cow is sacred. Is it feasible to build thousands of Goshalas investing huge resources on an unproductive venture like this? This is all the more relevant when it is realized that there are millions of senior citizens with no dependents and support crying for a shelter to live in peace awaiting their last days and die gracefully! 

A recent report from Delhi brings the question of unwanted cows and their uncertain fate in sharp focus calling for attention by the governments at the Center and States. There appears to be over 40000 cattle roaming the streets of Delhi, some unwanted and uncared for while others are left in the open by their owners for want of shelters of their own. This has led to the generation of cattle lifters called "Rustlers" who are adept in stealing the animals surreptitiously in an organized way for selling to illegal slaughter houses operating in thousands across the country. In Andhra Pradesh alone there are reported to be 3100 illegal slaughter house as against 6 licensed Abattoirs! Though Delhi police is trying to do their duty entrusted to them to checkmate the activities of these people, the effort is rather insignificant and success far and few. Same must be happening in all cities, towns and small urban entities where there is a demand for beef cattle creating a flourishing business for those willing to take some risks of lifting the animals, transporting them to fly by night operators for butchering mercilessly. Another added worry is how safe are these meat products made in unlicensed and unclean slaughter houses with questionable technical competence to process meat.

Beef production and consumption is a dynamite which no government would like to touch for fear of creating societal turbulence and when there is no meeting ground between science and faith as in the present case, the problem is likely to remain as intractable for a long time to come. The Rustlers will have a roaring time making easy money with practically no investment to make.  

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com

BEING "HUMANE" TO COWS-DOES THE BEEF EATERS CARE?

One often wonders what the beef eating countries feel about the movement in India, advocating ban on cow slaughter as cow is only an economic tool in these countries for the beef industry there and a good source of food for the consumers. The way beef industry is organized in the US is indeed the envy of any other country in terms of management efficiency and the technological prowess that goes into beef farming. In contrast many Indians venerate cow and beef eating is relatively rare in the country with West Bengal and Kerala refusing to put in place a policy to ban slaughtering of cows. A larger question is why the very same cow venerated in India are slaughtered mercilessly in other countries and whether the cows in India are much different compared to western cows? There might not any answer to this vexing question. 

The eternal debate, on the desirability of going back to century old tradition of rearing cows in open pasture lands from the present massive industry scale farming where cows are restrained in limited pace, will continue with no satisfactory answer. Modern dairying business calls for rearing the cows in well ventilated and sanitized covered stables with adequate lighting because automatic milking machines are used and hygiene is an important part of such a regime. Unlike in India, milk is not "cooked" at home in countries like the US and just pasteurization is done to inactivate pathogens, enough to withstand the rigors of refrigerated transportation and distribution. Since raw milk can stay well at 4C for a couple of days, pasteurization extends its life further to 15 days under refrigerated conditions. In India milk is literally cooked destroying all pathogenic vectors and same is consumed within 12 hours. Probably hygiene plays a lesser role here and chilled milk reception centers in production regions linked to modern dairies makes it possible to pasteurize the milk within 12 hours. The rearing conditions in rural areas are not the best one can encounter and it is truly amazing how India has become the top producer of fluid milk for which the nation must pay homage to late Dr Varghese Kurien and the operation Flood program started by him.  

The cooperative dairying pioneered by late Dr Kurien did not go for the centralized production and processing mode though under such closely controlled system the economic and safety features are easily manageable. In stead village level cooperative societies with milk producers as members were organized with technical and financial support extended by National Dairy Development Board (NDDB). Though there was all round skepticism  regarding the practicality of cooperative organizations out side Gujarat state, the success achieved by NDDB was phenomenal with practically every state making the program a success. District level cooperatives working under the guidance of the State Federations are recognized power centers to day serving millions of consumers and protecting the interests of millions of milk producers in the rural areas. To day India can be rightly proud of its "Milk Power" and literally it has become a country where milk flows as envisaged by Mahatma Gandhi!

One of the features of rearing cows for milk production in India is that it involves small scale farms, if one can call them that, which are part and parcel of a village community of agricultural families. Each house hold with a few cows bestows personal attention to the well being of its cows and in spite of lack of most modern technologies for milk production, they are able to compensate by giving their love and affection to these mute creatures. With the cow dung becoming a valuable source of energy via the Gobar gas plants or dried fuel source for hearths and good fodder available locally, the dairying is an economic activity which is sustainable in India. In contrast Dairy farms in the West have hundreds and thousands of cows restrained in limited space with no freedom to move around and lack of exposure to fresh environment. Between freedom and comfort, it is a universal truth that many living creatures will prefer the former and that makes the Indian cow a happier animal compared to its Western counter part. Probably many may not agree with this concept though animal psychologists will swear by this scientific reality. 

The fact that many Western dairy farms are switching over to free range farms where cows can roam in vast areas without any restraint cannot be wished away and this goes to prove that Indian traditional system is better as far as dairying is concerned. From a practical angle it may be foolish to expect that the commercial dairy farms as they exist to day will be converted to free range farms at any time in future. There are huge practical constraints in doing so, the most important one being severe shortage of people for managing large number of small farms. Already, if recent reports are to be believed, the farming community in the US and other industrial nations is shrinking rapidly and it appears just two percent of US population supports remaining 98% through agricultural activity. In contrast in India almost 65% of the population reside in rural areas with agriculture being their main avocation. There fore small dairy farms make eminent sense. 

One of the reprehensible features of Western animal farming system is the total insensitivity to the sufferings of animals raised for milk or meat. Though there are some basic guidelines regarding practices to be followed when dealing with animals, they are ignored more often and most animals are not treated in a humane way. Many people do not understand that animals also have emotions, feelings and a sense of well being and ignoring them can be considered as cruelty. It is a consolation that consumers are getting more and more educated and a resurgent consumer community is increasingly demanding animal products made through humane practices. Milk and Meat from free range animals and poultry birds raised in larger cages are being demanded with consumers willing to pay premium prices! Organic foods are often made by building into the production system ethical and humane practices and the galloping demand for organic foods is driven partly by such feelings by the consumers.

According to some farm owners in the US, animals locked up in huge dairy barns living on grains and hay are just like machines pumping out milk and most of them are not healthy, not able to live long because of such inhuman treatment. Cows are reported to be happier, more contented, able to live longer, producing better quality and quantity milk if they are treated well. There are some farms where cows are individually named and the owners deal with them as if they are their friends and well wishers. Such farms report dramatic changes in their profitability. Even those cows who are old and not giving milk are well looked after, allowing them to live as long they can. Some of these old cows are even used to suckle steers! This is similar to the philosophy in India where there are hundreds of "Goshalas" in some parts of the country where old and uneconomical cows are accepted and given a decent "retired" life in stead of sending them to the butchers. 

Some believe that talking to cows or providing them with streamed music can improve the milk yield. May be true but is costs money and how many cow owners will do that?. An inconvenient question is what about buffaloes and bullocks? They are also living creatures and it is but logical that they are also treated humanely, though bullocks are not relevant to the farmers after the advent of mechanical tractors and other ploughing tools. Same applies to chicken also and to day's economic scenario may never give a chance to poultry birds, even the layers, to be free roaming and they will always be "bonded" slaves of the meat hungry section of the population. Present moves in many countries to make it mandatory to use larger cages is at best a consolation!  The million dollar question is why man should kill any animal at all for food when plenty of good and nutritious plant foods are provided by the Mother Earth! Such abstinence from killing them would be the most articulated expression of humaneness!    

V.H.POTTY

http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com

GIVE A NAME, GET A BONUS!

'What is in a name?" This is a question asked often when people start losing sleep over the names they or their offsprings should have. Same dilemma bothers new companies, new products, new house owners and many believe success or failure is deeply linked to the name and its spelling. One has heard about politicians changing the spelling in their names to make them luckier and avoid political set backs. Many parents give names starting with the first alphabet so that their children will be seated in the front bench when joining the school. There are old timers who give their children the names of various Gods and Goddesses so that calling them by name every day will be like chanting the name of Almighty. Western countries repeat the names of grand parents and forefathers to the younger generation and differentiate by affixing the tags "Junior" or Greek numerals I, II, III etc.

The feuds in many rich and influential families regarding the daughters using the family name even after marriage are common, the underlying motive being their desire to bask in the glory of their parents.Those opposing use of family names by married daughters quote tradition to justify their view where as many new generation women refuse dropping the family name after marriage. There are also unique instances when husband affixes his wife's name to his own name sending a strong message of equal partnership once married. Thus there is a strong connection between a name and its implications within the family or in public.

Most important, a distinct name gives every individual an identity and through out the childhood, the name gets imprinted in the mind of the child. Of course in this digital age a distinct number is more relevant than a name if to live in the society. But still calling an individual by the name, especially the first name, symbolizes a relationship or kinship and an emotional synergy. Is this confined to human beings only or does this phenomenon extend to animals also? It is usual for pet owners to give names to their dogs or cats and it is amazing to see them responding to their names, especially when the owners call them. Strangers do not evoke the same degree of response as the their tone of calling does not resonate with the animal. The fierce loyalty a dog has, is generally attributed to the bonding between the master and the animal though some feel that the food they get from their owners make them behave like this.

In a novel twist to this perception, many owners of milch cows in UK claim that by giving distinct names to their cows, they are able to make them friendlier, each one of them developing their own personalities. If such a practice is followed right from the calf stage, the adult cows yield more milk on an annual basis. As much as 250-300 liters of more milk are obtained from cows given familiar names. Frequent interactions with such domesticated animals evoke affection and induce relaxation in them. Some farmers even address them as ladies in the firm belief that a respected and loved cow is more profitable to own. In cases where cows are not treated well the yield can go down by about 10%. It is unimaginable how large farms where hundreds of cows are stabled, individual names can be given and the logistics of giving attention to each and every one are mind boggling. Probably in countries like India this approach is more feasible as dairy farms are relatively small in size and rural families do not own more than a dozen cows at the most. One has heard of music being played in cattle sheds under the belief that this increases the milk yield though no scientific data exists regarding this.

It is known that milk flow is emotionally linked and even in human beings a distraught mother finds it difficult to give milk to her child. In many rural areas dead calves are stuffed and placed before the mother cow before milking to ensure uninterrupted flow of milk. Therefore it is possible that the affection and touch of humans could create a favorable emotion in the cows facilitating increased milk flow. Instead of personally going to each cow, is it possible audio channels beam out human voices to each cow to create the same effect? What about grazing cows? A daily schedule of "petting" when they come home may possibly have same effect. Some reports in India indicate many cruel methods also being used to extract more milk with less feed material without considering the trauma the animals undergo. It is time such practices are stopped and more humane approach is used to cajole the cow to give as milk as possible. We are not sure whether what works with cows will be effective with buffaloes also which abound in Asian continent. Scientific studies are needed to establish the usefulness of such off beat methods to optimize milk yield from cattle.


V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/