This Is Life (1950)

a billion acres of grass if you could identify the shape of the future here you'd find that you yourself are there in the grass somewhere means the elements needed for your tissues and body cells half the soil of America is grassland but beyond all that the kind of grass and so is grain our substance yours and mine comes out of the earth and first appears in the grass blades then the best part of it is transformed by nature and the work of a lot of people friends you probably didn't know you had here it is here is the good of the pair for your use it is a lovely pot roast oh dear I can't make up my mind bill loves pot roast but those pork chops look wonderful mom can we get some weenies and those long burns but Dad you had one when you got home from school and you know how your children like pork chops if I can have two they are good aren't they and a wonderful source of B vitamins whatever you decide on dear lady whatever kind of meat you did you ever stop to think what our tandem Jani made up what builds the inches and powders and represent their growth your own tissues your own living structures are not static like the boards and plaster of your house every cell of you is constantly being replaced you aren't quite the same as you were even yesterday and in a few years you'll be going around in a completely new body the substance that emerged with the grass and was transformed and changed through meat is protium now then of what miraculous stuff is protein made here is the secret of life and growth we can think of them as the vital letters that spell wellbeing for all of us the amino acids not every protein has all the amino acids necessary for growth and maintenance of the body some proteins are incomplete they cannot do the whole job of building and replacing by themselves meat is one of the few foods that has complete protein providing the full complement of amino acids that we must have the growth and repair of human organs muscles and connective tissues there are other vital letters that spell and help the wealth of vitamins in meat vitamins like B 1 B 2 B 12 and add to these food iron copper phosphorus meat truly provides the building blocks of human growth vigor and general well-being the whole concept of meets place in the diet was dramatically revised back in the early 1930s when Steffensen the arctic explorer went often subsisted solely on meat for long periods during his northern expeditions undertook to live and work under the controlled supervision of a group of American physicians for an entire year on affair of meat exclusively the results of this experiment astonished the scientific world all eyes turned to meet with new respect further research has shown that a generous amount of complete protein in the diet not only maintains building and regeneration activities but arms the body against infection and disease the good of the earth available through meat is beginning to be more fully understood than ever before as long as the normal balance of supply and demand is not upset meat and it's valuable protein into whatever form you like it best may be had in every corner of the land even though it may have begun its journey a thousand miles from where you live a journey that ends only when it becomes a living part of you a living part of every member of your family this was a journey begun not only far away but long ago meat animals have been raised in every section of the country since the first colonial days but the biggest drama of all has been played on the stage of the Corn Belt and the Prairie there was a sea of grass that washed over the plains men were moving West event on other business they saw Buffalo eating grass they kept an eye out for Plains Indians who were vigorous tough eaters of buffalo meat they had seen grass before it was good pasture of the horses and oxen they thought no more about it but then one spring in the flood of emigration some wagon men made a discovery It was as if the grass had lifted up and shouted over the width and breadth of the plains the fall before when there was no feed cut freighters along the Platte had turned their worn-out cart oxen adrift for the winter the oxen didn't starve they got fat by spring they could be sold as fat cattle the word travelled with no more fanfare than the far-off ball of a yearly a new epoch of life began like a stirring in the grassroots like the full rumble of a cattle drive an industry was born and its genes organized for a great shape of the future up from the South came drovers with Longhorns Spanish cattle the stock men looked at their rangy flanks and knew it was a waste of grass they brought in the stock ear meat making English breeds short horns Devin's Aberdeen Angus turf it's the beef breeds now greatly improved are spread all over the United States we spoke of the friends you probably didn't know you had who are they what do they do in the job of helping meat protein on its way to use your lamb chops your leg of lamb are produced almost anywhere there are farmers who keep sheep but in the west and southwest in the real sheep country the herds forage over the hills watched by a man and a dog this has been cheap land now for 400 years ever since Francisco de Coronado crossed with five thousand head onto the soil that would someday be Arizona the hills are just as aloof as they were there the seasons turn endlessly soon be timed to go down on the winter range got to follow the grass another kind of grass is a green ocean that rolls over Iowa into Nebraska Illinois Minnesota Indiana wherever the Sun and air currents stir up corn wedding corn for hogs there are hogs in every state of the Union from New York to Texas to Oregon corn made bacon ham pork chops not a treat anywhere hog men are farmers and hogs are a crop some of them like hampshire's or Berkshires pull in China's or Chester whites some lean to cross breeds or hybrids hogs require know-how and a lot of work spring pigs or fall pigs they all have to have attention it's a seasonal industry and pork is bound to be cheaper again periods when there are more hogs going to market supply and demand rule the meat business the quality of your breakfast bacon depends on chores like this staying up half the night with the new pigs to see that they get started right keeping their ration balanced correctly with supplemental protein feeds maybe turn them in to walk down the court finally in six or seven months the pigs wait 225 to 250 pounds and it's time to see about getting them to market what you decide to put on the table tonight what your neighbors are having for dinner shop all around the nation helps to dictate the price of hogs tomorrow morning it has a lot to do with whether the work of a year or more will show a profit or not good morning here is your roundup of today's hog quotations good two choice 200 to 240 pounds or 15 to 25 cents in other livestock quotations at hand today the man who raises hogs follows the market carefully and he can even decide to in truck in or ship that day if he chooses in the corn country there are usually several markets within a few miles there are local livestock auctions a weekly event in a small country town possibly a local stockyard or a packing house where the producer may sell his livestock what you ask for at the meat counter runs back to the grass like an echo the echo is just as loud on the most remote cattle range this is where they need plenty of space in good grass country 15 or 20 acres for a pair a pair the cattlemen say when they're talking about a cow and calf in some marginal areas where grass is thin they may need a hundred acres as we throw meat animals depend on grass the grass depends on the animals and grass ties down millions and millions of acres of soil on the face of America most of the range country is not adaptable to any other productive crop everywhere men are working with the grass soil conservation and soil building this work is being carried on by agricultural schools and by County agents who represent the Department of Agriculture there is a dramatic grass program underway that may well increase our meat supplies in the years ahead in the sparse grasslands they are finding ways to make two or a dozen blades grow where only one grew before they are promoting ways to make grassy range country out of soil that supports only sagebrush today but it takes a lot of land for cattle a lot of land to be covered by the riders the range grass and in turn everything up to your dinner table depends a lot on weather where the winters are severe a lot of hay to be cut by the farm crew with each cows deer and heifer needing a ton or so to put them through the winter when the sky dissolves to a sheet of brass and the Sun fries the range they may have to move the herd out bodily yeah I see well thanks mr. parez I'll start shipping out tomorrow well power is aboard 800 pair at $15 a pair for the summer that's gonna be rough it'll cost is $10 a head to ship them up there I know but that's the closest place that has any grass well we could ship the yearlings up to Candace and feed them there at least we to have them headed in the right direction anyway like the hog producer there comes the time on the cattle man and the Sheep give their stock into the care of the next hands these people too are somehow standing invisible behind your meat cover they are with you when you pull up your chair at mealtime the long-haul stock truck drivers steering meet protein in your direction the engineers firemen the brake men in the gig tops the conductor's of stock trains the railroad bet without who's okay they can't load a hog a steer or a shilling land the boys of the feeding stops have read 28 hours we'll have to unload the critters and rest them do you know any of these people probably not but they help you get your meals the cycle of meat and the cycle of life is turning diesel power when the engineer takes the controller for this run he'll ease it gently and no banging drawbars 6000 horsepower for 60 cars of meat protium maybe east from the sand hills of Nebraska maybe west from Colorado salt lake they start the best product of the grass first leg of its journey to you chances are the slat sided trains of the stock trucks are headed for the stockyard terminals the stockyards company a totally independent organization is in the livestock hotel business it rents pens and salespeople the agent is the farmers or ranchers representative at the market livestock prices are constantly changing no one can predict just how the day will go by 8 o'clock the market is open out in the stockyards buyers and agents fortified with all the information they can get begin the day's business a deal in cattle hogs or sheep is simple nobody wastes words the packer buyer order buyer or trader who is buying cattle to feed knows the top price he can pay the agent knows what he ought to get for his client Tom I can't know if you're that tell you what I'll do I'll split the difference I'm gonna weigh him to you all right well they may not always come to terms that easily but when a deal is made that's all there is to it wham competition is keen all down the line the Packer through the distributor to the retailer who is concerned with offering you the best possible price at the meat counter the cattle sheep for hogs involved are run onto a scale and a slip of paper carrying the certified weight of the stock can we turn into immediate cash buy the shippers agent there are no other contracts papers or documents whatever some of the livestock from the range is sold to feeders this special feeding process is known as finishing and produces meat that is more tender and tasty here cattle are being fed corn and small grains supplemented with sugar beet pulp and molasses in other sections they get such delicacies as citrus pulp after the juice has been extracted and cottonseed cake sheep 2 are often specially fed such Farrah's oats hay and alfalfa 66% of all grains grown in America are fed to livestock the feeder is part of the American the next step is the meat packing any of four thousand packets large and small who are in business in every state of the Union the main Packers started way back in the day the only way to preserve meat was to pack it with salt in a barrel but the packer pioneers were in at the beginning and made the meat industry possible when they started using refrigeration and refrigerator cars Iowa corn as bacon or a Minnesota pork roast can be enjoyed in Boston Baltimore or Seattle top grade beef from Omaha can appear as a prime rib roast in a restaurant in Atlanta to stay fresh meat has to move fast and be kept chilled in general large operations and smaller factors function the same way the packers original idea of a disassembly line was probably the first application of the conveyor system in industry with inspectors all along the way this is a service industry Packers can't come out with new models every year but over the years meat has become more readily available in any form you want it and at a lower service cost than almost any other food you buy the meat packers profit average is less than a penny a pound and that includes money received for byproducts your grandmother had to buy her bacon and slabs and slice it herself you can still have it by the slab if you want it but for convenience in modern breakfast preparation it comes in perfect slices because of research and constant experimenting the hems of today are far easier to cook than the hams of yesteryear these are some of the people take the product of the grass and prepare it for your use the loin puller who expertly scoops out the pork loin with his two handled knife the people who operate meat canning machines the people who run the machines that reduce fresh cuts to the right consistency for sausage here are the people who run the sausage linkers and there are sausages and specialties to suit every taste cold meats for sandwiches the men who load refrigerated cars or trucks that take the meat protein on its way the girls in the officers who keep track of it all who serve by taking care of paperwork the men who look after the refrigeration machinery without which no packing company large or small could operate for more than a few minutes but meat is not the whole story of this industry about 80 cents out of every dollar goes to the producers out of which he pays all of his expenses so when a thousand pound steer paid for by the pound presses out at only 600 pounds of beef the packer might lose money unless he can make use of the rest of the carcass byproducts are the answer take the hog 14 percent of a hog is raw material for lard so nutritious and highly digestible lard is one of the biggest byproducts by the old standard liver kidney and the variety means were byproducts but a nationwide demand for them was created by the discovery that these meats were abundantly rich in so many vital elements of diet because of mass production some vital medical byproducts are made possible it takes 15 bread head of cattle or 7,500 hogs for the production of one ounce of insulin acth a great new drug used in treating arthritis and kindred diseases or the result of 12 years of work in one packers laboratory 100 pounds of animal pituitary glands ends up as a few ounces of fluffy white powder few ounces of relief from pain through meat animals the elemental grass has yielded not only familiar byproducts like hives so blue bone and animal feeds but derivatives of fatty acids that aid in the recovery of low-grade iron ores a promising new source of raw materials for America's steel mills and compounds for increasing secondary recovery of petroleum from old oil wells new progress through research goes on behind the doors of another laboratory dedicated to the search for more facts about products derived from livestock what these people do will have an effect on the meals you eat in the years to come but the food you will eat in the next few days is on its way to you now in refrigerated cars in refrigerated trucks distributed to retail stores large and small and to the restaurant where you will have dinner sometime this week steak you may not have for a day or two are arriving now at your meat man's door Wow uncle George are you gonna cut all of that into steaks no Judy and it isn't all steaks while there are nearly 40 different cuts to a side of beef gee I guess you have to know your stuff Judy there's a lot more to this business in just wrapping packages mr. hammer I'm supposed to take home uncle George this is a shank half of ham Judy I told your mother I'd sure how to get four fresh cooked meals out of it tell you what I mean first of all I'll cut off a shank end well--that's shank will provide lots of flavor for a boil dinner and now look what's left most of my customers would rather do their own cutting from here on but this is what they should do we'll divide the center part now this piece can be baked for a regular baked ham dinner that's meal number two now this piece has no bone so it's easy to cut off several slices for broiling or frying and that's meal number three now the smaller piece cut thinner slices and they're good for scalloped ham and potatoes or any other casserole dish like that in other words fresh cooked meal number four that's right honey it's something the meat people have worked out so customers get more for their money I see what you mean when you say there's more to your business than just wrapping packages well Judy I guess everybody thinks this job is important but there are more than a million of us in retail meat stores throughout the country and I figure each one of us has a pretty important job because we're the connecting link between the people who supply the meat and the people who eat it the people who eat meat that includes you wherever you are along the Eastern Shore the Sun is up this is Good Morning America is that the aroma of heaven in the morning air no that's bacon in a hot pant over the Mississippi and there is a gentle thingy that heralds the day a million slices of ham simmering cozily with two million aides when it's lunch time in New York late breakfasts are not over in Tacoma the earth turns and marks the mealtimes from coast-to-coast the kids in school cafeterias have meat the lunchboxes of makers and builders contain meat sandwiches the people in restaurants figure a hamburger width is the best deal at lunchtime a day of life is getting ready to diminish in the Pacific there is meat for dinner another day I'll meet for America another day's product of the soil transformed by a slow formula of nature and human skill over the wide range a gaze of America the grass is collecting and extracting wonderful substances from the earth the Sun and the air forming in grass blades grain heads and corn ears the first shape dynamic elements that soon will wind through your own bloodstream building and replacing strengthening and reconstructing to bring it from the grass to the living cells of you more than six and a half million men and women are working a mighty team on cattle range and sheep range in the hog country along the highways and rail lines in stockyards and livestock terminals in the plants of 4,000 Meatpacking companies large and small in restaurant kitchens behind retail meat counters all over the nation a mighty team of people the meat team working for you and of the product of their work we can say this is not just something to eat this is fuel for love joy work action this is life [Music]