Where Does Our Meat Come From? (1960)

[Music] I'm Phil Burgess and this is my farm my nephew Wes and my niece Emily came for a visit from the city not long ago they arrived while I was doing the farm chores feeding cattle is one of my daily chores Emily wondered why I have cattle on my farm my answer was that I raised Wes knew that some meat comes from cattle but he wasn't sure about how the meat got from the cattle to him I told Wes and Emily that in order to explain where our meat comes from I'd have to tell them about many people in many different places my story didn't start with the cattle on my farm it started in the western states in the vast open land called range country here is where many cattle are born these cattle belong to this Rancher he he raises beef cattle beef is a name for the meat of cattle the Rancher and one of the cow hands or Cowboys that work for him are looking at the cattle to keep track of how fast they are growing beef cattle must have lots of food to grow properly young cattle grow rapidly as they eat the grass growing on the Range land when many of them are about a year old they're taken from the range and put in pens near a railroad the cattle are kept in these pens until they can be loaded into special Railway cars I buy many of these cattle the railroad brings them from the Western rangeland here to my farm in the middle west I feed them grain hay and other kinds of food this feeding helps to fatten them more quickly than if they ate only grass so I'm called a cattle feeder I pointed out to West the Farm building called a corn cryp this is where I keep the corn I grow to feed my cattle Emily wanted to know about my large barn I told her that I put my cattle in the barn to shelter them in bad weather Wes and Emily were getting more and more interested about where meat comes from as I talked they wanted to get a close look at some of the Hogs that I raise the meat that comes from Hogs is called pork I use some of the Corn that I grow to feed my Hogs like cattle the Hogs are fattened for their meat but Hogs aren't sent to me as cattle are all my Hogs are born and raised here on the farm the young Hogs are called pigs I have a separate place called a creep for them to eat in the creep prevents the older Hogs from eating the pig's food I keep my hogs in small sheds which are cleaned regularly this helps to keep the Hogs healthy I explained that some Farmers here in the middle west also raise sheep a meat we get from sheep is called lamb now Wes and Emily had seen how cattle Hogs and sheep are raised for meat and what my part is in the story of where meat comes from I explained that when my cattle and Hogs are ready to sell they're loaded on special livestock trucks livestock is a name for cattle Hogs and other animals raised for meat these cattle and Hogs go by truck to a Stockyard Stockyards are usually near large cities here the livestock which many farmers have sent to the stockyard is unloaded into pens in some of the pens buyers are selecting livestock that they want to buy each buyer works for a meat Packer after the buyer has selected the livestock he wants to buy it goes to one of the many meat packing plants near the stockyard inside a meat packing plant workers are busy with different jobs this meat inspector examines the beef to make sure it is clean and healthy the inspector marks meat which passes his inspection this man is called a meat cutter his job is to cut beef into sections other Cutters are cutting the beef into still smaller pieces called cuts in another part of the meat packing plant other workers are preparing pork from Hogs like beef pork is divided into Cuts after meat such as this has been cut some of it is put in a chilling room a kind of large refrigerator keeping the meat at a low temperature prevents it from spoiling some meat is kept from spoiling in other ways ham a meat from Hogs is often smoked in wood smoke this smoking helps to preserve ham and adds to its flavor some beef and pork is used to make sausage this sausage meat is being packed inside thin casings frankfurters or hot dogs may be your favorite kind of sausage meat is prepared in many different ways some meat is canned and then cooked in the can canned meat is quick and easy to serve for meals after all the meat from livestock has been used some valuable parts are left they are called byproducts the skins or hides of cattle are tanned to provide leather animal fat can be melted and made into products such as this shortening these sacks of groundup bones make good fertilizer there are many uses for such animal byproducts when byproducts and meat have been prepared they are shipped from the meat packing plant both by truck and by Railway I explained that special Railway cars called refrigerator cars keep fresh meat cold so that it doesn't spoil on the way to the stores where it will be sold now that Wes and Emily had learned how meat is prepared they thought they could tell the rest of the story as we were going into the house Wes told me where his family bought their meat it was at a supermarket in the city where he and Emily lived the market sells many kinds of canned meat and Frozen and fresh meat too in the supermarket the meat is in packages to keep it clean and fresh Wes and Emily told me that beef was one of their favorite Meats so we had roast beef for dinner the day they visited the farm meat of all kinds is a delicious and nourishing [Music] food Wes and Emily seem to enjoy it even more now that they have learned about the different people and places that are important in the story of where our meat comes from [Music]