Measure J – A Wolf in Cow’s Clothing
Why don’t you pull up a chair, pour yourself a six-ounce glass of a robust red wine – maybe a Monte Rosso zinfandel or a Robert Kamen cabernet – and picture a perfectly-grilled, medium rare filet of grass-fed beef. Yum, right?
Well, basically, that’s what Measure J, on the November Sonoma County ballot is all about.
Now, there are those who will righteously scoff and insist that’s not what it’s about, at all. It is, the scoffers will angrily tell you, about protecting family farmers by banning concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) that pollute Sonoma County waterways, foul the air, breed dangerous pathogens, increase global warming and cruelly contain livestock animals in inhumane and illegal conditions.
OK, fine. But let’s be really honest. If you’re going to eat a cow, you’re going to either be in a major state of denial, or you’re going to be at peace with a really brutal reality. Either way, you’d probably rather not think about it, right?
I eat cow. I do. Occasionally pig, and a lot of chicken. I would subsist happily on wild-caught salmon 24-7 if I could afford it. But I like cow, as long as it’s grass fed. That’s my self-righteous little beef-eater caveat.
There are all kinds of reasons not to eat cow. The water it takes to grow enough feed for a (non-grass fed) steer to grow big enough to eat is staggering. For a 1,000-pound steer, it takes an estimated 4,700 gallons of water to produce a single pound of beef in California. By comparison, it takes about 260 gallons of water to grow a pound of soybeans. And then there are the cow farts and methane belches. Hello climate change.
Which brings us to the killing part. Most of us would go out of our way to save the life of a horse, a dog, a cat, a hamster, even a pet rat. But we would readily sink our teeth into the butchered butt of a cow. And yet, most of us know that if we had to kill that cow ourselves, and carve up its carcass, or starve, we would probably starve.
Measure J, if it passes, will impose strict limits on the numbers of animals – according to species – that can be kept on a single farm in Sonoma County. Smaller farms, the proponents insist, will mean more and smaller family farms, less pollution and more humane conditions for farm animals – primarily cows, chickens, ducks, and pigs.
But there are already strict regulations protecting the welfare of all these animals in California, with periodic inspections, and if those regulations are being violated on Sonoma County farms, should they not be reported and should not legal action be taken? And, by most accepted definitions, there are few if any so-called factory farms in Sonoma County, with the possible exception of one or two massive poultry operations.
And here’s the thing. There is a clear ulterior motive behind Measure J. Its proponents are members of a radical animal rights organization called, Direct Action Everywhere, or DxE. DxE members have been aggressively active invading livestock farms and taking videos of inhumane conditions. Some of them have been arrested and jailed. Fine.
But let’s be clear about the real purpose of Measure J. It’s to try to make us stop eating animals. It’s an effort to get our collective attention. And if it succeeds, it will still fail. Because as much and as long as I meditate and pay attention to the ragged edges of my soul, and as uncomfortable as I am at times chewing the body of a sentient being, I’m not yet ready to stop. And I’m not alone.
Measure J, a wide body of expert opinion believes, will do serious harm to Sonoma County farms – many if not most of which, are family farms. Violations of animal welfare law are not cause to do long term harm to Sonoma County agriculture. Measure J is a wolf in cow’s clothing.
