Now westie i will try answer ure comments one by one
1 There is a rigorous testing policy in meat factories for hormones and antibiotics and also
when carcasses are hanging its quite easy to a trained eye to detect any that are after being
treated, therir is a minute detrection rate ,bottom line penalties are too severe if caught u
could for sure say it would put u out of buisness.Every carcass of every animal in this country
is examined by a vet aswell as having a vet view every animal before slaughter
2The size of cattle this is down to the old chestnut of genetics /breeding we have with 15 years or so started to use continental breed bulls on our suclker herd which deliver an animal and carcass
weight which would be approx a third greater than before.Also with the last 3 or 4 years bull beef
has become popular as the animal will thrive better as a full bull(not castrated/bullock) so my
advice westie dont go in the field if ure not sure as u may not get out alive
its quite
common now to have maybe batches of 30 bulls in a field(Its much riskier for farmer handling theese etc but has become an economic necessity for many as margins are very tight)
3 Cows aswell have got much larger as nowdays milch cows are mainly Holstein friesian now
rather than British friesian before which are much smaller again the reasons are simple
economics more energy in (bigger animal greater feed intake) more energy out(more milk)
same applies to the beef cattle the more they can eat the bigger they get
4Diet is also vastly different nutritionists are used to formulate diets now depending on
what the needs of the animal are or the purpose its being used for ie fattening high energy/
milk production high protein