Spead the Word & Be Part of the Herd

Bye Bye Beef logo mugs, organic cotton tee shirts and cotton canvas tote bags are now available at our online store, click the title link above.

Makes a great holiday gift for your favorite bullock or heifer.

Farmers and Ranchers

The byebyebeef.com campaign loves and appreciates the role farmers and ranchers have traditionally played in this country since its earliest days. However, BBB condemns what has evolved in this country to be a non-rancher/farmer culture, pro-agri-business climate with the poster child for this being industrial agriculture and the raising of beef cattle. It is time to honor the profession and eliminate large scale meat operations across the globe.

Previously anonymous to most people, Henry Miller (aka. Heinrich Kreiser) and iconic 20th century character Ted Turner have something in common that is unique and remarkable. Miller, born in Germany on July 21st, 1847 and Turner born in the USA in 1938 are large landholding ranchers/farmers from two different times in our nation’s history. Miller, started cutting in meat in San Francisco as a teenager after immigrating from his native land as a stowaway, and ultimately as an adult was said to be able to ride from the Mexican border to the Oregon border on horseback stopping each evening in one of his ranches to spend the night – this mega-ranch was said to have totaled approximately 1 million acres. A century later Ted Turner, entrepreneur, visionary, and iconoclastic individualist owns several large ranches with a net acreage of approximately 2 million acres; and the largest native bison herd in North America.

These two men are the exception in terms of size of their holdings, but they are representative of the hard working farmers/ranchers of America from our earliest days, a type of person that is a dying breed. Granted it is hard to work the land, but big business has been the culprit and the family farm is rapidly becoming a thing of the past. Formerly the back bone of the nation, the individual grower/rancher built the small rural towns and now agri-business is dictating a different landscape across the nation.

Small herds of grass fed roaming cattle have been replaced by 1000’s of head of cattle confided to a small area, fed grain, and fattened quickly on hormones and unnatural diets. Disassembling this monolithic system we call industrial agriculture has been written about by scientific researchers as well as alarmed wisdom keepers, but the problem keeps growing. More and more cattle in less and less space and the consequences mount yearly.

The task is clear. Maintain a steady flow of nutritious food, eliminate the unintended consequences, and ‘break the back’ of an institution that is harming the planet, human health, and the potential of a livable future.

As Howard Lyman said on Earth Talk Today this year, re-affirming a long held position; the fork is the most powerful weapon for change that we possess. What you and I put on the end of our fork or chopstick will determine the future long term health of the planet, as well as us. Chose to eliminate beef and you are really doing something effective for yourself, your children, and the earth.

How this campaign is designed is quite simple. Sign the pledge and begin the process of a meat free diet.

Our focus as a campaign begins with a hierarchy of ‘badness.’

1. Beef from CCAFO’s – colossal confined animal feeding operations
2. beef from CAFO’s – confined animal feeding operations
3. beef from SAFLO’s - Small Animal Feed Lot Operations
4. beef from range fed cattle
5. beef from organically range fed cattle

Our goal is to eventually wean our culture away from beef all together, but we begin with a hierarchical model for one is less damaging than the other.

The bottom line is to eliminate beef consumption, increase the number of family farmers/ranchers, re-educate to a more sustainable lifestyle and livelihood, and celebrate the American patriotic farmer/rancher than has provided food for this nation for generations.

Thanks for caring. Peter

The Untold Costs of Confined Animal Feeding Operations

The U.S. livestock industry—a large and vital part of agriculture in this country—has been undergoing a drastic change over the past several decades. Huge CAFOs (confined animal feeding operations) have become the predominant method of raising livestock, and the crowded conditions in these facilities have increased water and air pollution and other types of harm to public health and rural communities.

CAFOs are not the inevitable result of market forces. Instead, these unhealthy operations are largely the result of misguided public policy that can and should be changed.

In this report, the Union of Concerned Scientists analyzes both the policies that have facilitated the growth of CAFOs and the enormous costs imposed on society by CAFOs. Learn about the sophisticated and efficient alternatives for producing affordable animal products, and policy recommendations that can begin to lead us toward a healthy and sustainable food system.

What's Wrong With CAFOs?

What's wrong with Confined Animal Feeding Operations? What are the alteratives to industrial agriculture? Watch this news story.

Where's The Beef

This famous line from a classic commercial selling hamburgers has become a standard phrase meaning simply put - where is the substance in your argument. The democratization of the internet has produced a 'plethora of pulpits' for anyone with an opinion and 8th grade typing skills. However, much of what is put forth sounds good but does not get at the heart of the issue. One clear example is the clarion call for systemic change regarding climate change and global warming. "Where's the beef?" - In a literal sense behind fences and walls in CAFO's (confined animal feeding operations) just waiting for martyrdom and a place on your dinner table. Yet, that world we call industrial agriculture contributes to environmental degradation in a signficant way and we can make a difference by saying - byebyebeef. Join us.

What is the ByeByeBeef Campaign?

ByeByeBeef is a non-violent, pro-active campaign to eliminate industrial agriculture beginning with beef cattle.

Our campaign begins with confined animal feeding operations, and the deleterious effect this has on the planet, our communities, and our health. Thus, a new American revolution has now begun as those who espouse a meat free diet come together in the ByeByeBeef Campaign.

Today, a few days after an historic presidential election has emphasized yes we can be people of hope and change, it the day to launch. It is time to overthrow an established institution which is rapidly diminishing the earth’s capacity to heal itself.

Defiance in the form of action marks a new campaign that has its roots in patriotic behavior. Love of country, being the hallmark of the American citizen, was what prompted The Boston Tea Party and today sets the stage for The ByeByeBeef Campaign.

For the good of the nation, and the globe as all whole, and its inhabitants that populate the earth, the eradication of confined beef cattle feeding operations, and ultimately beef cattle in general, must take center stage of our personal transformation/change agenda.

Read more about the background of The ByeByeBeef Campaign.