Chapter Six: Schlosser gets a view of Hank’s ranch in Colorado, Hank given him a tour and shows him what he does. Hank had the intent of showing him what he does and what it means to rake the land. Hank takes many precautions in raising cattle to ensure that his land remains lush and fertile. In comparison, the massive expansions in Colorado Springs wreck the landscape and environment. In the early twentieth century American ranchers tried to break up the Beef Trust. In 1917 there were four main companies that controlled the entire industry. While this trust was effectively busted, allowing ranchers to sell their cattle at competitive prices for a few decades, the Reagan administration allowed the top four meatpacking companies to combine. In 1970 they slaughtered 21% of the nation’s cattle today the slaughter 84%. This is causing many ranchers to sell their cattle and quit. The second subheading in this chapter refers to the breed of chicken bred specifically for …show more content…
In 1870 the town started as a utopian community based around the concepts of agriculture, education, mutual aid, and high moral values. However all this peace was broken by the Iowa Beef Packers (IBP). The IBP used the sam eprinciples to meat packing that the McDonald brothers applied to making hamburgers. This system required very little skill from its human operators. Moreover, IBP placed its slaughterhouses in rural areas—far away from the strong unions established in the cities (where slaughterhouses had traditionally been located). IBP began to fabricate slaughtered cattle into smaller cuts— which drove supermarkets to fire many unionized butchers. IBP also began turning leftover bones and scraps into byproducts, such as dog food; IBP also installed grinders in its plants to make hamburger meat on site. These developments transformed the entire beef