At 09:11 AM 5/15/97 -0400, you wrote:
>These days, though, farmers are using artificial means to get more
>production.  I don't know if the same things were happening back then, but
>I don't think so.  Isn't the notorious Mad Cow disease caused by feeding
>ground up slaughterhouse remains back to the growing stock?  Or am I a
>victim of tabloid "facts"?

No, that's quite correct.  Gruesome, ain't it?  Mad Cow disease is related
to a disease called 'Scrapie' in sheep -- because it causes the sheep to
endlessly rub themselves against a post or something (repetitive motion)
until they scrape their skin raw, I think.  The slaughterhouse remains of
sheep with scrapie were apparently fed to cows, who then got the cow
version of the disease.

I _think_ scrapie is less common in the U.S.

>As far as eggs are concerned, I've noticed something lately.  When I was a
>kid, and cracked open an egg, the albumen was very thick and "gooey"
>looking.  Today, when I crack an egg open, it's almost as if there's a yolk
>and water.  And frequently, the yolks are very small.  So I don't think
>that today's eggs have anything to do with the eggs of 25-30 years ago.  I
>would gladly pay double for better ones, but you simply can't find them
>around here.

The thickness of the albumen in eggs is generally related to how old the
egg is.  For instance, a relatively fresh egg will have a much thicker
albumen, and, if you're making hard-boiled eggs, will adhere more fiercely
to the shell, making it harder to peel.  An older egg's albumen will be
'runnier' and less cohesive, and easier to peel when hard-boiled.

>I would imagine that homegrown livestock would be far safer than
>commercially produced.
>
>MHO,
>John Pavao

Possibly.  But there's no guaranteeing that, aside from growing one's own.
Speaking of which, when my dad was stationed in Millington Naval Air
Station in Tennessee, we lived sort-of out in the country for a few years,
and our neighbors grew their own chickens and rabbits for food, and we got
fresh milk from the neighbors across the road.  I imagine that if you lived
in the suburbs and had a large yard and lenient zoning laws, you could keep
rabbits.  This was (I hear) also more common during the Depression; people
would keep the rabbits fed on table scraps and grass clippings, and have an
extra source of meat.  Since rabbits are often kept as pets, it might not
be as big a problem (zoning-wise) as, say, keeping goats or chickens would
be in a suburban environment.

I've heard that sometimes farmers will sell you a whole cow -- or a side,
or a quarter -- and trim it out for you.  If you do this, you'll probably
need a freezer to store the meat.  I've considered getting a freezer and
going in with some friends to buy a whole side of beef.   Haven't gotten
around to that, yet, though.

Mara
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