Our local PBS station carried an interesting program tonight.  Frontline featured the meat industry in the U.S. 

I was amazed to learn that most cows being raised for beef never eat a blade of grass after they turn six months old.  They are sent to feed lots where they stand in manure and they are fed a corn mix.  The purpose of the corn feed is to hasten maturity and give the meat its fat marbling.  The man who runs an enormous feed lot in Colorado said that Americans wouldn't like non-fatty meat; it would not have flavor.

Huge amounts of antibiotics are put into the feed because the cows standing in all that manure and crowded together are very prone to sickness.  The average cow will be slaughtered at 14 mos., but they are trying to get it down to 11 mos.  

It really was an interesting program.  Spent a lot of time on USDA vs. meat packers and contamination of meat, court cases involving plants vs. USDA, etc. 

More info. is at http://www.pbs.org.   They will also have a discussion online.

Kath