Rancher Mollie Engelhart was at a talk in North Dakota when a man walked up and told her that close to 20 percent of steers were lactating at slaughter. She raises cattle. She milks cows. She’d never seen it once. Then he showed her the research poster, and it was real.
Researchers from West Texas A&M and Cargill evaluated 20,481 finished cattle from 33 feedlots and found 6,078 lactating. Among native beef steers, 14.55 percent. Among dairy-cross steers, 19.66 percent. Steers are castrated males.
Mollie thinks the hormone growth implants used in over 90 percent of feedlot cattle are the obvious suspect. The lead researcher disagrees and thinks the cattle have simply gotten fat enough that their own tissue is triggering it.
We get into what she found, the pushback since she published, and what’s happening at Sovereignty Ranch.
Then we spend real time on the part that doesn’t trend. Mollie went from vegan chef in LA to running 200 acres in the Texas Hill Country, and we talk honestly about what that costs. The hours, the grit, the toll on your body and your family, and the difference between people who talk about building and people who build.
Mollie’s reporting:
https://members.acresusa.com/lactating-steers-hormonal-implants/
Mollie is speaking at Exit & Build 6, November 5-8 on her own land at Sovereignty Ranch in Bandera, Texas. Four days with the builders in this movement, hands-on implementation zones, and food grown right there that you can pay for with crypto, silver, or Goldbacks.
