Yesterday and today I watched a cow farmer wring the last drops of water
out of a mountain stream that runs through our property and on down into
the Roche Jaune River (let’s say)—at least during some of the year. The
farmer was damning and digging to divert the remaining water of Mountain
Creek into a ditch feeding a pipe that, in turn, feeds a central pivot
irrigation system that, in turn, sprays water on a field of grass and
alfalfa that, in turn, is made into hay. The hay is fed to Black Angus
cows that produce calves that 7 months later are sold to feedlots—where
they are then fed corn and soybeans until they’ve fattened enough to be
shot in the head with a bolt gun prior to being butchered. Anymore, most
of the meat from these feedlot-finished yearlings goes to satisfy the
burgeoning market for cow meat in the Orient.
But all of this traces back—at least in a small way—to Mountain Creek,
the cow farmer I was observing, and the deeper history of how European
colonists despoiled the mountain West. The specifics matter here because
this mini-drama set in the magnificent mountains of Montana comes as
close as any to being an exemplar of a contemporary malaise featuring
the romanticized West, the mythologized cowboy, and our national
infatuation with both.
https://www.counterpunch.org/2020/09/14/cowboys-ranchers-and-hedge-fund-managers-oh-my/
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