Tag Archives: Ron Schmid

Visit to the Killing Floor at Kam Lake View Meats

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Yesterday I visited the killing floor at Kam Lake View Meats. I had a very interesting experience and I am very grateful to Kam Lake View Meats and the local inspector for allowing it. I was there to harvest organs and glands from three heifers from Jocko Creek Ranch. I had ordered from Jocko Creek Ranch, one grassfed two year old heifer and two grassfed veal calves. For more information on why I like grassfed veal read Grassfed Veal. If you are looking for a full service butcher, here is their information:
Kam Lake View Meats Ltd.
Ron Keely
6453 Buckhorn Rd, Kamloops, BC, V1S 2A1
T: 250.828.1015
27 km
government inspected abbatoir, slaughtering, custom cutting, smoking, sausage making, good source for local meat, run The Cutting Block in Kamloops

That day, I learned many things on the killing floor. The hides, once a valuable byproduct, are now almost a waste product. The inspector said: “we are close to the day when the customer will have to pay extra to dispose of the hide.” The kill floor manager said: “when I started twenty years ago, the hides were worth $50.00 each. Now they get $5.00 a hide.”

It makes me think about my vegetarian days, when I did not want to wear leather because I thought it was environmentally unfriendly and cruel to animals. I thought we all should use cotton clothing. Of course, I did not think about all the water, energy, pesticides and herbicides used to produce industrial cotton. I do not think cotton clothing is environmentally friendly anymore. Now, I think about how long a piece of clothing made of leather or fur would last. I think about the skill of being able to tan that hide and make it into a piece of useful clothing, has almost been lost.

The internal organs and waste not harvested from animals includes the head, stomach, intestines, reproductive organs, tail end, hooves, and extra fat. Some can be used in raw pet foods but most has to be composted. There are parts of the intestine that are considered “toxic waste” and must be incinerated due to fears of Mad Cow Disease. The Weston A. Price Foundation has a number of essays on Mad Cow Disease by Mark Purdey called Part I, Part II, Part III, and Part IV.

These waste materials are shipped to Alberta because no one in the area wants to have a composting plant in their area. So, trucks full of animal waste moves up and down our roadways. The inspector shared some black humor regarding all the wishful thinking about “reducing our carbon footprint” while regulations require such inefficiencies. Again, the government always thinks big. Big composting plants cause big problems. Little composting plants cause little problems. But for the government it is hard to regulate small operations. For the small operations, government inspection and regulation is not cost effective.

Organs are normally harvested, though the interest in these foods have dwindled over the years. These foods are now commonly added to raw pet foods. This is ironic, because traditional people preferred the organ meats and fat over the muscle meat. During periods of good hunting, traditional people would eat organ meats and fat and would throw the muscle meat to the dogs. Traditional people would dry muscle meat as jerky and add fat to make pemmican. This was travel and starvation food. Read Guts and Grease for more information about traditional diets.

Kam Lake View Meats produces raw pet foods, so this would be a good local source if you need pet foods. Raw pet foods are called the Bone and Raw Food diet (BARF). In my opinion, raw food diets are far better for your dog or cat than dried or canned foods. Read Pottenger’s Cats by Francis Pottenger for more information about raw and cooked food feeding experiments. The Weston A. Price Foundation has an essay called Trends in Home Prepared Diets for Pets. There is a lot of controversy about raw food for your pet. Do your research and make your own informed decision.

We did not harvest the brain or pituitary glands. Kam Lake View Meats uses a 22 caliber rifle to kill the animal. This means the brain tissue is contaminated with lead and is unsafe to eat. In new slaughter houses they are required by law to use the humane hammer. The owner of Kam Lake View Meats has used this humane hammer and has renamed it the “inhumane hammer”. He has found the hammer causes more suffering for the animal but would allow the harvesting of the head meat, brains and brain organs.

The regular harvesting of glands has not been done for over eighty years. Before there was a pharmaceutic industry, people used glands to help heal endocrine problems. People with glands that were damaged by illness or injury might have to take glandulars for the rest of their lives or their condition would quickly deteriorate and they would die. For more information about glandulars read Royal Lee: Father of Natural Vitamins.

This is why I was on the killing floor. I wanted to harvest a number of glands from the three animals. With the help of these knowledgeable people, we located the thyroid, adrenals, ovaries, and pancreas. This wasn’t easy. Those pictures drawn by artists in textbooks does not do justice to the individuality found in all animals.

I brought home the following organs: heart, kidneys, and liver. I brought home the following glands: ovaries, thyroid, adrenals, and pancreas. When I got home, I cut up the glands into the smallest pieces I could. I cut up some of the heart and liver into small cubes. I then froze those glands and organs on a tray. After the pieces had frozen, I re-packed them into bags. I will leave the organs and glands for two weeks in the freezer to kill any parasites, before consuming raw. I will be able to eat the small pieces like a “frozen supplement pill”. The dose for organs is 1-2T a day or more. The dose for the glands is an issue. It will require some experimentation to get the dose right. I will be using Degeneration Regeneration by Melvin Page as a guide. I will contact Ron Schmid, who produces dried glandulars for human consumption. This will be a long term project for me. I will keep everyone posted about what happens and what I learn. If anyone knows about endocrine treatment with raw glands, please contact me.

Updated December 17, 2009: Here are two essays on adrenal function: What You Should Know About Your Glands and Further Experiments of Cortico-Adrenal Extract.

New Cow Share Program in Haida Gwaii

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Big Bear Ranch sent me a link to an article in The Tyee called: Did you Want your Milk Raw? (The Tyee was started by Alisa Smith and J.B. MacKinnon the minds behind the Hundred Mile Diet). Lisa Graham-Knight has two Jerseys which are supplying Haida Gwaii with raw milk. I read through the postings after the article and was saddened by all the fear the general population has around raw milk. I wrote a posting on The Tyee site about why I like raw milk and consider it safer than pasteurized milk. Below is my posting:

I am the Chapter Leader for the Weston A Price Foundation in Kamloops. My family and I have been drinking raw milk for about three years now. This summer I decided to buy my own Jersey cow so I could ensure a supply of this nutritious traditional food.

It is important that raw milk comes from healthy grassfed cows. The raw milk is of better quality if the cows are on fresh pasture, so it is a common practice to milk only on a seasonal basis. It is better for the cow’s long term health not to be milked while pregnant.

We drink fresh whole raw milk daily. I make raw butter, kefir and yogurt. I freeze raw milk for winter consumption. My family has not become sick from drinking raw milk. In fact, I did not drink milk for nearly ten years because of “lactose intolerance”. It turned out I had “pasteurization homogenization intolerance”. Industrial milk is dangerous for me.

I would recommend interested people reading Ron Schmid’s book The Untold Story of Milk. It gives historical background about how we have found ourselves fearful of a nutritious traditional food that has nourished generations of people.

In the name of “safety” we have seen our rights to choose healthy foods reduced. Farmers and ranchers in my area are being regulated out of business. It’s really all about choice. Does the government have the right to choose what is right for me? Unfortunately, they have the power to do so. The farmer becomes a criminal just by selling me this traditional food.

I want the government out of my business so I can get nourishing foods directly from the farmer at a reasonable price. Even at this reasonable price, the farmer gets paid more than what they would receive from the Industrial Food System. (I won’t get into government run dairy quota.) Legal raw milk sales would save the small family farm. Legal farm gate sales regarding meats is another issue that would save the family farm.

I will try to connect with the people involved in this new cow share program.

Looking for Pasture for Dexter Cows

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Last weekend my family drove up to 150 Mile House, BC to look at Dexter cows. Dexters are a small Irish breed of cattle that produce excellent milk and meat. We are trying to find pasture to lease near our home so my family can have real milk. If you are wondering why we are going to so much trouble to get real milk please read: The Untold Story of Milk by Ron Schmid. It is available in the Kamloops Public Library.

The Untold Story of Milk

This book is a wonderful history of raw milk.

Unfortunately, we haven’t been able to find pasture for lease in our area. We would also consider hiring an Agister to pasture and milk our cows. Agistment is legal in Canada. It is equivalent to boarding your horse with a stable or farmer. If anyone reading this post knows someone with pasture for lease or an interest in an agistment contract please contact me.

Update June 25, 2009: We found a Jersey cow and calf in Langley, BC. They are now pastured in Kamloops, BC. We had our first drink of real milk since November 2008. It is wonderful to have such a delicious, healthy food back on my family’s table. A big thank you, to all the people that helped make this possible. If you have ever wondered if you would like your own cow please read The Family Cow by Dirk Van Loon.

the-family-cow

A practice book that will help you decide if you want a cow.

Update August 4, 2009: We have been getting milk regularly from Patty our Jersey cow. She has a very good disposition. Over the last week, I have been learning how to milk. My hands are not very strong but I take it slowly. I enjoy the early morning drive out to the farm and the warm smell of the hay. I am getting about 5L in one milking a day. I have started to freeze milk for the winter months. Milking while the cow is on pasture makes better quality milk. Cows on hay in the winter make a poor quality milk and it is very hard on the cow’s system to be milked during pregnancy. Our cow will not be milked during her pregnancy. Traditionally, fresh milk was consumed during the summer season and cultured butter and raw cheeses were consumed in the winter. The modern convenience of freezing allows us to now enjoy milk later into the winter without harming the cow. I am hoping to freeze 120L of milk and put away about 10kgs of raw butter.