We have stumbled across many absurdities in the course of our mobile plan employees. One of them is the "Schweizer Bauern" SMS service, which farmers, i.e. meat producers, use to keep themselves informed about the current market situation.
Rubber boots, scuffed trousers and Vreni the cow next to him. A Swiss farmer looks at his iPhone. The screen shows "START TRAENKER". The service from the meat processing industry, which informs farmers about current meat prices by text message, decides Vreni's life. For 50 cents per text message.
It was services like this that Thomas Peter's team and I came across while working on digitec connect, digitec's mobile plan. But instead of just broadcasting STOP PIGS, I ventured into the subculture of the Swiss meat industry. A subculture with its own language and its own mechanisms.
First of all, I would like to apologise to you, dear reader, for the lurid title. But I couldn't resist "Death by SMS". Perhaps there will be another episode of "The Three !!!" with the same title, the successor to "The Mobile Trap", so to speak.
The SMS service provides subscribers with the current prices for the desired category of livestock on a weekly basis. For CHF 0.50 per SMS. The farmer who is interested in slaughtering has the following options:
I try to visualise this vividly. The farmer is standing in the barn, right next to Vreni the cow. Then he receives a text message with the current prices. He looks at Vreni thoughtfully, and depending on the price, one thought or another occurs to him:
So death is a question of price. This price is conveniently sent to your mobile phone by text message.
And the complexity of pricing should by no means be underestimated, as you can see from the many abbreviations and this comprehensive explanation of drinker prices. For example, a paragraph from the article:
At the beginning of February 2018, representatives of livestock farms, the livestock trade and fatteners met in the Swiss Farmers' Association (SBA) working group on feeder prices. A solution was not found. A shambles was looming.
But in March 2018, a turnaround followed. The retailers returned to the working group. "The industry partners have come to the conclusion that common target prices for the feeders are very important as a basis for a fair market and for the credibility of the beef and veal sector vis-à-vis buyers and consumers," was the official statement at the time.
When it came to price categories, I stumbled across Tränker and Jager. I've never come across these terms before. Probably because I'm neither a farmer nor a subscriber to "Schweizer Bauern". I did a quick search to find out what prices are involved:
Soaker calves are calves that are still drinking and then go to a fattening farm where they are fattened up without milk. The milk is a topic here:
In calf fattening, a feeding regime with milk or milk replacer at free disposal is also worthwhile, it is emphasised:
"Higher carcass weights were achieved and health appears to be positively influenced."
As a male drinker, you're out of luck, depending on the farmer:
Fattening male calves of high-performance dairy breeds causes difficulties. According to the Swiss animal welfare organisation, some farmers kill such drinkers.
Young pigs are larger than piglets but are not yet fully grown pigs. This is what happens, for example:
After three to four weeks, four mother pigs and their piglets change pens and move into the group suckling pen.
After six weeks and three days of suckling, the piglets are separated from the mother pigs and move into the weaner pen.
When they weigh between 25 and 30 kilos, the young pigs are delivered to a pig fattening farm.
A world of its own in any case. It's always fascinating to see how completely independent subcultures form in every industry. Complete with their own language and their own rules.
Now you're probably interested to know what the current prices are. Here is a short extract from the list:
Interesting detail: there is a RAUS surcharge that only applies to McDonalds cows over Bell. McDonalds is apparently a number when it comes to meat consumption
In general, something went wrong with meat consumption at some point. This is not only evidenced by the deliberately turgid and emotionally distanced language of the "Schweizer Bauern" website. Consumers have lost all sense of proportion due to industrialisation and the retail trade's constant temptation to consume more. Due to the misleading advertising, the meat buyer thinks he is buying meat from dear Vreni, who is happily grazing in the pasture with a few small calves. Or has been grazing. Now Vreni is packaged in 200 gram pieces in the chiller cabinet. In reality, the animals are fattened with soya, which is much less efficient than using agricultural land directly for food production. And earlier still with meat and bone meal, which led to bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). Which is actually debated again in the linked article. Perhaps this is an idiosyncratic interpretation of the circular economy: the animals eat their own kind and are condemned to cannibalism.
This is a clear vote from my side in favour of no or as little consumption of meat and animal products as possible. By doing so, you not only protect the animals, but also your health, your wallet and the climate.
Most major epidemics have been caused by animal breeding or at least the consumption of animal products:
There are few things where you can do so much good with a small adjustment to your habits. For yourself and for your environment. And Vreni will be happy too.
For more information on meat consumption, I can recommend the documentary film Cowspiracy.
Vegan, vegetarian or still with meat, that is the question.
The competition has ended.
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STOP TEXT
Cool: Creating interfaces between the real world and the world of pure information. Not cool: Driving by car to the mall to shop. My life happens online, the information age is where I feel at home.
