No More Bull! The Mad Cowboy Targets America's Worst Enemy Our Diet

Introduction: My Journey I grew up outside of Great Falls, Montana, as a fourth-generation dairy farmer and cattle rancher. It was a way of life that I believed in deeply, as did my whole family. We worked hard and did our small part to help provide America with high-quality beef and fresh, rich dairy products. I ran the Lyman Ranch until I was forty-five. My learning curve may have been a little slow, but I eventually learned the crucial lesson that impels me to write this book: the "wholesome" meat and dairy products that I was in the business of selling to the public were in fact poisons.I can guarantee you that if you knew as much as I do about what goes into creating meat and dairy in America today -- if you could see behind the walls that those who practice large-scale animal agriculture in this country seek to keep in place -- your diet would resemble my own. Vegan. I haven't consumed an animal product in over a dozen years, and during that time all my considerable health problems (along with over a hundred unnecessary pounds) have melted away.I was born in 1938, an ominous time in Europe, but just another Depression year back home. Growing up during World War II, I had no idea my family was poor. In addition to the farm, we had a large garden that I helped to tend. My love for birds, trees, and healthy soil came from working there as a boy. The family didn't have much cash, but we ate very well and I had no wants.During the war, it was almost impossible to hire any help, so the entire family was pressed into providing the labor to keep the operation running. I remember to this day that whenever there was a family picnic, we would have to leave early to get home so we could milk the cows. I vowed early on that I would never again have my life controlled by the mammary secretions of a cow.Going to school provided me with a welcome break from work. I loved the freedom of spending time in a warm, clean environment. I liked it so much that I forgot to devote any time to learning. My first twelve years in school consisted of partying and playing football -- at both of which I excelled. If I did any studying at all, it's escaped my memory.I accomplished my main objective in high school: our team won the state football championship. In the same year, without noticing how it happened, I also somehow managed to graduate. After high school, I spent a year working on the farm full time, where it became apparent that I didn't have the tools to become a successful farmer -- especially not in an age in which science was boldly coming to the aid of agriculture. Although I didn't know much, I knew enough to realize that the farms that employed new technologies had the competitive edge.My solution was to enroll in Montana State College, at its College of Agriculture, where I learned not only much of what I had neglected in high school but also a great deal more -- about pesticides, herbicides, synthetic fertilizers, hormones, and antibiotics. My agriculture professors were all chemists, and I truly believed that they understood more about farming than my old man, who'd been doing it all his life and didn't believe in their newfangled ways.Upon graduation, I received a commission as a second lieutenant in the Army. While serving a two-year tour in the United States, I learned a lot about organizing and leading. I planned to put those skills to good use in running the farm.When I returned home from the Army, my brother was dying from cancer. The management of the entire operation fell on my shoulders. It was a responsibility that I had to take seriously because it meant providing a living for several families. Bursting with confidence, I expanded the family's small, organic dairy farm into a large factory farm. We took on thousands of head of cattle, thousands of acres of crops, and over thirty employees. I truly believed that it was necessary for the business to constantly get biMerzer, Glen is the author of 'No More Bull! The Mad Cowboy Targets America's Worst Enemy Our Diet', published 2005 under ISBN 9780743286985 and ISBN 0743286987.