The End of a Love Affair

[Baymule]

It doesn't make sense to be mean to animals, slaughter or not. I can't be that person. If that is being soft on animals, count me in. But my sister says I am cruel because I slaughter the animals I raise and refuses to eat at my house. She sure will eat industrial meat from animals that never had as good of a life as mine have. Go figure.

 

[greybeard]

"Industrial meat"....
Is that the newest new age buzz word to replace "corporate farming'?

 

[Baymule]

Nope, that is what I call it. I don't give a crap about buzz words or animal activists or other wacko idiots. America does a good job of feeding millions with low priced meat. It is an industry and it produces industrial meat. Something has to be sacrificed to mass produce millions of tons of meat and it is the animals natural behaviors. I'm not calling it wrong, it has to be, in order to feed millions of people. I like knowing that my lambs graze grass and run and play. I like knowing that my pork comes from hogs that root in the dirt, eat garden trimmings, I spray them several times a day with water when it is hot and they enjoy their lives. I like knowing that my chickens usually free range, eat insects, grass and whatever they find. They get to scratch in the dirt, take dirt baths and be chickens. I buy tender rib eye steaks from the grocery store produced by the meat industry because I don't have room to raise a steer.

My point was that my sister criticizes me because I raise those cute little animals and slaughter them. She will eat mass produced industrial meat, I guess those animals are faceless? and not cute?

 

[Sumi]

My point was that my sister criticizes me because I raise those cute little animals and slaughter them. She will eat mass produced industrial meat, I guess those animals are faceless? and not cute?

A friend of mine saw how factory farmed animals and poultry were kept and treated. She is now a vegan. I saw how factory farmed chickens were raised. I did not knowingly eat chicken meat for nearly 11 years. (I say knowingly, as I got caught out once or twice with processed products that had chicken meat as filler) Baymule, you and @Sheepshape are doing great. As are many other members here, who have compassion for their animals and take good care of them regardless of whether they eat them or not.

 

[greybeard]

Nope, that is what I call it. I don't give a crap about buzz words or animal activists or other wacko idiots. America does a good job of feeding millions with low priced meat. It is an industry and it produces industrial meat. Something has to be sacrificed to mass produce millions of tons of meat and it is the animals natural behaviors. I'm not calling it wrong, it has to be, in order to feed millions of people. I like knowing that my lambs graze grass and run and play. I like knowing that my pork comes from hogs that root in the dirt, eat garden trimmings, I spray them several times a day with water when it is hot and they enjoy their lives. I like knowing that my chickens usually free range, eat insects, grass and whatever they find. They get to scratch in the dirt, take dirt baths and be chickens. I buy tender rib eye steaks from the grocery store produced by the meat industry because I don't have room to raise a steer.

My point was that my sister criticizes me because I raise those cute little animals and slaughter them. She will eat mass produced industrial meat, I guess those animals are faceless? and not cute?

You can call it anything you wish, as long as you realize and acknowledge that the vast majority of the beef and lamb sold thru grocery stores and restaurants in this country are raised on small farms like yours and mine, as well as larger family owned ranches. (I did not include poultry and swine as I am not familiar with how they are raised, tho I do know my cousin raises hundreds of head of hogs in Calif free range and sends them thru a salebarn for a further destination for finishing and slaughter) Those lambs (and calves just like mine) run and play, roll in the dirt, sit under the shade trees just like yours do. Those "tender ribeye steaks" you buy at the grocery store, and the steaks you eat at the local eatery, as well as most of the burgers we all eat could very well have come from my place, Farmerjan's place, The Wehner Homestead, Donna Raybon's place, any of the farms and ranches over at Cattle Today or anyone else that has ever raised a calf or lamb and took it to the local salebarn.

But if it makes you feel better and all warm and comfy inside, go ahead and call them "industrial meats".
It's not like there is a cow factory somewhere stamping out animals with some robotic machine..............and we wonder why young people and city people have no idea how and where their food supply comes from....we have met the enemy and it is us...we ourselves are perpetuating the myths and mysteries.

 

[The Old Ram-Australia]

G'day SS,unfortunately it is a fact that the agri sector is a long way down the "food-chain" when it comes to govt policy unless of course you farm in some of the EU countries (like France).

The way I see it the only hope for British farming in the future is the "banning' of meat products from outside of England (including Aus/NZ),something I don't think will happen because like in Aus, govts don't see any "votes" in country people because govts only think in numbers and in the country the numbers are just not there.

In our situation we have embarked on a path of lower COP after almost 18 years of breeding and selection with British Suffolk's we have sold almost all the flock(just a few lambs to go ,when it rains) and have moved to Hair breeds with the intention of a new composite based on all available breeds in Aus. Down the track someone is going to benifiet from our work on the developing the new strain as I am now 76 and I think it will take about 5 years to be able to see a clear path ahead,but the alternative does not bear thinking about,"the rest of my days in a nursing home"...T.O.R.

 

[Baymule]

@greybeard I am not knocking industrial meat, I know it comes from small producers who take their calves to market. But they don’t go straight to slaughter, they go through the feedlots to be fed out and finished. The feedlots are where industry comes in and small producers stop. Not arguing, it is what it is.

 

[greybeard]

But they don’t go straight to slaughter, they go through the feedlots to be fed out and finished.

A great # of them spend less than 1 day at the feedlot, and wouldn't spend that one if it weren't for increased costs to separate them at the salebarns and make separate loads to processors and feedlots. Feedlots don't spend the time, feed, pen room, or $$ trying to finish all the older animals that are going straight to the burger grinder anyway.


Oh I very much understand what you mean, and I do admit, it just sounds SOOO good when someone makes the distinction between raised and butchered on the farm for own use and raised on the farm and finished somewhere else for everyone else's use.


It's been done this same way since even before the end of the cattle drives, (over a century) but now, in today's PC world, suddenly, instead of just 'meat, it's "industrial" or "corporate" meat.

go figure.

 

[Baymule]

Feedlot or home raised, America does a darn good job of feeding her population, plus exports. Since we are able to raise our own meat, that's what we do, plus we have a few customers for what we produce.

 

[Baymule]

In our situation we have embarked on a path of lower COP after almost 18 years of breeding and selection with British Suffolk's we have sold almost all the flock(just a few lambs to go ,when it rains) and have moved to Hair breeds with the intention of a new composite based on all available breeds in Aus. Down the track someone is going to benifiet from our work on the developing the new strain as I am now 76 and I think it will take about 5 years to be able to see a clear path ahead,but the alternative does not bear thinking about,"the rest of my days in a nursing home"...T.O.R.

I pray that you never spend your days in a nursing home. I have instructed my kids, if I get in such shape that I cannot care for myself, to take me on a family camping trip-in bear country. Pitch my tent away from the main camp, rub me down with bacon and don't come looking for me when I wander off. LOL LOL LOL

What breeds are you using to make your new composite breed? Is anyone else working along similar lines so that you can swap breeding stock?