➡I accidentally bought Balut eggs: 2 live ducks! Now a Chat Thread!

[RUNuts]

Consider the alternate view. In the days before refrigeration and meat preservation, an animal small enough for the group or individual was preferred to minimize waste. When the community came together for a cow or pig slaughter that was too large for a single family, every member was expected to contribute. Family one slaughters theirs on this day. A week or two later, family two slaughters theirs and so forth. In this way, the community eats. You knew who your friends were by the cut of the meat you received. Better cuts for friends, the rest for whomever.

Isolated from a community and preservation ability, smaller animals make sense. Now we have grocery stores. Wasteful or not? Consider the hot dog. All the scraps shoved into the intestines.

I understand your point about the taking of a life. It is a consideration and not taken lightly by me. Thank you for your thoughts.

 

[BantyChooks]

Consider the alternate view. In the days before refrigeration and meat preservation, an animal small enough for the group or individual was preferred to minimize waste. When the community came together for a cow or pig slaughter that was too large for a single family, every member was expected to contribute. Family one slaughters theirs on this day. A week or two later, family two slaughters theirs and so forth. In this way, the community eats. You knew who your friends were by the cut of the meat you received. Better cuts for friends, the rest for whomever.

Isolated from a community and preservation ability, smaller animals make sense. Now we have grocery stores. Wasteful or not? Consider the hot dog. All the scraps shoved into the intestines.

I understand your point about the taking of a life. It is a consideration and not taken lightly by me. Thank you for your thoughts.

That would certainly apply in that situation, but I have two large freezers and another half freezer, so storage is not an issue for me. I take full advantage of that aspect of modern life.

 

[RUNuts]

That would certainly apply in that situation, but I have two large freezers and another half freezer, so storage is not an issue for me. I take full advantage of that aspect of modern life. View attachment 1919066

Dudette! You live in a freezer! Why would you need a freezer if you don't need AC?

 

[BantyChooks]

Dudette! You live in a freezer! Why would you need a freezer if you don't need AC?

If it's hot enough to grow tomatoes... it's hot enough to spoil meat. Alas. Plus, it's nice to not have to chase the coyotes off my dinner.

 

[Tesumph]

But as you said, we can’t really point fingers when we treat our cattle and poultry like inanimate meat sacks here in the US.

I have to apologize for this comment I made yesterday. I’ve done some thinking on this and realized that my opinions on this subject are mostly based on extremist narratives that I’m sure we’ve all seen in the media.
I’m a huge advocate for doing your own research and thinking with your own brain instead of someone else’s, and I failed here.

I just had a long conversation with my animal nutrition professor about the state of animal processing in North America and I feel pretty bad for buying into a false narrative.
I won’t type out the whole conversation, and I still have certain opinions and have some research to do, but as usual there are two sides to every story.

Anyway. I’m sure no one really cares, but I had to clear my conscience..
.. thanks.

 

[Molpet]

I have to apologize for this comment I made yesterday. I’ve done some thinking on this and realized that my opinions on this subject are mostly based on extremist narratives that I’m sure we’ve all seen in the media.
I’m a huge advocate for doing your own research and thinking with your own brain instead of someone else’s, and I failed here.

I just had a long conversation with my animal nutrition professor about the state of animal processing in North America and I feel pretty bad for buying into a false narrative.
I won’t type out the whole conversation, and I still have certain opinions and have some research to do, but as usual there are two sides to every story.

Anyway. I’m sure no one really cares, but I had to clear my conscience..
.. thanks.

Actually I buy meat from Farmers because I want my meat to have a good life. That's also why I raise what I can so they have a good life.

 

[Molpet]

If I didn't have a freezer or a way to can, I would raise quail and such...or eat like a queen in the winter

 

[RUNuts]

If it's hot enough to grow tomatoes... it's hot enough to spoil meat. Alas. Plus, it's nice to not have to chase the coyotes off my dinner. View attachment 1919111
View attachment 1919095

Excellent bounty!
What are the green orbs called?

Butternut and chicken soup is excellent. Even Crazy Lady approved.

 

[littleprairieheartsfarm]

Okay. I have news!

The last two weeks...

Ruger has had swelled lymph nodes across his entire body. The swelling was increasing at an exponential rate, and so my heart started sinking...that it had to be cancer, and then he started to stop eating which is not like him and his drinking went through the roof. He was emptying 2 water bowls every hour. Mastiffs are genetically prone to getting lymphoma and all of his symptoms mimicked what I had read through several research articles and medical pages.

No vets wanted to see him since he doesn’t like people. We finally managed to get him scheduled with one but this was 2 weeks after the initial swelling and he was having trouble breathing. I was preparing myself for the worst (and by preparing I mean I was sobbing every night and forcing myself to talk about it in public so that way I could not be so sad).

His vet appointment was yesterday. Ruger was so perfect. He had one accident (peed on the floor) when a couple barged into the vet clinic even though they could clearly see Ruger was right by the door. During the exam, which was done in the back room on the weight scale, we pulled blood (a hind leg since they didn’t want to be near his head lol) and he didn’t even cry out even after they blew a vein.


Tests...
At the vet office, we had the 4DX test done. Ruger came back heartworm positive which was something I hadn’t even considered, and my heart stalled.. I was in the set mindset that he now had heartworm AND lymphoma. He was put on 14 pills a day. (5 antibiotic and 2 steroids twice a day)

Bloodwork was sent to an outside lab and we just got the results back 20 minutes ago. Kidney and liver levels were tested as well as a CBC for the WBC.

Results are...
Kidney and liver levels were perfect!

The vet told us that 30k WBC was high infection, and anything from 60k and above was likely cancer...
His WBC was 23k!!!

The vet said that she isn’t worried that it’s cancer, and to update them in 4 days if the swollen lymph nodes aren’t going down.


TLDR: Ruger our mastiff was thought to have lymphoma due to symptoms, he has heartworm instead and vet isn’t concerned about it being cancer.

 

[Sara L]

Okay. I have news!

The last two weeks...

Ruger has had swelled lymph nodes across his entire body. The swelling was increasing at an exponential rate, and so my heart started sinking...that it had to be cancer, and then he started to stop eating which is not like him and his drinking went through the roof. He was emptying 2 water bowls every hour. Mastiffs are genetically prone to getting lymphoma and all of his symptoms mimicked what I had read through several research articles and medical pages.

No vets wanted to see him since he doesn’t like people. We finally managed to get him scheduled with one but this was 2 weeks after the initial swelling and he was having trouble breathing. I was preparing myself for the worst (and by preparing I mean I was sobbing every night and forcing myself to talk about it in public so that way I could not be so sad).

His vet appointment was yesterday. Ruger was so perfect. He had one accident (peed on the floor) when a couple barged into the vet clinic even though they could clearly see Ruger was right by the door. During the exam, which was done in the back room on the weight scale, we pulled blood (a hind leg since they didn’t want to be near his head lol) and he didn’t even cry out even after they blew a vein.


Tests...
At the vet office, we had the 4DX test done. Ruger came back heartworm positive which was something I hadn’t even considered, and my heart stalled.. I was in the set mindset that he now had heartworm AND lymphoma. He was put on 14 pills a day. (5 antibiotic and 2 steroids twice a day)

Bloodwork was sent to an outside lab and we just got the results back 20 minutes ago. Kidney and liver levels were tested as well as a CBC for the WBC.

Results are...
Kidney and liver levels were perfect!

The vet told us that 30k WBC was high infection, and anything from 60k and above was likely cancer...
His WBC was 23k!!!

The vet said that she isn’t worried that it’s cancer, and to update them in 4 days if the swollen lymph nodes aren’t going down.


TLDR: Ruger our mastiff was thought to have lymphoma due to symptoms, he has heartworm instead and vet isn’t concerned about it being cancer.

I hope he gets better soon!