"Animal Cruelty"

[PurpleChicken]

Quote:
Well said. If you have the conviction to be a true vegan and are doing it for
the right reasons, not some misplaced guilt or elitism, than you have my respect.

We raise some birds for food because I feel it is the "right" thing to do.

 

[Flufnstuffs~FluffySilkies]

I grew up on a dairy farm, We had a well run family farm and we loved and took very good care of our cows. No matter if it was 100 degrees or -10 below NO matter if we were sick or tired.
I think our cows were happy. we also raised chickens for eggs and sold eggs. I really enjoyed them.
We never ate our chickens Mom was funny that way. Dad would take the extra roosters down the road for my uncles family "FARM" and he would bring back dressed roosters from thier flock for us to put in the freezer.
I was serious to my dad about moms feelings he really did bring back meat that we had nothing to do with raising.
We had a nice chicken dinner every day after church LOL

Some people don't understand. I just smiled and moved on.

 

[hcammack]

oh sorry i didnt mean a regular dairy farm I ment one where they treat there cows like machines

 

[adoptedbyachicken]

Some folks will not get it, but here is one other thing I look at (and I agree also with everything said so far)

The taking of a life is not to be considered light at all, but these critters would not have had life if it were not for our desire for meat. So for every day that they live, as long as they are well treated, I feel good. Simply put if I had not ordered the chicks, the hatchery would not have set the eggs. So I find it hard to think of it as cruel at all that they have a life, and I take full responsibility to ensure that it is a good time, and has a respectful and swift end.

For me it's far less complicated with a meat chicken than say a dairy cow. The meat chicken is here for 8 weeks, very uncommon to see them at the auction half way along, and is not needing any training or really much handling at all. Now the diary cow is much more often seen trading owners, needs training for the diary process, and handling twice a day for life. They are bred endlessly and the calves never left to be mothered. Those calves have to be rehomed or raised.... Much more in that business to get worked up over, and yet I support it to the tune of about 4 liters a week..... Done right I still believe it can be fine, and again if we all quit drinking milk these cows would have no life at all. So as long as there is quality to the life, I think like my life, it is a gift and should be though of as such, thanking God for it's every day rather than moaning about the purpose or planned outcome.

 

[kstaven]

There is give and take, good and bad in the production of food. We as consumers by making decisions where we buy and from whom help to influence all that.

BTW adopted you will find some small dairy operations that do not pull calves and single milk instead. We do that here. It is rare but there are those that operate a little differently from the norm. Also run a cowshare op here where people can share in the produce and KNOW exactly how their food is raised and treated.

 

[adoptedbyachicken]

Absolutly we do have the power to influence, as I said even to the point that the critters are not even bred or hatched, by our choices.

Good for you on your dairy! Wish I was closer, I'd be one of your customers for sure. My next wish towards self sustained is to get the vegy garden going full bore this year, then I do want to get a cow, I'm thinking a Dexter is suitable for the size of our place, and do my own milking. I don't know of any small dairy in this area, but I'll keep looking. After I get the milking down pat I want to try making cheese.... Yes, in my spare time! LOL

 

[dbjay417]

Some vegetarians and vegans can be as irrational as religious fanatics.

Its not healthy for you to dwell on the ramblings of these type of people.

Go about your business as both creationism and evolution deem fit, and don't give creedence to people who buy their health at GNC instead of participating in the circle of life.

 

[alohachickens]

Shoot, this touches on a pet peeve of mine - I live in AZ now, but grew up in a farming community in MO and was in 4-H for years and years.

I just chatted (argued?) with a gal in a feed store the other day about this, I was dropping off bunnies. The owner said someone bought one for meat, and this gal was SHOCKED. I pointed out that rabbit meat is healthy, low in fat, and doesn't carry Samonella or E. Coli. She was not a happy camper, lol, when I said I was OK with someone eating my bunnies if they wanted to.

I asked her if she was a vegetarian, and she said "she only ate meat if it didn't look like an animal, nothing that looked like a leg or anything." What??? OMG, do people really not understand that hamburger was once an animal, too? LOL!!! Too funny. She really thought that made it all right.

I am totally against factory farming, the animals are treated so much better in small family farms! Family farms also help a lot of rural households and communites.

Kudos to vegetarians, I think they're the only ones who can truly say it's wrong to eat meat. If another carnivore says it's wrong to eat "xxx" and then heads to McDonalds, I kind of scoff.

Don't they realize that eating fuzzy bunnies or roo's raised in your backyard in the U.S., recycling your table scraps, is more enviornmentally friendly than "rainforest beef" shipped in from South America?

It's the attitude that some animals are more "worthy" of life than others that amazes me. Pigs are smarter than dogs, baby cows are ADORABLE and we all know chickens are silly and charming! It stinks to love animals . . . and find them tasty, too . . . lol.

That's why I bought my chickens - I can love and spoil them, and eat the eggs for true "cruelty-free" protein! Seriously, my girls are such pets. I make them treats, and I even cuddle them. Hee hee. They follow me all over the yard!

Now, what am I going to do with the roos from the eggs I just hatched? Eeek!!! A dilemma! LOL.

 

[greyfields]

I handle my cockrels two ways:

1) Separate them at hatching and raise them on broiler feed until 3-4 pound live weight and eat them as fryers.

2) Send them to auction where they are sought out as meat birds by the ethnic markets. I can clear up to $10 per cockrel who's usually 6 to 8 weeks old.

Apparently, you simply cannot make proper enchiladas using anything but a rooster. Who knew?

 

[AprilAWZ]

Quote:
That has to be the most insightful thing I've heard/seen/read in...forever! You summed up everything I've been thinking while reading this thread, only far more eloquently than I ever could have managed. :nonexistant thumbs-up smilie: