Getting flack for killing our meaties -- and need some reassurance!

[jodief100]

I do love the "Domestic Animal Contract" statement.

I have had people say the whole "better to die a natural death" thing to me before too. Let us look at this clearly. Animals do not die quietly in bed surrounded by thier loved ones. Old animals are not cared for by the herd. A "natural" death for an animal involves one of 4 things.

Starvation
Predation
Accident
Exessive cold/heat

Which one is quick and painless? NONE!

 

[Ibicella]

I got that before too. I responded by saying, "Do I really have to explain to you where meat comes from? Because the only difference between me and you is I get better quality meat than you do. So you can stuff that self-righteous hypocritical whining 'cause I'm not interested in hearing it. Capice?"

 

[TimG]

I think there is a sense of security in government inspection amongst many baby boomers. That USDA stamp of approval means something to them.

(A generalization, of course.)

 

[ducks4you]

In our possible future, when You and I are rearing up our own chicken meat, these same people are going to ask you how to do it.
Seriously, it's NOTB. Don't tell them, don't let them see you do it--pretend you never mentioned it at all. Ignoramouses, who don't know the history of the country, much less the world, and how everybody used to eat!!

 

[dchickenman]

Quote:
Tell me you're kidding. Please...

 

[woodmort]

One final thing and I'll shut upon this topic anyway) Do these people realize that only female chickens lay eggs? Given that, mathematically, half the chicks hatched will be males what do these people thinks happens to them? Tell them it is far better for you to give your birds a happy healthy 6 months or so with a quick death and a useful purpose than to have them gassed in a garbage pail.

 

[lacasitarojafarm]

I have a little bit of a different situation. I am Hispanic and most of our friends are either farm workers, or they work in or around the large chicken processing plant in our town. They KNOW how disgusting and filthy the chickens are when they get to the processing plant and how cruelly they are treated. They also know that there's arsenic in the eggs and hormones and that the chickens poop on top of each other and generally live miserably so they are always interested in home grown birds for meat and eggs for their families. I guess we are not as economically advantaged so we tend not to be as ignorant (not meant in a mean way) of where our food comes form and how it's treated before it gets there.

 

[Dust Bunny]

I don't have time to read this whole thread, but yes you are right! I don't like to kill anything, but I just processed my first chicken yesterday, and I'm kinda proud of myself, it was NOT easy for me! I felt a little ill, got light headed and yes I cried a little, but once it was finished and I had such nice fresh HEALTHY meat I felt really good about it, I remembered the nice life he had and thought about how lame factory chickens have it, and it just felt right, not easy but right, I always thought chicken was cheap, not anymore! when you take a life to feed you own, it's definitely not cheap anymore...

 

[holachicka]

Quote:
I think it's also how you are raised. Most of my hispanic friends don't have a problem with me raising birds for meat, even expect it when they see my chickens, but most of my other friends give me the stink eye and say "how can you kill something you raised? It's a pet!" *sigh*

 

[SunnyDawn]

Quote:
That's not mean it's just truth.

Honeydoll I had to laugh when I read your first post. When I was a young Mom (many, many moons ago) my friends and I used to gather together for a potluck when it was time to slaughter some of our animals. So I guess we were throwing a party, of sorts, when it came time to slaughter!

Well it's not like we would all be standing around watching while the guys took care of the hard work. Though my daughter, at 4, used to love to watch so I let her. I thought it was good for her to know where her food came from.
Once when we were walking through a dept store by a display of fur coats, my daughter stopped and touched one of the coats. She looked up at me and said, "These feel just like bunny rabbits!" 2 elderly women were standing nearby and they both went "awwww". My daughter asked me, "Are they made from bunnies Mommy?" (both elderly women melted) and when I replied "Yes they are from bunnies", she looked at me with those big, gorgeous, blue eyes and said, "Boy I wish I had the meat!" at which point the elderly women looked horrified, I laughed, and then decided it was time we left the store.
What can I say? I make a mean BBQ rabbit!