.Horse meat.

[Cpprpnny19]

I heard that President Obama signed into law a bill allowing horses to
raised to be eaten in the U.S.?

 

[ChickenfootDuckbutt]

I read something that said that they were thinking of re-legalizing horse slaughter houses, in the US could be as early as next year, so it COULD be a very real possiblity to see horse on super market shelves

My honest opinion is that Horses are considered by many as companions, yes?

well, we eat beef, and pork, and chicken, and even duck.

to many people those animals are companions as well, I would LOVE a pet cow, however I would not EAT my pet.

but I eat beef, if I had a PET pig, I would STILL eat pork,but eating my PET, no, I do not eat turkey (never cared for it), I CAN'T eat chicken (allergic), and duck, I don't care for that either.


If I was offered horse meat, yes for curiousity sake I would eat it, if I didn't like it, I wouldn't eat it again.

not exactly sure how I feel about horses being RAISED as food, but in the long scheme of things, they're, at that point no different than the thousands of cattle and pigs born simply to await their fate.

 

[Avalon1984]

Quote:
I am also not sure about raising horses for meat per se, but what about horses that are born with deformities, injured, aggressive, etc? I would also wonder about the means of killing. If it were my horse I would want to make sure the horses is dead before being cut up. Seems a lot of extra effort, plus a lot of the meds for horses state that they aren’t safe for horses intended for human consumption. I know in Germany every horse owner needs to have a “passport” for the horses they own and it will show every medication given, every treatment, etc. Something like that would almost have to be implemented to pull this off at a large scale. It could be a viable option for a horse owner that has already a lot of money invested in vet bills to be able to at least have the horse processed and get some of that money back, but I could see a nightmare of legalities with all of that.

 

[carolinagirl58]

As much as I hate to see a perfectly good horse be slaughtered, it needs to happen. Since legislation passed to make slaughtering horses in this country illegal, a couple of things have happened.

1. horses that are old, lame, dangerous, or just plan unwanted have no place to go. Many now starve to death in their pastures or are abandoned to fend for themselves because many owners can't afford to feed a useless animal (nor should they have to) and they can't afford the cost of euthanasia and burial.

2. perfectly good horses are now being sold for next to nothing or given away free because the abundance of unwanted horses has driven prices very low.

3. some horses are still going to slaughter. Only now instead of a short ride across the state to a humane slaughter house, they are being subjected to transportation thousands of miles to mexico where the slaughter of horses is totally unregulated and it's not done humanely there. Many are going to Canada also.

4. thousands of pounds of useful protein is now dying and rotting in fields or being buried, instead of being used to feed animals in this country.

This is a great article that will help explain why it's necessary to reopen the horse slaughter houses. I love horses....I really do! But this is the reality of it all.

http://sidelinesnews.com/blogs/laurengallops/for-the-love-of-horses-pt-1.html

 

[herfrds]

Uh guys there was never a ban perse. What it was was removing the funding for the USDA inspections of horse meat being processed.
Now a couple of States have passed into laws horse slaughter bans, but what has not been addressed was the large numbers of unwanted horses.

I love my horses, but I also owned a dangerous horse. this horse would charge at people, swing her rear around and threaten to kick them and she knocked down and ran over my DD who was 5 at the time.
I could not sell this horse to another person. I sent her to slaughter before she killed someone.
before someone says it I sent her to 2 different trainers and both were run out of the corral by this mare. they also advised me to ship her.

 

[Avalon1984]

Quote:

Good for you. Somebody down the road from us has a couple horses like that. Rearing up at vets, coming up from behind you and put their front legs on you, kick at you...it's just terrible to watch.

 

[NewHopePoultry]

I COULDNT eat horse, but I have no problem with people that do.

My local craigslist is full of free and cheap($50) horses becouse people cant afford to feed them. I would rather them humaly be put down then left to suffer and starve in an empty field, etc.

 

[EweSheep]

Quote:

Good for you. Somebody down the road from us has a couple horses like that. Rearing up at vets, coming up from behind you and put their front legs on you, kick at you...it's just terrible to watch.

Good for you too!

I've had tried breaking a nasty QH mare, meaner than a rattlesnake. She was also untrainable because she figured out the humans and their fear. If she does not like you step foot in her pen, she would literally charge you and teeth baring and all that act like a billy goat. She was raised with billy goats so she acted like one. I informed the owner that I was unable to train her and needs to go back to her farm. She didn't like that and I suggested to her to sell the mare. No, its her daughters horse and it came from the very famous King Ranch down in TX. I personally don't care WHERE that mare came from or any big name ranch name, its her disposition, attitude and conformation which it sucks big time. Fat as she was foundered numberous times and that mare would be worth going to the slaughter house, period. She had nearly killed or "attempted murder" on numberous kids, including the member of the family and friends, including me. She was a liability but they dont see her like that. When that mare finally put down due to BAD founder that she went down on her knees, can not get up, I was so happy! She was not that old either.

A mare like that would have fed her champion dobermans for a six month period. But no, a very spoiled horse with a daughter that can not spend any time with her.

 

[Peaches Lee]

Quote:
I belive in France there is a breed of horse, Boullanais (not sure if that's spelled right) that was once bred (and maybe still is) for meat consumption, and I also believe the Percheron was considered a meat source breed as well. And I agree with you, I would probably try the meat out of curiosity sake.

 

[Rusty Hills Farm]

While I personally believe there is a place for slaughter in the scheme of things, it does not automatically follow that the animals slaughtered should be allowed to enter the food chain. After all, horses in this country are raised as pets, not for food. Stop and think about this for a minute. Think about how meat animals are raised and contrast that to how pets are raised--with bimonthly wormings, semiannual shots, feed additives for sleek coats and hoof quality, feed-through insect protection, additives to calm, additives to help recover from heavy competition, shots to prevent estrus, shots to encourage estrus--and the list goes on and on. And when you read the labels for all these products MANY carry the warning that they are not to be used on animals for slaughter. Then think about what could happen IF those products are suddenly removed from the animal's regular feeding program. What could that cause? Maybe an overgrowth of round worms, thread worms, etc. Does anyone really think such meat could be safe to eat--even for pets?!?

Slaughter isn't really the long-term solution for the glut of pet animals. Only controlled breeding is. Just because a person has a mare and somebody else has a stud, it does not automatically follow that they should be breeding horses.

JMO

Rusty