What do you think about the way America is raising our food today???

[Willow's Meadow]

So yesterday I was at home and I turned on the tv and saw Oprah talking about the way animals are treated and killed today for human consumption, the inhumane practices of factory farms and switching to a vegan diet. Now I don't always watch Orprah....I like the show but this really caught my eye and I watched the whole show. I have seen the way pigs are killed on tv in the factory farms. Now there is no way I would switch to a vegan/vegitarian diet but this really did change the way I thought about livestock/farming and butchering. I don't see anything wrong with killing cows or pigs or chickens for human consumption but I think the WAY some farms kill their animals is wrong. Livestock were mean't to be killed and eaten but people should respect the animal and treat them humanely.

This was not the first time I've heard about factory farms and the cruel way the treated their animals. The last and first time I heard about it was so long ago that I was at an age where I thought it was cruel and wrong but I didn't know enough to change it or do something about it. I don't know how factory farms kill chickens because I've never seen anything about killing them(at least the factory farms killing them) but I do know how pigs are killed. Watching that show made me realize that their is a way I could change the way factory farms kill their animals.....no I can't completly stop the factory farms all over the world from killing animals but I could stop eating the meat that is sold at the grocery store that was once a living animal that was treated cruely. And no I don't think I have to stop eating meat completly but I think I could maybe buy some meat birds, maybe a pig and a possibly a sheep and raise them HUMANELY and treat them RESPECTFULLY and then take them somewhere where I know they will be killed humanly and have them be butchered and then eat that meat knowing that I'm not eating an animal that was abused.

When I watched that show one of the people that she had interviewed made a statement that really touched my heart and left me breathless. She said, "By eating meat that was a living animal that was treated and killed inhumanely and knowing how they were killed you are looking into the face of that harmeless, powerless, kind animal and saying I don't care how much you had to suffer but my happiness that comes from eating a hamburger or a lamb chop is more important then the way you were treated." Now I'm NOT saying," Everybody needs to stop eating animals because killing animals is cruel and wrong!!!!!!!" Because butchering an animal for human consumption is not cruel.

Although when I did watch that show one of the major cow butchering companies in America that supplies many grocery stores let "Oprah inside to see how they kill their animals" and what they did is they walked the cows very camly through cement corridors to a area where a man comes up behind them and I guess hits them in the head with a medal rod so they are "brain dead" and killed instantly. They said the cows don't see the guy coming up behind them and they don't feel a thing. But I don't think that that one place is supplying every single store in the world. So maybe the Giant Eagle down the street gets their meat from a place that doesn't do that at all. And maybe the pork is coming from a place where they do kill them humanly......but those places are probably few and far in between. Because once I saw about 40 pigs being herded into a small, small area and a wall giving way and smashing them all together and killing them. And the screams and squels I heard when I watched that on tv where unbelievable and heart breaking. That being said I am not trying to make everyone stop eating meat or feeling guilty but it's just something I want you to think about.

The one person on Oprah also said, "If you can't watch these animals being killed on tv.....if its to hard for you to watch then you don't deserve to be eating meat." Which I personally agree with. So I'm just wondering if their is anyone out their that feels the same way I do and agrees enough to do something about it. Now I am really totally knew to this so I don't know everything about it but I just want to open a calm discussion on here about this issue. What would be hard for me is not being able to go to a resturant and get a burger. I mean I was raised that way......so that would be different and kind of hard. However I don't go out to eat that much and I guess....if you think about it their is nothing wrong with having a salad or pasta or macaroni instead of a steak or a burger. Mty family actually does buy our cow beef/meat from a local farmer that grass feeds his cows, only has 5-6 cows at a time and is very, very kind to them. So I do already eat humanly raised and killed cows. But what about pork, lamb, chicken????? I think I want to try to change that. So maybe I will get some meat birds and a pig. I wonder if one pig would last a family through the fall/winter if it was raised all summer and then killed in the fall??? And I wonder how many chickens you would need for a family to not have to buy chicken from the store???

I also think its sad that many, many people don't think about where their food is coming from. So please let me know what you think and how you feel about this issue. Also share your stories and tips about what you are doing to change the way America is raising and killing our food.

 

[Jamie_Dog_Trainer]

My Dad worked at a slaughter house in Missoula Montana before I was born. He was the guy who shot the metal rod into the steer's forehead. My dad has a huge soft spot for animals and isn't afriad to make his opinions known about how an animal is treated. Last time we talked about this I asked him if he thought the rod that punctures the skull and goes into the brain is humane. He told me that it was the only way he thought it was humane, unless you had a good gun and were an excellent shot. The cattle he killed did see him first. The cattle were walking single file in a narrowly fenced area and he would be above them and as they'd come by he'd use the rod-gun (i have no idea if this is what its called). He said that the cattle were dead before they hit the floor. I don't know how true that last statement is, he never actually went down and checked them to see if they were still breathing or had a heartbeat. But he seemed to feel Ok with it and I trust him in that.

I don't like the idea of my meat coming from mistreated animals. But until I am in a position to raise most or all of my own meat I will have to buy what I can from what I consider reputable sellers.

 

[A.T. Hagan]

You can have your food raised and produced in any manner that you are willing to pay for. But pay for it you will.

Generally speaking Americans want their food cheap and plentiful. That is what has produced the agricultural and food processing industries that we have today.

Want your food produced some other way? It's out there, go look for it. But be prepared to pay more to have it produced that way for you.

Others may choose to stay with what they have. Choice and all that.

 

[Katy]

There is already a thread going about the Oprah show.

First thing...there is no such thing as a factory farm....that is a term that was coined by animal rights groups to get the response they want. There are farms/ranches large and small that raise livestock.....mine being one of them.

If you are judging how all pigs are processed by something you saw on TV you need to do more research.

This topic has been discussed many times on here already and it usually ends up being locked.

I watched the Oprah show and thought the processing plant segment was pretty unbiased, but unfortunately most shows or clips on the news about agriculture are not.

 

[Bossroo]

I have killed many a cow, sheep, goat, pig, horse, etc. with a captive bolt pistol at UCD Vet. Pathology. I have personally been to many slaughter houses and observed the animals being slaughtered and collected various animal limb and organ specimens ( deseased, injured, as well as healthy) for Vet students to study. The animals go down a lane single file, at the front of the line ( other animals immediately in back don't see what is happening) the pistol is placed onto the forehead, Powered by a blank .22 shell, BAM... animal is dead, the jugular is immediately cut, but the heart still beats (the same as any beheaded chicken would) and pumps the blood out. The horror stories that one sees/ hears/ reads about are in the very small minority situations where the animal is already very ill, injured or down on it's last legs when braught in and in most cases a mere moment in time, and are meant for sensionalisation for someone's agenda. Shock and awe... These types of stories are only believed by the audiences that in most cases believe that their food comes from the grocery store but don't have a clue where their food actually comes from in real life. My dad was a Vet, and during summer and holiday vacations, I would always tag along on ranch calls, so I have personally seen quite a few inhumane living conditions and botched slaughtering done at the hands of wanna-be back yard farmers. While at the professional farms, the visits were for routine and/or preventive Vet. care or injuries and the farmers provided top notch animal husbandry protocals. Farmers, large and small, all have their animals' best welfare in mind as their profit and very livelyhood is at stake. A healthy and happy animal will produce more and bring more money and provide more food than an abused one will. As the old Scottish saying goes... " the eye of the master fattens the cattle". Even today, Some of the ritual religous animal slaughterings are quite picturesque too.

 

[jessicadawn]

Watch the documentary 'Food Inc'. It was nominated for Best Documentary last year at the Academy Awards. Here's a link to the trailer for it: http://www.foodincmovie.com/

 

[michickenwrangler]

A pack of wolves bringing down an elk, lions killing a zebra or a hawk getting your chicken has no concept of humane or inhumane. They kill to eat. However, in most instances, these are wild animals with a chance to escape/fight and often times they do. A pride of lions doesn't kill a zebra one day, a gazelle the next, an eland the third. They usually only make a successful kill every few days to a week.

That being said, humans have the means for a humane death. I think that we owe it to the animals we raise to dispatch them quickly.

As AT Hagan said, I pay for my meat. And I actually pay less than the grocery store prices. We just bought 1/4 of a grass-fed steer from where I do my cowshare. I saw him graze on grass all summer. The farm is certified organic. They have a very diligent preventative medicine practice, using DE for pest control and deworming. Nearly all of our animal protein comes from either our chickens or from this farm.

 

[lil'turkeymama]

We hunt and eat alot of venison,6-10 deer a year.And we process it ourselves.That said,we do eat some bought meats.I beleive most animals are humanely killed at slaughter houses.I don't know what they ate or how the meat was handled.Its very true that livestock must be rasied right or it is a waste of time and money.I have cattle farmers for neighbors and are very good friends with a few of them.Some I just don't know that well.But I can tell you when you see them at the feed store is way different from the way they are with their cows.Just imagine that big tough fellow with the rubber boots and carhart coat baby-talking to his cows.I see it all the time.The oldest one around here has began to let his sons take over.I wonder if they know the ole cows by name like he does.LOL.
I think everyone that eats anything should know right where it came from.I don't think some folks want to know.I live way out where newer modern day stuff is still new.I know thats changing,too.But my point is the way to raise food has not.Its just good ole hard work.I think it is good for people to raise their own food,both meat and veggies.Its really not that hard.And its good for you.

To answer the question,I do think we are good for the most part,but people should inform themselves more and decide what is acceptable to them.

 

[Celtic Hill]

Im a vegetarian (sorta), but for health reasons, not animal rights. I don't have a problem with Killing animals, it's the way that they are raised that buggs me.

 

[Teach97]

you would never want to stress or otherwise be "inhumane" when killing swine...it leads to a condition known a blood splotching or PSE (pale soft and...well...watery) anyways...running 40 head into an area and doing whatever and having them die by some strange way is not howit is done...most swine are electrocuted...the most modern of plants (yes i have worked in them) bring the animals up through a series of chutes where they are seperated into two lines. The animals move together (so they don't feel alone) and are brought to an area where they are shocked..this keeps their heart pumping to ensure proper bleed out...

as far as the "factory farm" goes...I have run 50,000 hogs on feed. I have fired folks for being rough on my animals. those pigs have given me the life I have and supported my family. Anyone with any sense in agriculture knows this and respects their animals. This goes for grandpa and grandma farmer and the mega big "factory farm".

by the way...before you go bashing them...they are hiring...always have openings for those that are willing to work