<<However, what we came to realise was that if you eat meat, would you rather eat meat that you knew had been well treated throughout life or eat a joint off the supermarket shelf whose live has almost certainly been a mere miserable existence. Your pigs will experience all the things that come naturally to a pig, they will wake up every morning to walk out in fresh air and root around til their hearts content. They aren't penned up in a concrete and steel jungle never to see the light of day.>>
Well put P6te. This is the whole point of raising your own animals for meat, surely. Otherwise you might as well save yourself the bother and eat poor animals which have had no life to speak of. I certainly don't like to eat miserable meat.
However, if you think you can't bring yourself to send the pigs for slaughter, then meat-eating is not a necessity; many people exist without eating meat at all. Maybe now is the time to have a good think about whether or not you want to continue raising meat for food. There is no point in just doing it because that is what smallholders do - to kill an animal you must be sure that is the direction you wish to follow.
On the subject of naming animals intended for slaughter, this has been discussed here many times and there are conflicting views. Our view is that we name our animals destined for meat in just the same way we name all our other animals. This for us is part of our respect for all creatures. Once they come back as our food we appreciate their contribution to our lives, just as we contributed to theirs, as individuals, not just a slab of nameless meat. Knowing an animal gave its life for you to eat does mean you don't waste any, and you really appreciate each meal from them. From a practical point of view, knowing just which animal you are eating allows for a degree of quality control, as you can put together aspects of that individuals growth and any problems with the taste on the plate.
Topic: Emotions :\ (Read 6496 times)
