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You all know – or should know – that I am not a PETA supporter. I believe firmly in my right to own pets. That said, I do have a few issues with the meat industry in this country.

I think this ad is kinda great. Reportedly NBC won’t air it, which is ok with me since I don’t think PETA needs the air time due to their other goals and missions. But still, they do have a point.

We have lately been buying pasture-raised local chickens for our own consumption, though the carnivores in the family are still getting the mass-produced kind.

Reportedly our Thanksgiving turkey will be a free range bird from Willie Bird in Sonoma.

Date: November 24, 2009

Tags: News and Politics

Comments RSS TrackBack 7 comments

Ariel

in November 24th, 2009 @ 09:41

PETA is just scary crazy but the meat industry…. scary too.
Tavs

in November 24th, 2009 @ 09:46

Couldn’t have said it better, Ariel!
Kaye

in November 24th, 2009 @ 10:03

The problem is that organic is so darned expensive, we can’t force the entire meat industry to change if people can’t afford to put them out of buisness. Its the same feeling I had when the Prius came out, I said I would buy one *if* I could afford one, and then they jumped their price up by 10,000.00 dollars.
Emily~ DreamEyce

in November 24th, 2009 @ 10:42

Even coming from an agriculture family (dairy, and beef), and being an Ag student myself (Back in school for the 3rd time , the meat industry scares me. We don’t often eat commercially/feedlot-raised meats (Just the occasional fast food, which is something we’d stop if we had self control because I can’t ethically stand supporting that. Forget packing houses, visit a commercial feedlot, and poultry farms- those are the real issue. I’ll take visiting a large-scale packing house over where the commercial animals live long-term any day! Most animals aren’t on a packinghouse lot for more than 6 hours, but spend most their lives in the cramped pens, or cages for weight gain.

I feel blessed to live in an area where humane farming is common, and most animals are grass-fed, or free-range with feed supplement. We don’t have much access to poultry, but we have lots of beef, lamb, and rabbit we can get direct from the farmers that raise them and local packing houses (Which buy from local farmers), for often less than grocery store meats. Since the poultry costs are generally more than grocery store prices, we tend to just not eat much of it, unless we can find it.

I’ll never go vegan by choice (PETA will have to make meat eating illegal , but I have taken a pledge for myself, and my pets to eat and feed humanely-raised, quality meats whenever possible. I have, and will raise my own meat, because I think it’s important, no matter how cute the fuzzy critters are to be accountable for the lives I take/have a part in taking.

I also want to note, the average American eats MUCH more meat than what they should. In most meals ‘around here’ (The Americas), meat is a large portion of the meal, and it’s not how nutritionally we’re suppose to eat. By cutting back meat percent intake, we can make room for more humane commercial raising of meats. Seriously people, look at the food pyramid! Just because we’ve turned ease of meat raising into a pure science, and been successful enough at it to make it cheap (Often cheaper than grains!), doesn’t mean we should engorge ourselves with the wealth. Medical science shows that too much meat wreaks havoc on our systems, yet as a culture, we still insist on meat being the main percentage of each of our meals. Not only does it cause deplorable conditions for animals as producers fight to keep up with demand, it’s killing us/making us miserable health-wise.

Changing this attitude of ‘meat, meat, and more meat’ to a much more nutritionally-correct percentage will do wonders in meat quality. Quantity does not equal quality, and in this case, it’s ever so true as animals are packed like hardware for large portions of their lives… if producers are able to focus on quality, prices may go up, but percent-wise, we wouldn’t be spending any more than we already are on meats, and the quality will go up so much. That’s another thing to consider as people talk about price differences in quality meats (Which are humanly raised), if if you drop meat intake to a biologically appropriate amount, you may actually spend LESS, and healthy meats do taste better.

And seriously, why don’t more people eat lamb, which is so much healthier than beef, and more flavorful, so is MUCH better as an addition to meals (You can use less, and still have full flavor), and rabbit? Just because they’re adorable, doesn’t mean they’re not tasty and good for you. Rabbit is arguably much healthier than poultry, and in many ways is easier to raise. Oh and goat, which tastes like venison. Mmmm! Local farmers and packing houses are great sources, and often have unique meats available for purchase. Ever tried Emu, or Ostrich? Also yummy, and a great free-range option over chickens since they can defend themselves from predators and need very little upkeep. If you have a local Ostrich farmer, ask about culls as dog food (They’ll often call you, since they can’t sell them as human food, so are often wasted), and support them. I think Ostrich should be, and will be the next big thing in the US, and a much better option for sustainable farming and by supporting them, we can help build those farms. I can’t wait until we can own our own emu and/or ostriches. I see these animals growing in population as consumers push for healthier, humanely-raised meats. Anyone looking to invest, I’d predict large birds are a good place to look! People like eggs, and white meat a lot, and chickens can be hard to raise in non-commercial settings.

Long winded… whoops! ;0P
Jeri

in November 24th, 2009 @ 11:08

Mmm, I’m starving!

OK, not. Good points…I have no worries about my children, who are by their own choice nearly vegetarian. I try to do 2 meals a weak that are meat-free..good point from Emily about just cutting down percentage of meat, too. I wish we had more organic sources here but it’s pretty limited…there’s a great local organic cattle farm but they are $$$.
Emily~ DreamEyce

in November 24th, 2009 @ 11:23

Jeri- I have the problem of when talking about animals in ag classes, craving said meat, including obscure species like ostrich. It’s terrible! I wish I craved grains like that, but instead I have to vary my fillers in meals so much, because I get bored with fillers (and all foods) so easy.

If I could do it and be healthy, I’d eat veggies, greens, and meats, and few grains. I’m terrible about grains, while Hubby is a total rice addict! I loooove quinoia, but it’s hard to find in large enough amounts, and low enough cost locally to compete with other grains. I was recently turned onto it at an event, and loooove it! It’s an awesome, healthy filler. Reminds me of millet, and replaces rice in any meal. I’m a texture person, and quinoia has a texture I adore, esp the slightly ‘crunchy’ texture compared to rice. It’s almost like millet, but tastes better.

Hubby would love to just have pasta or rice with meat and a few veggies every night, but I can’t eat the same thing every day. As is, any left overs the family doesn’t eat the next day, goes to rats, and/or dogs! Growing up poor, with 4 siblings, and other kids in the house caused me to hate repetition in foods, since so often we’d eat the same thing for a week or more! Sadly, there’s not many grains/fillers that are interesting to me. One of my biggest food faults! Oh well, at least kidlet loves her rice, she too is naturally almost vegetarian, but I was until right before puberty too. I think craving carbs for growth is normal, then we often look to sustaining foods (proteins) after we mature. I’m no human nutrition expert at all though It’d be an interesting topic for me to look into… but I need to work on ‘the term paper from hell’, that’s due in almost 24 hours
Juniper

in November 24th, 2009 @ 13:52

People need to know where their food comes from and how it got from the farm to their plate. Unfortunately in our consumer driver society no one really cares. They are busy and drive through some place on the way to work or grab what’s on sale at the grocery store and never think twice about it because they don’t have too. Of course I DO know and still do those things myself. I’m not saying that knowledge will suddenly make the meat industry humane…but knowing is half the battle…thank you GI Joe.

That said, PETA is stooopid, humans are omnivores! We can choose not to be in this country (do they know how lucky that is) but our bodies NEED lots of nutrients that vegan diets simply cannot provide in most localized ecosystems. How about let’s worry less about the killing itself and more about the wasting of what was killed yesterday. Or better yet let’s just eat PETA members…they’re organic too right?

Oh but ban balut if you’re going to ban something ’cause that’s just nasty!

C-Myste

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Ariel

Tavs

Kaye

Emily~ DreamEyce

Jeri

Emily~ DreamEyce

Juniper