Discussions

So I just saw this video on youtube.  
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIjanhKqVC4  
 
 
And I sure have a lot to say about it. Most of this stuff is true for big time companies, but that is why you should buy from smaller, or medium sized barns. Like We grow chickens and turkeys for meat and eggs, but none are treated like the video. Do you know how hard it is to clean up chicken crap? like really, there is no way that the poop could be cleaned up on a regular basis, especially if you have other animals too. But chickens get sick too, and sometimes have a hard time walking, but that is not just because they're are getting too fat for their legs (which i don't know can really happen). Oh yea, they can get fat, and fast, but they can still walk, they maybe just can't fly. I also think it is super bad how the chickens were treated on the way to the butcher. Horrible! And how some chickens and cows are bled out before they are dead? Just barbaric! At least give them the casualty of killing them first. Then they feel absolutely no pain.  
 
Yea, and with the egg laying hens, poor chickens get their beaks cut off! =( Those chickens are so stressed and malnurished, that their eggs are crap anyways, and can actually get you sick. Even companies thaat claim Omega eggs, or whatever. The only way to get truely good eggs (they have to look very orange, and not a light yellow or something) is buying from a smaller farm.  
 
Next to cattle. Those people obviously have not tried to get a cow to move where they want it to. Those animals are so hard headed, sometimes you need a prod! A simple stick is rarely good enough, and if you try to coax them in (with you in there) you could get seriously hurt, or die. Thanks, but I will take my chances with a little electric shock. I mean, if they go after one shock, then obviously stop! Don't abuse it, just try to get it to understand what you want!  
 
I have several friends who live on different dairy farms. These are a little smaller diary farms (like 200-400 head), and none are treated like they portrayed on the video. These animals are treated so well, have tons of room to walk aroung, and even run, and if one is sick, it is helped. Of course you can't keep the baby with the mom for a long time, but they do share some quality time, and are actually held in a pen right beside, so as not to get "mom-sick". Anyways, the milking machines hae NEVER hurt a cow or anything, and some like it, because it relieves the pressure they have in their utter. Oh, and when they showed the video of the calf freaking out, because it was tied up. Of course any baby animal that gets tied up is going to freak. I just touched the halter of one of our foals yesterday (starting halter training) and she freaked. No abuse or anything, and her mother was right beside her. Like really.  
Those calfs though really make me sad. Poor little things.  
 
On to the pigs. Casteration, and getting their tail cut of when they are very young is necessary (everything else is horrible though). Pain killers? Who has money to spend on pain killers for their animals? When they are really young though, it is better to do things, because they don't have as much pain (still developing). They need their tails ocked because pigs actually chew on their own tails (or those of others) and actually get diseases from this. These pigs can't walk because of lack of stimulation (come on, if you lay in a bed for months, and then someone told you to walk or run, you would look like those pigs do...impossible). That is just horrible how they kill the pigs that are the "fall behinds". Horrible! Pigs, like cows are hard to deal with, are hard headed, and can be super dangerous. Beating is not the answer, but sometimes you have to get more physical than you want.  
I love animals more than anything, and I love helping and caring for them (I am in school for vet medicine), but some things are blown out of proportion. I always try to be as kind as I can with my animals, and do the most humane thing, but like I said before, there are some animals that are very dangerous.  
 
I don't think that this video has given any good reason to become a vegitarian, but rather, to choose to buy meat from small-medium farmers, instead of from the supermarket or large producers.  
 
I would not like any arguing, but rather opionions, or friendly debating after you have seen the video. Here is not a place to try to convert someone to your own beliefs of eating meat or not. Thank you.  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Edited by MistyTally, 2010-04-30 19:04:52