A humane slaughter, define it.

[Saje]

Saje: Perhaps it's done differently in Canada? I know there are inspectors that come in to inspect the areas around here.

Most of the time it's independent people who have large tracts of lands. A company like Tyson will contact them, offer them a cut of the profits reaped from their land. Then if the person accepts Tyson will pay for everything from there for the rent of the land and build the houses on the land with no cost to the owner.

The owner is then responsible for answering the calls (like described in the previous post) and the like. A lot of the houses practically run themselves with today's modern technology. It's crazy how sophisticated they are. All that the human labor really has to do is collect the egg baskets (if it's egg) or the chickens (if it's broiler).

I don't know Canada's rules and regulations but the ones in the US, or Texas at least, are extremely strict and you can gain a lot of money or lose a lot if you go into business like this.

You lose money by not adhering to their guidelines and keeping their property up to snuff.

Like I said before it is different in Canada because of the mad cow cases. There isn't a demand like there used to be and people are really pushing Canadian beef. Companies like McDonalds only use Canadian beef now to help improve the market.

My problem never has been how cattle are raised. They are grass fed on hundreds of acres in the summer and those that aren't sent to slaughter are fed hay over the winter months. My problem is still with how they slaughter animals, how they keep them before slaughter and with the industry itself because there just isn't that much need for red meat. It kills the land, pollutes the earth wastes water and isn't that good to eat everyday. There shouldn't be such a market for it.

 

[AndrewF]

**Thread enhancement warning **

All this debating is killing me!

 

[GlassOnion]

As per KFC:

http://www.snopes.com/horrors/food/kfc.asp

 

[Dixie]

uh no chickens are not injected with anything. Think about it, how the heck would you inject 1,000s of chickens with this stuff. The avg processing plant runs 60,000 birds a day plus that would not fly with USDA regs. They may be fed a muscle enhancer which causes them to grow faster (not over grow). They are usually fed a high protein food for maximum muscle - the part we eat. And if a chicken had no beak or a very small beak it would not be able to eat. So I conclude the KFC story to be a hoax.

 

[Saje]

BTW the slaughterhouses where Steve and some of his friends worked all get a very good salary. They are paid well and get meals and accomodations included. It's hard to fill those positions because most people can't hack it so they have to ship people in from all over Canada. Most of them only last a few days.

 

[Muggie'sMum]

I can see raising a hibred chicken or genetically modifying it to have less "natural defence mechanisms" (beaks, talons, etc - but really, have you ever seen how much talon the average domestic chicken has? Not enough to do much damage!), especially since they will never need to USE those defense mechanisms... unless some PETA group goes and frees them all, God forbid.

You know, I think there's a difference in different ends of the country even, GO - the cattle slaughterhouses that Saje describes seem very much different even than the ones on the East coast.

 

[GlassOnion]

As long as there is a demand for it there's going to be a supply.

If the government were to try to regulate how much meat I could eat, well I just might become an activist. That would truly be ridiculous, and way too much government power at that.

My problem is still with how they slaughter animals, how they keep them before slaughter and with the industry itself because there just isn't that much need for red meat. It kills the land, pollutes the earth wastes water and isn't that good to eat everyday. There shouldn't be such a market for it.

Feces is fertilizer. How is it polluting the earth?

Free-range feeding kills the land more than having hay brought in. Tons of cattle mulling over a large pasture. That's a waste of good land when you can do it much more efficiently.

The waste of water is debateable. Water is a renewable resource, after all. Land, however, is not.


By the by, there is one turkey species that's kind of over board. It's the Large Breasted Turkey (I think it might even be the LB White Turkey, I forget the exact name).

It's been so genetically bread towards having a large breast area that it can no longer naturally breed. You have to artificialy inseminate them to propagate the species. Just thought I'd throw that little fun fact out there.

I can't say that's animal cruelty, though. More of too much of a good thing.

 

[CanadianK9]

Like being a vegetarian and talking to people about it?

That can be effective

BUT

telling people that eating meat is "Bad" and "Evil" and claiming that are not "animal enthusiasts" because they choose to eat something that contains meat is not going to get you anywhere its going to offend them, theres such thing as giving your opinion and positively addressing an issue and not trying to peg each other down because theirs differs.

Nature gave them the necessities to eat meat, and some choose to, some dont. But just because they choose to eat or not eat meat doesnt make them any more or any less of a person. And labelling them so is stereotyping. Come up with some reasons that they should or should do something and let them decide, but dont go around labeling them.

The issue will go in 1 big circle of a never ending arguement if its left to people trying to convince everyone to convert and agree.

Do your part, try to change things if you are unhappy, but dont go labeling and belittling people if they choose not to do the same.

 

[Saje]

As long as there is a demand for it there's going to be a supply.

If the government were to try to regulate how much meat I could eat, well I just might become an activist. That would truly be ridiculous, and way too much government power at that.




Feces is fertilizer. How is it polluting the earth?

Free-range feeding kills the land more than having hay brought in. Tons of cattle mulling over a large pasture. That's a waste of good land when you can do it much more efficiently.

The waste of water is debateable. Water is a renewable resource, after all. Land, however, is not.

I didn't suggest that the government should regulate how much meat people take. That's a big jump. I think that people should be educated on healthier living and encouraged to make healthier decisions.

Feces is fertilizer but it's also full of chemicals and hormones that get pumped into the cattle. Not to mention the 'emissions' from the cows causing air pollution.

Yes free range is bad for the land but do you have any idea how much land is needed to grow the hay that is fed to cows in pens??? A LOT.

Water is renewable but irrigating acres and acres of land to grow hay for cattle is not using it wisely and really taps on resources.

edit: sorry not necessarily to irrigate hay but any grains or grasses

 

[Dixie]

cows cause air pollution?? LOL :floor :roflol:

If I fart does that make me a pollutant??

 

[Saje]

That can be effective

BUT

telling people that eating meat is "Bad" and "Evil" and claiming that are not "animal enthusiasts" because they choose to eat something that contains meat is not going to get you anywhere its going to offend them, theres such thing as giving your opinion and positively addressing an issue and not trying to peg each other down because theirs differs.

I didn't do that and never have done that. Where is this coming from? I have never tried to guilt anyone into being vegetarian and have even encouraged teens not to go vegetarian because they haven't done their research. Show me where I said this????

Nature gave them the necessities to eat meat, and some choose to, some dont. But just because they choose to eat or not eat meat doesnt make them any more or any less of a person. And labelling them so is stereotyping. Come up with some reasons that they should or should do something and let them decide, but dont go around labeling them.

Who is "them" and just who the hell have I labelled.

The issue will go in 1 big circle of a never ending arguement if its left to people trying to convince everyone to convert and agree.

Do your part, try to change things if you are unhappy, but dont go labeling and belittling people if they choose not to do the same.

Ok this can't still be addressed to me because you are very off the mark here.

 

[Muggie'sMum]

cows cause air pollution?? LOL :floor :roflol:

If I fart does that make me a pollutant??

I don't know but I would guess so... based on my experiences this afternoon!

 

[Saje]

cows cause air pollution?? LOL :floor :roflol:

If I fart does that make me a pollutant??

Laugh if you will but I don't think you emit as much methane as cattle do.

By far the most important non-CO2 greenhouse gas is methane, and the number one source of methane worldwide is animal agriculture.

Methane is responsible for nearly as much global warming as all other non-CO2 greenhouse gases put together. Methane is 21 times more powerful a greenhouse gas than CO2. While atmospheric concentrations of CO2 have risen by about 31% since pre-industrial times, methane concentrations have more than doubled. Whereas human sources of CO2 amount to just 3% of natural emissions, human sources produce one and a half times as much methane as all natural sources. In fact, the effect of our methane emissions may be compounded as methane-induced warming in turn stimulates microbial decay of organic matter in wetlands—the primary natural source of methane.

http://earthsave.org/globalwarming.htm

http://www.giss.nasa.gov/research/news/20050718/

There is a lot of research out about it if you search methane agriculture and ozone

 

[Dixie]

uh I have a cow pasture for a backyard and I can assure you the air quality is fine here.

 

[Saje]

Really? How would you know?

 

[Dixie]

because if it werent wed be dead already thats how.

Besides I did a search on air quality here once and our area has one of the cleanest air not only in the state but also the nation.

 

[Saje]

Yeah but gas rises so it's not affecting the air you breathe but the ozone

 

[GlassOnion]

I think there's more pressing issues, such as the millions of automobiles, the third world countries with no pollutant controls, and the like that should be addressed before we try and find a cleaner cow.

 

[Saje]

Well that's your right to feel that way but it is a major factor and the world population keeps going up and up and that means the consumption of beef goes up and up. It's a big issue and for a lot of environmentalists it ranks right up there with other pollutants.

I can't believe that I'm going to admit this but did anyone else every watch Seaquest? My sis was a huge fan and had a crush on that jonathon guy. Anyway, it was set in the future and apparently cattle hadn't been bred for years because of the methane. They had an episode about that and the black market beef burgers lol

 

[Chul3l3ies1126]

Wait, now we're arguing wether or not cow farts cause air pollution?? I'm really sorry, but LOL. If they do, i'm sorry, but still I was reading and it got me.