As soon as you start to kill and eat your own meat some soul searching is bound to be involved. Before we came here we had never deliberately killed anything (except for the frog which I mercy killed with a brick as a child, my cat had eaten both of its legs - the experience still haunts me).
Tim and I are very fond of our livestock but we try not to name those that are destined for the pot. Because we care we try to make the death process as quick and painless as we can. We also give them the best life we can offer. They are all free range, given the company of their own kind and fed well. We also give them the longest lifespan we can without making them inedible (Beta Drake was 9 months old before slaughter).
When I killed my first chicken earlier this year I really considered vegetarianism as an option, slaughter is not a 'nice' thing to do. After some thought I have decided that I am happy to eat meat as long as the animal has not suffered unduly. Our animals certainly live a better life than animals in the factory systems so beloved of the western style supermarkets.
It's always good to know that your food has had a good life and that you have produced it yourself, so many people just don't care where their food has come from or what suffering it has endured as long as it's cheap.
ReplyDelete