Posted by AdaGrace on November 27, 2004, at 6:59:12
In reply to Any vegans out there?, posted by alexandra_k on November 26, 2004, at 17:40:22
My husband is a farmer and raises chicken for egg production.
First of all. They are in pens the size appropriate for the number of chicken of each breed. We do not free range our chickens because out in the country here there are too many cyotes that would love to have them for dinner, not to mention the stray dogs we deal with too.
Second. We raise them for egg production and not for meat. Which means that we do not insert anything into them other than antibiotics if they get sick.
Third, and this one is important. I was unaware of the inserting stuff into poultry. My husband however says that there are "meat" chickens bred only for production of meat. Which means they get fatter quicker than other breeds. Cornish Cross is one of them. They are a fat squatty bird that grows very fast. He also told me that these chicken are raised in very small individual pens and are not allowed to move. Therefore they eat, poop, and then get fat from no exercise. I realize that his information is not essentially the truth for all meat production plants, but I believe it might be a tad bit true in some cases. I don't know what Tyson does. Neither does he, since he doesn't work there.
Fourth, and this one is the bad one, he raises chicken for egg production and then incubates the eggs and sells baby chicks. This means the more eggs produced, the more chicks to hatch and the more money to make (by the way, we don't make didley). This means that in order for the chickens to lay more eggs, they have to be fed a high protein diet of "egg laying feed". He also leaves the lights on in the chicken barn during the winter months longer than the daylight hours. This also helps produce more eggs. Now. Because of this, they get "worn" our before their time. A chicken that would normally live 5+ years and produce an egg every other day, becomes a egg a day producer that eventually doesn't lay squat after 2 years. It doesn't kill them, but imagine a woman past her prime at 25 living on the prairie in the 1800's. This is the part I find cruel. He doesn't beat the chickens, he doesn't pump them up with hormones, and they are allowed to roam in their "rooms", they just are turned into chicken "putas" and become old before their time.
My husband is a small farmer farming with family and not a corporate farmer who is only after the money. There are small farmers who raise animals for food for themselves and others who don't use hormones and such for added productivity. People who like this idea can try to find these farmers and get meat the way it is supposed to be w/out all the additives. There are even farmers who package and produce their own meat and dairy products for comercial consumption. They are governed by heath departments for safety, and the government doesn't like it because they are not in control, but it seems to be catching on in our area of the midwest anyway. However, it is expensive. For 4 KC strip steaks you might pay as much as 3 times what you would in the grocery store, but at least you know the meat is good for you. There is lower fat and colesterol from corn fed hormone free beef and chicken than what you can get in the grocery store and so it's better for you.
#5. However, there is no humane way to kill an animal. Killing is killing. IF you are against that then I don't blame you for not eating meat.
Something to think about, I am not against your ideas or points of view, in fact I agree with most of them. It's just that my lifestyle is different. My diet, when I eat healthy that is, consists of chicken, fish, deer, and sometimes beef.But, actually, my original post was not referring to beef, chicken, or any other animal meat.
It was reffering to something different. Hardy Har Har.
AdaGrace (riding the fence once again)
poster:AdaGrace
thread:420601
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20041122/msgs/420819.html