Guest Post by Hardscrabble Farmer
When I step into the orchard the turkey poults come running. They will follow me around while I do my chores like a litter of puppies. Ditto the piglets, lambs, calves, etc because I always feed them treats like fruit drops, kitchen scraps, etc. This continues with regularity right up until the time we either sell off or slaughter. On the occasion when a hauler comes to pick up a steer or a hog I have them park their trailer and open the door and then I walk over to wherever I have the animal that is going to market, open the gate and without lead or prod walk the animal to the trailer and it loads itself. Every time. Most livestock related injuries occur during times of stress, particularly when animals are being loaded/unloaded for shipment.
Most haulers/ranchers/slaughterhouses use negative compliance tools/techniques like push panels, prods, load vocalization, etc. People like Temple Grandin have done a great deal of research to show that this type of animal handling is not only stressful to the animal and affects the final product due to the release of certain hormones and chemicals into the bloodstream, but increases risk to handlers. It is far safer, expeditious and easier to get the animal to what you want it to because it thinks its doing what IT wants to…
You should hear the comments I hear from guys who do this for a living when they come to get an animal from the farm- “I’ve never seen an animal load easier than that, how’d you get him to do that, that was easy, blah, blah, blah…” Like what we do is magic rather than reinforced behavior.
Even the dogs- the only animals that we don’t eat- are given treats every single morning for dutifully watching over the flocks and herds all night long against predators while we sleep so that the very first sight of me at dawn triggers a Pavlovian response from them for a job well done. BISCUITS!!!
There are two choices for what we are witnessing in the behavior of the Federal Government towards the “consumers” as they like to call us and you can choose to be amazed like the livestock hauler or you can decide for yourself what’s happening.
A) The government really loves you, so much in fact that they will pay you every single month without fail enough money to feed everyone in your family AND provide free food for 2/3 of the meals your children eat AS A BONUS to the money they already paid you to feed them, because THEY TOTALLY LOVE YOU AND CARE ABOUT YOU AND IT MAKES THEM SUPER DOOPER HAPPY TO SEE EVERYONE SO WELL FED.
Or…
B) At a time in the future not known to you the government will want you to get in the truck so that they can give you a free ride to a place where they will give you something really good to eat. BECAUSE THEY LOVE YOU SO MUCH.
There is no other possible explanation for what they are doing and for how people are willing to accept something as fundamental as feeding your children as a government obligation rather than a parental one.
What you are witnessing is not benevolence, it is positive reinforcement training.
And as Forest Gump once said, that’s all I’ve got to say about that.
Some of the best beef I have ever eaten came from a young bull that was shot in the field. He was getting ready to mount a heifer, and apparently died stress-free and happy.
I agree completely, and don’t ever forget, there is a lot of money to be made, provisioning and servicing the FSA
Readers may be interested in Bertrand Russell’s logical chicken:-
We raised Bison here on our farm for two decades and soon came to realize that they were not meant for confinement or trailering. When we would butcher or sell a young bull or heifer for meat our arrangement was always to invite the buyer to the farm and show them the animal selected. My veterinarian brother would then do an ante-mortem inspection certifying that the Buffalo was free of obvious diseases (not hard since they rarely get sick) and in good health. I would then drop back 100 yards and with my .223 rifle put a 60 grain hollow point right into the brain. No pain, no stress and the best meat ever since we fed home raised oats and alfalfa. After hoisting with the loader bucket, bleeding out and the post-mortem inspection with certification papers, off we would go to the packing plant which is 30 minutes away. They were extremely happy about this method since the unloading pens had been torn up by Bison several times.
I think I’d prefer to go like those Bison, out on the pasture you’ve known since birth, unaware until the final moment comes and then it’s over in less than the blink of an eye. I will not get on the trailer (or bus or boxcar) but instead opt to go on my terms, even if it’s not as quick as the fate of the Buffaloes. This is where I live, this is where I stand and, if required, this is where I die. Beware gifts from the state……
I hate to send my animals off to the slaughterhouse, but if you want to sell meat it must be USDA labeled- notice I did not say “inspected”. I have been numerous times to the USDA facility that we use- they are both Temple Grandin designed and Animal Welfare Approved and run by good people I trust- but on more than one occasion I have noticed that there was no inspector on site. I was told that they absolutely do NOT inspect every carcass, but that every piece of meat must have a stamp that reads… USDA Inspected (for wholesomeness) and Passed.
Once again it is the credential rather than the reality which allows for someone or something to be allowable.
The meat we eat ourselves or sell as 1/2 or whole carcass to neighbors is given a pass and we slaughter and butcher on farm. I agree it is a much better way to go, on the land you’ve always known, head down eating some morsel and at peace until that final moment. It would be hard to imagine a more humane end to life than that, but then the law isn’t about what’s best, it’s about what’s permitted by our betters.
hardscrabble farmer
In our state pasture kill is still allowed if a state veterinarian does the inspections, but here’s the rub. For amenable species (domestic cattle, hogs, goats, etc.) with state inspection, the meat can only be sold within state borders. With non-amenable species (Bison, deer, elk, etc.) the inspections are considered voluntary and paid for by the producer. With a state inspection on those non-amenable species, the meat can be sold interstate. We rarely sell out of state so it isn’t much of an issue for us.
State inspection usually means more than USDA inspection because there is almost always a state inspector monitoring the packing plants, whereas the USDA monitors only a small percentage of the activity in any given slaughter house. There are unscrupulous producers out there trying their best to inject substandard animals into the stream. My brother, the aforementioned veterinarian, is a USDA meat inspector nicknamed Dr. Condemn by many of those unscrupulous producers because he will absolutely not allow any substandard animal to be processed. He’s not there all the time however……..
The meat we eat at home is inspected only by us, the producers. We grow it and know it. The same method is used for our cattle that was used for the Bison. What we do here is our business and not the government’s and I’m sure you feel the same way.
I constantly see my livestock as stupid Obama voters and predators as his sons (if he had any).
Hardscrabble- Interesting post, I like it. And while I am not saying you are neccessarily incorrect about the reasons behind why the govt does this, since it is most definitely not because it loves us, but I think there may be another reason why: Its what our owners want to happen. Its another way to take more money from the productive and give it to themselves, laundering it through the FSA. Who benefits? JP Morgan and visa everytime they swipe their EBT card. Where is that money spent? Walmart, a huge portion of it. What do they buy? Junk food loaded with HFCS and GMOs made by big agra companies like Con-agra.
These corporate giants would take a HUGE hit to their bottom line without SNAP being handed out. They benefit more than anyone. Along with the govt, as you said, conditioning people to love and trust them and view them as benevolent. The only people it doesnt help are the dwindling number of taxpayers in this country, especially those who understand this behaviour is definitely not because they care about us
Malthus came up with the same observation over two hundred years ago and quickly became the darling of the elite owners. Todays malthusian plan is most likely as you state HSF, pull their food out from under them then herd them to camp with the promise of food. Stupid is as stupid does, another Gump quote.
Great post, gator
I’ll have to find out what the rules are here. We bought a steer sometime back and it was shot right in the field where it was raised a couple of weeks after returning from the county fair as a child’s 4H project. As far as I know, the butchering facility showed up, rancher led the beast to the appropriate spot, did the deed and the butchers went to work skinning, gutting and hanging the sides in their refrigerated truck. It was then taken to their shop where it was allowed to hang for a week or so then butchered, packaged and quick frozen to -30F. Each package is labeled “NOT FOR SALE”. I’ve never seen any hint of a USDA stamp. Could be that the staff are all qualified inspectors but I doubt it. Could be that since it is a private sale that inspection is not required but I find that hard to believe since private sale of raw milk seems to draw SWAT team raids.
I think some variant of Soylent Green is in mankind’s future.
Perfect description of the main reason that I starting strictcly limiting my intake of meat. Unethical is so many ways.
Great post, Hardscrabble. One day when I was about 16, my Dad asked me to take one of our steers to market while he was at work. Since I fed our herd daily (and the pigs), I was easily able to cull the steer out and load him up the chute. But I still remember his cries as he was unloaded. I’m sure fear was in the air.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jujQ5ntP1NM
K, not really interested in watching that. Slaughter is never pretty. But to defend halal, just a little bit, though it seems barbaric now, it was actually mankind’s first attempt at making slaughter more humane. Seems out of place now, but that was the origin.
It was Halal videos released from BBC and Agriprocessors in Postville Iowa that finally got me to my resent state. Beans are soaking in the pot on the stove tonight….Tomatoes and peppers in the backyard. I would probably not arrived at the point I did had it not been for discovering Peter Singers book in college.
Sorry, should have said recent.
Someone may know the rules better than I, but my understanding is that it needs a USDA stamp if the meat is for RETAIL sale. You can buy a primal cut of an animal (1/4, 1/2 or the whole animal) directly from a farmer/rancher and have the slaughter and custom butchering handled privately, the presumption being that you know the people involved and will ensure what you’re buying is in fact safe.
It’s kinda like raw dairy: in most states, it’s sold “for pet consumption only” which is the state’s way of saying we want to keep these dairies in business, but we’re not inspecting them for food safety. You need to check the dairy yourself. Most are spotless, but I’d definitely check out any really tiny one with a small number of goats or say 1-2 cows. For them, it’s a side business and they might not be as careful as someone whose entire livelihood relies on it.
Even though I recently purchased 1/2 a pig, I prefer to buy the cheaper retail cuts at a lower price than the whole animal which–for the extra per pound price–comes with all the premium cuts like filet mignon, center cut pork chops, etc.
As with all food purchased directly from a farmer, it is absolutely worth the extra price.
This article made me vow to never eat meat again,
Thanks Hardscrabble.
Peter Singer a douche who thinks defective kids should be euthanized.
Gryyf….a dozen or so years ago I was deer hunting. I watched a nice buck full one of the does out of the pack to breed with. After a 15 minute courtship she was receptive to his gestures and in 60 seconds he was done. He took a few steps,turned broadside and I made a good high shoulder shot. The kinetic energy killed him before he hit the ground. He passed on his genes to the herd and I passed his tenderloins to my wife.