Origins of meat

I don't eat meat, but don't have a problem with other people eating meat. I agree it's a pretty integral part of most people's diets and agree it can taste good and I wouldn't wish to deprive people of this.

I do, however, have a problem with farming methods that deprive animals of a decent livelihood. I don't have a problem seeing animals reared for meat so long as they're treated respectfully during their lives and killed humanely, but despite the horrors of 'modern' farming practices being common knowledge for years now they still go on.

At the other extreme, I find it hard to believe the justification that animal rights activists give for their actions. In common with any terrorist group their activities undermine the work of other people campaigning for and working towards change - violence, especially indiscriminate violence that affects people unconnected with the problem, solves nothing.

This is small compared to the problems in farming, though. Consumer pressure will be negligible in changing this while there is a difference in price between products produced by humane methods and those not - I can't afford to pay excessively for essentials and neither can most people. This is exacerbated by shops pushing prices of some goods (typically those that are cheap already, such as battery farmed eggs) down to unsustainably low prices. This is only natural competition, though, and until legislation is put in place, meat reared inhumanely will be cheaper. This is a sticking point, though. I don't wish to put farmers out of business by imposing on them means of practice that they're not equipped for. Any ideas how we get round this?

nb., For anyone reading this expecting a conversation about Darwinism, my apologies - my inspiration was chatting to Geoff about donner kebabs.

I'm not a vegetarian. I am prepared to pay a realistic price for humanely reared or caught meat (including fish).

The endless drive for lower prices has forced farmers into efficient but inhumane farming methods.

Meat should be much more expensive than it is. Agricultural subsidies should be scrapped across the eu, live animal transport should be banned and all meat production should be legislated to comply with minimum standards set out by animal welfare experts.

As consumers we individually have the power to bring this about by only buying meat from 'happy' animals, where it is possible to verify this, but as a mass of people we are bound by the inertia and apathy of the majority whose chief concern is price.

Until we see beyond price, we will continue in this vein (pun intended).

Wow a veggie that talks sense!

Anyways - i agree. I try as much as my budget will allow to get the humanly treated eggs. Is there a standard mark for th meat products?

I remember seeing a while ago that some fams and meats carry an RSPCA stamp of approval for the way they keep their animals before they butcher em.

There are local farm in and around Sheffield - some of which have farm shops. Would it be an idea to contact some of these and find out their methods - then plough our money into our own economy??

I remember the Gazzette had an article on local farmers a couple of months ago.

Moon Maiden

Originally posted by "Moon Maiden"

 

Wow a veggie that talks sense!

You'd be surprised how many of us do :-) However, like any group, we're at the mercy of the vigilante / extremist / moron minority, and they tend to stick in people's minds more than those of us just getting on with our lives Thanks for the comment, tho

Originally posted by "Moon Maiden"

 

Anyways - i agree. I try as much as my budget will allow to get the humanly treated eggs. Is there a standard mark for th meat products?

 

I remember seeing a while ago that some fams and meats carry an RSPCA stamp of approval for the way they keep their animals before they butcher em.

 

There are local farm in and around Sheffield - some of which have farm shops. Would it be an idea to contact some of these and find out their methods - then plough our money into our own economy??

 

I remember the Gazzette had an article on local farmers a couple of months ago.

 

Moon Maiden

As I understand it there's a bit of a network between these places, but I'm not sure how it works - I just remember seeing a leaflet in Beanies mentioning this.

The idea of providing a mark of welfare quality on meat products is good - as I'm not in the habit of buying meat I don't know if there already is one, but if everyone else hasn't noticed one then it's obviously not something that's in widespread use. Phanerothyme's comments I think represent an ideal - it'd be great to achieve a proper standard of welfare and get a certain acceptance amongst people that meat has to be a certain price. Many people aren't going to vote with their feet and buy dearer, well reared meat as, at the moment, the difference between this and supermarkets' 'value' meat is artificially large - people are used to getting a certain quantity of product for their money and are likely to be unwilling to cut this down. For more than a negligible difference to be made, farming methods have got to be forced to be changed. To be fair, farmers should receive some support for this, though - it would help farmers who need to convert their businesses to comply with new legislation to stay in business, and would be a form of reward to those already rearing humanely. This is unrelated to other subsidies - an issue I'm vaguly aware of but admit I don't know much about (sorry Phanerothyme!). I'll bone up on that one...

As much as I care for the welfare of animals I don't really want the price of meat to rise. I can't really afford to buy it at the minute so if it were to go up I would prabably starve.

I've started buying free range eggs though, because they're not too much more expensive than battery eggs and I think that chickens are treated very cruelly in battery farms.

Although I enjoy eating meat, I avoid it whenever I can, would much rather be a vegetarian if at all possible. I don't make a fuss on holiday, eating out or visiting just eat what I am given.

However, I know that eating meat is not healthy as it is full of disease, just look at the sores on the hands of butchers, that tells you! it is a tradition in this world that goes back thousands of years, but is not neccessary for good health.

One can get all the protein one needs from vegetables and don't need meat at all, furthermore, we would be slimmer and it would be easier to keep our weight down.

Some colonic cancers have been attributed to the consumption of meat.

The introduction of injecting animals willy nilly with antibiotics & steroids et al to keep them free from disease & build fast muscle by farmers is directly responsible.

The consumption of meat into the gut slows down motility & therefore the product (c/w drugs) is sat nestled against the gut lining for longer, irritating it & damaging delecate tissue.

It's an "old surgeons tale" that butchers nearly always contracted bowel cancer - as it was most prevelent in this profession once.

That said, I wouldfind it virtually impossible to become a veggie.