Things that remind me why I do this

I was reminded this morning why I want to deal with the struggles of this small farm, homesteading hobby thing. This video is GRAPHIC and HEARTBREAKING.

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That was horrific indeed  but having a friend who had a large scale hog operation I can tell you that what you're seeing is "" human behaviour"" and as much as we want to always blame the cooperation it isn't always that black and white .These workers who are shown killing piglets ( which I found hard to believe as this is a profit for the producer's and there is no reason but human cruelty that this is happening ) and damaging the sows etc which goes against anyone who is in the business and they should be fired and taken to court ! I have been in many huge operations and this kind of behaviour would NEVER be tolerated ! Every piglet / sow etc is accounted for and documented for growth / health etc and although they are being raised for supplying the mass's they are not mistreated this way , they have a purpose whether we like it or not ( supply and demand )  .........it must be a American thing where the profit margins are way to big that this can happen .I understand why this upsets anyone who see's it , it is upsetting ! but we are way to quick to paint the kettle black and accuse all who are in the business .My friend was upset about every death , it meant a loss and although we can't all understand that , it is business and in business we go by profit's to be sustainable . Ever year there are accounts of cruelty and mistreatment in the farm industries and they make public news and rightfully so .........................but they are not all bad  some actually care about the animals .................my thoughts only !

I am always suspicious of these "hidden camera investigations" - looks to me like a lot of it was staged, or the perpetrators were the animal rights activists themselves, carrying out these attacks for the purpose of filming and creating propaganda. The camera operator has a suspiciously good angle on everything.

And that's my professional opinion, as someone who carries a camera for a living.

too tired to do much responding, but to both of you: you're right. However, undeniably, this is animal cruelty, and weather its the way everyone does it or not, it goes on, A LOT, espcially in big business. I think the people filming it are just as guilty, and the side note is it's an anti-meat consumption group with, of course, their own agenda.

I hate PETA with a passion; anyone who sends out people into fur opperations to film a skinnd, live raccoon as it dies for 15 minutes is equally as guilty as the guy who skinned it. Put me in that situation, you'd see the cruelty and then the camera motion as I do exactly what that person did to the animal to them.

BUT, it's the reminder I needed as to why the struggles are worth it to raise things better than this

I would venture to say that every "worker" who was shown abusing the animals is simply that - a worker. No farmer would treat his livelihood like that.

The problem arises when a farm becomes so big that they have to hire outside help. The outside help is never going to care as much as the farmer, or members of his family.

authenticfarm wrote:I would venture to say that every "worker" who was shown abusing the animals is simply that - a worker. No farmer would treat his livelihood like that.

The problem arises when a farm becomes so big that they have to hire outside help. The outside help is never going to care as much as the farmer, or members of his family.

That would be the most important part out of all of this  farmers who are hands on would never tolerate this kind of behaviour  business's that run facilities like this ?? IT'S A PAYCHECK FOR EVERYONE AND NOTHING MORE  ...............hire and expect with out inspection ! and as we all know some people were born without empathy or a heart and thus this kind of behaviour continues

When I was younger and didn't understand that farming wasn't all one way, I worked in an industrial egg laying facility with caged birds, 4 hens to a 1 x 1 x 1.5 ft cage; I'm not proud of it. There were workers there who would go into the barns and drop chickens on the floating walk ways and punt them, and I reported it to the owner of the farm who just shrugged and said they probably reached through the cage and pecked the guys when they were pulling eggs (which, in my 2 months of being there, had never happened to me).

Shortly thereafter, the barn I worked was discovered to have avian pox and the barn's stock was ordered to be destroyed. When I arrived for that day, which I assumed entailed a semi load leaving, I found what was, essentially, a large hot oil vat, which the chickens were being lobbed into. While still alive. I quit, on the spot. "It's just how things are done," I was told. At the time, it never occurred to me to report the abuse, let alone film it. I, along with a large part of the population, just assumed that's how things were supposed to be and, if I didn't like it, that was my problem and no one else's.

I believe, wholeheartedly, there are farmers who run clean, solid operations. They may not like that they're birds or pigs are caged or in the dark, but they're in there every day checking on them and have reliable staff. There are, however, I think, more people in business today for the money than for anything else. The cost of being abusive to animals in business is absolutely minimal unless someone gets caught and, typically, its either by a worker who can't take witnessing it anymore and wants to stay long enough to see the animals out of their misery, or by a 'moral' vegan/vegetarian sect that's infiltrating some place to further their agenda.

I posted this because a few of us, from reading posts, have really struggled with the nagging question 4 year olds love to ask: "Why." Well that's why. Because I don't want to support that, because I want to be better than that, because I don't believe in that. Sometimes, people just need a reminder, and maybe this doesn't remind people what it reminds me.

I have avoided that video that you posted sweetened - seen it go by a few times on FB.  I agree with Authentic. It must be staged (she would know, pro photog etc).  

Going to go throw some greens around the chicken coop now.  Have a great day.

The point of it was to say I had seen it for myself, that farmers DO allow it to happen.

Ahh well, another post I should have kept to myself. *Shrug*. Everyone's life has turning points, that was one for me. Learning to stick to my guns and not accept the so-called 'standard' or 'norm' started then, when I put my foot down and left.

I won't retract the statement, and I won't ask for forgiveness for it. I'm the one who has to live with the memories of it. And every day I'm grateful for my birds, wandering freely, grazing when the weather permits.

I wasn't asking you to retract or anything. I came back to delete my post. Sorry - it came off sounding very judgemental, without any of the agreement that I feel for your decision to walk away. My issue was more with the sickness that arose in me from reading your story than any disagreement with you.

Peace.

Sweetened wrote:The point of it was to say I had seen it for myself, that farmers DO allow it to happen.

Ahh well, another post I should have kept to myself.  *Shrug*.  Everyone's life has turning points, that was one for me.  Learning to stick to my guns and not accept the so-called 'standard' or 'norm' started then, when I put my foot down and left.

I won't retract the statement, and I won't ask for forgiveness for it.  I'm the one who has to live with the memories of it.  And every day I'm grateful for my birds, wandering freely, grazing when the weather permits.

You shouldn't feel that way Sweetened. You should never just feel like "Why did I bother to post whatever" if someone says something that makes you feel that way.

I also have seen the FB posts about this video. I haven't seen the video as I only have dial-up and it would take me all day. However, even if I could view it, I don't think I would. I don't need to see it to know this sort of crap goes on. Whenever you have an animal in a caged, contained enviroment where it cannot defend itself, there will sadly be some humans who will see this as license to abuse.

farmchiq wrote:I wasn't asking you to retract or anything.  I came back to delete my post.  Sorry - it came off sounding very judgemental, without any of the agreement that I feel for your decision to walk away.  My issue was more with the sickness that arose in me from reading your story than any disagreement with you.

Peace.

I don't want you to delete your post, I feel like I should have never made it, that it was wrong of me to say or be honest about. I didn't mean that you asked me to retract my post, rather I just felt like it was something that maybe shouldn't have been said, but I felt like there was no point in retracting my shame.

Unfortunatly for livestock, farming big or small is not immune to poor care or unskilled stewards. I hope there is always room for improvement at all levels. Clearly, more respect needs to be provided for animals, their environment, and the workers doing our dirty work. 

Society is in a disposible fire storm, driven by fickle trends and desires. Well edited videos like that are one of the symptoms, not the cause. It's easy to understand how an animal could be treated that way when you work backwards from the point that someone throws a roast in the garbage. 

Personally, those videos don't make me feel any better for growing my own food. Crusader mentality has it's own motivation, that ends up fragmenting and isolating allot of people. Slamming doors to well rounded change.

JDWest wrote:Crusader mentality has it's own motivation, that ends up fragmenting and isolating allot of people. Slamming doors to well rounded change.

Yes. This.

authenticfarm wrote:

JDWest wrote:Crusader mentality has it's own motivation, that ends up fragmenting and isolating allot of people. Slamming doors to well rounded change.

Yes. This.

Agree

Revolutionary change can be looked at as a Crusade, it just depends on who's on the other side of the mirror.

Sweetened wrote:Revolutionary change can be looked at as a Crusade, it just depends on who's on the other side of the mirror.

I agree Sweetened.  I find this post very thought provoking and have held off on participating because just didn't have anything to say to start with, also, seems a lot of thought here already.  But I want to share my thoughts anyway  .  It would seem to me that we have to be our own watchdogs in life  -  or else we wind up having others doing it for us and there is something unsatisfactory about that.  I personally don't need to be reminded about why I choose to be selective on the food I eat, why I investigate its source and be sure it is of an acceptable origin and processed to my way of thinking.  I already worked that out a long time ago but I cannot remember now if the ember for change lit up in me because I saw a video like that or not.  Really can't.  I have seen worse videos that are more real and less seemingly staged, animals being executed for their fur by having a hot poker inserted into their rectum  -  just for a fur coat, or skinned alive . . . .  an emotionally bruising experience, to know humanity can be that debase made me sick to my stomach and ugly feeling.  If I had a reaction to it maybe it was an attitude or way of being that once lived in me?   That is, a reaction or "charge" on something negative or positive, wants to meet its other half to be whole again because there was a deficit somewhere.

Maybe it took something like that to wake me up good and proper.  Sometimes seeing is believing.  Although I don't think it is the reason, maybe that is why those "crusaders" would stage something like this video, -  hipocrasy in action -  I find it unacceptable, in my mind they are birds of a feather (the video makers and what the video is about) but if I physically attack them because I didn't like what they are doing does it make me the same as them?  maybe. To doctor a video that way takes the focus away from the cause and one wonders what their cause is to begin with  -  that fracturing crusader mentality JDWest spoke about.  Are they just getting their jollies off from getting people upset to feel powerful or do they really care that humanity is doing this revolting thing?  Nature seldom seems to behave in this kind of way, it is too busy in survival mode to have the luxury of messing around with psychoses but what about those danged killer whales that play with their prey while it is alive for painfully long sessions -  are they the clinically insane of the animal world?  Some kind of fishy Dexter??  Good "bad" guys?  Sometimes I just find it hard to buy the theory that they are teaching their young how to hunt because I don't always see their young present in those videos so we say "don't judge nature, we don't know what the reason is"  -  well I just don't know about that.  A fig is a fig and deliberately causing pain to an animal for extended periods of time is still deliberately causing pain to an animal for extended periods of time.  motive be damned on that, it sucks a rotten potato.  

Maybe there is a fine line between being the bible basher on the street who has swung right out on the end of a string for "good" against "bad" and the person marching for racial equality.  Both feel their cause is really important and both are insisting that people pay attention.  I guess that freedom of voice is taken for granted and judged by onlookers who don't share the same conviction.  Outrageously difficult to go against the herd instinct which usually is all for keeping the status quo and change seldom occurs there, if ever.  I have always been the odd one out, a black sheep and nearly crippled me at school as a young person trying to find a social group I could fit in to without compromising my own shining internal light  -  dumb down for social "niceness and acceptability"  -  well I did try that and it gave me the learning that I didn't want to be that way at the expense of my own self respect, a little pearl of wisdom.  Since then I find myself in groups of other black sheep!   -  where the black sheep is celebrated rather than kept isolated.  I had to toughen up though and not be so tender to the social mass.  I digress.

It is obvious that atrocities have happened and still do happen, sometimes so painful that all we can do is put our heads in the sand and think out of sight out of mind and therefore not happening  -  the problem seems just too big.  Someone on this forum has that quote on their posts that goes "be the change that you like to see in the world."  I just find that simple and elegant some how.  And I also take my hat off to the people out there who are ethically in earnest about making a difference, raising awareness to effect change, the 100th monkey lives.  Makes me think about what I am doing in my life to raise the state of the planet.  Right now I wish to live righteously and raise my kids to live that way too.  It feeds on.  One day I might be a bigger marcher for change.  Geez, does this sound like preaching??  I really was inspired to contemplate and not trying to preach.  Just got me thinking.