Pasture vs Barn raised poultry- A topic inspired by Country Thyme Farm

Schipperkesue wrote:I too have been judged for eating meat. So what! It is delicious! Judging other's eating habits is like thinking they shouldn't eat a donut because you are on a diet. Eat what makes you happy and healthy and don't judge.

One more thing. When someone judges another for their eating habits, they may not be taking the whole picture into considerations. I have deadly allergies to nuts and legumes. Without animal products I would have a hard time meeting my complete protein requirements..

So, you're saying I shouldn't make you a pecan pie, then?

If you have ever watched that show YUKON MEN you realize they live by the seasons.

They get their wood in for the winter, or they freeze. Same as hunting, they "have" to get meat or big
families go hungry.

Fishing season too, they have to get all the fish they need for themselves and their sled dogs for winter food.

There are no fancy out of season fruits and veggies. There wasn't in our grandparents day either, they grew gardens, froze canned, got the wood in, hay and feed for their livestock. No trucks bringing all the out of season goodies.

We are going to have to do more for ourselves, because all those imported goodies are killing us with all the pesticides.

authenticfarm wrote:

Schipperkesue wrote:I too have been judged for eating meat. So what! It is delicious! Judging other's eating habits is like thinking they shouldn't eat a donut because you are on a diet. Eat what makes you happy and healthy and don't judge.

One more thing. When someone judges another for their eating habits, they may not be taking the whole picture into considerations. I have deadly allergies to nuts and legumes. Without animal products I would have a hard time meeting my complete protein requirements..

So, you're saying I shouldn't make you a pecan pie, then?

Maybe without the pecans.....

I'm just going to put this out there:

If you are a vegetarian and you live in Saskatchewan during a socio-economic, bank, or apocalyptic collapse, what's going to happen to you?

If it's, say, May, you're going to eat cow corn, or canola, or lettuce, or lambs quarters.

When October/November rolls around, if you've made it this long, guess what you're going to be doing? Eating snow. You'll have 2 options, stick to your moral guns and continue to be 'better' than the people who kill animals to eat


You're going to club a bunny. Straight up.

I'm betting the latter.

Whiiiile I'm thinking about it...

It is very rare that an animal dies of natural causes in the wild. Humans are, really, one of the few earthly life-forms that die of old age; others I can think of off the top of my head would be certain kinds of trees, whales, and maybe sharks.

In the wild, if you get sick with disease, you may die of it, or you may be eaten alive when you can't walk or stand. If you are getting old, that means you're getting slow, and you may die of old age, but the probability is you'll be driven out of the pack/herd/bevy and picked off, or eaten alive when you can't walk or stand. If you're young and spry, like a deer, and you get into snow that's too deep for your hooves and thin legs to get you out of, you'll die of freezing to death, being smothered by snow drifts, or eaten alive because you can't move.

If you, as a human, are old and living in the woods (even if you're young, in fact) off the land, as humans and our subspecies have done for millions (if not billions of years), when you can't run, or are injured, or just careless one day, that bear or wolf you've grown up around, watched since it was a pup or cub, it will eat you. It will put you out of your misery, hopefully fast, but possibly not.

Someone I know raises horses. She raises them until they start to get arthritis and can no longer be ridden or pack goods, or be healthy lawn ornaments and she puts them down and puts them in the freezer, before they are in so much pain they can hardly move and look at you with dying, sad eyes when you dope them up sympathetically with drugs. She believes its more justice to the animal to have a swift death that's quick and to be used, than spending a few weeks or several days or months fading away, withering to nothing.

I can't say I could do what she does. But I get it, boy do I ever get it. How many people have lost pets due to old age? My old dog was arthritic for years before she was put to sleep. She had days where she didn't want to get up to even go to the bathroom, days when getting off the couch was filled with wimpers, but those days weren't as plentiful as the days without the pain. Those of us who have watched that have all thought, possibly years before the day came, is this the time? Is their quality of life beyond what's acceptable?

I think, deep down, putting an animal to sleep, is a predatory instinct, dosed with empathy and an understanding of sentience.

Am I diverting from the topic?

Sweetened wrote:

Am I diverting from the topic?

You take it wherever you want, honey!

Interesting topic , I agree with a lot of the comments , but ! imagine now that everyone did raise there own food ? gardens every where , chickens ,hogs , rabbits ,cattle where ever you look ? Every person would want there own parcel of land and rightfully so ! Our population would still grow ,although maybe not at the rate that it's going now ? but what happens to those that don't "" fit "" into the big picture ? people who won't farm ,but expect to have there share ? would they have to be ....eliminated ?.This opens up another chapter of where people think they have the right answers , overpopulation ? I hear this so much , yet when I ask if they want to be the first to go all I get is silence ?? Not such a good plan after all when it involves others or ourselves .We all know the benefits of pastured livestock ,and in a perfect world it might be attainable ? but only if everyone would put in a little bit of effort , but we aren't built that way are we ? It's about ourselves ,except our opinions ,they are out there .Industrial farms are what they are , to feed the mass's , nothing more ! I have a friend who is a hog farmer and he has to keep up with the times or go under ? Things that were never thought of are now a fact of life ? As in the discussion about grass feed beef , two opinions again ? amongst ourselves ?? Destroy the mega farms , and get rid of the oil companies , thus taking away travel options , get rid of the lumber mills ,less people so we don't need to cut as much anymore , less people means less power dams so destroy them , or some of them at least and that it gets bigger every second .This is our world people , Even if we don't admit to iit we have helped build it as did ever generation !Why , well we all want to do better then the last generation , want better for our kids if you have them ,We are the "' Odd "" ones because we don't comply with what is normal in today's society ,we grow our own food ,veg,or meat and we take pride in it , old world charm maybe , tradition ? what ever it is it's what makes you who you are regardless if you or don't buy commercially grown food ? I hope that I haven't offended anyone , but we compare what we do so often and ? ....maybe we should rather have work shops to show those who don't know what it's all about ? .........if we dare ?

prairie dog wrote:IOur population would still grow ,although maybe not at the rate that it's going now ? but what happens to those that don't "" fit "" into the big picture ? people who won't farm ,but expect to have there share ?

Frankly? People who don't put in the effort would end up killed. In a world after collapse or in a place of total self-sustainability, someone like that becomes a thief, thieves lose limbs and get shot. If they're not willing to trade some type of work for food, then they go hungry.

Overpopulation isn't an issue in an exponential farming environment. Work is traded for work and sustaining one's self is a way of life. Sustaining a community is part of every day. Every ONE has a job to help the whole.

Fearing a world without oil is like fearing a night without stars. You can still travel 'by the light of the moon'. You can still make it. The difference is, 100 years ago, when someone 'commuted' it was a half hour or hour by horseback, or several days by horseback to work and come home, much like riggers do today.

It's not impossible, in fact, it's very probable. It's only inconvenient because we live an hour DRIVE from work, not a walk or horse back ride.

Even in the 'old' days not everyone produced their own food. Maybe when you go back to caveman days, there was hunting and gathering, but when man became more civilised there were the people that produced livestock and produce and those that provided other services.

coopslave wrote:Even in the 'old' days not everyone produced their own food. Maybe when you go back to caveman days, there was hunting and gathering, but when man became more civilised there were the people that produced livestock and produce and those that provided other services.

.......thats what I was trying to convey

I love this Ted talk. It would be a great argument to present to 'better than thou' vegetarians. (I was vegetarian for 10 years, and still rarely eat meat.  Only home grown or wild ocean when I do.)
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]