This past week our papers were full of such horrific animal cruelty stories. There was the story of 116 puppies found in a container and about to be shipped off to the UK market, there was the farmer in Wicklow who got away with mis-treating his animals, and then there was this case of incredible atrocities to pigs.
I don’t know how many times I’ve been asked…. ‘oh, how could you eat the pigs? They are so cute.’
One poor lady over on Facebook, got abused from a height recently because she put up a photo of her pigs at their feeding trough. It was a rearview photo of the pigs, and her caption was ‘nice hams’. Now I could see exactly what she meant – they were nice hams. However, others thought her cruel and were quite abusive about her looking at the pigs in such a way. For heavens sake, folks!
We, as humans, need protein in our diet.
Yes, I can see all those vegetarians and vegans jumping up and down right now saying that doesn’t mean we have to eat animals. Well settle down. You may have chosen not to eat animal flesh and that is your right.
I, however, will never ever give up meat. I enjoy it too much. I will have ‘meat-free’ days, but that’s about the limit of it.
And in answer to that other question ‘are you not sad to see the pigs go off to the abattoir?’. No.
There are two things we know.
One – the animal has had a good life here. It has eaten well, run around the field, played with its companions and slept in a nice warm bed. It has stayed in bed all day if the weather isn’t nice. It has had time to lie out in the sun, and get sunburn, if it is a nice day. Why should we feel bad about this?
Secondly – we know that the abattoir that we take the animals too, makes their death a good one.
And to all those vegetarians who get high and mighty on social media telling me that cruelty to animals is why they don’t eat meat, I would say this.
You are bowing out. You are just opting out.
Why not take up the challenge and fight for animal welfare. Instead of not eating meat, why not consider sourcing your meat from a humane farm. Ensure that these unique rare breeds don’t vanish. Help fight the battle against such cruelty.
And to those who nip into the supermarket and pick up the latest ‘good value’ cheap meat product…. think about how the animal was reared and treated and more importantly what it was fed. What has been fed to the animals is what you are feeding yourself and your family.
You can make a difference.
You just need to want to make that difference.
Perfectly put, Margaret. I agree wholeheartedly.
Thank you June.
Ahh the wrath of the righteous veggies…apparently veg have feeling, some scream when pulled up ????. just saying.
So I have heard 🙂
It took me a long time to understand the difference between giving an animal a good life and death and renouncing meat altogether – I always thought my dad was being cruel killing our cows with his own hands. Now I get how much strength and responsibility it took to do that, and how delicious our beef was as a result of his passion for free-range farming 🙂 more veggies need to actually see farmers like yourselves in action.
It took me a long time to react!!! Sometimes I can get so annoyed when people say we are cruel… when your Dad and ourselves spend so much time and energy caring and minding our animals to ensure they have the best life. Rant over!!
Amen to all that, Margaret. Excellent post.
Thank you Matt.
I very much enjoyed reading your blog while sitting at the table on my patio in suburban Detroit (Ferndale, 9 Mile Road).
You do wonderful things and share enchanting words and images. Thanks! I hope I can visit the Midlands of Ireland some time.
While I’ve been a veg for over ten years, I feel no animosity toward those that consume meat, especially those who exercise care and respect for the animals they consume. If only more household “pets” could receive the same care and respect, I’m sure people would better understand the depth of feeling all animals (humans, too) possess.
You owe no one an apology for your diligence and endless labor expended to raise those animals that sustain you. And if I visited, I’m sure I would at least taste some of the healthy meat you bring to the table. (And I might mention that looking back a thousand years, during long, dark winters, vegetarianism was no option, so the lineage of your diet certainly seems understandable.)
I do object to factory farms, their inherent cruelty, and the deleterious effects they have on our world and our health. I believe they should pay for “externalities” of their activities–poisoned groundwater, blighted land, foul odors, the displacement of small farms, and most of all, the abysmal, desperate lives their inhabitant animals lead. If they did pay for that, they would face much more prohibitive production costs. Cheap meat is not cheap. I object to their presence on my landscape the same way you object to the loss of hedgerows and small, responsible farms–good, healthy things pushed out in favor of profit flowing to distant operators.
So I do make an effort when I can to oppose such “farming” and to never purchase their products. (I try to purchase local, organic vegetables, eggs, milk, and flour, too.) But you, and those like you should keep doing what you do, and be a shining example of what can be if we all just make a little more effort to know where our food comes from. Happy farming!
Peace/Love,
Jim
Jim,
Thank you so much for your comment. It is always welcome to have people understand. We do treasure our animals and treat them with the utmost care and attention.
We too do our best to buy what we don’t grow ourselves locally…. it is the only correct way forward. I shall not get started on the factory animal husbandry. I am calling it thus as the word ‘farm’ should not be applied to these set ups!
We’d love if you came to visit!
Margaret
Right on, Margaret. We (my wife and I) will try for a visit sometime. And I’ll give you the good word if anyone asks me about places to stay/visit in Ireland.
–Jim