Saturday, January 17, 2009

A little tidbit...

This is just a snippet out of the book that I am reading --The Omnivore's Dilemna. It is not a direct quote, I am going to re-tell what the author told in the book.
Pigs on a pig growing factory farm:
The piglet is weaned at one week old--I would usually nurse for months--three or four.
So, since the piglet did not get weaned according to any natural rule it lives its entire life with an oral fixation--which industry pigs would remedy by chewing on the tail of the pig in front of them (sort of like a teat maybe).
This is a problem for the pig producer b/c a chewed on tail could introduce infection.
Remedy to the problem--cut off all the piglets' tails to a nub at birth.
Why a nub and not just a nothing?
B/c the nub that is left is super-sensitive so this leaves the pig furiously defending itself if another pig attempts to chew on it.

Anyone want some barbeque or bacon?

I do damnit! and now i cannot eat it. this is so disturbing to me--that this is how we treat the animals we eat.
BTW--cows and chickens are treated equally as terribly--but those aren't even my favorites to eat.

Solutions to this issue: look for people who have animal farms and process their own meats. It will be much healthier for you!!! for example the lady who goes to the saxapahaw farmer's market. Morgan and Melissa, I bet ya'll have some there too.
REad these books: The one i posted about earlier--and in this post
and Animal, Vegetable, Miracle
and the skinny bitch diet (this one is so to the point that you can read it at barnes and No-no in a little while)
Grow a garden. Had one when I was little--am I have one again.
Find a deer hunter and learn to like venison (this is a personal mission for next winter)
My daddy hunts Turkeys--they are hard to get so you usually only get one a season.

Or, just keep eating what you are, and ignore this. I just cannot.
Although I would not blame the person who could for doing so.

Good night--I am off to count sheep (actually, I will probably count pigs in a tractor trailer truck sticking their snouts through to breathe some traffic pollution on I-85/40 on the way to a slaughter house.)
Sweet dreams. :)

5 comments:

A Beautiful Mess said...

crap susan....now I can't eat bacon!

Yuck!

maybe turkey bacon:)

A Beautiful Mess said...

ooooh and your blog looks fabulous! I usually read you in bloglines so I did not see your makeover:)


You are quite the blogger!!

Susan said...

Update:
Go to www.eatwild.com
there you can find, by state, all of the pasture-raised animals.
Great! I just found three or four farms in my area in about five minutes. :)
This is good news.
Maryellen, this is not a problem for you. Just find that lady that sells the meat in Saxapahaw. I think it might be braeburn famrs?
She makes excellent EVERYTHING. :)
Turkeys get treated terribly too.
I know...I know...
Thanks for the compliment :).

Bethany said...

It is quite a dilemma - haha - once you read it, huh. The wanting of meat products and the utter digust with the conventional production of them...

Susan said...

Yes. Bethany, this creates a terrible dilemna. I do have a plan though.
Gradually we will completely phase out the factory meat.
I have found three farms that are accessible--the next step is to call them and go there.
We also need a deep freezer so that I can store a bit of meat.
Then, we will eat less of it.
The lady across the road has chickens--I bet she has eggs, and I am going to ask her can I buy some. :)

Spot on!

Spot is our family's chihuahua.  He is what we call, "an evil dictator/stuffed animal come to life".  Sometimes, after he has ...