How do farmers reconcile themselves to the volumes of animals they send to slaughter over the course of their lifetimes?

[Empanadas]

Hi, this is something I’ve always wondered. However, I was watching that Netflix series about Prince Charles and the Duchy of Cornwall and there was a farmer showing a whole barn of cattle he has obviously reared from birth, but quite blithely saying, “oh they'll all be off next week.”

AIBU to think being a cattle / sheep / chicken farmer takes a certain type of person and to wonder how they deal with their conscience in this depressing business?

I spent a lot of time on a farm when I was younger as I kept my horses on a working farm. The farmer and his sons worked hard day and night looking after their animals and tending to their every need. They were looked after very well. The farmer told me that sheep and cows would not exist if we didn't breed them for food. So they have mostly a short life but ideally a happy one.
I could not deal with sending animals I'd bred and brought up off to be killed though. Abbatoirs are a whole different thing to farms, farms treat their animals well but when they land at the abbatoir they are just a thing. The fear they must feel makes me cry!
I do still eat meat but minimal now.

This thread is getting silly now, criticising farmers in Britain for the actions of people in other countries.

I manage huge amounts of land in the U.K, thousands and thousands of acres. My friends manage and farm similar amounts. All I can say is I’m glad we are the future of farming. We are all passionate about sustainable farming techniques and improving farming for future generations. Animal agriculture is going nowhere.

Erm, I've known a few farmers intimately enough to know their books. They were asset rich, cash poor, and most of their income went back into the farm. And when times go bad in farming, they go well bad. Bad news for the farm, for the animals, and also for the community, which depends on the goods from the farm, and the money from the farmers.

It is, still, a business.

SupermanTonight: I believe XYX
Other posters who know what they're talking about: You're wrong
SupermanTonight: I don't care what you know, I don't believe you

You can't help some people.

It is, still, a business

It is. Unfortunately. Animals shouldn’t be business. Ever. They’re alive. They have feelings. And all that.

I am an equal opportunities animal killer - foxes, deer, cute rabbits, mice, rats, spiders, covid virus, lice - happy if any of them are killed, ideally in a way where they don't feel too much pain for too long.

I'm not. My line is primates. And I probably won't eat octopus again.🤔 Other than that I'm fine with animals for food and agree that their lives and deaths should be good ones.

I do feel when people cook meat badly.

Yes, my farming family were very upset at the loss of cash
I'll be sure and tell my friends that next time I see them. That they only care about the money.

I'm not sure what you eat, but rest assured that it's produced by farmers.

I'm not sure what you eat, but rest assured that it's produced by farmers.

Not those that exploit animals though. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Great post @mbosnz . I'm a fellow NZer and we know a bit more about farming than your average Brit I suspect. I live in one of those towns who rely heavily on the agriculture sector, and yes when times are bad in farming we all suffer. Many years ago I lost my office job in a farming downturn.

Looking at this from the health point of view, I know many people who have had to experiment with diet in order to get to the best state of health for them. I am myself vegetarian — have been for decades — but I have friends who simply could not remain well on a vegetarian or vegan diet and need to eat some meat. I was vegan for some years and did not feel healthy on that diet. I am not saying that vegans can’t be healthy— clearly some are. What I am saying is that one diet does not suit everyone and given that some people do need to eat meat to stay well, and others need a different diet, we should not judge or impose our own choices on others.
Having said all that, I believe that those of us who eat animal products have a duty to choose products from high welfare and high ethical standards operations.

Kia ora Mandalay!

Superman Farmers are not one amorphous blob.

There will be rich ones and poor ones.
Ones who have good cash flow and ones who don't.
Ones with significant assets and the 30% who are tenants.

As individuals there will be ones who are ecologically aware and ones who aren't particularly.
Ones who are heavily focused on animal welfare and ones who are so neglectful that they end up with criminal convictions.

All humans exploit or damage animals to survive either directly or indirectly. It is immature not to acknowledge this.

All farming arable and livestock damages animals in some ways, as well as supporting them in others.

The simplistic purity that some seem to imagine that they exist in is simply a mirage.

@21Flora traditional battery cages were replaced by enriched colony cages. These are still tiny cramped cages stuffed with hens, they have added a pirch and a laying area, but you cannot look at these hideous cages and believe that these hens have a good quality of life?
They should be able to roam, stretch their wings, run, escape from other birds if they choose, feel the sun on their feathers. They never get to do any of these things and spend their days in an unnatural state and are stressed.
Look at a picture of a battery cage and then one of these enriched cages they are very similar sadly.

@SupermanTonight

That doesn't mean to say they do not care about their livestock, or care for their livestock.

Oh they care. They equal money after all.

You clearly haven't read the thread or you'd have seen the bit about a farmer risking an expensive quad bike to save a ewe worth far less. Or the farmers devastated by foot and mouth outbreaks - remember that they aren't out of pocket as they are compensated so it's not the money that they are upset about.

@SupermanTonight

I'm not sure what you eat, but rest assured that it's produced by farmers.

Not those that exploit animals though. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Nothing with palm oil in it then? Bulldozing the habitats of orangutans seems pretty exploitative to me.

@Whengodwasarabbit thanks but I’ve been in lots of chicken sheds before. They aren’t similar.

“the bit about a farmer risking an expensive quad bike to save a ewe worth far less”

Aaaaagh!!!!!!!!

Is it just farm animals you worry about OP, or are you concerned about laboratory animals as well?
How do you square that with benefitting from the pharmaceutical industry?

Nice try... again. But really, unless you actually know the specifics of what my husband actually did in that particular project - and you most certainly do not - you are in no position to comment.

Go on, ask me if I wear leather shoes? Or do I fly in planes? Perhaps you think I should be campaigning to save the ice caps?

You know, all because I find slaughter houses abhorrent.

I’m sorry but most of like eating meat and actually the sad fact is that in order to eat meat, animals die. Cry your squirrels tears by all means, but don’t try and tar farmers with being cruel. Most farmers are born into farming. They are good people trying to make a living. They work harder than your privileged ass will ever work, if that you can be absolutely sure. So if you want to campaign, then campaign against Halal meat. That’s when because of religious reasons the animals are just sliced to death instead of being stunned.

Yes my privileged ass is aware of what halal is, thanks.

As long as somebody somewhere is doing something even more inhumane, we can all tell ourselves we’re the good ones, can’t we.

Well yes, if it is more humane, yes we can.

As the saying goes, put your own house in order first.

You said it.