To think that meat eaters...

[hashbrownsandwich]

Should be comfortable to slaughter animals if they are happy to eat them?

The 'cheap chicken' threads have got me onto this and I'm at home with covid so be gentle!

My own personal background is that I am vegetarian and have been since I was 7. Own decision. I cook meat for my children and my husband because I believe, like i was given, it's a choice that can be made for themselves.

My husband is from farming background and has proactively raised and slaughtered animals. His conscience is entirely clear because he very much has the farmer mindset of raise the animal, give them a good life, dispatch and consume.

It's coming up to 'Turkey time' on the family farm and with the so called shortages forecast this year, I've found myself having more conversations with colleagues about the food chain/supply etc.

We live in an affluent area and we have lots of farm shops, butchers etc. However, I'm shocked that most people I know have said while they couldn't give up meat, they also wouldn't be happy to raise animals for slaughter themselves or to witness their slaughter.

So AIBU to to believe, if you're going to eat meat, it's your moral duty to be ok with animal slaughter?

Just to say, what I've tried in a long winded way above is that i'm not a preachy veggie and I'm not vegan.

@HangingOver

What meat eater doesn't cook meat?

Labrador?

Lol it was this I'm referring to "I would expand your opening statement to include people who are happy to cook meat."

So which people don't cook meat?

@hashbrownsandwich

Should be comfortable to slaughter animals if they are happy to eat them?

The 'cheap chicken' threads have got me onto this and I'm at home with covid so be gentle!

My own personal background is that I am vegetarian and have been since I was 7. Own decision. I cook meat for my children and my husband because I believe, like i was given, it's a choice that can be made for themselves.

My husband is from farming background and has proactively raised and slaughtered animals. His conscience is entirely clear because he very much has the farmer mindset of raise the animal, give them a good life, dispatch and consume.

It's coming up to 'Turkey time' on the family farm and with the so called shortages forecast this year, I've found myself having more conversations with colleagues about the food chain/supply etc.

We live in an affluent area and we have lots of farm shops, butchers etc. However, I'm shocked that most people I know have said while they couldn't give up meat, they also wouldn't be happy to raise animals for slaughter themselves or to witness their slaughter.

So AIBU to to believe, if you're going to eat meat, it's your moral duty to be ok with animal slaughter?

Just to say, what I've tried in a long winded way above is that i'm not a preachy veggie and I'm not vegan.

I get what you are saying but it's like saying oh you eat potatoes so go out to the field and dig them yourself. Or you like coconuts go climb the tree and get them yourself. In our modern society we pay a lot of people to do things that we don't want or cant do. Hairdressers, caterers, coffee shops, nail bars, pubs, cleaners, laundromats, dog groomers, dog walkers, taxi drivers, massages.

I am a veggie and don't eat meat. Cannot bear the thought of animal slaughter. Breaks my heart. Gives me nightmares just thinking about those animals going into the slaughter house.

However I do think it is a bit preachy to say if you're going to eat meat, it's your moral duty to be ok with animal slaughter to the point of doing it yourself.

I freely admit that I wouldn't eat meat if I had to slaughter it. I come from a farming family who have no issue with it but I couldn't do it.

If I was a vegetarian and didn't eat dairy products, I would be an unhealthy one as I wouldn't be able to have alternative protein.

We are all hypocrites in some way.

I do agree there needs to be more awareness and understanding of where our food comes from overall tbh, not just meat.

Yes I think people should eat whatever they eat consciously. Meat eaters should be aware of slaughter and welfare and vegetarians should be alert to treatment of workers that pick their veg. We should all be aware of the impact ultra processed food has on the environment which includes vegan and vegetarian.

I grew up on a farm so yes I am a bit like OP's DH.

@hashbrownsandwich the egg industry grinds up up male baby chicks at one day old as it's not profitable to keep them as they don't lay eggs. You eat eggs as a vegetarian, so surely you should be ok doing this yourself.

I think there's a difference here actually between willingness to carry out (or witness) the slaughter vs animal welfare standards during the creature's life. I think life is more important than the brief moment of death, and i think there must be so much cognitive dissonance involved in buying cheap meat (and eggs/dairy) and things which contain them as ingredients.

I think there's something in our advanced economy, where as consumers (decision makers) we're removed from the processes of production and we can ignore SO MUCH of the shit we're funding as a result. Poor animal welfare, air-freighting fruit, production processes with an extraordinary carbon footprint etc.

Do I want to go back to an agrarian society - no.

Do I think I'm perfect on this myself - definitely not.

It's scary stuff when you sit and contemplate it though. So much of the damage we're directly responsible for is out of sight and out of mind.

I eat meat. I haven't slaughtered animals myself, but my family used to have a farm, and I have often watched animals be slaughtered (and then eaten them). As long as it's done as humanely as possible, I have no problem with it.

And yes, I wouldn't mind slaughtering an animal myself if I was taught to do it properly.

I think there is a different mindset between those from farming backgrounds and the average person. Those from a farming background tend to have pets but they are serving a purpose, they have cats for ratting purposes, dogs are usually working dogs. Farmers are not likely to be the ones referring to their pets as their fur babies, letting their pets sleep on the bed (maybe with cats because you can’t control what a cat does). They might have a pet and then working dogs, with the pet being allowed special treatment that the other dogs aren’t but most animals will serve a purpose. They raise livestock to the highest standards they can, knowing they’ll be slaughtered. It’s something farmers learn at a young age from their parents. Most of the rest of the population falls into having fur babies and if you give them chickens to raise with the view of being slaughtered they get too attached. The chickens become pets, not food. However, people will make a distinction between their pets and the chicken in the shop. I don’t have butchery skills and if I tried to slaughter an animal it wouldn’t be a humane death. However, with training I could probably slaughter an animal on a farm but I would struggle to detach myself from chickens I’d raised.

This isn’t to say that farmers are detached or uncaring by the way. It’s just the mindset of farmer, it’s different. I think it’s the same mindset in which they keep farming even when the farm isn’t profitable because they’re a farmer and that’s what farmers do.

Also - I only eat meat from local farmers who treat their cattle humanely. It's more expensive and I don't eat it every day, and that's fine by me.

I've never chopped down a tree, so I don't wipe my arse.

I'm squeamish about vomit. I'd therefore presumably make a pretty crap GI nurse. Doesn't mean that I think looking after people with GI issues is morally wrong

As it happens, I'm not squeamish about blood or death and think I could slaughter an animal without too much upset, assuming I had proper training. I'd be very reluctant to do it now as I don't know the correct method.

Have a burger. You’re not you when you’re hungry.

Where do you buy your clothes OP?

Would you happily go any slave away in a sweatshop under inhumane conditions?

I think awareness is very important. With any food it should be important to understand how it gets to your plate. Unfortunately a large proportion of our food has ethical controversies to varying extents.

I think its a very flawed argument, as YOU are causing plenty of environmental and humanitarian damage every day by using an iPhone and buying clothes made in sweat shops and buying things made of plastic, which in theory means you support these trades/destruction of the earth. It's exceptionally holier than thou to hash out this boring fucking question, it's been done to death. 🥱 So boring when people preach this shit without looking at themselves as a whole.

I absolutely love meat, animals born and bred for me to eat, I very much enjoy eating them and I'd kill animals if I had to. I also use lots of Apple products and like Shein clothes.

Happy?

I agree that consumers have become too far removed from the process and don't want to think about the hard facts of how meat ends up on supermarket shelves. I grew up in a farming area and we used to buy half a lamb / half a pig and put it in the freezer. My neighbour used to make brawn out of pigs heads. My mum used to boil tongue and press it in a bowl with a heavy weight on top.
I have skinned rabbit and made it into stew, my ex husband was a keen fisherman and we used to eat the fish he caught.
I'll be honest and say that I don't know if I could work in an abattoir but I am aware of what happens and will continue to eat meat.

I eat meat but I couldn’t slaughter an animal. I don’t think that makes me hypercritical either.

I couldn’t survive a veggie/vegan diet though. I don’t like beans/legumes and the products that look like meat but aren’t meat make me feel unwell.

Oh, and also. I don't have pets now. But I would kill and eat my dogs if I got stuck in the Arctic, starving, for example. And I have no issue with people in Asia eating dogs.

I do think that animals should be treated as humanely as possible and should suffer as little as possible. I do think there are more important issues, though.

@HangingOver

Although by extension, this also requires Vegans to be prepared to do all that is done in protecting fruit, vegetable and grain/pulse crops from animals and insects

I throw snails in the compost heap, does that count

I send largely send mine on holiday over the wall into the neighbour's garden as if I kept them all, I'd have a snail mountain rather than a compost heap.

I'm a vegetarian and have been for years. We were brought up knowing exactly where our meat came from and have farmers in the family. If I was stuck somewhere and having to forage for myself, I would kill and eat a rabbit or fish or something. When I was a meat eater I would not have chosen to slaughter an animal, but would have eaten it.

@Learnthroughplay3

Yes or why that big horse meat scandal was such a scandal? If you eat chicken, and cows.. why not horses?

[quote Dizzylizzy40]@Learnthroughplay3

Yes or why that big horse meat scandal was such a scandal? If you eat chicken, and cows.. why not horses?[/quote]
Lots of countries eat horse meat. The issue was that it wasn't supposed to be horse meat.

@hashbrownsandwich

Should be comfortable to slaughter animals if they are happy to eat them?

The 'cheap chicken' threads have got me onto this and I'm at home with covid so be gentle!

My own personal background is that I am vegetarian and have been since I was 7. Own decision. I cook meat for my children and my husband because I believe, like i was given, it's a choice that can be made for themselves.

My husband is from farming background and has proactively raised and slaughtered animals. His conscience is entirely clear because he very much has the farmer mindset of raise the animal, give them a good life, dispatch and consume.

It's coming up to 'Turkey time' on the family farm and with the so called shortages forecast this year, I've found myself having more conversations with colleagues about the food chain/supply etc.

We live in an affluent area and we have lots of farm shops, butchers etc. However, I'm shocked that most people I know have said while they couldn't give up meat, they also wouldn't be happy to raise animals for slaughter themselves or to witness their slaughter.

So AIBU to to believe, if you're going to eat meat, it's your moral duty to be ok with animal slaughter?

Just to say, what I've tried in a long winded way above is that i'm not a preachy veggie and I'm not vegan.

Oh dear.

Only if you are willing to watch children make plastic in Chinese sweatshops, which I assume you happily buy?

In terms of scale, yeah, I doubt that we could all raise and slaughter animals in our back yards and on our balconies . Are you saying that those of us who don't own farm land haven't got the right to eat meat? Wow! You sound extremely privileged and spoilt.

Just to say, what I've tried in a long winded way above is that i'm not a preachy veggie and I'm not vegan.

You are a preachy veggie. I've been vegetarian for 30 years and you're the type who give us a bad name.

If I wouldn't work in a sewerage plant then should I not used the toilet?
If I don't want to work on an oil rig then should I never heat my house?
If I don't want to work on the bins then should I never throw anything away?