This week at ABC acres saw more snow, and thus snow removal, as well as 4 of our heritage hogs being butchered on the farm. While we butcher and process our own poultry for personal consumption, we are not licensed to butcher and sell larger animals. In keeping with our ethic for having our livestock experience their entire existence on this land, we opt to hire the specialists at North American Foods to bring their mobile animal processing unit on site, in order to minimize stress on our livestock’s end of life experience. I was out observing the process while Howard, the owner-operator of NAF, and his helper Austin performed their tasks with incredible efficiency and respect for our hogs. As I was watching over the bloody happenings, a comment exchange between myself and a YouTube user on our ABC acres channel’s past video of our turkey butchering process came back to mind, and I think it brings up a couple good thoughts on the state of our food system, and the various views and ethics people have around the issue of meat.
YouTube viewer: “How does it not bother you to steal the life force of a sensitive, intelligent being?”
Me(Grant): “By your verbiage, it seems you are asking a rhetorical question, but we will briefly address it for the sake of the larger conversation at hand regarding food. As meat eaters, we feel it is an act of integrity to take the life of that which sustains and nourishes us, as we do not want to be disconnected from the cost and loss of life associated with our dietary choices. We highly value and respect our livestock, and work to give them a life where they get to live and interact with their environment in ways that fulfill their innate drives, desires, and inclinations, while also leveraging their behaviors and tendencies to ecological advantage, creating healthier landscapes for future generations of livestock, wildlife, and humans that interact with the land currently under our stewardship. We also make every effort to end the life of the animals we consume as humanely as possible. We do not take any pleasure in the act; on the contrary their is some, ‘bother,’ as you put it, but it helps us appreciate, value, and have gratitude for the meat we consume all the more. The fact of the matter is, whether vegan or omnivore, every day, something dies so we can continue to live. (Added for context: the agricultural activities with machinery like plowing, harvesting, and transporting directly kill and displace all manner of wildlife of different species and sizes, which a vegan may or may not want to acknowledge. The fact of the matter is, animal life is lost in the process of plant-based foods getting to the dinner plate.) We are simply trying to live a life of integrity and be connected to that reality, and it is our hope that others will do the same. Blessings to you. -Grant”
We at ABC acres respect people who choose certain dietary lifestyles for both health and ethical reasons. We also agree that many animals are not treated as well in their raising and butchering as they deserve to be, and that there also are many environmental issues that arise through these processes that could and should be avoided. While it is a complex issue with many more factors than I have the time and space here to properly address, it can be distilled down to a simple solution. As we get back to a more free market food system with decentralized local food economies emerging based upon relationships developed between producer and consumer, livestock, people, and planet will all be the better for it. Know your farmer(s), know your food(s).
Blessings,
Grant
P.S. While our weekly video link is not about hogs, it is on the smallest members of our domesticated livestock, red wiggler composting worms!
