RE: The real cost of your eggs: Chicks shredded alive
I too wish we could have more humane animal treatment and truly we need to return to old fashioned farms, of course what people will not be prepared for is the COST of food. This is why back in the old times when there was no industry with farming most protein foods were eaten by the wealthy as people raising animals were doing so for money to survive and the chicken for a Sunday roast was a treat as most of the week was more animal bones boiled with some root veg through the winters. I am not sure people will be ready for that again, but it might come.
I HOPE we never do away with animal protein as I think it so important to the health of another animal I love, humans. certainly the relationship of animal and food WITH compassion and good life needs to come back.
I am lucky as when I am in UK I can literally walk to the farm and see the ducks and chickens that lay the eggs I buy and see the sheep and cows in the field that I eat or the pheasant and pigeon and game in the field that then becomes available at local farms. This is the way to really feel in touch with your food, but for me I could not live a vegan lifestyle as it just would not suit me.
I hope better treatment for ALL animals, including the human animal, will be coming in the new year :)
People eating less meat would certainly help. It's just not viable to scale up humane animal rearing to meet demand. I know a lot of people will never give it up entirely, but we have to be thinking about where our food comes from.
Exactly, and though it isn't always possible to find out where our food comes from, with some work you can.
Back in the US it's harder, but I do it. I found a local farmer who raises humanely. It is more of a trip to get food from him (In the US the rules on selling such food is very restricted and to even get homogenized milk I have to go TO the farm as it is illegal in my state for a farmer to sell it by transport only if you go to him).
I also always raise my own chicken and quail when I'm in the US so I have my own supply of fresh eggs, which are an AMAZING source of protein and also very low in calorie for anyone watching 'their figure'. That way I definitely know what is going into their diet and how they are treated.
It isn't easy, for sure, but hopefully we can make little changes here and there. If small farmers were allowed to grow and sell the meat into the larger system it would work but as I said it would be costly, therefore the farmers would have a living wage and we would all be forced to eat smaller more realistic quantities of meat, but in the USA most of the small farms were bought out over the past two decades and a lot of the major land base for it's production is owned by a few conglomerate corporate farms.
It's an odd future into which we are all headed, that is for certain.
Ignorance is the real enemy. I plan to post more about food issues as well as how we treat the planet in general. It's so important to discuss