A Farm Boy Reflects [from Oprah's show on Farm Animals]

[Wylie's Mom]

I soooooo hesitated in posting this, bc sometimes these types of threads go so badly and I find myself defending my anti-cruelty beliefs, which exhausts me . Anyway, I don't know if any of you saw the Oprah show this week on how Farm Animals are treated - it was wonderfully informative and affirming.

Her opening line was something like "The way we treat the least of beings is what determines our humanity" - I love that. And then they went to discussing a great article from the NY Times by Nicolas Kristoff. I really enjoyed the article and thought others might too :

A Farm Boy Reflects by Nicolas Kristoff

In a world in which animal rights are gaining ground, barbecue season should make me feel guilty. My hunch is that in a century or two, our descendants will look back on our factory farms with uncomprehending revulsion. But in the meantime, I love a good burger.

This comes up because the most important election this November that you’ve never heard of is a referendum on animal rights in California, the vanguard state for social movements. Proposition 2 would ban factory farms from raising chickens, calves or hogs in small pens or cages.

Livestock rights are already enshrined in the law in Florida, Arizona, Colorado and here in Oregon, but California’s referendum would go further and would be a major gain for the animal rights movement. And it’s part of a broader trend. Burger King announced last year that it would give preference to suppliers that treat animals better, and when a hamburger empire expostulates tenderly about the living conditions of cattle, you know public attitudes are changing.

Harvard Law School now offers a course on animal rights. Spain’s Parliament has taken a first step in granting rights to apes, and Austrian activists are campaigning to have a chimpanzee declared a person. Among philosophers, a sophisticated literature of animals rights has emerged.

I’m a farm boy who grew up here in the hills outside Yamhill, Ore., raising sheep for my F.F.A. and 4-H projects. At various times, my family also raised modest numbers of pigs, cattle, goats, chickens and geese, although they were never tightly confined.

Our cattle, sheep, chickens and goats certainly had individual personalities, but not such interesting ones that it bothered me that they might end up in a stew. Pigs were more troubling because of their unforgettable characters and obvious intelligence. To this day, when tucking into a pork chop, I always feel as if it is my intellectual equal.

Then there were the geese, the most admirable creatures I’ve ever met. We raised Chinese white geese, a common breed, and they have distinctive personalities. They mate for life and adhere to family values that would shame most of those who dine on them.

While one of our geese was sitting on her eggs, her gander would go out foraging for food — and if he found some delicacy, he would rush back to give it to his mate. Sometimes I would offer males a dish of corn to fatten them up — but it was impossible, for they would take it all home to their true loves.

Once a month or so, we would slaughter the geese. When I was 10 years old, my job was to lock the geese in the barn and then rush and grab one. Then I would take it out and hold it by its wings on the chopping block while my Dad or someone else swung the ax.

The 150 geese knew that something dreadful was happening and would cower in a far corner of the barn, and run away in terror as I approached. Then I would grab one and carry it away as it screeched and struggled in my arms.

Very often, one goose would bravely step away from the panicked flock and walk tremulously toward me. It would be the mate of the one I had caught, male or female, and it would step right up to me, protesting pitifully. It would be frightened out of its wits, but still determined to stand with and comfort its lover.

We eventually grew so impressed with our geese — they had virtually become family friends — that we gave the remaining ones to a local park. (Unfortunately, some entrepreneurial thief took advantage of their friendliness by kidnapping them all — just before the next Thanksgiving.)

So, yes, I eat meat (even, hesitantly, goose). But I draw the line at animals being raised in cruel conditions. The law punishes teenage boys who tie up and abuse a stray cat. So why allow industrialists to run factory farms that keep pigs almost all their lives in tiny pens that are barely bigger than they are?

Defining what is cruel is, of course, extraordinarily difficult. But penning pigs or veal calves so tightly that they cannot turn around seems to cross that line.

More broadly, the tide of history is moving toward the protection of animal rights, and the brutal conditions in which they are sometimes now raised will eventually be banned. Someday, vegetarianism may even be the norm.

Perhaps it seems like soggy sentimentality as well as hypocrisy to stand up for animal rights, particularly when I enjoy dining on these same animals. But my view was shaped by those days in the barn as a kid, scrambling after geese I gradually came to admire.

So I’ll enjoy the barbecues this summer, but I’ll also know that every hamburger patty has a back story, and that every tin of goose liver pâté could tell its own rich tale of love and loyalty.

[bchgirl]

That's a good perspective of it WM. I agree with his comments.

Not that any is a good number, but I'm curious to know how many farms are actually "factory farms'.

[Lexi Rae]

i saw part of the show, i had to turn it off, i was getting sick.

[Wylie's Mom]

Shoot, they gave some numbers on the show yesterday and I just can't recall many of them. I do recall that, I think, only about 5% of consumers are now purchasing cage-free eggs - however, if we buy more, the price will come down. I always, always buy cage-free eggs - they are more $, but we don't use a ton, so they're really not that bad.

What they did say is that even the large "family farms" are inappropriately caging/penning their animals - and they showed, on stage and in footage, the exact pens used.

There were people from both sides of the argument on the show. The BEST parts were seeing the free range farming - one was showing how free-range sows (female pigs) CAN indeed be free range and NOT fight/hurt each other - it was the coolest farm! And, it made money, the pigs were healthy and hanging out etcetera. Very cool. They showed free range veal and cage-free chickens.

[yorkiekist]

I hate to see animal cruelty of any kind. But without these industrial animal/meat production farms, we the public, will not be able to afford to purchase meat, eggs or dairy. There is not enough land to support these production animals in a "cage free" manner and as you have seen, Ann, in the valley of the sun, the land has been gobbled up by housing develepments. Of course, I would sell my land too if I was getting over 100,000 per acre. This valley used to be the alfalfa producing capital of the world. Now, within a short 15 years, you really have to look hard to find an alfalfa field. This valley used to come in a close second to California in crop production(broccoli, lettuce, corn,cotton,citrus etc) and now look at it. Almost all of the dairies are gone and have had to move further out of the area to keep in business. They now have to truck in hay from further distances which costs an arm and a leg now. Yes, pasture fed cattle, chickens, pork for meat and dairy is a nice, peaceful picture but is not cost effective for the farmer or the consumer. The end result is still the same for the animals involved. I am not advocating cruelty and I think that some changes can be made, but the public, in this economy, will not pay exorbant prices for meat.

[emilyann]

Originally Posted by yorkiekist

I hate to see animal cruelty of any kind. But without these industrial animal/meat production farms, we the public, will not be able to afford to purchase meat, eggs or dairy. There is not enough land to support these production animals in a "cage free" manner and as you have seen, Ann, in the valley of the sun, the land has been gobbled up by housing develepments. Of course, I would sell my land too if I was getting over 100,000 per acre. This valley used to be the alfalfa producing capital of the world. Now, within a short 15 years, you really have to look hard to find an alfalfa field. This valley used to come in a close second to California in crop production(broccoli, lettuce, corn,cotton,citrus etc) and now look at it. Almost all of the dairies are gone and have had to move further out of the area to keep in business. They now have to truck in hay from further distances which costs an arm and a leg now. Yes, pasture fed cattle, chickens, pork for meat and dairy is a nice, peaceful picture but is not cost effective for the farmer or the consumer. The end result is still the same for the animals involved. I am not advocating cruelty and I think that some changes can be made, but the public, in this economy, will not pay exorbant prices for meat.

I agree with this 100%.

[JeanieK]

Wow that was something. The part about the geese brought tears to my eyes.

I was raised on a diary farm. And I can honestly say our animals had it very nice. They were all out to roam in pastures in the nice weather and in the winter they were kept inside.

They had clean stalls and fresh bedding daily and always had food in front of them.

I do remember butchering the chickens, like that young man described how they slaughtered the geese.

It does make one think.

[simonandhallie]

Great article!!! I missed the show but heard some people talking about it. I'm so glad you posted this!

[chachi]

The story about the geese made me cry

[Nikki+2]

Ann thanks for posting this- what a great article. Like Jeanie and Chachi the story of the geese brought tears to my eyes. I had no idea.