One person’s chicken is another person’s dinner. It is an age-old challenge for animal owners who work hard at having healthy food animals. Consumers avoid visualizing a living, breathing animal as the source of the neat, plastic-wrapped package sliding over a scanner at the grocery.
Marissa Ames provides thought-filled perspectives on raising animals for meat protein. She says people don’t want to feel much emotion. Many want a black and white solution; good or bad. She explains they want to love animals and hate the meat industry.
Source: Backyard Poultry, March 14, 2019. Link. The butchering process can’t be fun, says Ames. Sometimes we need to improvise so the animal can get the most respectful end if factors change, but it’s time for it to go on to its next purpose.
Those of us raising meat chickens and other livestock aren’t heartless. We’re the opposite. Humanity is a strength.
INSIGHTS: Nowhere is the emotional connection to food producing animals more visible than at 4-H and youth livestock shows. As more chickens, rabbits, ducks and goats take up residence in backyards, animal health pros can help provide local support to ensure owners practice humane animal husbandry.