Reply #12: other ways are possible, and indeed, necessary [View All]

Interestingly enough, I happened to be at a slaughterhouse yesterday myself, helping a neighbor-farmer transport her turkeys. Fortunately, my experience is rather different than the factory-farm model described in the OP. We were at was one of the few remaining independent (i.e.- not affiliated with Tyson, Smithfield, etc.) small animal "processors" (I know that some will wince at this euphemism) in the southeast. Here is some of what I observed:

The crew: The couple that owns this facility were not only on-site, but were actively working the line along side their workers. The pace was fairly relaxed, and no one showed any signs of injury or chronic stress. The crew was diverse as far as race and gender.

The farmers: As I said above, this particular facility slaughters & packs poultry from independent small farms. While waiting in line, I saw a variety of growers arrive: young & older, some driving fancy diesel dually trucks, but more driving station wagons, banged-up Toyotas, and other older trucks. All of the farmers took pride in the birds they had raised, and no one exhibited cruelty toward the birds (of course, some here will say that killing for meat is itself cruelty, but that is a debate for ANOTHER thread, OK?)

The birds: I saw some gorgeous heritage breeds of turkeys yesterday: Bourbon Reds, Narragansetts, Slate Blues, and others whose names I have already forgotten. The independent growers raising these birds are keeping whole breeds viable through their work that would otherwise be lost. As with all USDA-certified processing plants, there was a USDA inspector on-site, and she said (without any prompting from me) that these were the healthiest turkeys she had seen in her entire career (she usually worked the larger corporate plants, but was filling-in for a colleague yesterday). The turkeys did not exhibit any signs of stress that I could observe as they awaited unloading/slaughter, so I am guessing that they really do lack the mental faculties necessary to perceive imminent doom. This is a useful trait for a domesticated animal.

This experience has reinforced my belief that a humane animal agricultural system is not only possible, but necessary. We need small, independent farmers to steward our private lands sustainably. THEY (the farmers) need animals to manage steeper lands (unsuitable for row-crops or tillage) and for the manures that are necessary for sustainable soil-building. Shumacher was right: small is beautiful, especially when it comes to farming.

-app

Edited for typos.