No I'm not sure which countries we're importing from. Though the food miles do bear some thought. What matters is what kind of conditions it's raised in, and the majority of our meat comes from places like those in that horrible video.
Veganism, Vegeterianism, Omnivorism
- Thread starter Janne
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No I'm not sure which countries we're importing from. Though the food miles do bear some thought. What matters is what kind of conditions it's raised in, and the majority of our meat comes from places like those in that horrible video.
Why would you not have one? Well they are a domesticated species. They wouldn't exist if people didn't enslave animals.
I don't see the cat as an enslaved creature, seems more akin to beneficial befriending, cats seem to fair well with and without us. My view is I don't own a cat I have one that stays with me.
The majority of poultry comes from places like that; for the simple reason that it's the cheapest way to produce poultry and eggs. The majority of beef comes from the open range producers; for the exact same reason.
Sorta. The species isn't a natural species though (we didn't "befriend" cats, we made them) The most "beneficial" thing we could do regarding animal welfare would be to let the species cease to exist. They're destructive of natural wildlife everywhere they're allowed to roam which makes letting them live anyway other than confined to the house is cruel to other wildlife (and indeed the entire ecosystem) On the other hand, confining them to the house brings us back to that "enslaved species" thing.
I don't know how the cat came about, so what was the cat before it became what we know as a cat! And there is many things that we have had a hand in re-crafting how far do you want to go with letting things cease to exist? that we have moulded.
And pigs! Do you have any source for the cow statistic? You're probably right, but I wonder to what extent and when will we begin factory farming the majority of our cow.
So it's even worse. Plus the subject of veganism doesn't speak to the cruelty and enslavement to human beings, but only non-human animals.
In New Zealand (and I'm sure other places), cats are particularly devastating to the endemic bird population and constantly raiding nests. Their Department of Conservative conservation ethos is based upon a system of 'ecosystem restoration'. Quite a feat considering their hills are moving with rabbits.
We didn't make cats. Cats were the same subspecies before, but as we befriended them we made them more docile. Over thousands of years we essentially created different breeds but they're all the same thing, a wildcat.
We don't keep many things about us that are not of use, so the reason I say "beneficial befriending" is due to my own thinking in how things may have come about in early contact with the cat, they are great hunters (a bad effect on local wildlife for sure) and once invited into the home will make themselves top brass very quickly no mater what else may live there, they will take on almost anything, have a look at youtube! they don't seem to fear much, and may have invited themselves into human habitation or been invited, and there very nocturnal and that is where I think we benefit we mainly sleep then, so would not the cat make a good guardian? I think how ancient Egypt viewed them as guardians of the spirit world was that a character reflection of how they were in the this world? I don't know I'm just musing. but if I was an ancient man I would want a cat in my house as much as I do now.
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Yeh that makes total sense. From what I've read we initially befriended them because we saw that they were so effective at protecting our grain stores from mice!
All animals we breed are made by us for a specific purpose. We created cows by selective breeding from the auroch. Dogs from the wolf.
And so on.
Not sure why the chihuahua and similar tiny breeds were bred for. Annoying other people?
And so on.
Not sure why the chihuahua and similar tiny breeds were bred for. Annoying other people?
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In the UK it looks like large amounts of meat and dairy are increasingly coming from factory farms and I suppose whilst size itself doesn't necessarily correlate to inhumane conditions and mistreatment these animals are always indoors and size certainly doesn't seem to my mind to lead to them being seen as sentient, feeling creatures. I'm not vegan or fully vegetarian but am increasingly cutting out meat and diary mainly due to animal cruelty grounds. I have a cat and children and a wife and they can eat what they want, I can only be responsible for my own actions and don't want to influence others it's up to individuals to decide what is important to them. My decision is being made and moving more and more towards vegan as I think that animals are intelligent (relatively), do experience pain and suffering and for me there are viable alternatives to feeding myself with out putting them through that - but each to their own. Rich.
these figures are from compassion in world farming:
Globally, 70% of poultry meat, 50% of pork, 40% of beef and 60% of eggs are factory farmed
In the UK, 80% of chickens, 45% of laying hens and 75% of breeding pigs are factory farmed
And these are from The Bureau of Investigative Journalism
our investigation has also shown the UK is now home to at least 789 mega-farms or what the US calls CAFOs (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations).
To meet the definition of a Cafo, a facility must have at least 125,000 broilers (chickens raised for meat), or 82,000 layers (hens which produce eggs) or pullets (chickens used for breeding), or 2,500 pigs, 700 dairy cattle or 1,000 beef cattle.
The majority of the UK mega-farms - 575 - are poultry, with 190 pig, 21 dairy and 3 beef units.
Seven of the 10 largest poultry farms - producing meat or eggs or both - in the UK have the capacity to house more than one million birds. The biggest two farms are able to hold 1.7 million and 1.4 million birds respectively. The biggest pig farm is able to hold 23,000 pigs, while the largest cattle farm - in Lincolnshire - can house approximately 3,000 cattle.
these figures are from compassion in world farming:
Globally, 70% of poultry meat, 50% of pork, 40% of beef and 60% of eggs are factory farmed
In the UK, 80% of chickens, 45% of laying hens and 75% of breeding pigs are factory farmed
And these are from The Bureau of Investigative Journalism
our investigation has also shown the UK is now home to at least 789 mega-farms or what the US calls CAFOs (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations).
To meet the definition of a Cafo, a facility must have at least 125,000 broilers (chickens raised for meat), or 82,000 layers (hens which produce eggs) or pullets (chickens used for breeding), or 2,500 pigs, 700 dairy cattle or 1,000 beef cattle.
The majority of the UK mega-farms - 575 - are poultry, with 190 pig, 21 dairy and 3 beef units.
Seven of the 10 largest poultry farms - producing meat or eggs or both - in the UK have the capacity to house more than one million birds. The biggest two farms are able to hold 1.7 million and 1.4 million birds respectively. The biggest pig farm is able to hold 23,000 pigs, while the largest cattle farm - in Lincolnshire - can house approximately 3,000 cattle.
Yeah, you're right about pigs. As to when we'll begin factory farming cows? Whenever it becomes cheaper that way.
1000 head of beef cattle is a small ranch indeed out West. Most of them are several thousand head. That said, all those ranches are the ones I mentioned spread out on open range (not concentrated) The chicken houses even back east are normally that size on a small family farm and yeah, those are indeed as you describe (both meat chickens and laying hens)
Only 61 years of personal off and on involvement in farming/ranching. And another 3 generations before me.
Where did modern cats come from? The most accepted theory is that they were domesticated from wild lynxes in the Middle east 9500 years ago. They weren't house pets but were encouraged to stay in or near the grain silos at that time.
Over the centuries we spread them to areas where they were never native.
Over the centuries we spread them to areas where they were never native.
Ah a polydactyl cat huh, we have one that visits us from down the road, reckon cats with thumbs are set to rule the world one day.
