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Knowing where your meat comes from - may upset vegetarians

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Gems

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This may upset vegetarians so please don't read if you don't like discussing meat.

I've been trying ( in vain ) to find a butcher or farm shop that sells mutton for curry I want to make tomorrow night. I rang a local farm shop I've used in the past who told me they don't have any at the moment but are due to send some sheep to slaughter in a week which will then be hung for 2 weeks and ready for sale at the end of October. A couple of work colleagues knew I was trying to find mutton and asked whether I'd found anywhere that sold it so I told them what the butcher told me and that I'd be able to get some at the end of the month. Both were completely horrified that I could even contemplate getting the meat if I knew the animals were going to be slaughtered for it, which I was shocked at as where else would the meat come from? One in particular shops at Asda and I said I'd far rather get my meat from a farm shop where the animals are reared on that farm, butchered by the inhouse butchers and sold in their own shops then meat from a supermarket like Asda where the meat has come from god knows where and is pumped full of preservatives.

The farm shop in question's meat is free range and organic and you can see the animals in the fields so you know they are well looked after. I've watched documentaries on where supermarket meat can originate from and I think it's horrific some of the conditions the animals are kept in. Yet in their eyes by being more conscious about where the animals are coming from I'm this horrifying morbid person. They'd rather see the end product all neatly wrapped so they don't have to think about what animal it came from.

I guess my question is is it really that wrong for me to understand where the meat I'm coming from is and understand the whole slaughter process and still eat meat... Am I some kind of freak for knowing what happens and not be repulsed and want to give meat up?
 
I think your work friends are being a bit naieve! It's much better to know where your meat is coming from and be honest about the fact it was once alive, means you respect it a bit more. Denying this fact makes me feel the animal has died in vain :(
 
I'm a veggie and I have far more respect for your point of view than your colleagues. I think it's a far more ethical way to buy and eat meat.

:)
 
I was trying to explain to them that I'd rather pay more and eat less meat but know the animal has been well looked after then buy mass produced meat so I can eat more meat but not have any regard for the welfare of the animal.
 
Growing up on a farm, I know the importance of eating meat, people would not keep livestock as pets. Our farm wasn't meat products but show products but we kept bare minimum and only slaughtered when to old (then we kept the meat).

Off topic a little, it annoys me when carbon footprint people add cows to the list of threats to the world, I'm quite sure a few of those breeds of cows are meant to be here, not like a car or an aeroplane which was created from a mans mind :)
 
I respect people who eat meat and know where it comes from more than meateaters who bury their heads in the sand. Hope that makes sense. I agree with Flips too.
 
I'm sorry but how on EARTH can you compare the meat in Chavsda to the meat from a decent farm shop?! It's like comparing Dior to Primark!

We aren't rich, but we point blank won't buy meat from Asda or Tesco, occasionally buy from Sainsburys if we are in a fix, but more often than not buy from Waitrose - my mum works for them, and has seen the farms their meat comes from, and you have no worries your meat is coming from a decent source as far as we are concerned. We used to shop at the local butchers but since changing hands it has gone very downhill sadly, and the meat quality is awful and they can't tell us where it comes from!
 
I'm sorry but how on EARTH can you compare the meat in Chavsda to the meat from a decent farm shop?! It's like comparing Dior to Primark!

We aren't rich, but we point blank won't buy meat from Asda or Tesco, occasionally buy from Sainsburys if we are in a fix, but more often than not buy from Waitrose - my mum works for them, and has seen the farms their meat comes from, and you have no worries your meat is coming from a decent source as far as we are concerned. We used to shop at the local butchers but since changing hands it has gone very downhill sadly, and the meat quality is awful and they can't tell us where it comes from!
 
Gems, it really doesn't matter what other people think in this matter but it does matter what you think. Think about what you feel is important and go with it.
 
Am I some kind of freak for knowing what happens and not be repulsed and want to give meat up?

Nope. I've spent time in a slaughter house and it was one of the most interesting things I've seen! (and i still eat meat!). It gives you more confidence in buying meat to know where it comes from and the processes.

I can't get any mutton! It's going to have to be lamb this time, but I'm going to ask him to put some mutton aside when they have more ready for me :)

Go to Wales! Plenty of lamb and mutton walking around on the hillsides! :))
 
did anyone see the program kill it, cook it, eat it?

it made me feel sooooo upset after..

if the animals have stunned or the bolt gun used (dont know if its the same thingmallethead) they are meant to be dead? why do they still scream when they are hung up to be killed and move around and scream IF they are meant to be dead? surley they wont do that if their dead...

i do still eat meat but not very often and i always do feel sad, but it doesnt stop me from eating it..

i have to say though if i saw it walking around in a feild petted it etc, then i could know way eat it..as i feel i would have some type of conection with it! if it makes any sensemallethead
 
I think most meat eaters try not to think too deeply about where their meat comes from, so long as they (myself included in this) think the meat is fresh and affordable, then we buy it. You are to be commended for looking more into this and wanting to buy ethical meat. After reading what you have written, I will start looking for more free range, humanely slaughtered meat. Although tbh, I'm not sure where to start, other than farm shops. xx
 
This topic is very interesting and great that everone has their own opinions! .. I am on a farm it was a working one until a few years ago when my dad retired...and i would rather get meat from a a local butcher or farm shop than good old Asda..Alot of the meat in Supermarkets arnt even British!
I was a vegetarian for 8 yrs which actually upset my dad alot as he was a farmer and was rather embarassed that his daughter was veggie!
However i agree that i couldnt eat an animal that i had seen ...
The funniest thing is that my dad still doesnt buy freerange organic eggs like i do... When i ask him the reason is he likes to know what the chickens that have laid the eggs have eaten where as free range can pick up any old rubbish! So true... But i still buy freerange Organic! I think the other problem is Packaging in shops but thats another debate.. I remember seeing a program and a chef put loadsa offal and that into sausages i think but maed great packaging 90% of ppl brought the product without looking at the ingredients xxxxxxxx So there we go!
 
i used to have ex-battery hens and i now could never eat caged eggs after seen the condition they were in..

i lost then 12 mths later to egg yoke peritonitis:(

but they had a fab 12 mths free range , scratching in the grass soil, chasing butterflies, sun bathing, and lots of cuddles and died experiencing life..

when they first came to me they stood there for 2 days staring at the sky as they had never seen the sky before i had to pick them up every night to put them in their coup lol..

when i shouted them they would come running/flying down the garden to greet me and had a thing for toe nailsrolleyes:(|):(|) I'm sure they thought they where worms:(|):(|)
 
Claire.. Id love some ex battery farm chickens i really would how fab *** you feel owning some girls like that! x
 
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