Would You Kill? Ageism Towards Sheep and a Free-Range Matteo
Dear Friends,
Over the past two months we’ve been introducing livestock into our young forest farming systems. We now have 150 geese, 350 ducks, a few pigs, a few goats, several sheep and 50 trout. We have two goals: to bring health and abundance to our ecosystem, and to raise the happiest, healthiest animals we possibly can.
I’ve been learning about how to give animals the best possible lives, and how to produce the tastiest and most ecological meat. Through this journey I’ve been processing the very concepts of livestock and meat, and it has left me pondering some questions, which I thought I would share with you.
Why is it that most of us wouldn’t kill an animal ourselves, but are happy to kill one vicariously at dinner every day?
The first thing that happened when we brought animals onto the farm is that people became quite upset that they would eventually be slaughtered. I was actually told this by someone over lunch at The Farm Caff, whilst they were eating ham and parsley sauce.
Why are we ok with eating some animals but not others?
It seems the British majority has concluded: “Pigs, cows, chickens and sheep - actually only the baby sheep - we are going to kill and eat you. However, older sheep, goats, rabbits, deer, horses, and most other birds - we’ve decided we are not going to eat you”.
How on earth does a Tesco chicken cost £3.9?
Even accounting for all the horrendous practices of a poultry factory, I still can’t understand how the numbers add up. For £3.9 I can hardly buy one of our day old ducklings from our hatchery.
Why do we continue to abuse and poison animals, and then eat them?
It seems us humans think we are winning by managing to malnourish, poison and abuse other animals, and then eat them. The laws of the food chain have at this point shown us quite clearly, that in doing so, we are merely malnourishing and abusing ourselves. And yet, we continue.
But are they really ranging freely?
Our 350 ducks live in our 6 acre forest garden. This is a number that so far feels right - they have lots of space, with an average of 70m2 each, a diversity of delicious forage and a dynamic landscape.
I was curious to know what the UK standards are for keeping birds, and I discovered that free-range duck must legally have: “5 birds per m2 indoors, with outdoor access of 2m2 per bird”. This means we could have 12000 “free-range” ducks in our 6 acre forest garden where we now have 350. 12000!!
Just wait till you hear what the standards are for free-range chicken - “13 birds per m2 indoors, with outdoor access of 1m2 per bird”. So basically if you hold out your arms at a right angle that is where a free range chicken spends its whole life.
Because it’s mostly done by weight you can actually extrapolate free-range standards to humans - which I found quite fun. According to my calculations, if I was a free-range human in the UK, I would have 23m2 to live in. A bit bigger than the room I’m in now.
If you have answers, please share them x
Matteo
6/07
Hi. When we lived in Nigeria chickens came from the market alive. So I killed them. But I was very aware that I lacked practice. I wasn't confident I could do the neck twist quickly so I used a sharp machete to cut the head off cleanly. I would not do it in this country where they are killed humanely.
It seems logical to me that someone who doesn't want animals to be killed wouldn't eat meat.
I think the matter of which animals we eat is complicated and possibly related to cultural history and social class. I am Scottish and, as a child, we ate mutton more than lamb. It's really annoying not being able to get mutton as I miss the flavour.
You could be hanged or transported for catching deer or rabbits as they belonged to landowners. But the owners ate them.
Why we don't eat horse or goat is a mystery.
Literally …food for thought….. it seems humans have an ability for double standards…especially when money is involved. I hope your project at Higher Farm is a great success!