On Sun, 23 Mar 2008 10:17:43 -0600, Inci Willard <[log in to unmask]>  
wrote:

> Sent on Sunday, March 23, 2008 9:51 AM  by "Lynnet Bannion"  
> <[log in to unmask]>
>
>>>> see the
> life the animals lead.<<<<
>
> Care to elaborate this sentence?  Does this means I must go out everyday  
> and give  massages to my sheep and whisper sweet nothing to their ears?
Oh, don't be ridiculous! I need one minute to see the chickens running  
around
in the yard, instead of in a cage in a huge warehouse with thousands of  
others.  I don't need to have a personal conversation with them.

>
> Why you all think farming equals unethical treatment of ruminants is  
> beyond me,while falling into PETA's psycho babble about how farmers  
> mistreat their animals is firmly seated in your minds, I will give you a  
> thought to ponder upon.
Have you seen those millions of cows hock-deep in their own manure? Have  
you
seen those pigs in cages too small to turn around in? Have you seen those
chickens packed two to a cage, spending their whole short miserable lives  
in
those cages?  I'm sorry, I'm not a PETA supporter and never have been, but  
treating animals that way is evil, just plain evil.  And it is totally  
unnecessary; it is animal torment for the sake of profit pure and simple.

> When Paleo men had to hunt down their meals and  speared them to death  
> (long,agonizing way of dying),was that an ethical treatment?
A day or two of misery at the end of life is nothing compared to
an entire life spent in misery inside a pork factory.

> I have been a sheep farmer for over 25 years and I can tell only part  
> with this wisdom,given a chance to graze lush green pasture vs.running  
> off miles to raid the grain bins in feed stores,guess which route sheep  
> will prefer even if they haven't seen one kernel?
Won't we all eat addictive things that are not good for us?  Of course
sheep will steal grain, and eat enough to get sick on it too.  That  
doesn't mean
that millions of cows in a feedlot getting sick and producing meat that  
makes us
sick (E coli and other infections) is a good idea.

If you believe that we live in a finite world, producing meat this way is  
extremely wasteful of energy too.  And those of us who want to continue to  
eat meat in today's world need to be dismantling CAFO operations in favor  
of something more sustainable, and more defensible.  Otherwise, the PETA  
people will win, and all of us meateaters lose.

> Elevating ruminants or any domesticated animals into your level of  
> thoughts/intelligence is quite arrogant, men/women makes this mistake  
> quite often only to change the outcome of the animal world as their  
> instinct is almost always forgotten and royally replaced by what humans  
> think it is the right way.
Treating animals like inanimate objects here on earth only for our  
monetary benefit regardless of the cost to them was NEVER the paleo way.   
That's the industrial way.  All hunting peoples that we know about treated  
the animals they killed with the utmost respect.  They believed that the  
animals had spirits too, no less "valuable" than ours,
just different.

There is a middle ground between seeing animals only in terms of dollar  
signs, and
believing that any animal death is wrong.  Everything eats; omnivores and  
carnivores eat by killing (well, vegetarians kill too, but it's  
vegetables).  It's the way of the world.  Having respect for the animals  
who lose their lives for yours is simple humanity, and goes back as far in  
prehistoric times as we are able to see.

	Lynnet