It is confession time. A day, a mere twenty four hours after writing about the heart-warming story of a group of people who saved two stranded horses I am going to pick up the cute calf you see in the photo. To be honest, I will put about a quarter of him in my station wagon, wrapped in butcher's paper and drive home. I took this photo of the calf about a year and a half ago, while visiting our good friends who own a small farm north of Kingston. I watched as he was born on a cool May afternoon while the rest of the herd stood nearby, curious about the newcomer. It was obvious from the outset that he had a face only a mother could love and our friends named him Ugly Gus. Watching his birth was still a wee miracle.
I saw Gus on a couple of occasions after that and his markings were so unusual that it wasn't hard to pick him out of rest of the calves who hung out together, One day I watched him run around the hay feeder in a way that I might describe as coltish, if he weren't a calf.
Alas, Ugly Gus was born into this world to grace someone's dinner plate and it turns out that someone is me, along with members of our family. My older daughter is a vegetarian and shocked that I could eat a creature I saw take its first breaths. My wife and younger daughter just don't want to see the "family album" of photographs I took that day.
I actually feel that Gus had a good life, as cow's lives go. He lived on the farm to the end, never spending time in a feedlot, the cow version of a concentration camp. He grazed in fields and ran around with his pals, unaware of his fate. It has been suggested that if we are going to raise creatures for food they should be granted a reasonably good life and a merciful death. As a Christian I don't want creatures to suffer, even the ones I consume. Our friends make every effort to ship their cows and sheep to the local abbatoir on the day they are to be killed, so they don't have to spend extended time in an atmosphere of terror.
So, am I simply justifying my choice to eat meat? Daughter One would say yes. Are there vegetarians amongst our readers? Do the rest of you give much thought to where the meat on your table comes from? It would be good to hear your opinions.
5 comments:
I am almost a vegetarian, my son and husband eat red meat. We used to buy a half a cow from my uncle but since he no longer has cows we buy from the Mennonites( organic meat). Enjoy Ugly Gus.
Our ground beef is all from a family dairy farm (dairy cows can only be used in the end for ground beef). I buy the rest of our meat at a local farm where the animals have again, run free until their time, and they are killed right on this farm. I once sat beside a child of about 8 on a flight to France and he claimed to be a vegetarian, however when we had beef sandwiches on the flight he ate it, but not before giving thanks to the animal for its sacrafice. I like this especially for those animals that are mass produced and don't live out the life of which you spoke.
Thank you for your responses. It's good to know that others have been thinking through the ethical and health issues of meat consumption.
We'll eat our first roast this evening.
I like your photos Marco.
I thought about going meat-free for while, but when other allergies came up, I abandoned the idea. I do eat meat, but I try to be very conscious about how much I eat. I have found many vegetarian meals that I enjoy, and I am always adding to my collection.
I think meat twice and sometimes three times a day is a luxury. I have read in many places that if Westerners cut back on meat, it could help save the world. I think it has to do with the amount of grain that is used for feed and the amount of animals that are raised for comsumption and the impact that makes on our environment.
Eating meat is a choice that I grapple with and one that makes me feel very privileged in this world.
Wow, that was heart warming. Check out this video about factory farming: http://meat.org
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