WILL YOU PAY FOR ‘PIGNESS’?

30 Responses to this article

1. charlottewood December 1, 2011 Reply

    

    

   Fantastic post, Tammi – great to see some clear, unemotive but serious discussion about food ethics, thanks so much; love to see more of this.

   The idea that food should be dirt cheap is really dangerous and so pervasive in Australian society it’s a tough one to beat. I try to buy almost all my meat (and absolutely all pork – pork & chicken being the meats I am absolutely militant about buying *real* free range) from the excellent folks at Feather & Bone, who do all the hard stuff for me – visit the farms, talk to the farmers, check out the farmers’ environmental practices and so on. But it’s relatively expensive to eat that way, and that kind of service is a very metropolitan thing.

   I am also lucky enough to live in an area that has heaps of good independent greengrocers, fish shops, bakers and so on, as well as a weekly farmer’s market within walking distance of my house. All of which seem to be very city-based luxuries. Even though people in regional areas are ostensibly closer to the site of food production, I think perhaps even more than city folk they are restricted to the big two supermarkets because there just isn’t the population to support ‘ethical’ butchers and so on.

   A side effect of my husband’s & my buying better quality, free-range meat is that we eat much less of it. Which can only be a good thing! One of the things I like about Jonathan Safran Foer’s approach is that he doesn’t berate people for eating meat, and is realistic about the fact that most people will never be vegetarian, but that most of us can eat less meat and can learn and care more about where it comes from. Completely reasonable approach that also accepts – as many animal rights and vegan organisations do not – that there ARE ways to seriously improve the lives of animals without becoming vegetarian.

   Anyway – bit of a ramble but thanks for starting this important discussion.

    
2. Melita December 1, 2011 Reply

    

    

   A great piece, Tammi, thank you. And I’m with Charlotte – I was a vegetarian (my husband still is) but my kids love meat and I sometimes eat it with them. I always try to buy free range, but have found this difficult sometimes. Thanks for the tips about suppliers, Charlotte. I agree that eating less meat and caring more about where it is from is something that should be promoted. Geoffrey Bloom, who taught the first animal law course in Australia (he is also vegetarian) has a great point of view on all this: http://bit.ly/tKIimN

    
3. Jillian U December 1, 2011 Reply

    

    

   The reason I became vegetarian recently is because I could not disconnect the life of the animal with the meat on my plate. I would like to see a push for stronger labeling requirements and checks and I think we are heading that way slowly but surely.

    
4. MrsP2011 December 1, 2011 Reply

    

    

   I’m with Jillian U. As I become more and more interested and involved in animal welfare I am finding it harder and harder to disconnect my love of animals from what I am cooking and putting on my plate. Until the program McLeod’s Daughters began airing in re-run on digital tv lately, I had never watched the show. I am now addicted to it and watch it thinking “what a great life”. The same with “Keeping Up With The Joneses”. I think I could take to that lifestyle. Not really, who am I kidding, it’s a romantic notion. The reality is, as I watch cattle and sheep being herded into trucks to be sent off who knows where as food, I have a reality check. I would be a terrible farmer financially if the livelihood of that farm depended on the sale of animals for food. I would never be able to part with any of the animals. I thought perhaps I could cope with a dairy farm but before reading this I was unaware that not all cows on a dairy live out their lives there. That has shocked me. A dairy farm where all the cows live happily grazing on green grass and the only worry they have is parting with a couple of litres of milk each day. A sheep farm where the only thing the sheep had to worry about was having their coats shorn, otherwise they too would happily graze away. A chicken farm where the only thing the chooks had to worry about was laying eggs. A pig farm where all the pigs would be cuddly, funny pets, just like in Babe. And how would I cope if one of the horses fell and broke its leg or got a tumour on the brain as the horse in McLeod’s Daughters had yesterday and had to be put down. I know I wouldn’t be able to do it. As I said, I would be a terrible farmer. One of my sons still lives at home but this week he has been away for work so I have been eating mostly steamed vegies, fruit and yoghurt with a slice of ham on my sandwich for lunch. I didn’t need to have the ham on the sandwich either, peanut butter would have sufficed. I must say I do feel better for it although I do like sausages and a nice piece of fillet steak. I’ve done the steamed vegies etc before. I may have to start doing it again. And finally, as I watch all those wonderful shows about animals in the wild and see lions kill other animals for food, I often think “why can’t all the animals in the world be vegetarian as well?” I know, a simplistic look at life. If only.

    
5. Fiona Scott-Norman December 1, 2011 Reply

    

    

   Good on. It’s the quintessential contemporary conundrum. I read Jonathan Safran Foer recently and, wow, yes, have begun transforming my eating habits. Can’t recommend his book Eating Animals highly enough.

   At the risk of being a self-promotional bore; here’s a column I wrote for The Big Issue about the wrench of reducing my meat intake. I think the more we talk about this issue, the better. Interestingly, I received hate mail from a vegan!

   http://fionascottnorman.com.au/

    
   • charlottewood December 2, 2011 Reply

      

      

     Ha! Love your piece Fiona. And in my experience militant vegans have been among the most vocal haters of discussion of humane farming methods … go figure.

      
6. Gwen December 1, 2011 Reply

    

    

   Great article and thoughtful responses!
   Although I have never lived on a farm, I was raised by parents who had both come from farming families, and most of our extended family were farmers so we were possibly more aware than many of the origins of our foods. It amuses me a little now to see ideas like the Slow Food movement, the food miles counters and numerous people banging on about eating what is seasonal and so forth as if this is all new.
   Man has been eating animals for a long time, and I don’t personally feel it morally necessary to become a vegetarian but it seems so obvious that the quality of what we eat (whether animal or plant) has a lot to do with how it is produced and for that we need to rely more on the farmers and less on the beancounters at the large supermarket chains. I make a point of only buying fruits and vegetables from a good greengrocer or farmers’ market, and meat, fish etc comes from similar specialist shops where I can ask about the origins of my purchase.

    
7. Annette Piper December 1, 2011 Reply

    

    

   Going to be jumped on for this – but guys, get real. Go and visit and farm and see how things happen. Sorry, but the comments like “slaughter in pasture” have no basis in a farming business in this country – even if the government allowed it.

   We raise grass fed beef. As I write this 200 odd cows and calves and a few bulls are milling around my back fence munching away happily with the occasional moo.

   We breed our own cattle and they go out into a fresh paddock every few days, socialise, mind each other’s kids and make babies when the bull is around, have babies and they’re not weaned till its time to have another one almost a year later. Chemicals are minimised in the paddocks and no growth hormones used. Water is fresh and plentiful and thanks to recent weather, so is the grass.

   We jump through hoops with EU accreditation and government requirements. Each animal has to be tagged and when they go to the saleyards or to the abbatoir that tag in in place as well as the mandatory paperwork. Of course we pay extra for the tags, and the paperwork and the scanning of the tags at the saleyards etc.

   Animals destined for the saleyards are put under the least amount of stress possible – being sorted the day before and transported at the last possible moment so that they aren’t off feed/water for longer than necessary.

   We worry about and care for any animal that isn’t well, if the worst happens and we end up with poddy calves we feed them multiple times a day and it becomes impossible to go into town for a day… because someone has to feed the calf.

   We may have a nice view out our window but we don’t have access to a variety of shops, we’re fortunate if we have a doctor within 100km and educational options for our kids are severely restricted. Let alone the opportunity to go for a coffee, visit a gallery or go out for dinner.

   Yet for all our care and worry and the hurdles imposed on us, we are only one part of the chain. We are getting paid less for our beef (and not even in “real” terms) than we were a decade ago. Yet the price of beef has gone up. Who’s making the money? Certainly not the farmers – yet we’re the ones who get blamed for everything. How about looking at the middlemen, the abbatoirs, the retailers and getting stuck into them for a change?

   And for all those who want us to change our ways… give it a go and see if its viable or even doable! I think you’ll find yourselves tired, stressed out and broke in an amazingly short period of time. What will happen to your animals then?

    
   • charlottewood December 1, 2011 Reply

      

      

     HI Annette – interesting you see this article as an attack on good farmers; I see it as the complete opposite. Did you read this part?

     “So back to the farmers – the majority of Australian farmers, I believe, do care for their animals but they are very aware that they are raising these animals for slaughter.
     There is an inescapable level of pragmatism when handling animals destined for dinner plates, but that doesn’t mean most farmers are treating their animals in ways consumers wouldn’t like.

     … We farmers would do well to listen to [concerns] and always aim for best, humane practice, as I believe the majority do.

     “Australia is lucky – this isn’t America – our beef and dairy cattle and sheep are still living out their lives in the full glory of cowness and sheepness (except in the case of ‘grain fed’ cattle, who are kept in feedlots for long periods even in Australia) – I only wish I could say the same for pigs and poultry, the vast majority of whom are raised intensively.”

     I think the author is quite clearly on your side; she is not “blaming you for everything” and is doing exactly as you say she should – questioning others in the food production chain, especially consumers.

      
     • Annette Piper December 7, 2011 Reply

        

        

       I was actually commenting more on the bizarre “tweets” that were quoted Charlotte. Although the article was more pro-farmer than some I have seen, there are still some comments that rankle – particularly when you are a full time farmer.

        
8. mp December 1, 2011 Reply

    

    

   Wow, I thought I was on the mamamia site for a second there- you couldn’t help but take a swipe at the Catholic Church (the current Pope-btw- has said that people having dominion over animals is no reason to treat them inhumanely.But that’s beside the point). This sanctimonious article does nothing but give people a false sense of feeling good because they ‘want’ animals to have a good life, but in reality it’s the consumers who enable bad practice with their buying habits.

    
   • charlottewood December 1, 2011 Reply

      

      

     Um – I think the major point of this article is exactly that: it’s consumer choices favouring cheap-at-any-cost food that enables bad practice. I don’t think the piece has even a hint of sanctimony about it – and the tone of these comments show how hostile society is to even discussing this stuff. Very interesting.

      
9. Jackie December 1, 2011 Reply

    

    

   I hand raised 14 calves from 1 day old and did a good job considering I romantically thought of myself as “Molly” from Country Practice…I even learnt how to pull calves that were stuck, cried tears for a cow I lost in calfbirth and gained the reputation around here as the cow whisperer. I sold them to be foundation stock (they lived) when we ran out of water.

   Do I eat meat, yes I do, I never planned to eat any of the calves I raised. We have a great wholesale butcher near us so I buy from there. It supports my local community.

   There is no easy answer for this. Where do we stop our concern for animal welfare? Where is the line drawn?

   Bottom line these animals are born to die. They are domesticated by humans for that express purpose. Most won’t like that point of view but it IS a fact of life. Then again maybe we can cut down more rainforests so we can plant more vegetables etc. That would work.

    
10. Lori December 1, 2011 Reply

     

     

    But think that’s the point Jackie – we do draw a line. Not everyone draws it in the same place, but we all do what we are comfortable with. I don’t eat but some shellfish and the occasional wild caught fish, and that only after health problems raised the issue of my needing some animal nutrients in my otherwise vegetarian diet. And I agree that properly managed grass fed animals can convert less “valuable’ pasturage into food, whereas growing vegetables requires more limited ‘premium’ soils and/or huge amounts of fertilizers, etc. The problem for me is that all of this is not even a small part of our national conversation about food. Agribusiness doesn’t want us to know, or care, about where our food comes from. And we’re on a race to the bottom because of that. Australia has been spared commodity corn and all the harm that has come from that in the US (feed lots, degraded soils, the explosion of agribusiness, farmers legally unable to ask consumers to pay more for premium practices and products). Because we haven’t gone down that road, we actually have an auspicious opportunity to take a step back and look at what we are doing, and where we are going. No matter where you stand on the issues, let’s at least agree that we should grab on with both hands of this little bit of luck.

     
11. Andrew Faith December 1, 2011 Reply

     

     

    I was one of the ones that responsed to Tammi via Twitter when she asked for thoughts. I stand by them and what Tammi has written.

    Does anyone remember when we used to buy fruit and veg from the green grocer, meat from the butcher, sandwich fillings from the continental deli and only really tinned or packaged goods from the supermarket? I still do that. I have a great green grocer who is usually cheaper than the supermarket and certainly much better quality. Meat is from a local butcher who makes his own snags – no bread, rusk or min 25% meat, it’s ALL meat, smokes hams on the premises instead of injecting them with chemical smoke flavour like the supermarkets. All the beef, lamb and pork is sourced from within the Central West (I live in the Blue Mountains). Yes, it costs more, but we buy less as it tastes what it’s supposed to taste like and is tender like nothing from the supermarkets. As for milk, I buy it from our food co-op. Yes, it costs more again, but wow, it’s creamy and reminds me of the silver top (and occasionally gold top) milk that we had delivered every couple of days growing up.

    The big thing is, don’t accept mediocre – that’s exactly what the supermarkets are selling. Visit your local butcher and green grocer and give them a try. There’s certain to be one close by. Or try a farmers market – they’re everywhere nowadays.

    Just don’t give in to the cheap and mediocre because it’s easy.

     
12. Wendy Harmer December 1, 2011 Reply

     

     

    Taiwan has just banned shark finning. One small step for mankind…Imagine only offering the ears of a pig at a restaurant and then throwing the rest away?
    The cruelty of the trade.The waste. The environmental vandalism beggars belief.
    We recently met young a couple in OZ, thrilled to have offered this delicacy at their wedding and who were astonished at our disapproval.
    NEVER order shark fin soup, peeps.
    Check out this story: http://english.ntdtv.com/ntdtv_en/news_asia/2011-11-29/shark-finning-to-be-banned-in-taiwan.html

     
13. Jenny E. December 1, 2011 Reply

     

     

    Jenny Esots Many thanks for the profile on the rights of animals to a ‘happy life’ and the vexing issue of animal cruelty.
    I say vexing because I realise there is a consensus to disconnect from what we are eating and drinking from where it really comes from.
    As a recent convert to vegetarianism I made the decision I could no longer make that disconnect.
    Animals have rights and our community will be judged on how its treats those who cannot speak for themselves.
    Cruelty condoned such as live export and inhumane treatment of bobby calves is one of those inconvenient truths.
    This will be an election issue.
    Interestingly I heard talk by futurist Ray Kurzweil on Radio National about a meatless form of meat.
    Let us be open to what a cruelty free future holds.

     
14. The Food Sage December 1, 2011 Reply

     

     

    Thanks, Tammi. That was a kick up the arse a lot of us need … and a reminder to be more organised at the weekend so i don’t resort to buying a chook at the supermarket like i did last weekend. i try to be ethical – and we eat less meat in our house because of it – but i have to admit convenience often gets the better of me. Like Charlotte, i too like Jonathan Safran Foer’s approach & respect of those who do at least try to be more conscientious consumers of meat. The only setback of with that philosophy is that some of us – i’d raise my hand but i’m typing with one and cuddling a cat with another – use it as an excuse to be lazy when it suits us. ‘At least i try much of the time’ i said to myself in the checkout queue last week with my chook in hand and several packs of chicken pieces! I’d forgotten about my excuses to self until i read your piece, Tammi. Thanks for the prod. Farmer’s market for me in the morning! There goes the lie-in.

     
15. Deborah December 2, 2011 Reply

     

     

    There’s been a lot more information available to us about farming practices of many big farming businesses, lately. Stuff that’s written about Australian farming. Some of it does not look good. Then I took a look at Food Inc, the dvd documentary about food production in the U.S. I couldn’t help but believe I was seeing the future in Australia and it didn’t look good. It looked cruel for the animals and unhealthy for the people that ate them. We have certainly not shown ourselves immune to Americanization in any area that I can think of at the moment that allays my fears we are going that way with our production of food.

    This past weekend, I think it was in the SMH, I read about supermarket price wars. Started to think about how many of the well know brands that have been ‘discontinued or superseded’ to often be replaced by supermarket brands and began to wonder if I wasn’t being manipulated even more than I knew. I knew. of course, about shelf pricing paid by suppliers, but I did not know that suppliers often take the brunt of cost of the ‘price cutting war’ or even that they were sometimes made to pay for packaged food broken open accident’ly after it was in the supermarkets hands. Then I thought about the 1 dollar per litre supermarket brand milk I buy (we drink a lot of it). It tastes the same. But am wondering who is really paying for my cheap milk. The dairy farmers? And when the supermarkets have finally wiped out their competition milk suppliers, what is to stop them raising the price of their own brands and then go on to selling inferior product to us as we no longer have any alternative but to buy it.

    I woke up on Monday morning with one plan, only one as yet. Just to make a start. To no longer buy the 1 dollar a carton milk or any food that is a supermarket brand from now on. I’ll cop the extra cost because I believe if we all did that we will continue to have choice of superior products at reasonable prices. Or I will water down the milk of the higher priced brand name milk if I have to.

    I’m reminded of the loss of the corner store and local greengrocer and butcher. Those stores were not able to compete with the supermarket prices at the sparkly, huge, new supermarkets with heaps of choice that we all rushed to buy from. And those local shops with their delivery free policies (not to forget milk, cream and bread delivered to our front doors every morning and the milk and cream in bottles no less) and friendly stress free service started to disappear. I mean, you could ring up and order your food and it would be delivered by the local stores free of charge and often with a little something special thrown in for free.

    Now, I hall my butt out the door, go to a supermarket, fill my trolley with food that is becoming less appealing, more suspect health wise if we are to believe what we read, and also, I suspect, a increse so slow and subtle taht I am not realizing taht I am getting less variety now in the very supermarkets that won us over in the first place with their huge variety of foods.Then I get to go through a checkout, after waiting in line and haul it all home and unpack and throw away heaps of plastic and packaging often needing sissors or a knife to open. Or you can do that all online of course but it’s often a 15 dollar delivery fee and the face to face social contact we had with our local stores in earlier years is now gone. Another way in which we’ve lost contact with our local community.

    Although not rich myself, I live in a very affluent area and am amazed that the closest health food store to me is 2 bus rides away. Without a car it’s pretty much impossible for me to visit a farmer’s market. Although, if anyone else lives in Sydney and is in the same position I’ve just heard their is a farmer’s market in Redfern that has a great reputation for being organic etc. I haven’t been there but I hope to work out a way of making this my regular food shopping spot.

    I don’t think I’m being paranoid when I feel that I feel I’m being manipulated by the big supermarkets into a corner where I’ll end up having to eat inferior food at expensive prices with no where else to go. The only way I can see that we stop this is by refusing to go down that track. All of us. Although there is a significant poor population in Australia that can’t afford to buy the brand name foods, most Australians can afford it I believe. I don’t think you hav to be rich. I think you might have to forego some luxuries like playstations, the latest in mobile, internet, communications technology, the big cupboards full of often never worn clothes, the biggest tv screen and so on and so on.

    The only way I can see we are going to bring back quality in any quantity is by refusing to by the cheap stuff if we are financially able. And I think there are enough of us who could do without some luxuries and therefore afford to support our farmers by paying more so they can continue to produce healthy food from healthy animals living, until they are slaughtered, healthy, endurable lives. We can reverse the trend I believe. I believe we really need to reverse the trend and not continue to go uncomplainingly and passively into a rather unhealthy future where we will not be able to ignore cattle fed on grain standing in ‘paddocks’ with no grass but knee deep in mud and their own excrement. And cattle is only one example
    .

     
    • Sharon December 2, 2011 Reply

       

       

      Deborah, I couldn’t have said it better myself!

      We can turn it around! We need to shop local; visit the butcher, greengrocer, fishmonger, farmers’ market, corner, CSA or health food store. Learn more about food; tend to our own kitchen garden or a community one.

      Once you taste the difference there’s no going back. We must eat for community, nature, health and delight! As Andrew said, don’t accept mediocre.

      If people who can – that is, those of us who have more than $50 – do this, we’ll ensure the security of food for us all.

      A little more important than the latest Playstation, no!?

      Join the crusade!

      ps: Visit my alt.milk directory (http://bit.ly/h2xk06) for milk where you *can* taste the difference! If you can get Country Valley near you, I highly recommend them.

       
    • Andrew Faith December 2, 2011 Reply

       

       

      Deborah, I think the market you’re thinking of is the Eveleigh market. It’s every Saturday at the Eveleigh train sheds. Tons of great food, including chefs selling too.

      http://www.eveleighmarket.com.au/

       
16. Susan December 2, 2011 Reply

     

     

    I am sorry but at the end of the day when the person has only $50 for their grocery bill each week they will NOT pay extra. They will buy the cheapest and the supermarkets know this very well.

     
17. Carly Findlay December 4, 2011 Reply

     

     

    After watching the cows on Four Corners earlier this year, I made a decision to only buy ethical meat. Organic, free range. I get mine from farmers markets, or at worst, RSPCA meat at supermarkets. My parents also raise sheep so they give me a heap when the mobile butcher kills them. I know how my parents raise the sheep – with food, water, shade in a wide open paddock.

     
18. Milk Maid Marian December 5, 2011 Reply

     

     

    I’m the dairy farmer who asked Tammi to write this article for my blog because I think there’s becoming a real disconnect between farmers and other Aussies.

    It’s disappointing that, judging by some of the comments here, it’s perceived that mainstream farming is not ethical. Australia’s free-range cows do lead long, healthy lives free from the stresses associated with predators, ill-health and the “inhumane” deaths dished out by mother nature.

    It’s a sad fact that everyone and everything has to die sometime. It’s a farmer’s job to make sure that for our animals, life is pleasant and that death is as humane as we can make it.

     
19. Tammi Jonas December 6, 2011 Reply

     

     

    Thanks everyone for joining in this important discussion (and my apologies for a slow reply as I’ve been at a series of conferences for the past week). I’ll take the key points that deserve much further attention – Marian’s point that there are a lot of misconceptions about many of Australia’s farmers’ practices and Susan’s point about the cost of ethically farmed meat.

    Marian is right, of course – Australian farms are for the most part not the stuff of Food Inc. This is especially the case for beef & dairy cattle and sheep. Pigs and poultry are not so lucky, sadly, and we should definitely shine a light (as many have been) on animal welfare in those intensive farms. Abattoirs need to come under greater scrutiny as well, though again it’s important to recognise the greater transparency and humane practices of many of them in more recent years. The loss of small, local abattoirs is a particular concern, as it has a significant impact on small producers regionally and their capacity to ensure their animals’ lives end under the highest possible welfare conditions. The transporters of livestock are another piece of the puzzle that is often overlooked.

    As for Susan’s point – we can’t pretend that everyone can afford to buy more expensive meat and dairy, though if there was a radical change in diet as per my suggestions in the article perhaps everyone actually could. Education is a serious issue – far too many consumers have quite a rudimentary understanding of their options, whether while shopping or cooking. And further to that, our consumer society seems to value the newest fashion, a big-screen tv or the latest kitchen gadget over food, a devastating trend of the 20th century I’d love to see reversed.

     
20. Sam December 6, 2011 Reply

     

     

    Thanks for this article Tammi. It orients the debate nicely. My (perhaps predictable) criticism is that your approach seems to attribute an unrealistic level of agency to consumers. I always feel that calls for consumers to “make more informed choices” (not quoting anyone in particular) are somewhat futile, given the complexity of the actual (non-economic) forces that govern purchasing decisions. As I’m sure you’re aware, most people have a tendency to overestimate the effect of so-called “rational” deliberations on our own decisions as well as those of others, and I am concerned that framing the ethical farming problem as one of cost vs. quality/ethicality might be oversimplifying consumers’ decision-making processes to an unhelpful degree.

    An alternative approach would be to abstract from our capitalist present and ask “what are the conditions under which I would be happy for animals to be farmed?” and “what level of access to meat products do I think is appropriate”, and then advocate an economic system that you think would further these objectives (as well as whatever other objectives you might have). In other words, the cost vs. quality/ethicality dichotomy seems to treat our current economic system as immutable and levels of access/quality/ethicality as flexible, rather than the other way around.

    On a slightly tangential note, I am generally sceptical of notions such as “pigness” or “cowness”. Specifically, the socially-constructed nature of such concepts makes me wonder about the ways in which they might actually be consolidating the power of those who employ them, in much the same way that I generally take any attempt to articulate an “essence of humanity” or “human condition” or “human nature” as an attempt to constitute or consolidate a specific power relation.

     
21. Milk Maid Marian December 6, 2011 Reply

     

     

    Goodness, Sam! Are you suggesting a socialist system that allocates “desirable” levels of access to food?

     
22. Tammi Jonas December 7, 2011 Reply

     

     

    Oh, Sam, this is wonderful, thank you! However, I do think that while relying on the tired dichotomy of ‘cost v quality/ethics’ is perhaps not the most helpful way forward, it is more likely to gain traction in mainstream debate than advocating a more sustainable and equitable economic system than the current one. Having said that, I do agree that the most productive approach is to first ask the conditions under which we’re happy for animals to be kept, and to ask that question in the full cognisance of the need to reduce meat consumption amongst the Global North (while allowing the Global South to increase theirs, but not to the levels that got us into this mess, and how to do this without the inevitable colonial arrogance?).

    As for the ‘pigness’ question – while the danger is that one anthropomorphises animals in ‘seeking their essence’ – I really like this discursive move as it disrupts the current industrial ag script whereby animals/living creatures are merely ‘stock’, ‘supply’, and part of a ‘chain’ – they are ‘processed’ rather than ‘slaughtered’, etc. It is only by valuing their lives as just that – life – that we can reclaim a (contingent) animal rights discourse in the raising, slaughtering and eating of farm animals.

     
23. Annette Piper December 7, 2011 Reply

     

     

    I see many complaints on the prices people pay – farmers are as a rule price takers and not price makers. We are currently getting around $1.40kg for our grassfed beef. Does that sound anything like the prices you are paying the butcher, supermarket etc. I think not.
    If farmers were getting paid $10.00kg there wouldn’t be the push for high volume farming of animals.
    So, boycott the supermarket. Complain about the prices to the butcher. But I doubt they’ll care.