Has anyone here on DU ever worked in a slaughterhouse?

[StellaBlue]

I just watched the short video 'Meet Your Meet' about the abuses of factory farming. I knew what to expect, and had seen photos and read about it before, but it was still shocking and deeply affected me.

What I want to know is: has anyone actually worked in the factory farming industry or in a slaughterhouse? Is 'Meet Your Meet' really representative of the majority of slaughterhouses in the industry?

Please do not post in reply with a bunch of 2nd-hand info about factory farming/why I should be veg*n/etc. I am already aware of all the issues surrounding why people become veg*n. I just want some perspective, first-hand, from anyone that may have been directly invovled in the industry.

For myself, my only experience was when my stepmother's uncle, who worked in the chicken industry, took us on a tour of a 'chicken house' - I was only about 8, and all I remember is seeing little piles of fluffy, yellow, dead chicks scattered around the floor in the chicken house. And my uncle's story about how there is an unlucky guy who has the job title 'backup killer' and is responsible for chopping the heads off chickens who may've somehow made it through the factory's automated head-chopping machine alive. He would sit to the side and finish off any still-living chicken's with a butcher's knife.

[proud2BlibKansan]

1. I went to college in a town with a meat packing plant

Most of my friends worked there. They all thought working at the plant was a great motivator for finishing college.

Many of them had horrid injuries from being cut. One guy I knew cut off half his thumb. It was also so cold in that plant that the employees got sick a lot.

Every time they started to tell about how the cattle were treated, they stopped. It was so horrific it wasn't considered 'nice' conversation. And I will never forget the smell that permeated that town. It was gross on many days.

I haven't been able to eat hot dogs since hearing how they were made from my meat packing plant friends.

[KansDem]

26. Emporia?

I worked one night on the clean-up crew there. When I initially applied, I was told I would have to work without my glasses, since we would be using high-pressure hot-water hoses for hosing down the floor and walls and the possibility of being squirted in the head and losing one's glasses was very real. I said "no problem."

But after I spent 7 blurry hours slipping and sliding all around the greasy concrete floor, squirting and scrubbing and squirting again anything and everything, I thought "yes problem" and "retired."

And I will never forget the smell that permeated that town. It was gross on many days.--I was also amazed how there were steak restaurants right across the street from this plant. The miracle of air conditioning, no doubt!

Everyone loses when livestock bruises!

[proud2BlibKansan]

27. Yep

That is a strange place to work. I was lucky I guess. I chose poverty and college over IBP.

And man that place used to stink. I heard they fixed the odor problem though.

[justiceischeap]

2. If you can stomach it, watch Horror at AgriProcessors

It shows the conditions of a "kosher" slaughterhouse. Kosher slaughter is supposed to be more humane.

[shireen]

3. an awful ethical dilemma ...

especially, if you like meat.

I will never be a vegetarian -- I love steak, chicken, etc.. But I also respect the cow, chickens, and other farm animals that produced that meat, eggs, and milk. So I try to consume meat from places that practice ethical treatment of their farm animals. Whole Foods has been pretty good about marketing animal products from ethical meat-producers.

Market forces can make changes in how "food" animals are treated if shoppers support meat producers that treat their animals well. And because this meat is so expensive, I have cut back on my meat consumption, which is good for my overall diet.

If you don't live near a store like Whole Foods, you can mail order these meat products from places like Niman ranch. A google search will help find those vendors, or contact Whole Foods for advice.

Someday, tissue culture of beef and chicken products will make slaughter of food animals unnecessary. But that technology has a long way to go to create the kinds of meats consumers want, like good marbling in cultured beef. Animals don't even need to be killed for this method of meat production -- just remove a small sample of muscle and fat tissue for culturing. This is an area of research we should support.

[mandyky]

4. We butchered chickens every late summer through the fall

Mom and Dad ordered 200 or so chicks every spring, and we 5 kids were the pluckers during butchering. We'd catch 5 to 10 per weekend day, Dad would chop off the heads with an ax. They flop all over, so Dad took to tying their feet with twine and hanging them over a limb. We'd boil gallons of water, and once the chickens had bled out we'd get to plucking. Then Mom would wash them, gut them and cut them up and wrap them for freezing.

I can imagine what the industrial process is like. It ain't pretty, but that is the way meat products get to the table.

Some family friends stopped by once, and they had a neighbor kid along. He told me in the 90's, he could not eat chicken for a long time after seeing the process. (I was a kid in the 60's and 70's) He wasn't a big city kid either. We lived in dairy country in Upstate NY.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

19. We used to put them upside down in a bucket.

Till the flapping around stopped.

I would tell you about the stories my Friends told about working at a hog farm, but it would be second-hand.
I will say this - most of them were farm kids, and they were sickened by the process.

[kestrel91316]

5. When I was in vet school 25 yrs ago we got a tour of the big

Monfort beef packing plant outside of Greeley, CO. We also toured the feedlots there. It was a bit gruesome, as one might expect, seeing the cattle shot in the head (captive bolt?? no longer used), hoisted, gutted, and processed like in some auto manufacturing plant. It was cold. It smelled like blood and meat. Which is what you would expect.

I don't recall much more - it's been so long.

The real turning point for me WRT factory farming was a couple years ago when I read Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser and then Food Revolution by John Robbins. I am not a vegetarian, but I know enough about factory farming and industrialized food production that I don't eat much beef anymore. And I have even cut back on the chicken.

I recommend you read both books. They are factual and well-researched.

[StellaBlue]

6. Thanks for the input and recommendations

I, too, was moved by Fast Food Nation; but it didn't stick. That was a REALLY good book, though. Especially good in how it touched on all aspects of the food production timebomb in the USA. Animal cruelty, illegal workers, lack of workers comp, low paid food service, low standards of food approved for sale; etc; etc; etc. I particularly remember the tour of the NJ fake taste and smell lab. Creeeeepy.

[slackmaster]

7. My ex-wife's cousin is a bacon arranger at an Oscar Mayer plant

He makes sure that the slices in every half pound package are laid out attractively and not in a manner that would interfere with the heat sealing process.

His hands are PERFECT from being in fat all day.

[StellaBlue]

8. are the Hollywood set aware of this?

I mean, they need something to youthenize their aging hands so that they will match their pulled, stapled, plastic faces, right?

:P

[bleedingheart]

13. imagine...all the biggest stars with bacon wraps on their faces...

hahahaha

[shanti]

21. lol

a hand lift....coming to a plastic surgeon near you!

[slackmaster]

22. Shearing sheep works just as well

And would definitely be preferable for the vegan crowd.

[Sacajawea]

9. This is precisely why I've been a vegetarian since 1964.

And...the overarching belief that depriving any animal of its life is wrong. No ifs, ands or buts. Wrong. Totally and unequivocally wrong.

[grasswire]

10. how do you walk along a sidewalk?

Seriously. I'm not jesting. I knew a guy a long time ago who was seriously limited by fearing he would step on some kind of living critter. He could barely move.

[Sacajawea]

15. I do consciously avoid stepping on ants....

...they're just going about their lives, after all, but really, there simply aren't that many critters on sidewalks in suburbia. It's not difficult at all to show respect for living things.

[StellaBlue]

12. I admire you.

Do you care to share with me/us what you have learned in 45 years of vegetarianism?

Is it MUCH easier now, as I would think it is?

Is factory farming MUCH worse now, as I would think it is?

Do you ever want any meat? Probably not, right?

What's the best response to those pesky argumentative people who insist on bringing up your vegetarianism arbitrarily and love to try to make you defensive? Do you just ignore them, or do you have some succint, debate-killers the rest of us could pinch for those tight situations?

Thanks for your input. I could NEVER kill an animal. For the past several years, I have even found myself unable to kill bugs, when everyone else is shrieking, 'Step on it! Kill it!'. I put them oustide and feel guilty for traumatizing them! :) Anyway, I could never kill an animal. Even if, as the old hypothetical argument goes, I was trapped in a boat or in the wild or blah blah blah. I really don't think I could do it. Maybe a fish; but probably not. It would be, to me, like killing a child. And yet I ate meat all these years.

[grasswire]

17. how do you avoid the dilemma of eating plants?

They live, too. Some think they have a higher life than we can even imagine. I just don't know where one draws the line. Gotta eat somethin'.

[Sacajawea]

20. Yes indeed, grasswire, they live. But they don't bleed.

And of course, we have to eat something. I'd rather it be plant life.

[Sacajawea]

18. Stellablue....Firstly, I didn't intend to hijack your thread.....

Just saw your post from a few hours ago. Yes, it is easier now than when I was 14 and made this decision - there's a greater variety of foods to eat (granted, some of them are overprocessed, such as veggie burgers, etc), especially in restaurants.

I can't speak about factory farming as I have no first-hand knowledge of it. But from what I've read, it seems to have gotten worse. When I read about how chickens are kept confined to cages for their entire brief miserable lives....And when I think about how "milk white veal" (or whatever it's called) comes into existence, I could vomit. It's positively barbaric. No living being should be treated that way. Research how veal comes into existence before you order your next veal parmigiana.

No, I never want meat. It's not a conscious thing, hasn't been for a very long time. It's just such a part of me that I never have to think about it. It's sort of like driving a car with a stick shift (which I always have - in fact, I just took delivery of a brand new car with a stick shift). Driving a stick shift doesn't seem to require any conscious thought....it's really just "automatic" after all this time. As is being a vegetarian.

As for people bringing up vegetarianism....This rarely happens. For one thing, I keep to myself. Also, I have no need to proselytize. The few people I interact with long ago accepted me as I am, and by this age (56) I no longer have any need to try to convince anyone about anything.

Just one more thing. I want to credit my parents for being way ahead of their time. Back in '64 they were - I think - extremely enlightened. I got no hassle from either of them when I made my decision. All I got was loving support. Like I said....they were way ahead of their time.

[DemExpat]

25. Yes, it is worse - just by the sheer numbers of suffering creatures

that are farmed, transported and slaughtered for food on a crowded planet. Hygiene has improved, but the economics of producing a product from a living animal has made conditions worse IMO.

I do still eat very small quantities of meat, do not see the wrong inherent in killing for food, but I will only pay more money to purchase organic, free-range meat where I know that the animals have not been transported live across a continent (or two) to get to the table.

DemEx

[bleedingheart]

11. killing anything isn't pretty

unlike a place that manufactures plates or something like fabric, there isn't a sense of "wow...lookee how they do it"

To put the bacon, beef, or chicken on the table...something has to die.

So it is bloody, messy, and it smells bad.

I toured a processing plant years and years ago and it was cold, bone chilling cold and it smells like meat.

It was as clean as you would hope and the employees did a great job keeping it clean (there were drains in the floor everywhere and hoses hanging on the walls at different stations.)

There were stainless steel tables and electric carving equipment as well as good ole sharp knives.

As an engineer, I was awed by the processing and the logistics of the entire process. As a friend recently informed me, there are even barcode systems now to identify the route any beef takes from farm to processor (part of that mad-cow/e-coli problem).

It didn't bother me to see the blood as I was expecting it. If anything I was amazed at how they really try not to waste stuff. Everything is used but the moo or oink...

Granted I wasn't touring some dive, it was a very professionaly run, union labor shop...but I don't doubt that there are still places like those that Upton Sinclair wrote about.

[StellaBlue]

14. Upton Sinclair

I would like to read that book again! We had to read The Jungle freshman year of high school in my US History class (very liberal teacher, lucky us!). That is, IMHO, one of the most important books in American literature, politically speaking.

And I was thinking about it again after I watched this video, too... wondering... I mean, after reading Fast Food Nation, I know that the conditions for a lot of workers haven't improved much... especially if you are here working illegally... many cases of lost limbs, lost earning-power, etc.

[DenaliDemocrat]

16. If I threw a banana in the toilet would you eat it?

I have worked at feedlots before, and the small ones were pretty good. Unfortantely, the big corporations ran the little guys out, so all that is in the business now are huge feedlots and slaughterhouses.

The animals stand in their own urina nd feces for about four months while they are "fattened". The white fat you see on beef is not a natural state for them. They have to be enclosed and grain fed to get the marbeling we so desire. So, if I threw a banana in the toilet, then handed it to you, would you peel it and eat it?

This is one of the reasons I like to hunt my own meat. Personally, I would not eat that banana, but I won't eat that beef either.

Moose, caribou, elk, bear.......it may not taste as sweet, but at least it is clean, drinks good water and non polluted food.

[TX-RAT]

23. I've raised cows for 25+ years

I've hauled them to the Processors many times, never worked at one.

[porphyrian]

24. Nope. The worst I ever did was skin a rabbit.

First of all, for those of you who think rabbits are cute little fluffy things, let me tell you that they are also very stupid cannibals. Rabbit mothers will eat their own young when "threatened" by the likes of a thunderstorm in order to "protect" the children. You would find them much less cute if you are the one who walks out to find the remains of the babies in the morning.

Anyway, my old scoutmaster raised rabbits for meat. Sometimes I would feed them while they were out of town, since I lived on the same street. One day, he invited me to come help with slaughtering and skinning them, so I went. Under normal circumstances, he would break their neck, then remove their head, hang them by their hind legs, then skin and clean them. This time, however, because breaking their necks bruised the best cut of meat on their scruffs, he decided he was going to try cutting their heads off quickly with a really sharp knife. As soon as he started, the rabbit screamed like a small girl. If you have ever heard this sound, you know how horrible it is. That was the only one he killed that way.

It was good to learn how to skin and clean a rabbit, though, should I ever need to hunt for my food. However, after that incident, I've always bought my meat at the grocery store.

[StellaBlue]

28. I had two pet rabbits in the UK

I loved them very much. They have distinct personalities, and, while they are not as intelligent or as interactive as a dog or cat (well, depends on the cat, IMHO!), they are lovely creatures.

Rabbits are prey animcals, unlike cats and dogs... that is something to keep in mind when judging them in the heirarchy of creatures. The have sweet eyes and, unless they have been abused, are gentle. I have never met a pet rabbit that was mean unless it was rehomed after abuse, very frightened, or protecting its young.

Sorry, I just had to speak up for rabbits. I love rabbits, and could never imagine killing one at all. My ex, though, who lived with me and the rabbits (they are now fostered to his parents, as I had to leave the country and he is too selfish and immature to take care of them like a decent person), used to like to go out in the fields surrounding our house with his shotgun and kill rabbits, skin them, and put them in the freezer. I don't understand this and never will. How can one person have two rabbits whom he considers his friends, and then walk a few feet away and kill other rabbits? Especially when there is no need. They do have butchers and grocery stores in England.

:shrug:

[porphyrian]

31. Pet rabbits are cute. They still eat their babies, though. - n/t

[jim3775]

29. My father used to many years ago as a young man

He gathered up the leftovers and drove them to the pet food plant -no joke.

He still eats meat.

[kcwayne]

30. I walked into a meat processing plant once to apply for a job

I walked into the wrong door and found myself in the middle of the processing line. There was blood and tissue everywhere, and the employees were soaked in it as well.

I turned around and walked out without applying for the job. Although I was financially desparate, I couldn't go that low.