[QUOTE=dags;8638647]
. . . We don’t eat horses . . . [/QUOTE]
Nor do we eat PETS.
That’s why presenting a BEEF COW as a PET is so stupid.
(Jimminy. How much simpler could this get?)
[QUOTE=Red Barn;8638725]
Nor do we eat PETS.
That’s why presenting a BEEF COW as a PET is so stupid.
(Jimminy. How much simpler could this get?)[/QUOTE]
Exactly.
As a business owner, I am not the one who does not get it.
I deal with children. I know that they can be emotional. Some truths in life are hard. Parents get divorced, or horses get sold, cows get eaten.
I also know, that as a business owner who sells private property not available on the free market, that just because Dobbin is for sale does not mean I have to sell them to just anybody who comes along, no matter what special connection they profess to have.
There could be a number of reasons why Dobbin sold to the individual and was not offered him to the poor child who is crying to Mommy. The owner can do whatever they want as long as it’s done in a Humane fashion.
Dobbin gave a good safe lesson to the child, and fulfilled his contractual obligation to the parent. It is not bad PR, bad business practices, or expeciallysShady to sell the lesson horse. It is a business decision, with many more factors than Mommy Dearest realises. Most importantly, the barn owner is under no obligation to explain all of those factors to the mother or child.
And I checked, the original issue you had was that they named a meat animal.
[QUOTE=RodeoFTW;8638695]
Also, I’m not saying (not once) that Mr. Benner doesn’t right to slaughter his livestock, just that he kept that kind of information from the public so trying to say that he wasn’t being dishonest about his ‘working farm’ is a bunch of garbage. [/QUOTE]
No, it’s not. It says right in the “About” portion of the website that they “raise a variety of farm animals for self-sufficient living.”
I think (from the number of posts from Rodeo and Red Barn, and particularly from the one just above mine that has the “jimminy” phrase) that these two are mistaking “understanding my point of view” for “changing your mind to coincide with my point of view”. I think pretty much everyone here has done the former and pretty much no one here is going to do the latter. Continue to say your point of view in slightly different ways each time, but the end result will probably continue to be that we don’t agree with you. Somehow you two seem to think that means we (the majority) are wrong. That’s the part I don’t understand.
[QUOTE=Anne FS;8638749]
No, it’s not. It says right in the “About” portion of the website that they “raise a variety of farm animals for self-sufficient living.”[/QUOTE]
Which means what? That doesn’t mean “hey we eat the baby goats!” How do I know the goats aren’t for milking? Or something else not meat related? If I’m from a city or suburb, I might not even know what ‘self-sufficient living’ even means.
If he wanted to be more clear about it, he could have been but he made the decision no to be.
Because majority doesn’t make a right. >_>
And yes, I take issue with a meat cow being presented to the public with a cute name because I know how most people think.
Name = pet
Hence, pet names.
There are many legitimate animal rescue needs - this is not one of them. I do have problems with people who bad mouth hunters and then go to the grocery store and buy a chicken that truly was raised inhumanely. They just don’t get it and give true animal rescue a bad name!
I hope he eats Minnie next weekend at a family BBQ. There, done, no cow left to save, and she can go on for her intended purpose.
He presented it as a farm animal. She just happened to have a name and a purpose in life. Shockingly, all cows have personalities!
Horses and cattle are LIVESTOCK. Even the ones with names and cute noses. A name cannot will not does not change that FACT.
People need to deal with facts. Even ones that they don’t like. That’s part of being a useful member of society.
As you say yourself, in this very post no less, “most” doesn’t make it right.
And numerous ranchers and farmers have stated their meat stock do indeed have names.
[QUOTE=amm2cd;8638793]
He presented it as a farm animal. She just happened to have a name and a purpose in life. Shockingly, all cows have personalities!
Horses and cattle are LIVESTOCK. Even the ones with names and cute noses. A name cannot will not does not change that FACT.
People need to deal with facts. Even ones that they don’t like. That’s part of being a useful member of society.[/QUOTE]
She was presented as a pet. That was the opinion of the people who went to Benner’s farm, who are the only ones with opinions that matter since they patronize (or don’t patronize anymore) his business.
Once again, perception is reality.
A quote from Benner:
“There have been literally thousands of people who have supported us,” said Benner, “and a majority of them live right here in the community,” he said. “The people who are trying to impose their values on us do not live here. We’re talking about a national group of people who have a direction – they’re trying to tell us how to live.”
So again I take exception to saying that “the people who went to Benner’s” have any sort of an opinion. It is the opinion of ONE bat$hit crazy woman and the nutjobs who have found her through social media, as they will find any number of crazy causes, like flies to a manure pile.
A) prove that Mr Brenner introduced Minnie as a companion animal (not a pet because cows are LEGALLY LIVESTOCK. Ignorance of the law, especially the willful ignorance shown here, is no excuse). The website says farm animals. Not pets. No where does it say petting zoo or sanctuary. Assumptions are not acceptable replacements for facts.
B) Named property does not make it a pet. People name boats, trucks, tractors, brands, ranches, cows, bulls, water falls, streets. The pet=name thing is wrong. End of story. Moving on.
C) the opinions of this woman and her Internet wackjobs matter only if they manage to make enough of an impact to force a 75yo man out of the family business. His Facebook doesn’t give off the PR crisis vibe.
D) even if C happens, she’s still wrong and should not be ignored. The ignorance displayed needs to be CORRECTED not coddled, even if Red Barn and rodeo thing city people are unreachable and should be handled with kid gloves. That paints a terrifying picture of the future in this country.
Linked below is a blog with thousands of posts about a pig farmer in Vermont.
He names many of his pigs, including Sows and Boars, and meat pigs destined for early death.
He tells of their antics and personalities and lives.
And eats them or sells their meat.
http://sugarmtnfarm.com/2006/02/20/piglet-cuteness/
http://sugarmtnfarm.com/2006/01/20/little-pigs-winter-piglets/
http://sugarmtnfarm.com/2014/07/14/south-field-sow-labor-name-that-sow/
He has his own butcher facility on site and yet there is no picture of a pig being killed…
there are pictures of sides of a named pig 1/2 carcass being cut up and the resulting chops, trotters, etc.
Farmers do not have trouble with all phases of life, including death.
And he has declined to sell or give any of his pigs to ‘pet’ people.
His animals are a part of his life, as he is a part of theirs.
This is as it should be.
Disrespecting farmers for admitting to killing their livestock is a bizarre reflection of the rational and emotional disconnect between those people living apart from nature and those living in nature.
One might say nonsensical.
-If one knew what that meant, of course.
And how exactly are you going to CORRECT this ignorance to a bunch of hyped-up people with a facebook page and a cause?
I don’t think anyone is handling the people who started this crusade with kid gloves. I doubt there is any changing the mind of people who state, “don’t kill this cow, go buy some steak from Whole Foods.” Or the rest of them, who don’t believe in eating meat at all.
Law enforcement should go after people who threaten other’s lives, that’s pretty clear cut. That’s not acceptable.
Other than that, I don’t see any way to educate these people about how Minnie was going to be, or is going to be, eaten. They think a cow with a name shouldn’t be steak. You are going to change their minds how?
[QUOTE=Red Barn;8638725]
Nor do we eat PETS.
That’s why presenting a BEEF COW as a PET is so stupid.
(Jimminy. How much simpler could this get?)[/QUOTE]
Well, except it isn’t.
It’s a farm animal. Full stop.
name=/= pet. Period.
And most places it is not even illegal to eat horses…
And ‘pets’ we kill wholesale every year for no gain what so ever…just drop them in the landfill.
You only feel that way because that’s the culture you live in.
Where do you get that eating horses is illegal in most places? I’ve certainly been to countries where horse could (or was) on the menu. Really, only Americans and the British have that kind of sentimentality about equines to not eat them.
Kwill,You’re right. Some people are beyond hope.
Some people are suggesting the kid gloves by changing this farmers curriculum; expecting production animals to be hidden and treated differently than the ‘show’ animals. That train of thought is abysmal.
This farmer had the appropriate response by telling the truth, when asked. He didnt lead with “yep, in six weeks we’re going to shoot her in the head and cut her up”. He’s been doing this for some time now, its safe to say this is not the first cow with a name that has been eaten . Sure, some people cannot handle the truth (Holocaust denial, anyone?). That does not make the truth wrong. That does not mean that the farmer should stop trying to educate the public.
Education is the cure for ignorance. The woman and her Facebook group are lost causes, but the next group of kids and parents aren’t necessarily without hope. Without education, there is a whole generation who will grow up out of touch with livestock. Why should we care? Because that includes horses.
And yes, prosecuting for Internet bullying or threats is an entirely appropriate reaction. Jail has been known to change some minds…
And I believe that Alagirl meant to say “most place [In the United states]…”
Which is the culture under discussion, so what happens in India, Turkmenistan or Nigeria (or anywhere else for that matter) really doesn’t matter.
You can’t force education on people who don’t care. And because of how badly people reacted to Benner and his heifer situation, I’m sure a lot of those people are going to be even more closed off and distrusting of farmers and anything they might have to say, because hey, they have an investment in the business to make the public accept what they are doing.
Times are changing. People are a lot more critical of animal management, even when it’s sometimes unnecessary. I’d much rather things be like this than what they were before.
[QUOTE=amm2cd;8639033]
And I believe that Alagirl meant to say “most place [In the United states]…”
Which is the culture under discussion, so what happens in India, Turkmenistan or Nigeria (or anywhere else for that matter) really doesn’t matter.[/QUOTE]
Well, as long as horses can be exported for meat, any horse in the US has the potential to be a meat animal one day. Our neighbors eat horse meat. So, it does matter.
