Boarding Woes...New Twist Not For the Faint of Heart

[fordtraktor]

I think OP is fine. Maybe overreacted a bit thinking she needs to leave, because nothing indicates the BO permits this or knew anything about it.

Your average boarder doesn’t want to know what goes on “behind the scenes” on a farm. Same as BOs, like me, who “take care of” problems like raccoons and opossums. Yes, it needs done and everyone sort of understands that, but I don’t do it in front of the boarders! They don’t want to think about it, hear it, or see the results. It is quietly taken care of during off hours.

Same as when we have to euthanize a horse…I close the barn until it is buried or removed. No one complains. Lesson kids and boarders don’t need see dead horses.

I would expect the BO to instruct the workers not to dispose of their goats on property because it upsets the clientele (or do it after hours and make sure all evidence is well out of sight, no live goats are there to make noise, etc., if there is no other place and they live on site.

In our family farm when we kill deer they are on property, but hung in a private building where no boarder has any business being. Meat does usually need to hang for several days after slaughter, but they could put up a tarp or lock the shed or whatever. Surely accommodations can be made to satisfy both parties here.

[trubandloki]

I think I have told this story here before…

A friend had gone rabbit hunting and was making dinner for all of us, with the rabbits she had harvested.

I am pretty open minded about my proteins and I am generally willing to try anything as long as it is cooked well. (Well does not equal fancy here, it equals cooked fully all the way through. I do not even eat rare beef.)

Friend had made the rabbit into the rabbit version of fried chicken.

All any of us saw on the plate was what looked like cat parts. The legs of a rabbit left whole, put on a plate for all to see look just like cat legs.

I. Could. Not. Eat. It.

I could not get out of my head that I was eating a cat.

(I am told it was delicious by everyone who ate it.)

[Old_Mac_Donald]

Taking OP’s feelings out of it, as per their recollection the Barn Owner did not know about the goat in the shed.

If I were a BO, would I be upset if my employees stashed livestock on the property without permission? Probably, yes. Regardless of if I eat goat or not (I do), I do think it is unwise of an employee to introduce a foreign beast to a property without running it past the owner of said property. Unless it was a case of “It was on the road and could cause a car accident, so I brought it in and secured it and asked you afterwards” then hmm… one might look for another job after that.

[endlessclimb]

Or maybe the BO feigned not knowing because they didn’t want to hear the crying about how cruel it is to eat goat, and to have a goat tied without food and water from OP.

[Old_Mac_Donald]

Highly unlikely. A good BO would say “that’s X’s goat” and the whole saga disappears. Any BO that goes “oooh, I dunnoooooo” :surprisedPikachuFace: at a goat in the barn that they knew was there is just, frankly, a pretty crappy BO.

“That’s Mike’s goat. He’s picking it up after work, it’s not staying”

End. Of. Drama.

[endlessclimb]

I don’t know, I know lots of BOs that will do whatever it takes to placate a situation, and/or a difficult boarder. Sounds like OP is new at this barn, and doesn’t know much about the BO or the staff.

It’s a mystery!

[Impractical_Horsewoman]

@SpicyPRE

I was with the barn owner when the goat was found. No snooping, nothing nefarious. The barn owner didnt know the goat was on the property. This is not the barn owner’s home. The barn workers live on the other side of the property. The barn is within city limits, slaughtering livestock is not allowed.

@SpicyPRE

I probably did screw up the slaughter, however, the BO owner helped with getting food and water.

@skydy–that’s where I got my information. I agree, the timeline was confusing. But again, if the BO was not even aware of this, and addressed it immediately, the reaction of “I must board my horse elsewhere” did seem a bit extreme.

Funny little video about Greeks and lamb, for “eating whole animals” in another cultural context:

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/DRQLTB2A6os

[steelerino]

You must have missed her previous thread. She seems to have a problem with every barn she goes to.so her “OMG I have to leave” doesn’t surprise me at all.

[Impractical_Horsewoman]

I did remember it! But I thought the situation was she as looking for a full-care barn that allows boarders to have haul-in outside trainers and no requirement for training and lessons in-house, which is pretty much nonexistent in my (and many other areas). Regardless, if she had found that (rather rare, in many areas) set-up, this seemed like an extreme reaction to leave immediately.

[MsM]

I do have to wonder for those talking about culture, how they would handle it if the culture included eating dogs, as some do. Are goats okay but dogs and cats not? It seems like this is like the horse slaughter debate as some view them like dogs and cats and others like goats or lambs.

[RhythmNCruise]

@Old_Mac_Donald

Taking OP’s feelings out of it, as per their recollection the Barn Owner did not know about the goat in the shed.

If I read correctly, the BO doesn’t live on the property and the workers do. Which is why their dinner is also on the property. Where else would it be? I don’t think they’re “stashing livestock” so much as trying to respectfully carry on their culture’s holiday traditions as discreetly as possible. If the BO is ignorant of her staff’s culture, then she should take some time to get educated about it. If the processing of the goat on the property is breaking some laws, then that’s one thing. Otherwise, as long as it’s done as humanely and discreetly as possible, I don’t see the problem.

I’m in the city limits and there’s a family that lives just a couple of houses over from me that has a small herd of meat goats (I know because they got out once, hee hee). I have no idea if it’s legal or not, if they’re killing and processing them in their backyard, selling them, or what. Not my problem and none of my business.

[Ghazzu]

Or one could adopt the statutory designation of some animals as “food animals” and go from there.

[outerbanks77]

@trubandloki

We don’t actually know that they were going to slaughter the goat there. We only know that the goat was in a shed there and was going to be slaughtered at some point.

Maybe the goat was going to be transported from the shed to someone with the facilities to properly slaughter a goat, and was only spending the day in the shed as a temporary holding place.

That is my thought. One of the workers picked it up and it was more convenient to stash it there for a day or two, not even thinking that it might be a problem or violate municipal codes.

Many of you would have lost your $#T with the “Mobile Slaughter” trucks around where I went to high school. It was not unusual to see it in a driveway with a dead cow hanging and being quartered.

[trubandloki]

@outerbanks77

Many of you would have lost your $#T with the “Mobile Slaughter” trucks around where I went to high school. It was not unusual to see it in a driveway with a dead cow hanging and being quartered.

Wow, that is creative. Kind of like mobile groomers, but clearly not a groomer.

There are deer hanging all over the place near me right now.
I would not find a goat hanging to be weird.

[beowulf]

When people ask me what goats are like, I tell them they’re dogs with hooves. They can be very personable, and generally clever. Food animals are not any different, IMO, than pet dogs or cats when it comes to personalities - it’s just that the average person is very removed from their protein source and doesn’t have to think about whether the steak they’re eating ever came to the gate, enjoyed head rubs, or had a personality.

Different cultures have different staples and foods. In South America some cultures eat capybaras. I think capybaras are the cutest thing in the world and would probably not raise them for meat, but that has no bearing on someone else’s culture or whether they get to enjoy it.

My opinion is meat is meat and anything alive is probably edible provided its not poisonous. As long as it’s humanely sourced, I don’t have a problem with what it is. That being said I wouldn’t eat cat or dog; not because of sentimental reasons but because I think there’s a very good reason for why besides fish, humans didn’t domesticate a meat animal that was a carnivore.

Who was the first human to realize clams were edible? Hungry people. Everything has probably been on the menu once.

[Callista17]

Oh my goodness! RUN, with your horse! No way would I support that! The barn’s supposed to be your happy place!!!
I mean what if they were doing things when you went around the corner?!? Here, that is just not normal, and would definitely be a deal breaker for most horse people I know!

[Texarkana]

@MsM

I do have to wonder for those talking about culture, how they would handle it if the culture included eating dogs, as some do. Are goats okay but dogs and cats not? It seems like this is like the horse slaughter debate as some view them like dogs and cats and others like goats or lambs.

You can present this paradox for almost any animal protein.

“What’s okay” to eat is entirely dependent on your culture.

[FjordBCRF]

@Texarkana

@MsM

I do have to wonder for those talking about culture, how they would handle it if the culture included eating dogs, as some do. Are goats okay but dogs and cats not? It seems like this is like the horse slaughter debate as some view them like dogs and cats and others like goats or lambs.

You can present this paradox for almost any animal protein.

Very much so. When I had my exchange student from France, she brought over pate which appalled pretty much every American she offered it to. That got thrown in the trash eventually. I remember reading American outrage at one point not too long ago how Australians use kangaroo as dog food protein but have no problem in the states with venison. Heck, horse meat is a delicacy in many cultures.

Unless you are a militant vegan, I generally don’t get the disconnect. There are people who eat cow but not veal because “cute baybeeee cow”. Meat is meat. If you respect a baby cow, why not an adult one? I don’t eat it, but I don’t care that other people do and I also understand people in other countries and cultures have different norms. I wish people in general were more in tune with where and how their meats gets to them but many prefer to be ignorant to it. Cognitive dissonance at its best.

[FjordBCRF]

Adding one more anecdote. While my dad and I are the plant based eaters now, my mom wanted to continue eating chicken. My dad decided to raise them himself and also slaughter them so they were the healthiest option for my mom to eat. At the time, my then nephew was visiting and wanted to see the chickens, and someone made a chicken nugget joke to him (that was all he ate) and at 10 years old, he didn’t realize that chicken nuggets came from chickens. That took him for a loop. I don’t know if that is typical or not, but as kid, even at younger ages…I knew my meat came from specific animals and we were still “city folk” at that time.

[NoSuchPerson]

A fried tells the story of a big family dinner where chicken was served. Her youngest niece held up her piece of chicken and said, “It’s funny that they call this chicken, you know, like chickens.” My friend said the entire table went completely silent. Then finally, someone said, “Yeah, that is funny, isn’t it? Would you like some green beans?” and the conversation moved on.