{"id":3198,"date":"2011-10-27T09:36:00","date_gmt":"2011-10-27T09:36:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/farmforward1.wpengine.com\/?p=3198"},"modified":"2022-11-10T22:00:57","modified_gmt":"2022-11-10T22:00:57","slug":"farm-and-red-moon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.farmforward.com\/news\/farm-and-red-moon\/","title":{"rendered":"Farm and Red Moon"},"content":{"rendered":"\t
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Thanks to the growth of small, husbandry-based farms, an increasing number of farmed animals live better lives. But few of these same animals know a better death. Improving local slaughter is \u201cthe hard part,\u201d which is why Farm Forward is providing support for a forthcoming documentary,\u00a0Farm and Red Moon<\/a> <\/em>(formerly titled\u00a0Abattoir Rising<\/em>), directed by Audrey Kali, Ph.D. \u201cThe lack of slaughter facilities is the least-known, least-talked about challenge to a truly humane meat supply,\u201d<\/strong> notes Kali.<\/p>\n

On highest welfare, husbandry-based farms, the most stressful and painful part of animals\u2019 lives is their journey to the slaughterhouse and subsequent slaughter. As\u00a0Farm and Red Moon<\/em> shows, the lack of local slaughter facilities forces local farmers to transport animals to distant industrial slaughterhouses that have little interest in animal welfare. In addition to the random, deliberate acts of cruelty consistently documented at such slaughterhouses,1<\/a> many facilities routinely deny animals access to food, water, rest, or veterinary care while they wait, sometimes for days.2<\/a> Even slaughterhouse workers who struggle to be humane often do so amidst inadequate equipment and with improper training.3<\/a> Stunning procedures regularly fail to render animals fully unconscious\u2014a problem that in turn leads to the skinning, scalding, and dismembering of fully conscious animals.4<\/a> The Humane Slaughter Association explains, \u201cWhen a captive-bolt enters the skull it causes massive damage and swelling around the wound; the swelling will absorb most of the impact of a second shot and this will mean the shock wave is not as effectively transmitted to the brain.”5<\/a><\/p>\n

Typical meat labels like \u201cnatural,\u201d \u201cfree roaming,\u201d and \u201cpastured\u201d have no implications for slaughter. And while \u201csmall\u201d and \u201clocal\u201d can imply \u201cbetter\u201d and \u201cmore humane,\u201d Kali points out that in the case of abattoirs, small can also mean not enough money for the right equipment6 or not enough personnel to efficiently kill the animals safely.7<\/a> Some animal welfare certifications can help. The Animal Welfare Approved<\/a>\u00a0certification has the highest comprehensive transport and slaughter standards. Beef and pork with a\u00a0Certified Humane<\/a>\u00a0certification or purchased at Whole Foods Market, which has their own transport and slaughter auditing protocols, will usually be from animals that were slaughtered in better-than-average conditions. Unfortunately, this a small percentage of the meat supply.<\/p>\n

According to Kali, four factors contribute to the systemic compromises in the well-being of animals during slaughter:<\/p>\n

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  1. A lack of USDA regional infrastructure<\/strong>: An entire infrastructure of slaughter, processing, storage, and packing facilities is required to produce sellable meat.<\/li>\n
  2. The increase of USDA regulations<\/strong>: The USDA needs to revise their regulations to control for differences between large and small facilities.<\/li>\n
  3. Complicated state and local laws for slaughter<\/strong>: Small slaughterhouses do not share the same problems of disease and contamination with larger facilities, yet often face the same regulation.<\/li>\n
  4. A lack of training for slaughterers<\/strong> who have the will to respect the animals.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Beyond these pragmatic suggestions on how to improve the present situation, Kali\u2019s documentary seeks to deepen our awareness of the unique individuality of each of the animals we choose to eat. \u201cEvery time people take a bite of a hamburger or chicken nuggets, I want them to understand that was a living animal,\u201d explains Kali. Through\u00a0Farm and Red Moon<\/em>, Kali wants to \u201cempower consumers with responsibility and knowledge that has been denied them since the consolidations prompted by industrial agriculture.\u201d<\/strong> Kali echoes the words of the prominent animal advocate Gretchen Wyler: \u201cWe must not refuse with our eyes what they must endure with their bodies.\u201d<\/p>\n

    Kali also challenges her audience to understand that slaughtering animals does not necessarily confer insensitivity to their suffering. While at the slaughter training facilities at the State University of New York College of Agriculture and Technology at Cobleskill.8<\/a> Kali was able to film the entire slaughter process\u2014from stunning to dismemberment.<\/p>\n

    She also witnessed relationships form between animals and the workers. Though industrial slaughter often treats animals as mere objects, Kali\u2019s experiences at Cobleskill make clear that recognizing animals as living individuals with personalities and capacity to suffer is essential to humane slaughter. To demonstrate this, Kali told us two stories:<\/p>\n

    Sonic the beef steer was raised by a caring family who really cherished his personality. They drove him to the slaughterhouse themselves and cried as they pulled away. His relationship with them made him totally at ease as he was touched and encouraged along by Kali and the respectful workers at the slaughterhouse. And after he was stunned, he didn\u2019t feel a thing.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    ***<\/p>\n

    Number 70, on the other hand, like most of the 94 million cattle killed in the U.S. each year,9\u00a0was dropped off at the facility without a name, and his lack of contact with humans was evident as he stumbled around the facility, wide-eyed and terrified, not letting anyone near him. As acclaimed humane slaughter researcher and advocate Dr. Temple Grandin emphasizes, when an animal\u2019s stress levels are high, their bodies release adrenaline and other chemicals designed to increase alertness, speed, and strength. These would make all the difference in a circumstance where extra alertness might help you escape with your life. But in the slaughter facilities, this stress makes animals resistant to the effects of stunning. Though number 70 was carefully stunned, he woke up in time to feel the knives.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    With fierce moral honesty Kali tackles the complex ethical issues that surround producing meat from cows, pigs, turkeys, chickens and other animals. Engaging all positions\u2014from farmers to slaughterhouse workers to animal activists\u2014Kali shows that no matter where you stand on the issue of eating animals, the absence of local slaughterhouses makes life and death a lot harder<\/strong> for millions of animals. More importantly, she illuminates the way forward: \u201cIf we refuse to pay for or eat animals unless we know the circumstances of their slaughter, we\u00a0will\u00a0create a demand for local slaughterhouses and they will be built.\u201d<\/p>\n

    Farm Forward is working to support Kali\u2019s efforts. You can support this project by visiting her website,\u00a0FarmAndRedMoon.com<\/a>\u00a0and also consider contributing to her\u00a0Kickstarter campaign<\/a>\u00a0until Nov 18, 2015.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Farm and Red Moon is a documentary film revealing how the missing link to a better food system is local slaughterhouses. Read more here.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3198","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-animal-welfare","category-food-system-solutions"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.farmforward.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3198","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.farmforward.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.farmforward.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.farmforward.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.farmforward.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3198"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.farmforward.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3198\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.farmforward.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3198"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.farmforward.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3198"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.farmforward.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3198"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}