• Machinist@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    I actually respect vegans that are vegan to prevent the suffering of animals.

    I get it. Grew up farming. Chicken houses are an industrial horror machine.

    We’ve recently bought a play farm and hope to raise or hunt all our meat. Only the slaughter and butchering of steers will be outsourced. Takes some serious equipment to handle an animal that large.

    I’m an omnivore by evolution and enjoy meat and hunting. I’m always a little sad when I kill something, however. I figure that sadness means I’m human and is a good thing. When I eat meat from something I killed, it means more. There is a lot of respect involved in it as well something like religion.

    If more people had to kill their meat, we would probably live in a very different world and there would be a lot more vegans.

    • linkhidalgogato@lemmy.ml
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      5 months ago

      we used to live in a world were almost every slaughtered their own animals to eat and withing a rounding error everyone ate meat. its only icky to us today BECAUSE we dont interact with it.

    • ikidd@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      Really, all you need is a small tractor to lift the steer after you’ve skinned it and to drop the gut. Skin the animal on the ground and roll it from side to side to get it all off, split the chest and cut out the anus, start lifting at the rear legs with chains through the achilles tendon, and pull the anus through, then as you lift more you can free the gut from the backbone and gravity will pull the gut down as you get higher.

      Let it all fall on the skin, pull out the bits of organs you want or can feed the dog, and you have the carcass hanging now. Split with a sawsall and a long demolition blade. Make yourself a handhold between the fifth and sixth rib, then cut through the spine and breastbone above the 6th rib.

      Leave as much fat on the inside of the cavity as possible so the tenderloin and brisket don’t dry out when hanging. Try to hang it at 2-4C for a couple weeks.

      • Machinist@lemmy.world
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        5 months ago

        This sounds like excellent advice. I don’t even have a small tractor yet. Before steers, I’m going to have to string new fence. Next spring, if I’m lucky and have worked real hard, I’ll be getting a bottle calve or two.

        Did find a cinder block shed with a good roof that wasn’t even listed. Has a loading ramp for a pickup. I’m real tempted to just outsource it.

        Have a hernia and don’t know if I can do it.

        Do have a root cellar that will be perfect for hanging.

        • ikidd@lemmy.world
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          5 months ago

          It’s not a bad job, but with a hernia you might find it distinctly unenjoyable. There’s quite a bit of bending and kneeling as you skin, obviously.

    • Godric@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      I heartily agree. I’m also an omnivore, raised on a farm. The best meat is the meat you raised or hunted yourself, both ethically and taste wise.

      The respect I have for the animal I personally kill for sustenance is the closest an atheist like myself will ever get to religion. I respect the lives of animals to sustain mine as a human, and I know if I raised it or hunted it, it had a much better life and will taste better than any meat you’ll see at a Wallmart.

      • Machinist@lemmy.world
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        5 months ago

        Damn skippy. I’ve learned I’m an atheist with a pagan heart.

        I’ve found that I must be hunting something when I go in the woods or on the water. Animal, vegetable, or something else. Don’t care if I actually kill, catch, or find; there just has to be a goal. I love taking other people and helping them get in tune with the world.