Raising Animals for Meat: Navigating the Emotional and Ethical Challenges
A few weeks before we were scheduled to take our Tamworth pigs to the butcher, they ran away. We were moving them for the last time to another section of our property. To get to the new section, they had to cross our gravel driveway. Our female pig, went over with no problem. But the male wasn’t too sure about it. Through a series of several unfortunate events the male got loose and then before we knew it they were both gone. We chased them on and around our property for hours and then the sun started going down. It got dark and we were at our wits end, so we went inside. We both sat on our couch flabbergasted at what had just happened. We had been feeding and taking care of those pigs for over 5 months. A lot had been invested in them, and just like that they were gone. All of that money, time, and effort just wasted and all I could think of was the story of the two famous Tamworths who ran away from the slaughterhouse.
At this point, I was convinced our pigs were off to join a wild hog herd. I was going through all of these dramatic thoughts when our dog started barking like she had heard something outside. Savannah went to investigate, and sure enough our pigs were coming back. They had found their way back in the complete darkness and they were exhausted. They went all the way back to the area where they had been fenced in before we attempted to move them. They laid down, resting from their adventure, and we were able to get their fence set back up around them. The next morning they went to their new spot without any drama and that’s where they lived out the rest of their days.
** If you want to read more about everything you need to start raising pigs, check out this blog post. **
We started feeding the pigs in the trailer about a week before we were scheduled to take them to the butcher.
When we dropped the pigs off at the butcher, we’d had them for 6 months. In that time, we had gotten to see them grow from little babies to giant hogs (they weighed in at a whopping 263 and 351 lbs). We saw their personalties develop and figured out what they liked and didn’t like. We learned that they got excited when they heard me turn the water hose on because they knew I was going to spray water on them. They got excited every time they saw me in the morning because they knew breakfast was coming. All of these things can make it hard when it comes time to end the life of the animal you have been raising, even though it was their purpose all along.
I have heard many people who raise their own meat say if you don’t feel emotional on some level, then you should stop raising animals for meat. Meaning- you should never be so emotionally detached from the process or so numb that you don’t care. Because then you’re not acting in the best interest of the animal and ensuring the most peaceful and painless death as possible.
The first time we raised animals for meat was a couple of years ago when we raised meat chickens. We ordered them from Freedom Ranger Hatchery and when they came in the mail and I opened the box, that was my first twinge of sadness. These little birds were cute & fluffy & totally dependent on me. At the same time I knew what their future held and who was responsible for their future. We took care of them for 11 weeks and made sure they had fresh food & water every day. We moved their chicken tractor every day so they weren’t sitting in their own waste & had fresh ground to peck. They lived as good a life as a chicken can live. If you want more info on raising meat chickens, watch this video.
I will not lie to you and say that butchering that first chicken is easy. The process does get easier each time and you really get focused and try to move as quickly & efficiently as possible. You want to get the meat into a cooler as quickly as possible and not create chaos in the coop where other chickens are waiting. Thankfully before doing our own we were able to get some experience when we helped our friends butcher their chickens. Helping someone with experience butcher their chickens before doing your own is something I would highly recommend. This helped us tremendously when the day came for us to butcher our 25 chickens.
Our pigs in the kill pen right before we left.
With our pigs we both, at different times, felt some sort of sadness. For me it came on strongest after we had loaded them in the trailer. For Savannah it came after we dropped them off and she watched them in their pen as we drove off. Neither of us was overwhelmed with grief at any point. We never felt guilty. Most of the time we were enjoying having them and spent a lot of time making sure they were comfortable and had everything they needed and wanted. In the fall, we would pick up acorns from other areas of our property and bring them to the pigs because they loved them so much. We brought them a variety of treats and tried to find ways to bring them joy. I think what makes the whole process considerably easier is knowing that you gave them a good life and did the absolute best you could. We knew that our pigs were happy and that they died quickly.
Our pigs were like every other pig and loved to roll around in the mud as this is a way they cool themselves off.
Every livestock animal that is born, is born with a noble purpose of feeding humans. Their lives are deeply meaningful and they should be treated with the utmost respect and care. A lot of people are so far removed from their food and they’d rather not even think about where it comes from. And to us, that is not the kindest option. I can’t tell you how many people have told us “oh I could never do that” or “I could never raise my own animals and then kill them”. What frustrates me about that sentiment is that it’s always other meat eaters that are saying this. To me this comes across as me being cold-hearted because I can do it and them being so sweet & sensitive because they “could never”.
The reality is that our blinders are off and we know how those supermarket animals are treated. We want higher quality meat for ourselves and we want better lives for the animals. To me raising your own animals for meat is heroic and brave. Livestock animals will always be born and like everything else on this earth, they will die. What truly matters is how those animals live and that their death is as peaceful, fearless, and painless as possible. That type of death isn’t given to many.
If you have struggled with the idea of raising your own animals for meat because you think it would be emotionally challenging, I want to encourage you. It is possible to feel emotional about your animals while also raising them for meat. If you are a meat eater, consider how much worse the lives are of the animals were whose meat is lining the supermarket shelves. If you raise your own animals for meat, you are able to give them a much better life and a better death.
There is definitely sadness involved with raising animals for food, and this is something you need to consider before taking on the endeavor of raising your own animals for meat. However, when your meat comes back from the butcher you will likely be overwhelmed with pride and gratitude. Going to the store and buying meat and making a meal for yourself or your family is rewarding, but it’s next level when you raised your meat yourself. To me, that is the peak of being a homesteader. Growing a garden and making your own bread are wonderful but raising your own meat is in a class of it’s own. If you have the space and capacity on your homestead for meat animals, don’t let your emotions get in the way. The sadness is brief but the gratefulness and satisfaction is there every time you pull your meat out of the freezer.
