Finding Contentment

Inhumane practices lead our family to ban beef in household

The U.S. just instituted the biggest beef recall in our nation's history. When I heard that, I started researching. The whole recall is actually the end result of an investigation by the Humane Society of the United States regarding inhumane practices at a California slaughter plant.

This video is very graphic and very disturbing, unless you just don't care about treating animals in a humane fashion. It shows cows being poked in the eye with a stick, shocked with electricity and ran over with forklifts. Please be forewarned that this video may be inappropriate for young children, and even some adults.

I am a meat eater. I love a good steak or hamburger. And, like many of you, I really didn't want to watch the video all the way through. It was too disturbing, and it would be too hard to continue to eat beef after watching it. But I did. Ignorance is NOT bliss.

Because of other recent concerns about our nation's beef supply and this video - you can read the full story of the recent recall here - my husband and I have decided to suspend our family's beef eating habits. We are searching for a local, family-run farm in North Carolina that we can buy our beef from. And until then we will buying meatless crumbles from the grocery store for use in things like casseroles and spaghetti. Dinners like meatloaf and roast will have to be suspended.

We cannot raise our beef, but this whole incident is just another reason to become as self-sufficient as possible. If anyone has any other ideas for replacing our beef, please share.

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09:55 AM, Tuesday, February 19, 2008 .. Posted by Sara

I agree. I watched the video and it was very disturbing. The price of beef has kept me away already, bujt this makes me not want to go back even when I can afford it. We have been using ground turkey. It has a slightly different taste than ground beef, but if you season it right, your family probably won't taste the difference.

Blessings, sara

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10:15 AM, Tuesday, February 19, 2008 .. Posted by gabbie427

Wow!!! I agree with you here. I will ban meat until I know it is safe! I couldn't watch the video. Just hearing the description here made my stomache churn!!!

Thansk for the update on this and sharing it!

God's Blessings,
Amy Jo

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05:51 PM, Tuesday, February 19, 2008 .. Posted by mashelle68

this is heart breaking
Our family has not eaten beef in a while,we use ground turkey for meatloaf,chili or anything that requires ground beef.I wish I had somewhere to raise a cow,but we have a small place.We also eat venison that my hubby gets during season.Thanks for the wake up.
Rachel

Banning meat

05:54 PM, Tuesday, February 19, 2008 .. Posted by Kathy C

Well I love a good steak every once in a while but our family is not a real big beef consumer. For over 15 years I have switched to ground turkey and we love it. It is lower in fat and I use it in meatballs, meatloaf, spaghetti sauces and anything else you would use beef. My hamburgers (turkey burgers) are so good because I add things like worchester (sp) sauce, chopped green onions, and lots of flavorings, that is the key. We have beef maybe once or twice a month and I can't even remember when I had a "real hamburger". Try it, your family will have to get used to it but if you want that "burger" it is great. This slaughter house is disgraceful and I'm sure there are others but they haven't been caught. God help those who torture his defenseless creatures.

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10:09 PM, Tuesday, February 19, 2008 .. Posted by FoggyMountainFarm

Oh Wow!

Hubby and I just watched this and we are just shocked to say the least. Looks like we have some decisions to make.

Thank you for sharing this!

Laura

The treatment of animals for our food supply is awful.

06:29 PM, Wednesday, February 20, 2008 .. Posted by meadow

It's not just cows, either. I suggest venison. Dh and Ds hunt every year for our meat supply. We swtiched to that years ago. We do raise chickens, and if we run out of venison we buy from a local farm with grass fed beef.

Edited by meadow on Wednesday, February 20, 2008 at 05:30 PM

Just in tears

10:03 PM, Friday, February 22, 2008 .. Posted by OklahomaSweetPea06

I couldnt finish the video, I started bawling, Because we raised beef cattle but we NEVER NEVER NEVER treated our livestock this way, even up until their time of "death"( ours were killed in front of us so we knew it was our beef.) I am just shocked at the way these men just treat it with no sense of respect, all I kept thinking of when watching what I could watch was the verse the Lord said to Noah after Noah and the Lord went unto covenant "And for your life blood I will surely demand an accounting. I will demand an accounting from every animal. And from each man too, I will demand an accounting for the Life of His fellow man". Just today I showed my two children the travesty of Man Vs God....and my childrens hearts were broken. Thank you for sharing this even though it is heart breaking.... It just goes to show we are a world in need of a Savior.

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10:44 PM, Friday, February 22, 2008 .. Posted by lindseyinal

I wasn't able to watch the video on my browser but we have been so pleased with buying a side of beef last year. In the past we haven't eaten much beef other than ground because it was just too expensive. Now we pay about $3 per pound for all the different cuts. We had to drive 150 miles to get it (we planned the trip for when we'd be in the area visiting family) and it was well worth it. It's also grass fed which is so much better for your health and the animal's. We have been delighted with the flavor and tenderness of all the meat.

We also enjoy the venison that my husband hunts and we raise our own chickens for meat (in addition to our laying hens) The only meat I buy at a grocery any more is the occasional processed meat for a treat (we do love our Hebrew National hot dogs!) and I feel so much better about what we're eating. Plus it tastes SO much better!!

You might want to look into a local Weston Price Foundation group for information on local healthy meat. The group out of Atlanta, GA is my favorite (even though we're in NE Alabama) and they have tons of info on farmers all over the AL/TN/GA area. I'm sure there's something similar in your area.

Edited by lindseyinal on Friday, February 22, 2008 at 09:47 PM

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03:14 AM, Saturday, February 23, 2008 .. Posted by Anonymous

Hi- there is a website called localharvest.org which has links to small producers in each state. This was disturbing to me as well. We buy our meat and poultry from local farmers that we know (and trust) in Ohio.

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11:12 AM, Wednesday, February 27, 2008 .. Posted by Glammon

I didn't watch the video. Images (especially concerning animals) tend to haunt me as I am very passionate about the humane treatment of ALL creatures.

I just read about the treatment of pigs in transport (from Canada) so people in Hawaii can have pork (which they label as Hawaii raise, haha).

We buy from local farmers only and are going to grass-finished this year with another family.

We raise sheep and now I am horrified to think when we sell our lambs they will go through some of the things these animals go through. I am going to have to start doing some research to make sure we can avoid this happening to our animals. We tried selling off the farm, but the public is so hard to work with.

Thank you so much for sharing this. You are right, as Americans it's too easy to turn our heads and pretend these things don't go on.

How do people sleep at night after treating animals like this all day long. So sad.

Have a wonderful day!
~Gretchen