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Drac
OP have you been? Seems you haven’t shared your thoughts or opinions.
Yes, I've spent a fair bit of time in them. They're generally well run, and are masters of efficiency IMO.
The people in them were generally decent and humane, and got upset if they came across an animal that had been poorly treated.
The abattoirs I saw certainly weren't filthy (this was in Oz), mess happens, but quickly got cleaned up.
I didn't give an opinion because I don't know how they are run in the UK.
What bothered me about the process was how much psychological suffering the animals underwent when they were lined up for the bolt. It seemed to me that the fear was strong and they knew something awful was about to happen to them. Even though they couldn't see it happening to the beast in front, the could hear and smell it. I think that's an area that needs improved (and it may have been, my experience is now well out of date).
Have had a tour of one back in the late 90's, a small one so it was very well run and the animals were treated well. It ran for a day at a time and always had a vet supervising. Never put me off meat.
My day job takes me to two industrial ones on a regular basis, never been past the delivery bays but you get a feeling for them anyway. One processes sheep and cows, looks clean and doesn't have any smell to talk of. Staff there seem happy and it's got a good reputation for animal welfare. The other one deals in chickens and the smell from that is quite off-putting, always have lunch before going there! Some of my colleagues refuse to go there due to it. I regularly see the inspectors there at both, only the chicken one has suspended production due to an issue in the 11 years I've been delivering to them.
I also lived in an area decimated by the foot-and-mouth outbreak and seeing big piles of dead animals daily for a few weeks was far more disturbing.
None of these experiences put me off eating meat. As long as the abattoir meets (or preferably exceeds) welfare standards regardless of it's size the animals shouldn't suffer.
Worked in one very briefly, and did slaughter work during Foot & Mouth - all pre-stunned stuff, no non-stun. I'm comfortable with my diet and still eat meat.
I'll agree that it wasn't the nicest of experiences, but I always drew the positive that between growing up in a farming community, working on farms as a kid, and doing some slaughter work, even only fairly briefly, I have a much better idea than a lot of people about exactly where my food is coming from and what's been done to it. I've been into a couple that I didn't work in as well and while abattoirs will never be as 'nice' as the industry/marketing would like to portray, they're also generally* not as 'nasty' as some campaigners would like to make out. The slaughter rooms can be messy, obviously, but the processing rooms were scrupulously clean. Yes, some of the animals get a sense of what's going on and get stressed, but the vast majority didn't seem to.
*There's exceptions to every rule, in both directions...
Yup. When I worked for Welsh Water we sometimes used to get a call about blood in the river. That meant that our sewage pump had been blocked by bits of animal as the bucket sieves in the abattoir hadn't done their job (someone had removed them and washed everything down the drain). So I went off to the pump station and asked the guys fixing it to give me whatever was blocking the pump as evidence and then to the abattoir.
Clearly reading someone their rights isn't the best way to get to know them but they were professional people (apart from washing stuff they shouldn't down the drains), pleasant with me, helpful even as I went round taking notes and asking them to be more selective about what went down the drain.
The animals were stressed: stressed by the transport, unfamiliar surroundings and no doubt the smell. They were treated well within the limits of what is possible when hearding animals to their death.
The abattoir came well down in my ranking of most disliked places to sample behind some farms. Second was the tannery (the place stank and they used to set the dogs on me - but the dogs soon learned to keep their distance). Number one was the knackers yard, especially the Summer the machinery broke down and they had a couple of months of dead animals in a big heap festering, the stench was quite something lingering for days on me, the guys who worked there... .
Cows flip out over loud or sudden noises, a bright flash, sudden movements or just randomly they’re pretty wired animals nearly as bad as horses but more tasty.
Never been to an abattoir but living in assorted low budget bits of Morrocco, Tunisia and Egypt of the years I have seen a lot of animals slaughtered in the street and and of course hung up to be bled.
Still eat meat. But not a lot these days.
What bothered me about the process was how much psychological suffering the animals underwent when they were lined up for the bolt. It seemed to me that the fear was strong and they knew something awful was about to happen to them. Even though they couldn’t see it happening to the beast in front, the could hear and smell it. I think that’s an area that needs improved (and it may have been, my experience is now well out of date).
There is a lot of animal psychology being employed at the more modern facilities, look up Temple Grandin and her methods of destressing cattle.
The Ethical Carnivore by Louise Gray was a good read and covers most if not all of this.
I have- it was way better than I expected tbh, a bit old and worn out feeling (it was approaching closure) but it seemed like treating the animals reasonably well was a win-win as they were more managable. To be fair, that was for larger animals and pretty high value output so I wouldn't assume it was representative.
No, I hunt for my meat in the wild.
That Burger Cafe on top of Portsdown Hill??
There’s animal faeces on the floor
Anyone who has ever worked anywhere dealing with livestock will realise what a fatuous statement that is. Of course there is – where else are the animals supposed to go!
Anyone who’s ever been for a walk in the countryside where livestock graze will probably have stepped in cow, sheep or horse shit, so I’d be asking exactly what point they’re trying to make!
I have helped turn a live cow into dinner. It was walking around the farm in the morning and on our plates that evening.
Meat is animals and a valuable lesson many folk could do with learning
Meat is animals
And (more importantly) vice-versa.
We refurbished the one in Dundee in the mid to late 80's when I had just started my apprenticeship. They would close off an area while we tiled and screened it. Haven't eaten meat since.
That Burger Cafe on top of Portsdown Hill??
That's just taking the Mick.
one company I worked at had meat processing plant as part of customer base and we would get a copy of something like "meat processing monthly" circulated...quite an eye opener as to what can end up in meat products
I used to go to one almost weekly - in order to get maggots for fishing.
Used to take animals from the farm to one, also went to one to get some gastric juices from cattle for my phd, wouldnt want to work in one but they seemed about as good as they could be considering.