The cost of cheap rashers

telecaster

Seems its not just Irish banking that's coming under the international microscope at the moment. The UK based organisation Compassion In World Farming (CIWF) has posted footage of intensive pig farming conditions in Ireland from 5 separate farms across Cork, Waterford and Kerry.

It's pretty grim.

Ireland produces lots of pig meat, but you seldom see a pig in the outdoors the same way you see sheep and cattle all over the country.

There's a campaign to email the Minister for Agriculture should you wish to register your disapproval.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wnbcdvu3Kw8

Gran Hermano

Hmmmmmmmm, tasty, tasty bacon.

mad turnip

And heres me beginning to think rashers were being made from horse meat.

MayoForSam

There's more water in cheap rashers than pig.

Frosty McSnowballs

Everything is better with bacon

Pumpkinseeds

And this is one of the reasons I don't eat animals.

HurtLocker

Where the f*ck can you see outdoor pigs in Ireland? Keep your hands off my bacon!

dr.bollocko

Pumpkinseeds wrote: »

And this is one of the reasons I don't eat animals.

You should give it a go. In general they taste quite good.

Pumpkinseeds

dr.bollocko wrote: »

You should give it a go. In general they taste quite good.

I know they do. It's very hard to ignore the smell of a bacon sandwich, I'm a martyr so I am, a martyr:D

lods

Valetta

Bottler is devastated.

loveisdivine

This is the reason we don't eat the pork you get it supermarkets. We only have pork every now and again and its from free range organic pigs.

I think its disgusting the way most pigs are kept in this country. How come people get all up in arms about veal but not about this? Its pretty much the same thing, only the pigs suffer it longer than the calves!

The Backwards Man

If people were prepared to pay for field reared bacon there would be more pigs running around in fields.

gallag

I hate cruelty to animals but lets put this crusade on the back burner untill 2500 human children are not dying daily.

Micky Dolenz

If God didn't want us to eat animals, why were they made of meat?

listermint

I didnt watch your Video OP.

But i can assure you if people smelt as good on the Pan well then.....

Frosty McSnowballs

listermint wrote: »

I didnt watch your Video OP.

But i can assure you if people smelt as good on the Pan well then.....

They do.

So.I.have.been.told

hardCopy

dr.bollocko wrote: »

You should give it a go. In general they taste quite good.

Pigs are the best, they taste like bacon

mikehunts

gallag wrote: »

I hate cruelty to animals but lets put this crusade on the back burner untill 2500 human children are not dyeing daily.

Yes the barbers are constantly pack these days with kids getting the blue rinse.

setanta1984

http://www.weebls-stuff.com/songs/Pork/

OldNotWIse

gallag wrote: »

I hate cruelty to animals but lets put this crusade on the back burner untill 2500 human children are not dyeing daily.

Was that a typo or were you referring to child labour in sweat shops?

Human and animal rights are not mutually exclusive. Supporting one does not negate the other. Nor does ignoring one necessarily benefit the other.

Re welfare and cost, I prefer to eat free range, organic and less thereof. We dont really need meat 7 days a week anyway.

Tom_Cruise

I don't see the problem with that video.

I mean what do people think pigs do be doing before they are sent to be executed, dancing around in fields splattering muck at each other happily?

Lol.

Mr Benevolent

Tom_Cruise wrote: »

I don't see the problem with that video.

I mean what do people think pigs do be doing before they are sent to be executed, dancing around in fields splattering muck at each other happily?

Lol.

Agreed, they don't live like Peppa Pig, although I hope they convert her into bacon in the last episode.

Oh god, now I'm really hungry.

Ush1

Big balls on them pigs.

Dravokivich

Won't someone please think of the food!

The Backwards Man

Tom_Cruise wrote: »

I don't see the problem with that video.

I mean what do people think pigs do be doing before they are sent to be executed, dancing around in fields splattering muck at each other happily?

Lol.

Yes

wonderfulname

Standard pork products are in the same vein as battery chicken, plus pigs are docked. The standard pig farmed in Ireland, the pink yoke like babe the sheep pig, is a human creation unsuitable for outdoor rearing, they burn in the sun and don't put on enough fat to see them comfortably through cold winters, so we keep them in temperature controlled rooms and limit their movement so they put on more useful weight. This is coming from a poster who usually defends farming practices in Ireland here and is a fanatic about our wonderful dairy industry (drink Irish milk y'all!).

Traditional breeds are dying out due to our reliance on this pretty pathetic animal. Traditional breeds which taste better, can exist independently, and are part of our heritage. I try to eat rare breed when I can to support the industry over intensive piggeries and because it tastes awesome, the more people who do so the cheaper it will get, the better it will be for animals, our heritage and tastebuds.

Cost is definitely an issue at the moment but I really think more people should eat tastier pigs.

Lisha

Yymmm that's some pig !

gobnaitolunacy

The public don't care about the welfare of pigs because they're not cute like puppies and kittens or endangered like pandas.

NegativeCreep

I must be the only one who doesn't like the smell of bacon! It smells disgraceful. I love bacon, but the smell of it is rank tbf!

dr.bollocko

gobnaitolunacy wrote: »

The public don't care about the welfare of pigs because they're not cute like puppies and kittens or endangered like pandas.

I think many responsible meat eaters care about how their food source is raised, what it's fed on etc.

endacl

I don't eat fried stuff meself OP, but may I congratulate you on coming up with what may in fact be the Irishest thread title ever.

Kudos.

dirtyden

wonderfulname wrote: »

Standard pork products are in the same vein as battery chicken, plus pigs are docked. The standard pig farmed in Ireland, the pink yoke like babe the sheep pig, is a human creation unsuitable for outdoor rearing, they burn in the sun and don't put on enough fat to see them comfortably through cold winters, so we keep them in temperature controlled rooms and limit their movement so they put on more useful weight. This is coming from a poster who usually defends farming practices in Ireland here and is a fanatic about our wonderful dairy industry (drink Irish milk y'all!).

Traditional breeds are dying out due to our reliance on this pretty pathetic animal. Traditional breeds which taste better, can exist independently, and are part of our heritage. I try to eat rare breed when I can to support the industry over intensive piggeries and because it tastes awesome, the more people who do so the cheaper it will get, the better it will be for animals, our heritage and tastebuds.

Cost is definitely an issue at the moment but I really think more people should eat tastier pigs.

That does indeed sound better. It is not something I see very often in shops. Where do you buy for want of a better phrase more naturally farmed bacon?

April O Neill

Yeah, I suffer from pig guilt, I have to say.

OldNotWIse

April O Neill wrote: »

Yeah, I suffer from pig guilt, I have to say.

Likewise. I wish meat grew in the ground.

wonderfulname

dirtyden wrote: »

That does indeed sound better. It is not something I see very often in shops. Where do you buy for want of a better phrase more naturally farmed bacon?

I have family in Tullamore so I pick it up from a local producer when I'm there, it is indeed hard to source, you can come across it in farmers markets or oldfarm.ie deliver if it's of interest to you.

April O Neill

OldNotWIse wrote: »

Likewise. I wish meat grew in the ground.

Not all meat though. I'm happy enough with how cattle and sheep are treated, in this country at least. Not so much with pigs and chucks though.

Marcusm

When I moved from Ireland to the UK in 1996, I found it hard to find a decent rasher compared to what was commonly available in Irish butchers and supermarket counters. These days, I tend to bring rashers back from the UK on my monthly trips to Dublin. Driving from London to Holyhead, I see more pigs outdoors than cattle.

ScumLord

Pigs can be difficult animals to keep. We have this cute image of them but they are large powerful animals that can get quite moody, especially the sows. Sometimes they have to be kept caged for their own good or for the welfare of the piglets.

Overall I find industrialised pig farming as disgusting as industrialised chicken farming and I avoid chicken and pork for the most part. It's not like I'm missing out on too much, most Irish food producers have destroyed the fry up with low quality crap.

It wouldn't be hard to get more natural pigs back. All the wild boar in the US is descended from domesticated European pigs, I think it only took them 30 years of roaming wild to turn back into bores. As long as they're kept feed they shouldn't be too hard to keep. They would be an animal that takes particularly well to food rewards.

garv123

The same people say its cruel to shoot deer for food too because they live a natural life.. Theres no winning

Mr. CooL ICE

Had bacon and eggs for breakfast, had barbequed pulled pork for dinner and will be having homemade chorizo soup this evening.

I don't have anything to offer this thread.

Bacon.

WoollyRedHat

How do I know if the rashers I'm eating have come from a happy pig ( well treated at least).

DoozerT6

gallag wrote: »

I hate cruelty to animals but lets put this crusade on the back burner untill 2500 human children are not dying daily.

I may get flamed for this, but if 2500 children were not dying daily, the world would be an overpopulated mess. I hate to equate the term 'natural selection' to people, but I guess that's what it is. It's not pleasant, but imagine the whole world having to have a one-child policy like China. How many (undocumented) children do you think would die then....

On-topic, I am also uncomfortable with the videos of pig-farming I have seen. It really seems inhumane at times. I don't support battery hen-farming (I will only buy free-range eggs, and yes I know I can only HOPE they are really free-range!) but I don't think I have the strength of will to become vegetarian...yet.

wonderfulname

ScumLord wrote: »

It wouldn't be hard to get more natural pigs back. All the wild boar in the US is descended from domesticated European pigs, I think it only took them 30 years of roaming wild to turn back into bores. As long as they're kept feed they shouldn't be too hard to keep. They would be an animal that takes particularly well to food rewards.

Those are different domestic pigs though, they are the ones I was referring to as "rare breed", a far hardier animal than the landrace cross used in intensive farming. Much of the difficulties you refer to in farming pigs comes from intensive farming, confined pigs do attack each other, and the solution has been to dock them, so there's nothing to bite, the sows eat their young, so the solution has been to cage them when suckling in a space they can hardly lie in. I prefer the solution of not intensively rearing pigs and eating less of them.

Miss Lockhart

I have had cause to visit several major Irish pig production units. They were all, without exception, disgusting and sickening examples of greed and public unwillingness to face reality.

Pigs NEVER go outside in their life. Piglets having their tails and teeth clipped en masse in contravention of legislation. Joint abcesses are the norm. Stereotypies are widespread. Pigs left dying in walkways following serious injury in fights. Dying, but still alive, pigs thrown into skips with the carcasses of other dead pigs.

ScumLord

wonderfulname wrote: »

Those are different domestic pigs though, they are the ones I was referring to as "rare breed", a far hardier animal than the landrace cross used in intensive farming.

Oh right, so we're on Pig version 7 or something by now.

Much of the difficulties you refer to in farming pigs comes from intensive farming, confined pigs do attack each other, and the solution has been to dock them, so there's nothing to bite, the sows eat their young, so the solution has been to cage them when suckling in a space they can hardly lie in. I prefer the solution of not intensively rearing pigs and eating less of them.

I'm very much against intensive farming, I don't think there's a need for it in Ireland. We're already over producing for our population and the incentive for intensive farming is purely additional profit.

But I do like to point out that what happens to pigs and chickens isn't down to cruel farmers. They have no choice in the matter, they have to bend to market pressures whether they like it or not or end up out of the farming trade. Their replacement will more often than not have less regard for animal welfare because they are only getting into the business to make profit, not to continue a family tradition.

It's the consumer at the end of the day that's to blame for just about everything wrong in farming. I think what you spend you money on is almost as important as voting, consumer spending is like instant and constant democratic administration but the general population just isn't aware or organised enough to take advantage of that power.

Miss Lockhart

I agree totally that it is consumers who must take most of the blame but pig unit owners must be held responsible for their greed also. I would be loathe to call them farmers as that implies some level of respect and compassion for the animals in their care -some level of expertise in stockmanship.

In my experience the majority of real pig farmers got out long ago - for the very reason that they could not reconcile their own ethics with the downward pressure on welfare standards. Mostly it's massive commercial units with a single manager and an inexperienced, and largely illegally underpaid, skeleton staff left.

Herb Powell

Pigs sleeping at night?????!!!??????? Someone call the fuccking ISPCA!!

April O Neill

Miss Lockhart wrote: »

I have had cause to visit several major Irish pig production units. They were all, without exception, disgusting and sickening examples of greed and public unwillingness to face reality.

And sadly, with meat consumption at current rates, there's not even enough land in the country for all animals to be raised organically, even if we wanted that!

wonderfulname

April O Neill wrote: »

And sadly, with meat consumption at current rates, there's not even enough land in the country for all animals to be raised organically, even if we wanted that!

I don't understand the need for organic meat production in Ireland, it doesn't do anything from an animal welfare perspective and takes more land than the grass rearing system used for cattle and sheep.

hfallada

These people arent farmers and generally have zero idea how a farm works. When a mother pig gives birth, most farmers lock her into a cage type thing to keep her up right. Although it seems cruel, it stops the mother crushing her piglet and killing them

Ireland produces little pork compared to Denmark. Why did this crowd target Ireland as having cruel pork farms