1000s of pigs killed in fire in Co Down

Thelonious Monk

https://www.thejournal.ie/up-to-2000-pigs-killed-in-farm-blaze-in-co-down-5198692-Sep2020/

This is just horrific. Apart from a few free range producers, pigs are kept in horrible cramped conditions indoors and never see the light of day during their whole lives.
Do you ever think of this when you're eating pork products? Or do people just not care? I haven't eaten it myself in years, mostly due to how they are reared and the fact that they are intelligent animals, as intelligent as dogs.
It's weird how any article about a few dogs found stray or abandoned has people going nuts looking for people to be executed but a horrible story like this just gets smoky bacon jokes. Cognitive dissonance or whatever.
I look forward to the pig jokes below...

suicide_circus

There is such a thing as free range pork but it rare that you'd see it.

Thelonious Monk

suicide_circus wrote: »

There is such a thing as free range pork but it rare that you'd see it.

Dunnes actually sell a range of it, I've seen it there. But generally speaking no it all comes from these horrible intensive farms.

suicide_circus

Thelonious Monk wrote: »

Dunnes actually sell a range of it, I've seen it there. But generally speaking no it all comes from these horrible intensive farms.

Must look out for it

jimgoose

suicide_circus wrote: »

Must look out for it

I think that would be Oliver Carty Pork & Bacon of Athlone. Their free-range rashers are quite good and not terribly expensive.

Thelonious Monk

jimgoose wrote: »

I think that would be Oliver Carty Pork & Bacon of Athlone. Their free-range rashers are quite good and not terribly expensive.

I think it would be impossible to meet the demand for sausages etc if all pigs were reared free range. Would take a lot of land too.
The reality is unless we eat less pork these horrible intensive indoor farms will continue. What a horrible story, it really is outrageous animals are kept like this. People go nuts over puppy farming but just ignore these horrors.

Donald Trump

Thelonious Monk wrote: »

I look forward to the pig jokes below...

What is a pigs favourite karate move called?

The pork-chop

Coming soon to a Christmas cracker near you!

Thelonious Monk

Donald Trump wrote: »

What is a pigs favourite karate move called?

The pork-chop

Coming soon to a Christmas cracker near you!

I wish there was a downvote button

suicide_circus

Wouldnt be buying sausages, rashers etc much. If i'm buying pork it'll be shoulder or chops

Donald Trump

Thelonious Monk wrote: »

I think it would be impossible to meet the demand for sausages etc if all pigs were reared free range. Would take a lot of land too.
The reality is unless we eat less pork these horrible intensive indoor farms will continue. What a horrible story, it really is outrageous animals are kept like this. People go nuts over puppy farming but just ignore these horrors.

You are free to buy a farm and let whatever pigs you like roam free on it.




Other than that, for people trying to make a living rearing pigs, they have to obey market forces and efficiency in order to try to survive on very low margins. If people didn't want pork then they wouldn't be rearing them.

Donald Trump

Thelonious Monk wrote: »

I wish there was a downvote button

Don't worry - I'm sure that they will find out who started that fire.




Someone always squeals eventually!

Hande hoche!

Probably a toss up between the pig or chicken as to who has it worse. Easier to find alternative arrangements with poultry.

suicide_circus wrote: »

Wouldnt be buying sausages, rashers etc much. If i'm buying pork it'll be shoulder or chops

Probably better for it. Nitrites etc.

Donald Trump

Given that it was up the north, is there a possible sectarian angle to the fire tragedy?

Does anyone know whether they were Protestant pigs or Catholic pigs?

Thelonious Monk

Donald Trump wrote: »

Given that it was up the north, is there a possible sectarian angle to the fire tragedy?

Does anyone know whether they were Protestant pigs or Catholic pigs?

You're a sad bastard

Donald Trump

Thelonious Monk wrote: »

You're a sad bastard

I'm not the one crying over a few pigs


The pigs would be dead in a few weeks anyway Einstein. You're not saving the world with your virtue signalling on here

Gatling

Crap the price of bacon could increase serious topic now

jimgoose

Thelonious Monk wrote: »

I think it would be impossible to meet the demand for sausages etc if all pigs were reared free range. Would take a lot of land too.
The reality is unless we eat less pork these horrible intensive indoor farms will continue. What a horrible story, it really is outrageous animals are kept like this. People go nuts over puppy farming but just ignore these horrors.

Wouldn't surprise me if those pig-houses were way short of code - they're supposed to be almost totally fireproof, all concrete and asbestos back in the day, gypsum or similar these days.

Thelonious Monk

jimgoose wrote: »

Wouldn't surprise me if those pig-houses were way short of code - they're supposed to be almost totally fireproof, all concrete and asbestos back in the day, gypsum or similar these days.

The North have been in the news for this before

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/pigs-eat-alive-cannibal-farm-ballymena-northern-ireland-meat-animal-rights-a9289376.html

Pigs were found eating each other alive or with gaping wounds in scenes of “extreme neglect and abuse” at a farm certified as “high quality”, campaigners have claimed.

Animal-rights activists filmed cannibalism, bodies left on the floor, and pigs covered in dirt in crowded pens at the farm in Northern Ireland.

jimgoose

Thelonious Monk wrote: »

The North have been in the news for this before

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/pigs-eat-alive-cannibal-farm-ballymena-northern-ireland-meat-animal-rights-a9289376.html

Oh, there are some terrible lighten fuckers in that business, right enough.

fret_wimp2

This is the result of a race to the bottom for meat prices.
Its too cheap. Shouldnt be able to get 5 breasts of chicken for a fiver, a kilo joint of beef for a tenner or 500g of rashers for a fiver, or 12 eggs for 2 quid.
Some things are expensive to produce. cut costs and the first thing to to is non profit generating items and areas such as welfare.

Meat should cost whatever it costs to produce without overt cruelty to the animals. if it costs more, and less is produced then there are wins in other areas, mainly for the environment.

Before its insinuated, im not vegetarian, vegan or anything else. I enjoy my meat, dairy & poultry.

Thelonious Monk

fret_wimp2 wrote: »

This is the result of a race to the bottom for meat prices.
Its too cheap. Shouldnt be able to get 5 breasts of chicken for a fiver, a kilo joint of beef for a tenner or 500g of rashers for a fiver, or 12 eggs for 2 quid.
Some things are expensive to produce. cut costs and the first thing to to is non profit generating items and areas such as welfare.

Meat should cost whatever it costs to produce without overt cruelty to the animals. if it costs more, and less is produced then there are wins in other areas, mainly for the environment.

Before its insinuated, im not vegetarian, vegan or anything else. I enjoy my meat, dairy & poultry.

Yes it doesn't really make sense that you can get a chicken fillet cheaper than a can of f*cking Monster.

Tokyo

Mod:

@Thelonious Monk - don't post in the thread again.

@Donald Trump - if you have an issue with a post, report it.

neris

Bet there was a lovely bacon smell lingering in the air locally

Seamai

Hande hoche! wrote: »

Probably a toss up between the pig or chicken as to who has it worse. Easier to find alternative arrangements with poultry.

Yeah, I've often had this arguement with people.
Pigs are probably the most intelligent of all farm animals and acutely aware of their surroundings. Some people love getting up on their high horses claiming they'd never eat veal because of the tight conditions the calves are kept in but never give a second thought for poor pigs when tucking into their crispy bacon.

padd b1975

Pigs are very sociable and intelligent animals.


It's a shame they're so damn tasty.

Donald Trump

Seamai wrote: »

Yeah, I've often had this arguement with people.
Pigs are probably the most intelligent of all farm animals and acutely aware of their surroundings. Some people love getting up on their high horses claiming they'd never eat veal because of the tight conditions the calves are kept in but never give a second thought for poor pigs when tucking into their crispy bacon.

I don't know about that. We used to have a donkey here who actually published many peer-reviewed papers on topics such as group theory and differential geometry.


He was very well regarded and won many prizes and awards for his contributions. You could say that he was out standing in his field

suicide_circus

Prof. Don Key

Smee_Again

Donald Trump wrote: »

I don't know about that. We used to have a donkey here who actually published many peer-reviewed papers on topics such as group theory and differential geometry.


He was very well regarded and won many prizes and awards for his contributions. You could say that he was out standing in his field

You're really flogging a dead horse with all these farm jokes.

Donald Trump

Smee_Again wrote: »

You're really flogging a dead horse with all these farm jokes.

To be honest, he was a pain to be around for any length of time.


An awful smart-ass so he was

jam_mac_jam

I always buy free range chicken and eggs, it doesn't bother me to pay more. I wish there was more free range pork. I will try Dunnes as it was mentioned that its sold there.

Donald Trump

jam_mac_jam wrote: »

I always buy free range chicken and eggs, it doesn't bother me to pay more. I wish there was more free range pork. I will try Dunnes as it was mentioned that its sold there.

Just be aware that "free-range" might not mean exactly what you envision it to be.



It will of course be better than factory-style production but that doesn't necessarily mean carefree animals wandering freely around a farm

3d4life

Donald Trump wrote: »

I don't know about that. We used to have a donkey here who actually published many peer-reviewed papers on topics such as group theory and differential geometry......

Not untrue.

Most of the members of the Maths Society in the college I was at looked like horses.

whelan2

Try out this place www.thewholehoggs.com

jimmycrackcorm

Seamai wrote: »

Yeah, I've often had this arguement with people.
Pigs are probably the most intelligent of all farm animals and acutely aware of their surroundings. Some people love getting up on their high horses claiming they'd never eat veal because of the tight conditions the calves are kept in but never give a second thought for poor pigs when tucking into their crispy bacon.

I've never heard of anyone going on about not eating veal for that reason, probably because not many eat it.

If people are concerned about pigs then they should create demand for free-range. I'm not fond of pork chops but I won't be giving up rashers and sausages any time soon. I'd pay more for free-range, simply because I reckon it would be better quality and taste.

Donald Trump

3d4life wrote: »

Not untrue.

Most of the members of the Maths Society in the college I was at looked like horses.

That's a bit unfair to horses.


What's the difference between a member of the Mathsoc and a horse?

You'd probably ride a horse

jam_mac_jam

Donald Trump wrote: »

Just be aware that "free-range" might not mean exactly what you envision it to be.



It will of course be better than factory-style production but that doesn't necessarily mean carefree animals wandering freely around a farm

I'm well aware of that. Still better then the alternative.

_Brian

Donald Trump wrote: »

You are free to buy a farm and let whatever pigs you like roam free on it.




Other than that, for people trying to make a living rearing pigs, they have to obey market forces and efficiency in order to try to survive on very low margins. If people didn't want pork then they wouldn't be rearing them.

Something you saod there is the crux of the situation.

Farmers farm the products consumers buy.

If people went out and bought nothing but free range pork products then ty e market for everything else would dwindle and farms would convert over.

The catch is yes, products would be more expensive. Are people willing to pay double for their sausage and rasher ?? I doubt it.

Incidentally we rear our own pigs for the table here and what your being sold in the e shops is a pale distant effort in taste to real pork products where pigs get to roam outside amd root in the ground. It’s more expensive but it’s multiple times better.

So if you want better products make the effort and go out and source them, the more people do this the more things change. If you continue to buy cheap mass produced products then pig farms will just get bigger and more intensive to meet your demand.

Literally consumers €€ is a vote for the farming you want happening.

We make our own sausages here reasonably regular which is great fun and rewarding. I wish I had time to do it more often.

Donald Trump

_Brian wrote: »

Something you saod there is the crux of the situation.

Farmers farm the products consumers buy.

If people went out and bought nothing but free range pork products then ty e market for everything else would dwindle and farms would convert over.

The catch is yes, products would be more expensive. Are people willing to pay double for their sausage and rasher ?? I doubt it.

Incidentally we rear our own pigs for the table here and what your being sold in the e shops is a pale distant effort in taste to real pork products where pigs get to roam outside amd root in the ground. It’s more expensive but it’s multiple times better.

So if you want better products make the effort and go out and source them, the more people do this the more things change. If you continue to buy cheap mass produced products then pig farms will just get bigger and more intensive to meet your demand.

Literally consumers €€ is a vote for the farming you want happening.

100%.


If people only bought free-range organic produce then there would be no pigs in industrial units.


And if free-range organic produce was financially viable then more people would produce it.

Seamai

jimmycrackcorm wrote: »

I've never heard of anyone going on about not eating veal for that reason, probably because not many eat it.

If people are concerned about pigs then they should create demand for free-range. I'm not fond of pork chops but I won't be giving up rashers and sausages any time soon. I'd pay more for free-range, simply because I reckon it would be better quality and taste.

I've often heard people saying this about veal but the thing is like you said it's pretty rare to find veal here in Ireland. Half the people who say this struggle to back up their arguement and come out with term "crate reared" not really understanding what that means.

No, I certainly wouldn't be giving anything up, I go out of my way to find free range pork and bacon products.

gozunda

neris wrote: »

Bet there was a lovely bacon smell lingering in the air locally

https://i.pinimg.com/236x/99/44/2b/99442b80b8096a6be7c381870a5a2dbd--os-simpsons-homer-simpson.jpg

Looks like more than the bacon went up flames tbh....

The thing is I'm not sure how one of the intensive Pig rearing units could catch fire There's very little flammable material to go up in flames.

I was in one years ago and maybe it was an exception. Staff were very strict on disinfection and wearing ppe so any visitors couldn't unintentionally bring in viruses etc.

I think I remember being told that the numbers of pigs per unit was set so stop overcrowding. There were also revolving scratching brushes and rubber ball like toys things for pigs to play with in the pens. Tbh the smell of pig was fairly strong so didn't stay long tbh.

That said the happiest pigs I ever saw were in the large free range pig farms in the UK. Made up of huge fields with arks for the pigs to live in. The pigs had most of the fields dug up like the battle of the Somme where they were running around like mad.

There are a couple of genuine free range pig producers in Ireland. Go to a proper pork butcher and ask. They should be able to source free range products.

Donald Trump

Donald Trump wrote: »

The pigs would be dead in a few weeks anyway Einstein.

Isn't that exactly the same line you used about the auld ones in the covid thread?

touts

We live in a world of cheap food. Very few animals live in nice conditions and the production process from start to finish is hugely damaging to the environment in terms of emmissions etc. But until we can produce synthetic meat we're stuck with the process. That said mass produced synthetic meat isn't that far away. The technology exists it just has to be scaled up. But within 30 years it is likely that meat grown in a factory rather than in an animal will be a staple of many diets.

DellyBelly

Poor things probably suffered an awful death. Can you imagine the noise of the them squeeling as the flames approached...yuck..

Must be some smell up there today though

Donald Trump

Deleted User wrote: »

Isn't that exactly the same line you used about the auld ones in the covid thread?

Do you not think you are being a bit disrespectful by comparing some "auld ones" dying from covid to a few pigs that died in a fire?

lozenges

Couldn't agree more with OP. The price of meat is far too low for the product that it is. Intensive factory style farming means that animals are kept in abysmal conditions. But people would rather have cheap meat than pay extra for what should be a premium product.

Our local butcher sells free range sausages, but it's something that I see very rarely. Hope it continues though. I felt genuinely sick reading that article.

eggy81

Hard to belive so many delicious forms of meat come from one animal.

weldoninhio

Thelonious Monk wrote: »

https://www.thejournal.ie/up-to-2000-pigs-killed-in-farm-blaze-in-co-down-5198692-Sep2020/

This is just horrific. Apart from a few free range producers, pigs are kept in horrible cramped conditions indoors and never see the light of day during their whole lives.
Do you ever think of this when you're eating pork products? Or do people just not care? I haven't eaten it myself in years, mostly due to how they are reared and the fact that they are intelligent animals, as intelligent as dogs.
It's weird how any article about a few dogs found stray or abandoned has people going nuts looking for people to be executed but a horrible story like this just gets smoky bacon jokes. Cognitive dissonance or whatever.
I look forward to the pig jokes below...

I'd say the firemen were starving afterwards. Nearest brekkie roll shop must have made a fortune on their way back to base!!

Donald Trump

Donald Trump wrote: »

Do you not think you are being a bit disrespectful by comparing some "auld ones" dying from covid to a few pigs that died in a fire?

Youre the one saying it, Donald.

Large bottle small glass

weldoninhio wrote: »

I'd say the firemen were starving afterwards. Nearest brekkie roll shop must have made a fortune on their way back to base!!

According to Christopher Hitchens, the reason a lot of firemen don't eat pork is the same reason why Jews and Muslims don't; the smell of pig and human flesh being burnt is very similar.

Having been in a few piggerys I don't eat pork or bacon myself.

weldoninhio

Large bottle small glass wrote: »

According to Christopher Hitchens, the reason a lot of firemen don't eat pork is the same reason why Jews and Muslims don't; the smell of pig and human flesh being burnt is very similar.

Having been in a few piggerys I don't eat pork or bacon myself.

I’ve smelled(smelt) human flesh burn, it’s in no way comparable to burning sausies or rashers.

Hande hoche!

Large bottle small glass wrote: »

According to Christopher Hitchens, the reason a lot of firemen don't eat pork is the same reason why Jews and Muslims don't; the smell of pig and human flesh being burnt is very similar.

Having been in a few piggerys I don't eat pork or bacon myself.

Was reading a book a few years ago about one of the various battles that took place in Africa in the 1980s. One of the combatants mentions an incident where himself and others were ransacking an enemy base after a large attack. They were following their noses after a delicious smell. Turned out a stray bullet had set off the incendiary grenade attached to one of the shoulder straps of one of the attackers. Was absolutely burnt to a crisp, to the extent where they couldn't tell if he was white or black. He mentioned that what should have been a light wound turned catastrophic.