Jayb, I dont have a problem at all with making the most of an entire animal that has been slaughtered, I support it. The list you rattled off is nothing more than that. I am expressing my view that I have difficulty with the idea of eating newborn animals, not telling anyone not to do it, simply asking for other points of view, not agro.

I am not some bleeding heart out of touch with the realities of our food chain.

There is more to my concern than an animal not given more than a few days to live. In the case of pigs, when a sow is weaned she will cycle soon after (no matter what age the piglets) and no doubt an owner that is involved in such a trade would not hesitate to put that animal back to the boar in an attempt to maximize litters per year. Trouble is she would not have recovered yet from giving birth. She will probably end up with fertility problems and as a result be culled at an early age. Then there is the issue of handling these animals at the abattoirs. Too much thought put into for you Jayb I suppose?

I have had the chance to work in many different places including meat plants .It is not as cruel as you think to serve a new born piglet as many asian's eat new born animals for the tenderness of the meat.What i find different is that the asian community buy pigs blood in large amounts.David

Hello PF
Interesting thread.

I have had to think about this. I suppose its where the pigs grow up.

Now on your farm I get its ok but if it saves them having their teeth pulled tails docked and being squashed in behind bars in intensive farms - the quicker the better.

Anytime saved in those hell holes like we saw owned by Amadna Vanstone is a act of kindness.

If only all farmers grew their pigs like your free range.

If only all members of the public saw these intelligent creatures left locked between bars where they cant not even turn around.

Biting into the bars screaming because of the mental cruelty they wouldnt eat meat and Kevin Rudd needs to STOP intensive farms NOW of birds pigs feedlots.

I hear you about the mother but again if its in an intensive farm situation and it lessons the time behind those cruel bars maybe its for the better.

*What I find different is that the asian community buy pigs blood in large amounts.David
Posted by mattermotor, Saturday, 8 November 2008 6:03:13 PM*

matterworld what asians are you speaking of?
Certainly not Muslims.

Coincidentally, my partner and I were looking yesterday to purchase some ducklings, since our previous ducks were decimated last autumn by a feral cat. We want to buy them young, so it's easier to train them to come in at night. However, one delightful old dear to whom we were referred told us that she doesn't sell her ducks until they're full grown, so that they "can have some time in the sun".

We later realised that she thought we wanted to buy them to kill before they had matured, and when we explained that we want them as pets to live free-range in the garden, happily scoffing bugs and grubs, her attitude to us suddenly became much warmer.

My partner's vegetarian - with a particular fondness for her pet ducks - so you can imagine how appalled she was at the possibility that she might kill, dress and eat a young duckling! But I guess some people do.

PF,
I have heard of suckling pig, but not newborn. All animals used in restaurants has to be killed in a licenced abattoirs and I was not aware there were abattoirs that handled newborn piglets. Most dairy bull calve are slaughtered within a week of birth for the white veal.

You would be right, the newborn piglet would be a fetish and I could not see a large demand. I suspect a bit like veal, the flavour is simply the herbs, spices and sauce that the meal is served with.

Some people prefer Hoggett to Lamb because it has more flavour.

Things change. Years ago in England, it was against the law to kill a bull unless it had been baited i.e. Tied up and tormented by dogs. When the old sailing ships had dolphins riding on the bow wave, the crew would gaff them and used to suppliment their diet. Today you would be tossed overboard for suggesting it.

During the last Olympics, I read a newspaper article about a journalist having a meal of 6-8 different animal penises over there. I wouldn't order that or a dog meat dish either. Anyone who has ever skinned a fox would never eat dog.