" Don't eat meat..it's bad for you anyway and is full of hormones, antibiotics, and cholesterol. With all the protein sources we have from plant based materials and the cost of raising an animal on grass and other grains along with the methane gas they produce from pounds of poop they produce is this a green product? No only is it bad for the environment but bad for our bodies as well. You do the math! "

" Piquemyinterest: Humans are omnivores, what this means is that we generally eat anything that does not eat us first. If you choose not to eat meat, good for you. As for me, look out farm animals, I’m hungry. "

" I believe this story is about livestock raised for personal consumption. No hormones, no antibiotics, some cholesterol & lots of protein. Besides all that poop ends up fertilizing the garden.

Besides, omnivores are people too (or visa-versa). "

" The word Vegan comes from a native american language roughly translated meaning "rotten hunter". I for one am a avid member of PETA; People Eating Tasty Animals. "

" Nice stereotype Piquemyinterest...

Natural raised meat and eggs. Can't get any better than that.

All my animals are brought up naturally with no hormones and I only use antibiotics if one should be sick, just like your doctor would prescribe for you. Even the hay I produce is only grown by rainfall and/or by the river that runs through my property. The water the animals drink comes from a reservoir filled by rainfall/river. And wow, the manure is used in my garden and in the pasture so the hay will grow back next year. As for methane gas? Well, you got me there and yet there are ways to even bottling that with today's technology, but I don't have enough animals to compete with the CO my car produces as I drive to work.

As for cholesterol? Every body is different. I fortunately have very low cholesterol and if I don't get enough protein I turn pale and have no energy. Sorry, peanuts and other protein based veggies don't cut it for me - I've tried.

Back to the article - humane is always the way to go and yet some people will just never understand that putting an animal down is never pretty, however it is done. "

" Slaughtering your own farm raised animals is the only way to guarantee what goes into your body, same with fresh vegetables and fruit...nothing wrong with it if it is done properly and the difference in taste is amazing! "

" I think that this article is about the "humane" treatment of slaughtered animals. I don't think it's harmful having some dialogue about how animals, those destined for execution, are treated during the process.

I always think to myself, how would I feel if I was subjected to a tortuous death. Any animal which is capable of mobility will feel pain. I actually had a woman tell me onetime that cows don't feel pain.

Nature hardwired "pain" into our systems for a purpose, so that when we moved, pain would alert us to the dangers of running into objects. Pain usually results in "avoidance" but what would it feel like to be in a situation where you were trapped and then tortured?

Personally, I have very little respect for any human being capable of killing an animal without any consciousness about its level of suffering. They probably do not make good neighbors. I sure wouldn't encourage my loved ones to associate with them. "

" robustdan: I LOVE IT!! Thanks for the laugh :0) "

" I could no sooner slaughter one of my animas for food than I could one of my children! But then I'm from a house full of vegetarians. I don't even want to think about it being done. Anywhere for that matter. "

" Diane:

The slaughtering of animals for food is never a pretty site. What may constitute the proper way of slaughtering an animal may seem "barbaric" to you. Have you ever seen an animal slaughtered before? Do you believe in hunting?

Vocal:

Is there a humane way to kill something? Should we slaughter the animals through an IV system so the animal feels no pain? I agree that animals shouldnt be slowly tortured, but Animal rights activists are a little absurd in their thinking. Soon animals will be able to sue people who mistreat them if PETA was to get their way. "

" I guess it's all in how you're raised. The actual killing part is not something any of us look forward to, but done correctly there is no pain or suffering. Raising livestock for personal consumption has it's rewards & the animals get much better treatment than if they were sent to a feed lot.

Vilifying people for slaughtering livestock is easy to do when you have no concept of what's actually involved or how the process works. Animal rights groups have been pretty successful at tugging on heart strings with disinformation.

I'm just happy to be in a position to raise my own. "

" I remember in junior high school, our homemaking teacher taking the class to a slaughter house near Vallejo. We were requested to wear "sneakers" and didn't know why. Well we found out in short order. They were swinging cows down on large hooks by their legs after they were killed, and someone grabbed them and slit thier throats. All of this blood and internal parts came gushing out. They slit thier stomachs and retrieved more parts and hung them on racks. The Napa Valley Unified supplied a bus to take our class to this place of horror. We were sliding in blood on the floors. I and others were so traumatized, it has been 40 some odd years later and the thought of it still makes me sick. The teacher to "free meat" for this little venture. "

" If only we lived in a perfect world where all slaughterhouses abided by the legislation and rules that accompany the slaughtering of livestock for human consumption.

It was not too long ago that a lot of us were horrified to see the mistreatment of 'downer' cows; watching them being dragged through excrement, and pushed around with a forklift.


It comes as no surprise that workers become hardened to any feeling for the livestock and just want to 'get the job done.'

I could go on at length about slaugherhouse horror stories- animals being flayed alive etc., but I will stop there, but add that I would like to see closer monitoring of practices for both the animals and health concerns.

I don't eat much meat for a few reasons, but I think it is a very honest thing to raise your own and then slaughter it.
Up until the day of killing, the animals usually have a very good life. Plenty of food, no cares or predators.

I am guessing that this particular pig probably had his throat cut, and was then hung upside down to bleed and be gutted. Not a pretty sight, but how else do you think you get meat on the table? Factory farmed pig is what I call barbaric. "

" If we are not supposed to eat animals why are they made out of meat? "

" The human digestion was meant to eat a "little" bit of meat once in awhile, not one or two meat meals a day. Nature sends out some very clear messages about what our systems can and cannot tolerate. The link between red meat consumption and colon cancer is definitive.

A few of my relatives eat meat every single day and they have developed colon cancer. They have brainwashed themselves into thinking that a diet without meat will be harmful. It's quite the opposite. If you observe other types of primates, they rarely eat meat except in the form of insects and eggs. They eat far more fruit.

If a person must eat meat, use it sparingly. Eat lots of fresh fruits, vegetables, whole grains and beans instead. You will be far healthier as you age, look younger, feel far more alive and energetic. And if you don't believe me, go visit a Hospice center or a convalescent hospital sometime. The signs of poor health are often expressed in a greyish skin tone, an exerted breath or a weak walk. You really ARE what you eat. With few exceptions, most people pay for poor eating habits later in life. "

" If you think about it young kids who are involved in 4h or FFA raise meet animals for food they also do it for the money for there collage fund wanting to support them selfs instead of there parents doing everything. I am a current member of FFA have been for the last 3 years if you really looked into how us kids raise our animals for the napa town and county fair you would be suprised on how well we treat our MEAT animals they are very well taken care of animals that never miss a meal. We spend so much time working with them to compeate knowing that they will be sold after all the work that have done with them. Also any medicine that goes into them is 30 days before the fair nothing after that the medicine is wormers so that they are not infected with parasites so you people don't get them. Our animals are fed on a grain based diet with alfalfa we use a very high quality grain that almost everyone uses for our fair. As you can see the slaughtering of animals is for FOOD not just to kill them we feed the people of the Napa Valley for a reason meet is good for you!!!!!!!! "

" Not just your digestive tract, but your teeth were made to eat meat as well. If meat causes cancer, then Darwin's theory is flawed. If you believe in God, then you shouldn't care how an animal dies. People don't get to choose how they die. God chooses for us. Either way, eat what your body craves. You will die either way. "

" You should explain how the pig was slaughtered. What may be barbaric to you may be the proper least painful way to slaughter the animal. I can only say that the meat we buy at the auction at the fair is a whole lot better (with a few exceptions of kids who use growth hormones and the make the meat yucky) than store bought meat. I was vegan (very strict - no meat, no dairy, no eggs) for 2 years and I have to say you get very weird trying to eat that way. Gave it up so I could reenter humanity and live in the world again. "

" Also, does Diane have any sort of agricultural degree that would qualify her to judge how her neighbor slaughters his own animal? These people who think they know about animal cruelty and have no education or knowledge to back it up are just sticking their noses into someone else's business (think PETA - and not the people eating tasty animals one) - and we have way too much of that!
Why didn't she go over to the neighbor and find out why he slaughtered the animal in the way he did and not just condemn him? Maybe Diane would learn something. "

" barefoot, your mentality is exactly the reason I do not believe in organized religion. This mentality of humans being superior to anything else in nature, and THEN using some kind of religious symbol to justify exploiting the situation is one of the reasons we've ended out discriminating against other types of people with different sexual orientations and skin colors. The "I'm superior to others" mentality plays a significant role in religious wars as well.

Additionally, look at the difference between the shape of the teeth of a REAL carnivore and those of humans. Carnivores eat meat pretty much every time they consume a meal. Their teeth are shaped for it. Our teeth are not. It's VERY evident that we are not intended to be using meat as a primary source of protein in our diets.

And where's your evidence that our digestive tracts were designed to consume a lot of meat? Also, I'm just not understanding your link between meat eating and Darwin's theory. Please explain. "

" Cutting the heads off chickens with a hatchett always seemed to be effective, though it was a little disconcerning to have them continue to run around for an unseemly long time afterwards.

My aunt was the expert, she could simply grab them by the neck and spin them around over her head a couple times and the chicken's head would come right off!

When I tried that, all I ended up with was a very dizzy and irate (but very much alive) chicken... "

" Pretty ugly Kevin, but it was obviously your intention to offend those with finer sensibilities.

Death comes to all one way or the other. I guess we all just have to hope no one bigger than us grabs us by the head and spins us until our necks rip apart!

It makes the Taliban style throat slitting sound pretty humane.

One thing all you dedicated carnivores out there have that I don't is a very full medicine cabinet.

keep your meat/animal food meals to none or once or twice a week, and you will not need all the medications trying to prevent your early death.

If people ate cleaner farmed food and less meat, the whole planet would come into a better balance.

It probably will not happen until it really has to; but one day it will have to-because we can't carry on as we are indefinitely. "

" What about the foundation of meat-eating? Why would we eat an animal in the first place? Before an animal was even outlined as a 'food source', vegetation was the ‘main dish’. It is known that humans lived long, healthy lives without meat. That's how I would gauge my consumption of meat-eating. Religion is not my point..the Bible is. It is simply put, and is a book available to all of us. It is all the proof we need and if followed as outlined, we all can be healthy without much effort. We are what we consume, as noticed on the skin on our face. What we put into our mouths shows up on our face first thing. When visualizing another human, we should see untainted facial and all-over body skin (the largest human organ). Before meat, people required hospitals for accidents and childbirth, if necessary, not for ailments too numerous to count. Meds to stay alive a little longer was unheard of. High-cholesterol, and other health issues, as well as all clogged-artery indicators or stomach complaints, is increasing every second, as a ‘rule’, and always involve our major functions..why is that…hmmmmmm. This is caused 100% by consuming animal products, with facts to back this up. So we need to check out the real 'facts' before anything, and obtain what's real, not opinion. The question remains..Why aren't we all doing the same thing? Killing an animal is proof enough that we should not eat meat; what more proof do you need? Really. I would spin out of orbit if I raised (as 4H calls it) an animal, talk to it, feed it, then had to turn he/she over to the point of a knife for draining..what in the world is that anyway?? Cont'd... "

" So, who might be correct in their analogy? If meat is so good for a 'body', why don't you farmers feed your livestock some meat?? Why are they vegetarians? Why doesn’t a calf need milk after weaning from its mother? We don't. You'll never see a cow suckling on another cow to obtain milk. If meat is necessary for strength and endurance (protein) why don’t the man-sized apes we’ve all seen at the zoo consume meat? Where do they get their protein to be so strong?? Those are a few questions for your educated answers, as u scramble to obtain literature FYI. Meat/dairy product consumption is taking from us our livelihood, longevity, and our everyday health, funding meds, etc., for the diseases and catastrophic accidents due to arteries clogging, requiring catheterizations to break up the clots that potentially, eventually, lead to our death. It is well worth the time you will spend to get only the FACTS before opinions crowd the comment section of ur handy-dandy newspaper company. Be it tradition for ur farm-cigarettes were a tradition before the surgeon's gen.. should we still smoke? U will find out later that it was the worst thing you could have done..even if you grain-fed those sweet-looking, big-eyed, innocent cows and thought you could cut them in a place they wouldn’t feel as much as in another place on their beautiful bodies....Skin - Underlying Tissue (and the) - Oozing of Blood from any orifice = PAIN to all creatures big and small; #1 reason not to consume meat. Second reason not to consume meat…heart attack, colon problems / cancer. Mam…Colostomy Bag or Bathroom?..I'd say much more serious than the question at the store…Paper or Plastic? Just 1 meat-meal takes 5 days to digest--Imagine what it must smell like in there-yikes. Cont'd "

" Noah’s Ark…two of each animal (per our creator). The explanation for the request for two of each animal, one female, one male, was to have production of a ‘food source’ for humans, and ONLY a temporary food source, during the long transition between the giant flood and drying up of the giant flood waters and lastly, to plant seeds and grow fresh, healthy vegetation so us humans could get back to our regular diet that does very good for our digestive tracts, our blood flow, and everything u received when conceived will gain benefits from the original ‘food source’. The vegetation healthy way of supplying healthy natural foods that digest properly and efficiently. Not like the above-mentioned comment especially made for OUR body structures, skin textures, vascular system, cardiac system, renal system, kidney system, stomach system, and bowel function (**colostomy bag) was given to us humans by our creator, before the flood saturated it and made it too wet, therefore not thriving for the survival of the vegetation until further notice, in that it is capable of regrowth and will flourish. (This took place over a lengthy period of time), while the flood had taken over ALL vegetation and the saturated grounds would not be abundant with any sort of vegetation until the flood waters have completely absorbed in to the earth, so as to dry the grounds leaving fields of space for the new, but original ‘food source’. Before building the ark, the people were told that when the vegetation was available for complete consumption, they were to STOP eating of the animals as too much of the ‘temporary’ feeding source is not good for our health, as it isn’t the correct source for healthy living but, of course, people decided to do ‘what they wanted to do’ "

" suze,

Where's your facts to back up your last comments? I don't take any supplements or "special medicines" and I eat all meat and eggs on a regular basis. Hmm, seems to me that you are stereotyping here.

Oh and longevity in my family has been well documented into the 90's (without medical problems) and all were farm/ranch people. I think healthy lifestyle as a whole is the bigger picture and not just what we eat... "

" So, what is the proper way to slaughter your home grown pigs or chickens or whatever, and where does one learn and practice the skill before applying it to a living creature? It's not like we teach our kids how to prepare the Sunday chicken anymore...

And why do we seem to think that killing plants is any more humane than killing animals? They are all living things. "

" When you think about something you've never thought about before, it can open your eyes.

When I took anatomy, we had to dissect a cat. I'm not a big cat lover, but I couldn't eat meat for a couple of months after that. But everyone's different, and I suppose you can get used to it.

Chicken still bugs me. Ligaments and tendons and muscles seem to me to be for living and moving, not for eating. "

" Without knowing the background of the person who witnessed the pig being slaughtered it is really hard to tell if the slaughter is humane or inhumane. The reality is that slaughtering a pig or steer is never going to be an attractive process to anyone with decent sensibilities but it is currently part of our food chain and the way many good people make a living. Now if this person slaughtered the animal in what would be considered a truly cruel fashion then the situation should be addressed but the fact is what is a appropriate and clean harvest of an animal can still be upsetting to many people noise, blood, organs, skinning it’s all part of the process. The other option is that we make it even harder on small farmers by requiring all animals to be killed by a overly regulated slaughterhouse continuing to lock down the food processors control on what we eat. In the end these cases are difficult because the line of humane and inhumane slaughter is a very grey one but I bed people not to push for greater regulation. It is hard enough to feed ones family healthy, clean and local food as it is restricting our ability to buy good clean meat from local farmers will only make this worse for everyone. "

" napahawaiinapa To start I do not claim to be a supporter of the abuse and over consumption of meat but I have to say some holes present themselves in your statements here. #1 “Humans lived long and healthy lives before eating meat”. Interesting statements but what is your data do you have average life expectancy of people pre meat consumption? Some current data does reflect that in a modern society benefits do exist to a vegetarian diet but I know of no records for a pre meat eating society with life expectancies of 60-70 years please share.

The bible- “It is all the proof we need” this makes a striking leap to the assumption that #1 the bible is true and #2 that the entire world follows the bible.

When before meat did hospitals exist? And what data do you have that shows no ailments other than accidents and childbirth ever made someone fall ill during this period.

“Killing a animal reflects that we should not eat meat”. You may want to have a sit down with a large portion of the animal kingdom known as carnivores as I think they may have misunderstood the message.

Without addressing the need to believe or not believe in the great flood and Noah’s ark. Can I ask how the animals survived the trip on the ark if we are not to eat meat why did we not instead eat the food or grains stored to feed the animals in place of the animals themselves? If we took I male and one female it assumes the will live long enough to procreate so a matter of months they must have eaten something during that time.

On a final note. what’s with the obsession with Colostomy bags? "

" Perfect...I was hoping someone would gut my comments...just as I thought. I will start from the bottom and go up..if that's okay with the readers..First of all, my comments are for education and put out there to be dissected, so nothing is unexpected, and goes along with every other comment in probably the entire 'comments' section of this paper..glad everyone is still following suit at least. Last time I checked (using the circular thing attached to my shoulders), like anyone in this world, if pain is the common denominator in an action, common sense reveals a negative property..I guess killing an animal might, perhaps, reveal some 'pain' somewhere along the way..speaks for itself..see it take place if u see nothing wrong with it..last time I looked, the concept of chasing a zebra was not the lion's idea, or was it? Maybe he would have rather pulled up to a drive-thru In and Out Burger to simplify a few things..hospitals have been around, small or large, because we've required some sort of aid in our clumbsiness alone..before 'alcohol anesthesia' I'm sure something similar was used for entrance and exit wounds of bullets cuz several people reveal more holes in their bodies than others, living through the event..history ring a bell?..hospital necessities, supply and demand, population, it's common logic pretty much..It's obvious that in just this town alone, there are some pretty tor' up individuals, due to not only drug/alc abuse but food abuse..not always too much food, just the wrong kind..that's an educated self-look-in-the-mirror kinda thing, we are all in this together..do you really need data when the visual elements on the innermost aspect of your dome are amazing, w/o pamphlets to outline the obvious? Who said anything about being vegetarian? Many foods consumed today=colostomy bag in the future;end of story... "

" As with Noah's Ark...issue picked apart just right; a topic worth addressing for all of us..when something is so obviously in front of us, I find it difficult to pick it apart bone-by-bone but what is perhaps a paraphrase and meant to be thought out, gathering data to assist us could at least further our knowledge in any given subject. I'm still gathering data because someone needs to get to the bottom of some issues of this world instead of years and years of opinions and judgments being the only basis for most anything not cut-and-dry, and maybe we wouldn't be so mixed up, as I am, as we all are..shoot---if anyone claims to know all about this I'd say they must've 'been there, done that', wouldn't u? There are some old souls, right?.and they haven't aged a bit...Since I wasn't there, I can only touch on logic, coupled with others' thoughts & disagreements, throw it all around and with all the luck in the world, we would not argue about things and use our time to keep searching because all the answers are there..or they wouldn't be in our brain archive, or front-and-center as some things are, right?? A challenge is like a ball game, competitive..so let's compete to gain knowledge while we can, cuz these things are pretty important; wouldn't u agree? Wasting time on arguing, when neither one of us knows exactly what we are talking about anyway, unless going by facts only, is tiresome, and is leading to bags under my eyes, which the history books will not note, hence more confusion, like 'why' their past familiy members needed something to keep their eyes perched open cuz they were dangling in the balance; they won't know the 'comment section' kept me awake... "

" Just because several (a handful) of us have longevity in our family, lovely skin, hair and teeth, and possess a nice figure, while consuming fresh eggs, whatever that means, and clean meat, whatever that means, does not mean that the inside of our body is fresh and clean...some people feel sick all the time and they are not sick at all..that shows me that our brain activity constitutes a high percentage of our all-over health, and not only what we eat...make sense? I am negative most of the time, about myself (this is based on the way I was treated growing up) but will remain with high regard for my fellow world-mates, respect, dignity and love, of which we all deserve and require, whether or not I have a hard time accepting compliments myself. This negativity designs not only my outer self but to a higher degree, my innermost self, and even if I never ate meat my entire life, I may potentially develop any named chronic disease and my demise would look similar to a death of someone with plaqued arteries. I don't have to complete my life, rewind it and watch it again to see if this is true or not cuz it's obvious what makes a healthy functioning body more than just the food we eat, so if u are that handful who can eat any foods and not be pulled one way or the other 'years-and looks-wise, I suppose u will have an abundant eating life but still doesn't change anything about the true vision of the slaughtered animal we can all see if we visualize a day or two before taking our first bite of that steak..living past that slaughter is a priviledge, u think? Think the cow thunk..no one cared.. "

" Im going to go eat some steak and for breakfast bacon. Thanks!
By the way, at 6 foot 195 lbs and 10 percent body-fat i can assure you that i am in much better shape in all aspects of my life than 99.5 percent of vegetarians...much healthier too. Have the blood work to prove it. "

" Meat eater or vegetarian: it all comes down to personal choice, and none of anyone else's business really. Neither should have to justify their choice. "