Meat Holiday...

I'm in the middle of reading "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" by Barbara Kingsolver and I came across a quote regarding the eating of animals that does a good job expressing how I feel about the matter.

"I dislike the thought that some animal has been made miserable in order to feed me. If I am going to eat meat, I want it to be from an animal that has lived a pleasant, uncrowded life outdoors, on bountiful pasture, with good water nearby and trees for shade. And I am getting as fussy about food plants."

Wendel Berry

This reminds me of a conversation I had with a coworker regarding the shooting of animals while hunting. Although he, like I, had gone hunting in his teenage years and shot and killed a deer, he said he disagreed with the idea, saying it was cruel to kill an innocent animal in the wild. I, on the other hand, think it cruel to farm animals, equally as innocent, in a factory manner and then kill them, leaving their lives devoid of any purpose or meaning.
If we all had to kill a mammal or bird for our meal just once in our adolescent or adult lives, we would have a new respect for the food we eat and the people that provide that food.
It's certainly not easy to kill, but is it easier to live without eating meat?
I think not. In fact, I think living completely dependent on vegetables is as destructive as living with meat, if not more so.

This will shock most people, as it goes against the grain (most think that if we were all vegetarians we'd be better as a society), but animals allow farms to be sustainable and self reliant, not depending on fossil fuels for fertilizer, tilling and pest control. There are farms near where I live that use horses as draft power, use manure to fertilize fields, and use symbiotic relationships between animals to keep pests under control.

Animals are also able to make use of non-arable land that may either be too hilly, not fertile enough, or even land that doesn't have enough people to do the work it takes to harvest acres upon acres of plant foods.
Animals, especially ruminants, are able to eat grasses that grow in nutritionally poor soils and convert that energy into manure for plants and food for people. In fact, humans can obtain much more nutritional density from animals than from grains, fruit and vegetables. We're really good at digesting fat and protein but no good at digesting cellulose.

My family eats humanely raised meat several times a week but not every day. We rotate between fish, poultry and mammal, and we're thankful for what we have. I've done the dirty deed several times in the past and it has taught me the value of life.