Here in the last few weeks a couple of posts
from the site Eatocracy have resurfaced. They were actually posted a few years
ago, and someone recently found them again. The first article lists five
reasons to buy from local 4-H members. There were of course, some comments in
protest. The second article lists some of the comments and reasons people say
that 4-H desensitizes kids.
Here are the two articles:
1. When you buy
4-H, it aids in supporting efforts to use the whole animal
2. 4-H animals are
some of the best quality in the nation
3. 4-H supports the education of local children
4. Knowing where
your food comes from is not only very important but it teaches a life-long
lesson to children, while shaping their future decisions with regards to food,
cooking, and nutrition
5. It’s fun!
http://eatocracy.cnn.com/2011/06/23/does-4-h-desensitize-kids-to-killing/?iref=allsearch
“For the reasons
cited above, I don't and would never support the 4-H. This group helps
desensitize youngsters into having no emotional attachment to animals raised
for food. For those who say no one should have attachment to animals raised for
food, I say "of course". This is how the meat industry stays in
business. If children are raised to love all animals and not try to see them as
products, they would not be interested in seeing them killed. "Listening
to the auctioneer and seeing how excited the children get when their animal is
purchased is an incredibly fulfilling experience." Really? Incredibly
fulfilling experience. You mean knowing the animal that trusted you from birth
is off to be mistreated before being slaughtered! That's fulfilling? Maybe
that's because the 4-H has successfully desensitized these children who may
have once be appalled by this. It's simply horrific. Shame on you 4-H for what
you do to animals and to children.”
Many a 4-H member and agriculture advocate has
responded to these two posts. What people who do not agree don’t realize is
that 4-H animals are better treated than those in a slaughterhouse. Our fair
animals go straight from fair to slaughter, with no mistreatment in between.
For the previous four to eleven months (depending on the species), 4-H and FFA
animals are treated like kings and queens, so that kids can do well in the show
ring. But it’s more than just raising an animal – feeding, watering, walking –
it’s what the animals teach kids too.
I learned some of the best lessons from my
animals: to protect my feet at all times, not everyone likes a bath, pigs are
smart(!), and how to love animals. Did I become attached to my animals?
Absolutely! The most popular livestock related question is: “How can you give
them up?” My standard answer always included the story about how my first set
of pigs bit my feet through my rubber boots….no, they didn’t give me any cuts
or scars, but they made me so mad that I didn’t care what happened to them at the
end of that summer. I just wanted those stinking pigs gone! I got two more the
next spring because over the course of that first summer I became a team with
my pigs, and for each summer following I gained two new team members.
Those pigs taught me lessons I could never
truly thank them for. How to market myself as well as my animals, to lose with
dignity, to win with subdued excitement. Most importantly, they taught me how
to become a leader. I grew to become a leader by participating in a multitude
of opportunities – but before I could participate in those opportunities, I was
teaching younger kids how to show, and shared practices that worked for me in
raising my pigs.
My pigs taught me that no matter how hard I
worked, sometimes my work wouldn’t pay off, but that other times it would. They
taught me to be responsible, to work my butt off so that I could walk in and
out of the show ring with my head held high, and of course to love animals.
This love of animals deems worth being repeated because sure, I have absolutely
loved every single one of our family’s dogs, and a few of our cats…but who in
their right mind says they love a pig? Ha, this girl has definitely loved a few
pigs in her lifetime….the first ones were Root and Tilly; the food themed Creamsicle
and Nibbles; the fun ones Sue and Moe; and the last ones Charlotte and Wilbur.
My pigs taught me all of this and more, almost
more than other leadership opportunities. And this is why I truly believe that
youth should continue to raise animals, showing them off to the best of their
abilities, gaining skills even the kids don’t realize or recognize.
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