Why Does This Pig Have No Tail?
This post is from a series of blogs related to Matthew Scully’s book, Dominion*.
In the chapter called “Deliver Me From my Necessities,” Scully shows the ugly under belly of America’s supply and demand system.
In other words, we’re driving this car.
Meat gets processed the way it does to meet the expectations of the public.
Here are a few points that underline his thesis:
- Raising/slaughtering practices are driven by the customer, who expect all meat to have the same appearance, size and quality. Here, the book notes that the wildly successful McDonald’s food chain doesn’t keep customers because it has the best burger, but because it has a consistent burger–the meat looks and tastes relatively similar no matter where you buy it.
- Because U.S. citizens demand way more meat than they ever have (and because the amount of meat we consume continues to rise), there are barely enough slaughterhouses to process it all. As a result, slaughterhouses have the upperhand and can demand a high price to use their facilities. This price increase is daunting for small farmers with more natural practices.
The
consequences
of
our
demands
are
not
pretty.
For example, a new practice has become necessary: pigs having their tails amputated. Why? The pigs are being weaned off milk so early, and sped through the growth process by hormones so quickly, that they continue to want to suckle in premature-adulthood which causes them to chew on/mutilate their own tails.
Scully’s overall premise is well made. When animals start to mutilate themselves because we’re growing them at an artificial pace, its hard to see this definition of “dominion” as God-inspired, don’t you think?
*Please see Shop Local in the categories at sarahcunningham.org to the right for purchasing options.