Humans need to eat less meat

Mark Bittman writes in the New York Times’ Opinionator column today:

In limited quantities, meat is just fine, especially sustainably raised meat (and wild game), locally and ethically produced dairy and eggs, the remaining wild or decently cultivated fish.

No matter where we live, if we focused on those — none of which are in abundant supply, which is exactly the point — and used them to augment the kind of diet we’re made to eat, one based on plants as a staple, with these other things as treats, we’d all be better off. We can’t afford to wait to evolve.

Interesting, quick read about the global trend towards eating more and more factory-farmed meat and non-local produce: http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/05/31/meat-why-bother/

Royal factory farming

All the fuss about the royal wedding made us wonder about factory farming in the UK. How does it compare to factory farming here in the US?

The big difference seems to be with the level of awareness of consumers in the UK, which in turn influences the behavior of agribusinesses and legislators. British consumers in general are more advanced in their views on factory farming than their American counterparts. This description from World Society for the Protection of Animals explains the mindset of many British consumers:

The UK has broadly high welfare standards in the UK, as well as strong consumer awareness regarding eggs and meat. As a nation of animal lovers, free range eggs are an everyday item and shoppers by and large try to buy ethical and high welfare meat products.
However, milk and dairy products are less well understood and our dairy industry as we know it is under threat to intensify production.

In response to the dairy industry threat, British charities and nonprofits are fighting the applications of mega-dairies seeking to set up shop in the country, because, as we know, factory dairy farms are bad for the environment, bad for the animals, and bad for consumers. Currently, the WSPA says, the average dairy farm in Britain is home to only 113 cows, with very few farms housing more than 200 cows; compare that to the US where some mega-dairies pack over 15,000 cows into cramped indoor quarters.

Other ways Europe is ahead of the US in farm animal treatment: the UK has an Animal Welfare Minister and government-created Farm Animal Welfare Council to enforce farm animal treatment standards; the EU outlawed battery cages (effective next year), pig tail docking, veal crates, and pig gestation cages (effective in 2013); and the EU banned the administration of growth hormones, growth-enhancing drugs, and human antibiotics to food animals. The concept of animal sentience is much more accepted in Europe: that animals are intelligent and feel emotions.

It seems that, like the hats they wear to fancy events, British consumers and legislators are quite sophisticated regarding animal welfare. Even if we Americans don’t want to adopt their headwear fashions, we should at least strive to emulate their outlook towards livestock.

Who ya gonna call?

GOATBUSTERS!

This is one of Haute Pasture’s favorite ways to be environmental: hire a troop of goats to clear out underbrush, rather than using chemicals or gas-powered, air- and noise-polluting machinery!

Can you see them? They were active back in the trees, but the camera didn’t pick them up well. The guard dogs didn’t seem to care about us–guess humans aren’t high on the list of potential goat predators.

Haute Pasture has friends in North Carolina who needed heavy brush cleared from a few acres on their farm. They purchased five young pigs and set them loose on the land. The pigs devoured EVERYTHING other than the trees, and after several months, the pigs were sold to a local restaurant as organic, free-range, happy pork!

Sustainable lobster farming

Haute Pasture recently visited the North Shore of Massachusetts. As we strolled through Gloucester, stacks of lobster traps caught our attention and made us wonder: is lobster farming sustainable? Is it humane? And while we’re at it, is boiling a live lobster cruel?

Lobster traps in Gloucester, Mass.

First, the boiling: According to eHow, lobsters have small brains and no central nervous systems, so they don’t have time for their brains to register pain before the water kills them. WiseGeek disagrees, based on the visible distress shown by struggling lobsters as they die in the pot. They suggest freezing a lobster for 15 minutes, so slow its nervous system, chopping it in half to kill it quickly, and then boiling it. Other humane lobster-killing devices are hitting the market, such as the CrustaStun, in the UK, which electrocutes lobsters; and a giant pressure-cooker-type machine used by Shucks Maine Lobster.

Is the farming process humane? The trapping process is easy on the animals: metal boxes sit on the seafloor with bait inside. The lobsters crawl in, have a snack, and are free to crawl out again. Only if they happen to be in the trap when it’s pulled to the surface are they caught. Because lobsters are usually purchased by the customer alive, farmers and middlemen are incented to treat the creatures well once they are harvested. One might think keeping lobsters in tanks at stores and restaurants is cruel, but this article reports that studies at the Marine Biological Laboratory on Cape Cod suggest that the close quarters dull their sense of smell, which relaxes them, and the cold water in the tanks slows their metabolism, reducing their stress.

Is lobster farming sustainable? The answer seems to be yes. Massachusetts has a program called Massachusetts Lobster Fishing The Right Way, which educates the public on the use of sinking groundlines on lobster traps rather than surface lines, which can entangle whales. Massachusetts is the first state to require the use of sinking lines connecting lobster traps along the seafloor, and over 3,000 miles of floating rope has been removed from state waters by lobstermen. Other state regulations include trap vents to allow undersized lobsters to escape, minimum and maximum size requirements, and the required release of egg-bearing females.

Maine regulations are similar to Massachusetts’, with additional protections for breeding females. If a female with eggs is caught, her tail is notched before being returned to the water, marking her for life as an unharvestable breeder. If a female’s eggs are discovered after she is caught, the Lobster Seed Fund buys her from the fisherman to return her to the sea. The Fund is supported by lobster fishing license fees. Maine lobster fisheries are under consideration by the Marine Stewardship Council in London for sustainability certification.

Lobster fisheries are one of the only reliable sources of sustainably-farmed seafood today. If you purchase a Maine or Massachusetts lobster and kill it yourself in a humane way, you are making a responsible, and delicious, seafood choice.