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I just realized I've never seen a pig. Anybody here work in a pig holocaust camp? How bad is it?

  • 24-03-2024 12:07pm
    #1
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 279 ✭✭


    I've got a nice pork chop in the air fryer now and I just realized that I've never seen a pig except for the movies.

    They must all be locked up somewhere in a sort of death camp facility. And there must be millions of them considering how much pork products we consume.

    I think I might become a vegetarian of pork related items.

    Anybody here work in one of those slaughterhouses? How bad is it really?



«1

Comments

  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,281 ✭✭✭Ubbquittious


    I think they are usually not killed on site. They are kept indoors in a piggery till about 6 months before being transported to an abattoir



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,393 ✭✭✭Tefral


    A guy I know is a truck driver. One of those lads that picks and drops trailers to places, could be anything. One day he had to bring a trailer of pigs to the factory. The trailer had to go back so he had to stay for it to be offloaded. Got a small bit of a view of the inside while he was waiting.

    The same fella would be mostly a meat eater. Like myself, would be disgusted if his dinner didnt have some sort of meat. He went off Pork straight away after that day. Not a sausage would he eat. When we asked him why he just told us the story about dropping the trailer and the offer of the tour of the facility and nothing else. literally wouldnt say another thing, so there ya go....

    One thing that suprised me about pigs in real life, is how **** massive the things are. They are not the cute little fellas you read about to your kids. They are huge.



  • Moderators, Politics Moderators Posts: 40,908 Mod ✭✭✭✭Seth Brundle


    I worked on a pig farm in Clonmel back in the '90s. The pigs were reared there (born, weaned, fattened) and then brought off to a factory to be killed and turned into meat when they were something like six months old.

    You got used to the smell which got into you. Coming back to Dublin the odd weekend, the smell came along too and it took a day or two for it to fully clear.

    The biggest surprise starting there for me starting there was the amount of mice that lived in the houses - warm places which were relatively safe and had plenty of food available meant that the mice were breeding constantly.

    Whenever, we had to bring the boar to the sows, it was a long boring wait for him to finish. His langer is corkscres shaped and he locks himself on to her until he is done so all you could do was stand there having a smolke while he was busy.

    Working there, much of the work was power hosing the buildings once pigs had moved on. Between the amound of sh1te and the warmth, it caked itself on and was a proper bugger to get off.

    Anyhow, the experience didn't stop me loving rashers!



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 21,717 ✭✭✭✭dxhound2005


    There is a theory that humans are not the result of a line of evolution from primates. But that we are a hybrid species of primate and pig. Because the pig and the human share so many characteristics. And a lad in America got a pig kidney recently.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,262 ✭✭✭Stephen_Maturin


    Yes I’ve heard of this theory before, also some conjecture that there could be some bear in there too

    Kind of a manbearpig



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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,262 ✭✭✭Stephen_Maturin


    OP I’m surprised you’ve never seen a pig tbh

    I’ve lived in cities my whole life and I’ve seen them numerous times



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 21,331 ✭✭✭✭Ash.J.Williams


    I've some experience,

    Interesting fact if you let them into the wild they change into hog mode very quickly



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,074 ✭✭✭randd1


    The birth control pill can work on gorilla's and chimpanzee's to some extent. Mad really.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 7,790 ✭✭✭SuperBowserWorld


    Very intelligent (up there with dogs) and clean animals. But we treat them in the most barbaric, brutal way.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 18,366 ✭✭✭✭rob316


    Wasnt there some pig that died lately who painted. Pigcasso I think?



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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 16,198 ✭✭✭✭Pherekydes




  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 14,684 ✭✭✭✭Thelonious Monk


    I gave up eating them a few years ago, there aren't really any pork products I would miss. The suffering they endure in pig farms in Ireland and elsewhere is shameful. A friend of mine's father had pig farms in Leitrim, he always describes it as auschwitz for pigs, just horrible, although he still eats pork somehow.

    I was in Wiltshire recently and saw a few pig farms while driving around where the pigs were outside, had loads of space, and a little house each, or maybe a few shared a house. Didn't look so different as to how cows are raised here, I'd be more inclined to eat pigs raised that way if I wanted some bacon or whatever.

    There's a film that came out recently called Pignorant, which investigates the brutality they endure, that is supposed to be shocking. Wont be watching it any time soon though as I'm sure it's tough viewing.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,938 ✭✭✭Deebles McBeebles


    Haven't seen Pignorant yet but I have watched similar documentaries in years gone by. The way we treat a social, intelligent animal is sickening. We give out stink about parts of Asia and how they slaughter dogs for meat, not realising the irony of the way we treat an animal which is just as, if not more intelligent.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 7,776 ✭✭✭Oscar_Madison


    Yeah OP you’ve highlighted the major problem of pigs in Ireland - that lack of outdoors - it’s does happen in the UK too BTW but there seems to be a lot more free range free roaming pigs there than there is in Ireland

    I’d much prefer to see higher prices and happier pigs than cheap food TBH



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,313 ✭✭✭Hippodrome Song Owl


    Yes I have previous experience in piggeries. They are barbaric.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 24,394 ✭✭✭✭One eyed Jack



    Tbh lads I’m absolutely certain that anyone eating them doesn’t give a toss for the argument about the intellect of any animal, regardless of species.

    But the reason we give out stink about animals we treat as pets being eaten in other countries is obvious - cultural differences. Although now I think of it, it’s even more specific than that - certain parts of cows for instance are eaten in some countries whereas we’d probably be horrified if we were presented with it!

    The point is often made that if any of us saw where our food originally comes from and the processes it goes through before landing on our plates, we wouldn’t eat it. But that argument ignores the reality of thousands of years of agriculture. Though I haven’t plucked a pheasant since I was a child, and it’s been years since I ate pigs tongue, not like I’ve gone out of my way to look for it either.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 7,790 ✭✭✭SuperBowserWorld


    I don't care what animal people eat so long as they treat it and kill it humanely. I don't care if people eat dog or cat in other countries but they are tortured to make the meat "taste better", which is completely inexcusable and off the radar for civilisations with all the knowledge in the world accessible from their mobile phone

    Also, don't cause a global pandemic with your farming and meat eating practices.

    I eat meat all the time and I keep reminding myself that certain animals, especially chicken and pigs go through hell. I try to buy organic free range chicken etc but to be honest I've rarely done the same for pig.

    I know animals are treated better in Ireland. But for a few dollars more per capita they could be treated a lot better.

    Also, sending calves to be slaughtered abroad in horrible transit and slaughter conditions is another inexcusable thing for a civilisation to do with all the knowledge of the world on a mobile phone in their pocket.

    Also, having loads of meat is bad for your health and you are pumping up prices, land usage, waste and c02 on others who can't even afford the privilege



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 24,394 ✭✭✭✭One eyed Jack



    Ahh I didn’t mean for you to think you’d to justify your own thoughts or actions SB, I certainly don’t feel the need either myself. The point I was making is just that people don’t care about how intelligent animals are or how they’re treated before they become food. More often they care about how their food is presented and tastes, than how it’s processed, preserved, packaged or prepared.

    I’m aware of the vegan arguments and while they absolutely make sense (except for the ‘members of our moral community’ one, that’s just preaching), they’re just not very persuasive arguments for anyone who doesn’t already share their perspective.



  • Registered Users Posts: 7,043 ✭✭✭conorhal



    Here's a cute piggy eating some bacon, in light of the fact that even pigs think that they are themselves delicious, I hardly think they can blame us for eating them....



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 279 ✭✭scrotist


    I might watch Pignorant tonight. Might give me the kick I need to cut down on pork.

    I feckin love pork chops though. So cheap and delicious. I always have the freezer full of them.

    Sprinkle with whatever spices, into the pre heated air fyer for 12 mins at 200 degrees - from frozen. Delicious.

    Not sure if the movie will work on me though. I felt guilty one time about eating lamb, so I went to a lamb petting place near Midleton to see if it would make me think about things. Well, the lambs were assholes, not friendly at all. So I actually ate a kebab straight after the petting zoo. Not joking - Gusta Pizza & Grill in Midleton, great mixed kebab platter there.



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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,578 ✭✭✭crusd


    What makes him think a beef or lamb abattoir would be so different?



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,578 ✭✭✭crusd


    There is also a theory that no matter how ridiculous a theory is, someone somewhere will believe it and spread it



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 664 ✭✭✭Sonic the Shaghog


    I suppose it's better than years gone by. Back up to maybe the 1970s(?) in rural areas you'd usually have a couple lads locally who had some sort of a gun and shoot the pig in the head.

    Before that it was even more grim, tie it up and a mixture of male relatives and neighbours holding the pig while someone cut it's throat with a knife.

    Horrible but sure what else could they do those times when no one had a penny.

    Perhaps the gun in its own surroundings was more humane than rounding em up for transport and to a facility these days.



  • Registered Users Posts: 9,874 ✭✭✭buried


    We should get 50 of them to run the country. Be better than the hundreds of f**king idiots we currently have running us into oblivion.

    "You have disgraced yourselves again" - W. B. Yeats



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,086 ✭✭✭Rubberchikken


    I absolutely love pigs😁 no kidding toe they are fine animals. Don't even mind the smell 🌟



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,146 ✭✭✭trashcan


    I’m just about to make a pork schnitzel for my dinner. Kind of feel bad now, but damn, it tastes so good !



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 21,717 ✭✭✭✭dxhound2005


    I never heard of than one, and I don't believe in it. I only heard of the pig theory recently from Rick Edwards on Countdown. I don't believe it either, but everyone should do their own research.

    https://wiki.apterous.org/Rick_Edwards



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,788 ✭✭✭pappyodaniel


    A cousin of mine lives near Mitchelstown and went on a school tour in 1st year of a Galtee processing plant where they make the sausages. They brought the class through the whole process from start to finish, showing the pigs being brought into the abattoir from the farm, to murdering them and butchering them and finally to finished product, them juicy sizzley sausages.

    No joke but he became a vegetarian that very day. To be fair to him, he turned from being a fat 13 year old into a healthy looking young man the next time I met him and he told me the story.

    I'd wager I could easily go through that slaughter and still relish having pork sausages on my plate. Fu*king love sausages.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,895 ✭✭✭H_Lime


    Did Jessica fletcher ever solve the murder?



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  • Registered Users Posts: 9,874 ✭✭✭buried


    Lets all eat woodlice until we're told we can't do that either

    "You have disgraced yourselves again" - W. B. Yeats



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 15,032 ✭✭✭✭cj maxx


    I,ve never been to a piggery , but I have raised a couple of pigs and brought them to be slaughtered by a butcher.

    I don’t eat pork now, but I have farmed animals for the slaughter , cattle, chickens and turkeys and seen them slaughtered . I don’t really eat meat much anymore . The couple of pigs in particular would make good pets . I suppose it’s not much different to Korea where they eat dogs .



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,478 ✭✭✭apache


    Why do you not eat much meat anymore? Is it because of what you've seen, the cruelty in Factory Farming?



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 15,032 ✭✭✭✭cj maxx


    No . Is because I think veganism is a more healthy way to go . Ever since I did vegetables in the oven I realise how gorgeous they are . Things I never would have tried like roasted courgettes and aubergines. Gorgeous .Though it’sthough it’s hard to avoid a sneaky Indian or .kebab every now and again



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 917 ✭✭✭65535


    Well Lads it's great to see some of ye facing up to the reality that those animals have to endure.

    They gas them using carbon monoxide which does not kill them fully but it removes their ability to take in oxygen to live.

    Their throats are slit and they are hung upsdie down to bleed out.

    If you want to see the reality of what human kind has done then I can only recommend watching Dominion over on You Tube.

    https://youtu.be/LQRAfJyEsko?si=v7lH06uERfVsq1U4

    My own understanding has led me to being a Vegan for many years now - not one that shoves it in your face - but still a Vegan.

    If you can understand and appreciate the suffering that these animals have to endure locked in a farrowing crate unable to move then you probably understand the statement - to animals we are the devil.

    Gary Yourofsky: "The problem is that humans have victimized animals to such a degree that they are not even considered victims. They are not even considered at all. They are nothing. They don't count; they don't matter; they're commodities like TV sets and cell phones.

    We have actually turned animals into inanimate objects - sandwiches and shoes."



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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,578 ✭✭✭crusd


    Indeed people should do their own research which if they did would very quickly tell them humans are genetically closer to bats, rats and rabbits than they are to pigs. And cows, horses and dogs



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,578 ✭✭✭crusd


    Where is an appropriate line?

    Mammals?

    Birds?

    Fish?

    Crustaceans?

    Fungi?

    Plants?

    Studies now tell us plants and fungi feel pain, so at what point does a living organism gain more rights than another? At a molecular level every living thing is made of the same stuff



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 24,394 ✭✭✭✭One eyed Jack



    Studies now tell us plants and fungi feel pain


    Jesus ‘tis true what another poster was saying earlier that no matter how ridiculous the theory, someone will believe it and spread it 😳

    The poster didn’t at any point make out that any organism should be entitled to more rights than another, that’s the situation that exists already where human beings, by virtue of being human, are considered of greater value in society than other animal species. Frankly I’m ok with that, but I can understand the point the poster was making that animal welfare should mean that animals are treated equally to humans. I don’t agree with it, but I understand where they’re coming from.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 21,717 ✭✭✭✭dxhound2005


    You have made the same mistake as that poster. I never said I believed in the theory about hybrid pigmen. They distorted what I said to invent a new theory, and you have fallen for it and have spread it further.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 24,394 ✭✭✭✭One eyed Jack



    Neither the other poster, nor I, made any mistake, evidenced by the poster above making the point that studies now tell us plants and fungi feel pain.

    It wasn’t anything to do with the theory you’d put forward for consideration.



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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 917 ✭✭✭65535


    The line is drawn at 'sentient beings' -

    To those who say vegetables feel pain - Lets say that unfortunately your house goes on fire - ALL are rescued by firefighters.

    BUT then the firefighters run back into the house and pass by your dog and cat but go to the fridge instead - and 'rescue' all your vegetables !

    No how do you feel...



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,541 ✭✭✭Suckler


    The selective line is drawn at 'some' sentient beings. They don't seem to care too much about those that are killed off in the growing of vegetables/fruits etc. and/or the numbers that would be killed if they got their wish of everyone being forced to eat a strict vegan diet.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 21,717 ✭✭✭✭dxhound2005


    The vegetables share a lot of my DNA, because their ancestors were also my ancestors. Please save them.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,277 ✭✭✭twin_beacon


    Just bear in mind, that video is based mainly in the US, where animal welfare standards are lower than the EU.

    I grew up on a farm, we had sheep and cattle. We got out of sheep in 2006, and to this day I can't eat lamb. My dad is the same, apparently is fairly common with sheep farmers. The taste of the meat is very similar to the smells when you work with sheep. Sheep were a lot of work, but I do miss the lambs playing around the farm in spring.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 24,394 ✭✭✭✭One eyed Jack



    Ohh I don’t imagine anyone is putting the “vegetables feel pain” argument forward for any serious consideration 😒

    But good luck to you telling an insect to get their elbows off the table while they’re eating, bad manners 😂

    https://www.psychologytoday.com/ie/blog/animal-emotions/202303/insect-sentience-science-pain-ethics-and-welfare?amp



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 421 ✭✭StormForce13



    Only when we have stopped being cruel to our fellow humans should we really move on to worrying about cruelty to animals.

    After all, Hitler was a vegetarian because of his concern for animal suffering and was often distressed by images of animal cruelty and suffering.

    What are the odds that Rose Dugdale was a cat lover who really cared about cruelty to animals?



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 15,032 ✭✭✭✭cj maxx


    I just flicked through the thread but I’ve made my mind up . Kebab this weekend 🫣🫣🫣🫣



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 21,717 ✭✭✭✭dxhound2005


    His descent into vegetarianism came late in life.

    From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

    Adolf Hitler at a dinner table

    Near the end of his life, Adolf Hitler (1889–1945) followed a vegetarian diet. It is not clear when or why he adopted it, since some accounts of his dietary habits prior to the Second World War indicate that he consumed meat as late as 1937. 



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,541 ✭✭✭Suckler


    Also in the latter years he was on a cocktail of drugs….



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 14,684 ✭✭✭✭Thelonious Monk


    We have to eat something though. The growing of grass, soy, animal feed etc. to feed to pigs and cows destroys even more insect life and biodiversity than what's required for a plant based diet, so if you're concerned with that kind of thing maybe think about going vegan.



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