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

To replace meat with a purely vegan diet would require significantly more land + the use of increasing quantities of fertilisers and insecticides. The growing of grass kills very very little in comparison.

Plenty of soil is also not suited to growing of crops; the cultivation required to even bring them up to suitability would add to the death toll and loss of much biodiversity. Coupled with this would be the increased mechanisation required to harvest said crops.

I'm surprised by that to be honest. On a pure quantum I would have thought it would have required an increase; but thanks for the link. In relation to animal feed & soy, it's largely the by product that goes to animals from my recollection.

From a production point of view, and my own experience, my land won't grow significant crops without increased fertilisers and sprays etc. etc. That's in a 'good' year; currently there isn't a hope of getting any machinery on land. The land couldn't carry it for the last 8 months. My land wouldn't be the worst, certainly guys with wetter land than me.

True, but if we're too reliant on imports it wouldn't bode well from a food security perspective.

It would be nice in theory but we'd be at the mercy of others for availability and cost without any sort of fall back and/or bargaining chip to play.

We already import most of the food we eat!

Nothing to do with it at all - animals are caged, abused and finally slaughtered - there is no such thing a humane slaughter - that's an oxymoron - if animals are killed in the US then they are killed here the same way - if you look hard enough you will find Irish or British examples as well.

by animal welfare, I mean during the life of the animal. The large feed lots where cattle are fed corn (and pumped with growth hormones) are not a European thing. As for slaughter, a bullet in the head is a bullet in the head.

These products are ending up on Irish shelves too. I really wish people would stop supporting this disgusting industry.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/pigs-bacon-tesco-asda-aldi-mands-b2520254.html

I worked in one for a summer as a student. Wouldn't recommend it.

I started with zero expectations other than I knew it was going to be hard work, lifting heavy bags, cleaning etc. The smell is the first thing you notice but you get used to it after a while. Sticks to your clothes and to your body.

What stood out to me the most is that the pigs are reared in light and gradually move into darkness before they are shipped off to be slaughtered. Maybe it was just the place I worked, but by the time the pigs are ready to be sent off they are in a shed that has no light at all, fed gruel all day long and probably don't even know what they are anymore.

They are very intelligent animals as others have said. Curious and a little frightened after they are separated from their mother. Kept in a shed with 10-12 pens holding around 30-40 pigs in each pen as I remember.

While the process as a whole is quite cruel, the people who work there make it worse. The piglets are vaccinated a couple of weeks after they are born. I once saw a worker take the piglet and whack it off the wall to kill it as he deemed it wasn't going to survive anyway.

I didn't eat pork for around 6 months after I worked there. Forgot about it over time but the memories come back to me every now and then.

Beef farming probably isn't that bad. Chicken is probably the same or worse. None of it is good really.