The farmers I know go through a handful of local butcher shops to handle everything from that point forwards. The butcher gets high quality meat to sell and the farmer doesn’t have to deal with the parts of the process that aren’t part of their skillset or that they otherwise don’t want to handle. So while they aren’t part of the killing and butchering process, they are confident in their trust of the individuals and small businesses they rely on for it
From what I’ve seen and learned, small businesses and small farms have the capability to handle the process of breeding and nurturing their stock for processing into the cuts of meat we buy at the store in a humane manner, but very large farms and very large meat processing operations every individual is simply too disconnected from the full process to ensure every step is as humane as it should be.
Ultimately this is why we need to greatly expand the USDA to ensure every step of the process of our food being brought to our plates is as humane and safe as possible. The USDA already has full time inspectors who work at meat processing plants full time to ensure everything is safe and by the book, with the power to pause operations at any moment if they see a problem, but this needs to be expanded. We need USDA and FDA inspections to be frequent and thorough at every food processing facility in the country. Farms that product stock for these facilities need to be regularly audited. The erosion of the FDA and USDA is part of why there’s been so many salmonella outbreaks and food recalls in recent years
Do they know exactly what happens at the slaughterhouse or are they doing it themselves?
The farmers I know go through a handful of local butcher shops to handle everything from that point forwards. The butcher gets high quality meat to sell and the farmer doesn’t have to deal with the parts of the process that aren’t part of their skillset or that they otherwise don’t want to handle. So while they aren’t part of the killing and butchering process, they are confident in their trust of the individuals and small businesses they rely on for it
From what I’ve seen and learned, small businesses and small farms have the capability to handle the process of breeding and nurturing their stock for processing into the cuts of meat we buy at the store in a humane manner, but very large farms and very large meat processing operations every individual is simply too disconnected from the full process to ensure every step is as humane as it should be.
Ultimately this is why we need to greatly expand the USDA to ensure every step of the process of our food being brought to our plates is as humane and safe as possible. The USDA already has full time inspectors who work at meat processing plants full time to ensure everything is safe and by the book, with the power to pause operations at any moment if they see a problem, but this needs to be expanded. We need USDA and FDA inspections to be frequent and thorough at every food processing facility in the country. Farms that product stock for these facilities need to be regularly audited. The erosion of the FDA and USDA is part of why there’s been so many salmonella outbreaks and food recalls in recent years