When Livestock Farmers Switch To Being Vegan
It's hard to think that livestock farmers could become vegans, but that's the movement right now. Not in the sense that a lot of farmers are becoming vegan, but rather that's the push vegans are putting on farmers. The fact that farmers are more open to it is the shocking thing.
Let me just say this so someone doesn't feel the need to fire off a gnarly email of why they're upset... If you eat and live vegan, good for you. That's a choice that you made, and I fully support you in your choice. That being said, I am not vegan, and while I'm about to talk a lot about it, nothing shakes loose my support of your choice. Every person should live as the person they want to be. Can we be peaceful and civil long enough to talk about this? Good.
Vegans are the bane of the human existence on this planet.
I'm just kidding of course...lol... I just know if you're a vegan, you probably clicked in here looking for a chance to get hurt in the feels. This story isn't about you. It's about the farmer.
To me, meat is a tasty thing. Land, air, sea, I like it all. Cows, pig, birds, fish, crustaceans, even alligators and sharks, I like it all. That doesn't mean I'm sitting down to eat shark fin soup like some soulless individual unaware of that situation, but you get my drift. I understand that meat is, in fact, murder... but I do agree with whatever 90's comedian that say that murder tastes pretty good. It just does. Even vegans will agree that meat tastes really good, otherwise they wouldn't put so much effort and positive opinions into products like plant-based burgers and the like, they just choose not to get that taste from the source.
I realized that meat was murder when I was much younger than I am now. It was the first time I went hunting for deer over Thanksgiving almost twenty years ago. After days of waiting behind a burlap sack on the side of a barn, a piece of meat came walking within my comfortable shooting range. Fighting off the excitement and adrenaline coursing through my veins, I managed to sling some lead into it. Shockingly, it didn't take off running. It kind of stumbled for a few seconds, laid down, and died a few moments later. As the adrenaline wore off in my accomplishment, I felt terribly sad in the realization that I had taken a life.
Don't get me wrong. We made bratwurst out of that deer, and in the first bite I was instantly cool with murder again. It's just that the story in the above video struck me as weird. I do think people should live as their own conscience says, but all the same, how does a functioning livestock farm just up and switch to plant-based proteins overnight?
Shocker, here's an unpopular opinion... Money and security.
As with any market, there is just too much fluctuation in meats. Whether it's of the land, air, or sea, those markets fluctuate. For instance, in April, the price of beef was so cheap, farmers couldn't afford to sell cows to the market, yet the price of beef doubled. The government thinks there's a price-tampering case there and I'm sure they'll figure it out soon, but it's not the first time we've seen something like this.
During the Great Isolation (that's what I'm calling April 2020), there was a rumor floating around about a shortage of chickens. Luckily, it hasn't appeared to have happened, and prices are back on par, but you don't hear stories like this about the mushroom farmer. It's an industry where ounces equal dollars, and there's no real threat to decimation. The room where mushrooms are grown is kept constant, dark, moist, cool, and money grows out of the dirt. It can be done year round too. So I can understand why a farmer might choose to raise mushrooms over chickens.
In SWOK, the switch from cattle to goats has really taken hold over the last two decades. While you may not eat goat, it's become a big export for the country, because if this pandemic has taught us anything, it doesn't matter what it is, someone somewhere is eating it... and odds are, it tastes pretty darn good.