[EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: "I think if you know the people you are dealing with, as I did having worked there for a year, and you can ask about their methods, you will see that they will not stay in business if they are turning out a bad product and are not humane in their treatment of your animals." --------------------------------------------------------------------- This is so true!
Knowing who you are dealing with is KEY - if you don't know them, ask to take a tour of the facilities, check for cleanliness, check the temperature in the butchering rooms, check the animals they have there waiting to be slaughtered, how are they treated? Are they sick animals or healthy? Unfortunately, there are a lot of butchers/packing houses that are not humane to the animals, mix sick animals with healthy ones, mix your meat with other meat, keep some for themselves (what is this a tip?) and don't keep the area clean. They stay in business because customer's don't know any better or don't check. If possible, an 'inspection' that is not scheduled in advance is best. If they don't want to let you look around, go elsewhere. I just recently refused to sell a ram to a meat packer after I looked in his trailer where there were three sheep that were obviously sick and had obviously been there for some time - this wasn't even meat for me, he was wanting to buy my ram to process and sell to someone else. I couldn't do it - I couldn't send one of my animals into those conditions. I would rather butcher him myself than subject him to that. Onalee =============================================== This message is from the Barbados Blackbelly Sheep mailing list (http://www.awrittenword.com/listserv/index.html). To respond to this message, send e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe or change your membership options, go to http://lists.coyotenet.net/mailman/listinfo/blackbelly To search the archives, go to http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
