> breeding pigs, egg-laying chickens and veal calves be given enough space to stand and turn around <
Man, I’m torn on this one. That does not seem to be an unreasonable thing. (I spent summers on a family farm as a kid. So I’m no stranger to the process.)
But I really dislike Big Brother government. So if I were in the California Assembly when this bill came up, I don’t know how I’d vote.
I’ve got friends on a farm who keep a few pigs for their own eating (also cattle and sheep for sale). They don’t have huge pens but there is plenty of room for them to move around. I tend to agree with this law. Pigs are intelligent animals and keeping them in a space where they can’t turn around seems cruel. If I need to pay more for bacon, well, it IS an essential food!
Same here. I watched Food Inc and the treatment of some of the animals was pretty bad. Guy running a hog operation said the hogs hadn’t bred naturally in decades. All artificial insemination. Not a terrible thing and they do it with race horses to make sure they get the output they’re wanting. The hogs though lived in a small plastic and metal crate for their whole lives and never get to see the light of day, never get to root for grubs, no mud baths. Not only is the breeding artificial, their entire existence is artificial. Just a step away from lab grown meat.
Chickens: I don’t even buy Purdue anymore. The breast meat is a big hunk of white rubber to me. I get a brand that comes in a blue wrapper, Mountainairre? I think it’s got mountain in the name. Says naturally raised whatever that means. Pretty small, 3-4lbs. I spatchcock and roast them. Super juicy and tender. Well worth the extra 30-50 cents per lb. Makes dinner for the four of us and then lunch or dinner for two of us for $5.00. Usually have it with yellow rice which is my own recipe and dirt cheap. We used to get Vigo but I decided to try and make a clone recipe. Not really a clone after tweaks but we like it.
Those Cornish Cross production birds also aren’t natural. Just little eating machines with zero chicken personality. They’ll eat until they can no longer stand due to the weight of their Dolly Parton breasts and then eat some more. Their underside gets raw from laying in their manure. Crowded as can be by that time too. The chicken farmers go in and pick up several dead birds every day. Purdue keeps those farmers deep in debt by requiring housing redesign every several years. They make $18k/yr but are a couple of hundred thousand dollars in debt all the time.
Same here.