I’ve raised 2-5 pigs every year for a couple decades and there is definitely an attachment to the animals, but there is also an understanding that they are being raised to feed my family throughout the year.
When the killing day comes, every effort is made to make sure the animals feel as little stress as possible and that their death is instantaneous and (god I hope) painless as possible.
It’s emotional for everyone involved and we respect and appreciate the sacrifice we take from the animals
I’ll join in on this discussion but it seems fairly well answered. I raise a few pigs and a few hundred chickens each year. I keep what I need and sell the rest. It’s hard with the pigs. I was there from the time they were born and watched them grow, so there is a degree of attachment. What makes it possible is that I gave them a good life. They are free to run around, play in the mud, lay in the sun and just act like pigs. I do enjoy eating meat but cannot, in good conscience, support factory farming. So if I don’t raise it or hunt it myself, I don’t eat it. I do love and respect my animals but they are there to serve a purpose and I don’t forget that.
People running huge commercial farms for slaughtering animals? Naw. Most of them don’t ever even see the animals and those that do, just see them as a way to get a paycheck. I try my best to avoid meat from places like that.
Smaller farms or a personal slaughter is a bit different. An good thing to remember is that most of those people honor the animals they are killing for food. They are grateful to these animals and they work very hard to make this slaughter be as quick and painless as possible.
Yes, some of them may get emotionally attached to the animals and then they try to figure out how to keep them around, if at all possible.
It might be a little different but I used to raise animals to show for FFA. I would get attached of course sense depending on the animal I would spend a few months to a couple of years working with them everyday. When it came time to butcher though I always chose a butcher who was very clean, cared about not stressing the animal and it was humane as possible, luckily I had access to a facility like this.
I was always a little sad to see them go but its just the way it is, you do what you can to make sure the animals are well cared for and happy but at the end of the day, they are food.
I don’t think so that people see the animals not like living beings but as good like a merchandise that in the future, will give they money.