'Hugh's Chicken Run' A Moral Dilemna for DFWs?

fc123

sleepymy wrote: »

This might help fc http://www.uncaged.co.uk/petfood.htm

Thanks for that!!! As one post said " Dogs have owners, cats have staff". The staff will endeavour to research and purchase a better and more ethical diet for the cats!!!!

JoeHel

Well I have just come back from Sainsburys from our weekly shop and was looking forward to choosing a free range chicken for our roast tonight and they had ALL GONE!! The cheapy chicken racks were full to the brim though. I decided to go and find something else so we've got pork tonight instead. Looks like the message has got through this week but who knows if it will last!

I haven't read it yet but there's an article in the paper about that Hayley with her saying it was all edited to make her look bad.

In_Search_Of_Me

Lets hope it stays that way! At the end of the day she was filmed, red handed and didnt even look guilty! EVen when her son cried she didnt look that bothered which in my book says alot!

sleepymy

JoeHel wrote: »

we've got pork tonight instead.

Hate to tell you but if it was factory farmed pork it was treated just as badly as the chickens

JoeHel

I was waiting for that. It says free range on the pack so I have to believe it I suppose. Short of rear the animals myself there isn't much else I can do!

ZTD

JoeHel wrote: »

I was waiting for that. It says free range on the pack so I have to believe it I suppose. Short of rear the animals myself there isn't much else I can do!

You should be congratulated on doing what you *are* doing. :beer:

Next stop - no supermarket..

sleepymy

JoeHel wrote: »

I was waiting for that. It says free range on the pack so I have to believe it I suppose. Short of rear the animals myself there isn't much else I can do!

It wasn't clear from your post, that's why I said 'if' it was factory farmed. Wasn't intending to offend you

lucielle

Hi, I'd like to add my two pence worth to the debate. I have been and milked cows and yes they do need to have a calf to produce milk. Not every calf is shot. If you have a cow with a high milk index it is a good idea to breed from her with a dairy bull and hopefully get a heifer calf to use as a replacement. Now there has been moves in the industry to get embryos sexed so you get the sex you require. Once again farmers are seen in a bad light because they are being accused of playing at 'God'. However other low yielding cows are usually put in calf to a beef bull and these calves are worth more to meat producers and females can be used in suckler cow herds as they are an ideal cross, taking on the milkiness of the dam and the beefiness of the sire to produce strong beef calves for the food chain.

BSE started calves getting shot due to having no export markets open. Yes it does happen but not that often. No farmer wants to see something he has 'helped' to create being shot at a few days old. Last year my family raised 17 pet lambs. The farmer was unable to justify the expense of keeping them (these were the lucky ones) and the others were got rid of. The children helped to bottle feed them and look after them on the field. We are still eating them. We have hens and 5 ducks, 3 ducks were drakes these were killed and given to a friend (don't like duck meat). Most farmers want people to be happy with the product you are buying but would you work 7 days a week for £200? The overheads are astronomical and the return is very little.
Lucielle

TurnaroundSue

i haven't read through all the postings on this forum, but would like to add my feelings towards this debate and apologise if they have already been covered.

1) I did not think that Hugh was trying to do it for his own gain, as he wasn't saying "buy free range chickens from my shop". He was trying to get people who buy chicken to try and buy free range wherever they bought it from. Also did you notice that the people who stated how much the chicken was from his shop started off by saying they were £18, the next said they was £20 and by the time it got to the third person they were £22!!!! Sounds a bit like "my fish was THIS BIG".

2) If it wasn't for the likes of Hugh and Jamie Oliver raising issues like this, then most of us would not be aware of how these animals are farmed. I for one was not aware on how bad the conditions were for standard chickens. They easily could just sit back and count their money, without putting themselves in the firing line for alot of critisim and I, for one, admire that they try and change our way of thinking - Yes, they have money, more than I will ever have and it would be easy for them to do nothing, but at least they are making people aware and helping us make an informed choice.

3) I will in the future be buying free range chicken, which is a direct result of the programmes I have seen this week. It is not though just because of the conditions the chickens are brought up in, but the free range chicken looked so much tastier. A majority of the standard chickens did not look appealing at all!! I do not have a massive budget for food and like many of us try and feed my family as healthily as I can which is within my budget, but I will be buying a couple of packets of biscuits/crisps less to be able to cover the additional cost of a free range chicken. I will also be looking at the reduced cabinet in the supermarket first to see if there are any on offer.

I hope that I haven't offended anybody by my comments, and I dont think people should feel guilty about the food they buy, but I do think that with a little imagination and maybe cutting back in other areas, free range is an option for more of us than we think.

hypno06

Turnaroundsue, you are thinking exactly the same way as I have. I am grateful for the awareness that has been presented this week, and I think that Jamie Oliver in particular takes a risk doing this type of thing, given his advertising contracts with Sainsburys! I am sure that he could survive without the sainsbury income but at the end of the day he won't want to lose it I am sure.

Anyway, small steps are the way I think. I have already started buying organic milk, and free range eggs as a result of this week, and I made a purely veggie curry for dinner yesterday. I will be trying hard to buy more free range and organic stuff generally - this means cutting back elsewhere, but I am sure I can work this through.

I was also cross at the mention of farmers only getting 3p per bird made on the telly - not cross because it was mentioned, but because at only 3p a bird, how on earth can a farmer hope to survive without mass production. If the supermarkets paid the farmer more, he could work on a "less birds per square foot" basis.

So, I think it was Rog2, thank you for starting this thread. I got lost on the cat/dog food bits, and I don't think it was ever intended as a "go veggie" thread, but it has certainly got me thinking and making little changes, hopefully for the better.