Know How Kate!

You know you’re dating a pretty neat guy when he hears “Would you like to butcher some chickens for a date?” and promptly answers with “Sure!”

In an effort to become more self sufficient and knowledgable across the board, I decided I wanted to try my hand at butchering chickens. I called up a local farm, asked if the owner would teach me, and tentatively planned a day to get it done. When my sliiiiightly unconvential date night rolled around, I couldn’t have been more excited–and I wasn’t at all disappointed!

The idea of butchering itself was fine. I felt decidedly neutral about it. The appeal lies in following in my grandmother’s footsteps (a woman I’ll probably often mention on this blog, since she serves as one of my most prominent role models), building a new skill, and in the most bizarre way… honoring my love of animals.

My grandmother was one of those women who was tougher than nails–an unsurprising fact, given she had grown up on a ranch–yet never failed to show kindness. She once told me “Kate, you’re looking pale. You need to get out and garden.” Hearing it from anyone else, I might’ve been hurt. However, from this woman? Feeling offended didn’t even cross my mind! Her only thought was to look after me and ensure I was leading a balanced life.

I think I’ve spent a great deal of my life assuming kind people were always sweet, relenting, and permanently gentle with all things. I realize now that at times, the kind thing to do is sometimes very difficult & may seem terribly unkind–which brings me back to chicken butchering.

It was messy, nerve-wracking, and I stopped several times to wonder if this was something I should be doing. Yet… I couldn’t be more content with the fact that I tried it. I’ll contine practicing so I can have the ability to raise and butcher chickens entirely by myself.

I believe everyone ought to learn how to do it properly. In the event of an emergency, it’s a handy skill. Keeping yourself and/or your family fed is invaluable. The knowledge can build your confidence and give you the courage to diversify your skillset in other ways. I also believe–and I know this will seem like an extreme take!–that everyone should be butchering chickens for themselves or their neighbors. It’s the humane and kind thing to do for these animals.

Many factory farms and large scale slaughter houses will do whatever is needed to boost profits–whether it be raising meat birds in pens packed together so tightly they can hardly move, or skinning animals alive because the production process has been accelerated so quickly, methods of stunning/killing are only effective a portion of the time. It’s understandable that a business should want to maximize profits to continue operations and providing folks with jobs. The desire to build companies and drive profits has led to significant innovation. However, when considering the issue, we should remove all political notions/biasis and focus on the issue at hand: this is an industry where corners should not be cut!

In my opinion, whether you eat meat three times a day or none at all, folks should be encouraged to move towards self-sufficiency and (arguably) the far more humane practice of butchering your meat at home. While it may be tough work and you’ll likely see less meat on your plate at dinner time, providing for yourself in a way that better honors the lives of animals is probably the way to go!

At the end of the day, I am beyond grateful for the experience. On to rabbits next!

-Kate