There are both moral and economic factors behind pastured poultry. Some would argue that morality and economics are uneasy bedfellows but recent advances in science may demonstrate otherwise. The sea captains who cared for the health and moral welfare of their sailors were more successful than the martinets who thrashed their men into submission. Similarly it may be humane agriculturalists who contribute most to human evolution and survival.
Reasoning has resulted in scientific methods and in philosophical attitudes. Using scientific methods agriculturalists have developed advanced methods of poultry production. In large sheds the optimum number of birds can be kept for the minimum amount of time. Treated as factory objects on a production line they can be rushed through the shortest possible lives from egg to roast chicken in a few weeks. In theory this maximizes profit. Egg production on the same factory principles is designed to exploit the maximum potential of hens to lay.
When ethics and sentimentality are thought to belong in different compartments to successful farming bizarre consequences can follow. Farmers who are compassionate family members and loving parents may become animal abusers without a qualm. The reasoning behind this is that emotions and sentiments should be excluded from scientific processes. Though sentient creatures might live in pain and misery the scientific imperative dictated that such suffering was irrelevant, or necessary in the interests of human welfare.
Factory farming methods came under scrutiny after the 1960s, as the environmental movement began. When serious outbreaks of avian flu threatened to spread rapidly to human populations around the world further attention was called to health issues. Agriculturalists were compelled to scrutinize the validity of their own methods critically. The consequence was a realization that the health and happiness of farm animals had a direct bearing on the health and equanimity of the human beings who ate them.
Primitive hunters were quite convinced of the interconnectedness of life on earth and modern ecologists came to the same conclusions late in the twentieth century. Agriculturalists wrestling with problems of food production are also taking into account that farm animals are sentient beings and that they experience emotions such as love, security and happiness. A human being devoid of such emotions is committed to an asylum. Farm animals that have been denied them are slaughtered and offered for sale as food which made be laden with poisonous hormones and pesticides.
Science can offer some detailed chemical analysis of food produced under various conditions and does frequently come up with health warnings, bans on food imports and theories concerning food and longevity. Simple observation can confirm that a hen with twelve chickens concealed among her ruffled feathers is supremely happy, together with her brood.
Long ago Geoffrey Chaucer and other philosophers drew important philosophical notions from such menial observations. These are very important in distinguishing human beings as higher, rather then lower forms of life on Earth. We being capable of emotions such as compassion based on reason. This is not quite the same as the instinct of love.
Pastured poultry is thus symbolic as well as practical. From practical perspectives chickens in coops that are moved about to fresh pastures must not be overcrowded and must be provided with healthy food and fresh water. Arrangements need to be made to protect them from predators and harvest them for economic purposes. Happy and interested chickens also symbolize some things about the evolution of humanity. People have reasoned out the logic and validity of happiness and health in the community of life on Earth.
Reasoning has resulted in scientific methods and in philosophical attitudes. Using scientific methods agriculturalists have developed advanced methods of poultry production. In large sheds the optimum number of birds can be kept for the minimum amount of time. Treated as factory objects on a production line they can be rushed through the shortest possible lives from egg to roast chicken in a few weeks. In theory this maximizes profit. Egg production on the same factory principles is designed to exploit the maximum potential of hens to lay.
When ethics and sentimentality are thought to belong in different compartments to successful farming bizarre consequences can follow. Farmers who are compassionate family members and loving parents may become animal abusers without a qualm. The reasoning behind this is that emotions and sentiments should be excluded from scientific processes. Though sentient creatures might live in pain and misery the scientific imperative dictated that such suffering was irrelevant, or necessary in the interests of human welfare.
Factory farming methods came under scrutiny after the 1960s, as the environmental movement began. When serious outbreaks of avian flu threatened to spread rapidly to human populations around the world further attention was called to health issues. Agriculturalists were compelled to scrutinize the validity of their own methods critically. The consequence was a realization that the health and happiness of farm animals had a direct bearing on the health and equanimity of the human beings who ate them.
Primitive hunters were quite convinced of the interconnectedness of life on earth and modern ecologists came to the same conclusions late in the twentieth century. Agriculturalists wrestling with problems of food production are also taking into account that farm animals are sentient beings and that they experience emotions such as love, security and happiness. A human being devoid of such emotions is committed to an asylum. Farm animals that have been denied them are slaughtered and offered for sale as food which made be laden with poisonous hormones and pesticides.
Science can offer some detailed chemical analysis of food produced under various conditions and does frequently come up with health warnings, bans on food imports and theories concerning food and longevity. Simple observation can confirm that a hen with twelve chickens concealed among her ruffled feathers is supremely happy, together with her brood.
Long ago Geoffrey Chaucer and other philosophers drew important philosophical notions from such menial observations. These are very important in distinguishing human beings as higher, rather then lower forms of life on Earth. We being capable of emotions such as compassion based on reason. This is not quite the same as the instinct of love.
Pastured poultry is thus symbolic as well as practical. From practical perspectives chickens in coops that are moved about to fresh pastures must not be overcrowded and must be provided with healthy food and fresh water. Arrangements need to be made to protect them from predators and harvest them for economic purposes. Happy and interested chickens also symbolize some things about the evolution of humanity. People have reasoned out the logic and validity of happiness and health in the community of life on Earth.
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