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Ruminants. Cud-chewing animals are called ruminants. They ruminate (chew cud), which has become a figurative synonym for engaging in deep thought, which says something about how we view those animals. smile

And the random award of the day goes to....

Empire Kosher Meats are one of the best large-scale meat production facilities, in terms of kindness to the animals. Aaron's has had "issues" with tzaar baalei chayim, and Hebrew National has as well (H. N. also has issues with using parts of the animal traditionally not used for kosher food). Other than Empire, your best bet is to make friends with a small-scale farmer, if you live in or near any rural area. Check out how they treat their animals, then buy one and accompany it to the shochet (kosher butcher) and watch how they treat the animal in the hours and minutes leading up to slaughter.

My bashert is very unenthusiastic about dairy products, and so I do keep a basar (meat) kitchen instead of a vegetarian/chalav (dairy) kitchen as I would rather do, but personally I feel a bit sick by it, knowing that I don't know the farmer or the butcher and I have no way of knowing whether the animal lived well all its life, whether it was at all frightened leading up to its slaughter. I'm slowly phasing meat out of our lives. I'm not going to buy any more once our current supply is used up, and we'll see if my bashert even notices. If we can go a month without noticing, I think I'll put away the basar dishes for good and bring out the chalav dishes. Though, to be honest, I'm also not fond of what is done in the dairy and egg industries, so I'll probably make things that are mostly parve and free of eggs as well.

I'm not doing without fish, though. My health suffers greatly if I don't get SOME animal protein once in a while. When I need protein, it's better to get a little protein and a few calories through fish, instead of a little protein and a lot of calories through legumes. I'm getting back my figure -- I've lost 55 pounds already b'ezrat Hashem, b'li ein hara, puh puh puh.

I say b'li ein hara about my weight loss because it's still ongoing for a bit longer, and I don't want to yo-yo. I want it to remain off, b'ezrat Hashem, so that I stay in this excellent condition.

It isn't solely about the right of the animal, though that is one of the several considerations. It's about ME, and whether I stop thinking of the fact that my eating causes not just a quick death, but a lifetime of systemic anguish for animals. What would I become, if I became calloused to that? Frankly, I'm not going to apologize for being too compassionate, nor consider that I need correcting and toughening up, and that I should just get used to the idea of animals stuck in too-small cages, in crowded conditions. Call me a bleeding-heart liberal all you want. It's true, and it is not to my shame.

thats how i feel. If the life of an Animal is being sacraficed for my needs, i want to make shure the animal isnt totured, miss treated, beaten, etc.

and yes Zonko, cows arn't People, but they feel pain and suffer just like us.

i won't dispute that, as i can't quite recall ever being a cow.

the ideal cow environment, then, according to you, would be wandering around with one's face on the floor, eating grass. how would you feel if you had to do that? every day of your life. oh, and that's as good as it gets, right?

EDIT: forgot about constant regurgitation.