B.C. by Mastroianni and Hart for November 16, 2014

Need a fresh supply of pet chickens, I guess.

When I was a kid we named our sheep Mutton and Brisket. Had no problem eating them.

Why are those chickens sitting on nests? I thought only laying hens used them.

Names:

Popeye, Sanders, Tyson…

The only good bird, is a bird served on a plate. :P

When my daughters were younger, we were invited to a friend’s house for Easter dinner. It was lamb. I was a little concerned about how the girls would react. They asked, were told, they ate and enjoyed it. No issues.

I loved today’s comic. Lots more people would be vegetarians if they had to kill their own meat.

When factory farming the chickens don’t have names they just have numbers. If you want free range then go to the Pearls with Swine strip.

Once you name something, you have to take care of it. My daughter’s car is named Jack Skellington and mine is named Clyde II. The first Clyde was totaled a couple of weeks ago but we were able to harvest a few parts for transplants.

Years ago I knew a girl named Enon and she was from Enon Oklahoma…( What can I say ) anyway she bought a baby rabbit, raised it for a year. Easter Sunday she had it for dinner…

I have heard that if you name your chickens, they will learn their names and come when called. Fine for egg-layers, I suppose, not so good for fryers.

First rule of ranching – never name the livestock you’re going to eat.

I read an article about a research study that was conducted in England… which discovered that, when the farmers gave their milk cows names (instead of numbers), they got more milk..Amazing the things that scientists do studies on.

My kids will eat almost anything without hesitation. The only one that gives them pause is rabbit.

I have an uncle who passed away a few years ago and he used to be in the egg business. It was a business indeed, as the chickens were kept just for laying eggs. There were thousands of them in multiple barns and all they did was lay eggs! When they were no longer efficient egg layers, they were sold to be used as the basis for chicken soup..In today’s world, this does not sit well with many folks; but, it was real and the eggs he sold were highly rated and sought out by hundreds of customers. When we visited my aunt and uncle for a family activity, we tongue in cheek referred to taking a trip to Uncle Don’s “Egg Plant”…

I remember a few years ago Gordon Ramsay had a show called “The F Word.” One of the things he did on that show was raise some of his own animals for consumption. Mostly he did it in his back garden so that his kids could see the whole process of food production from the beginning until (almost) the end – he didn’t take his kids to see them slaughtered. The first season was five turkeys, the second season was a pair of hogs, and the third season was a pair of lambs. He gave them all names, usually of people on TV. One of the turkeys was named Jamie (for Jamie Oliver) for example. The kids never had any trouble saying goodbye to the animals or knowing they were eating a turkey or a hog that they had cared for in their own back yard. Neither did Gordon…mostly. One of the lambs he raised was allowed to live after it’s partner in the project was eaten by some animal in the pasture at David and Victoria Beckham’s place.

We are now two generations removed from an agrarian society. I suspect we are two generations away from a vegetarian society. Not a critique, just an observation, from the last meat-eater.

This is why we named the broccoli, carrots and heads of lettuce.

Years ago, we were staying at a friends house and while eating dinner one of the little girls (8 or 9 years old at the time), with a smile on her face asked if we knew what we were eating. She then said “Jeff!”

We named our calves and only hesitated to eat the first one, Tar Baby. He was good, very good..As to which came first, the egg greatly predates the chicken since insects and fish and other critters produce eggs too.

Same reason my wife can’t pick a lobster from the tank at the restaurant. Doesn’t mind eating food as long as she isn’t introduced to it first. (And that reminds me of a whole riff the late Richard Jeni did about picking lobsters from a tank — and wondering why there’s no cow tank in a steakhouse — which I highly recommend you look up on YouTube. It’s probably there.)

I know farmer who was kicked by a steer, he painted the sides of the animal with lines and labels for the major beef cuts

Ermmm…..They’er Gals. Not Fellas.

When my son was little, we were about to butcher the extra roosters. He was distraught and begged us to spare them. I carefully explained that they did not lay eggs but had to be fed and that we could not afford to feed them. I also explained that we would kill them with as little pain as possible. He processed this information for a bit and then went over to one of the roosters and matter of factly told it that he was about to be butchered. He had no problem eating them. He still has a tender heart as an adult and he still eats meat.