“If a sheep could, it’d die twice.”
April 13, 2021 5:57 AM Subscribe
The knackerman - an affecting portrait of a man and his job of removing the farm animals who didn't make it. (Trigger warning: animal death)
Indeed. A sensitive portrayal of a job that many of us would probably prefer not to think about.
posted by domdib at 7:01 AM on April 13, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by domdib at 7:01 AM on April 13, 2021 [2 favorites]
That was really interesting to read, thank you for posting it.
posted by Dip Flash at 7:12 AM on April 13, 2021
posted by Dip Flash at 7:12 AM on April 13, 2021
The post title made me laugh - my brother in law is a veterinarian in Texas, and he likes to say that sheep are born looking for a place to die.
posted by Lawn Beaver at 7:50 AM on April 13, 2021 [13 favorites]
posted by Lawn Beaver at 7:50 AM on April 13, 2021 [13 favorites]
I had a friend who grew up on a chicken farm, who said if I knew how many dumb ways they get themselves dead I wouldn’t have any guilt about eating them.
But if a farm animal “took one look at life and quit” I can hardly blame them. I think that line will stick with me for a long time, actually.
posted by bjrubble at 8:47 AM on April 13, 2021 [9 favorites]
But if a farm animal “took one look at life and quit” I can hardly blame them. I think that line will stick with me for a long time, actually.
posted by bjrubble at 8:47 AM on April 13, 2021 [9 favorites]
I've just been reading 'All Creatures Great and Small,' and just read a chapter with a quite memorable knackerman, and a pretty full description of the business as it was in the 30's. Interesting to read the update. The person purified here seems much more efficient than James Harriet, anyways, who seems to be endlessly having a pint offered by the clients after every bit of work.
posted by kaibutsu at 8:54 AM on April 13, 2021 [3 favorites]
posted by kaibutsu at 8:54 AM on April 13, 2021 [3 favorites]
The post title made me laugh - my brother in law is a veterinarian in Texas, and he likes to say that sheep are born looking for a place to die
Yeah, I have a cousin who married a livestock/horse vet, and based on his stories, it's really obvious these animals were selectively bred to just (barely) stay alive long enough to be turned into food. And many of them don't even live that long. Lots of "...and then I had to shove it's intestines back in after it had pooped them out..." type stuff.
I had a friend who grew up on a chicken farm, who said if I knew how many dumb ways they get themselves dead I wouldn’t have any guilt about eating them.
Chickens are definitely in the "too stupid to live" category. I don't think they so much "quit" life, as they never really had it in them in the first place. I honestly can't understand how feral chickens can exist.
posted by sideshow at 9:09 AM on April 13, 2021 [3 favorites]
Yeah, I have a cousin who married a livestock/horse vet, and based on his stories, it's really obvious these animals were selectively bred to just (barely) stay alive long enough to be turned into food. And many of them don't even live that long. Lots of "...and then I had to shove it's intestines back in after it had pooped them out..." type stuff.
I had a friend who grew up on a chicken farm, who said if I knew how many dumb ways they get themselves dead I wouldn’t have any guilt about eating them.
Chickens are definitely in the "too stupid to live" category. I don't think they so much "quit" life, as they never really had it in them in the first place. I honestly can't understand how feral chickens can exist.
posted by sideshow at 9:09 AM on April 13, 2021 [3 favorites]
I too was reminded of Mallock in All Creatures Great And Small. "Stagnation of t' lungs!" "Worm i' the tail!"
posted by phliar at 9:25 AM on April 13, 2021 [9 favorites]
posted by phliar at 9:25 AM on April 13, 2021 [9 favorites]
I took 3 pigs to the butcher last year, which was really hard. Our pigs were docile and friendly so loading them into the trailer felt like betrayal. We set aside an hour - they walked right in. Then we had to wait a little bit at the butcher. Small town operation - in front of us was one steer, after us were 3 or 4 lambs. All healthy, alert animals - which of course legally they must be for safety. I thought it must be very hard to kill lively, healthy animals every single day. I've made the decision to euthanize a sick animal but this felt very different.
I've also called in a dead horse to be picked up. In my part of the midwest, you can pay $1000+ (this was ten years ago, I don't know the numbers now) for cremation or to hire a backhoe and bury the animal, or you can pay $100 for the mink farm to come and pick them up. Used to be the mink farm paid for the food, but over time the tables turned. The smell of that truck was really something.
posted by Emmy Rae at 9:31 AM on April 13, 2021 [8 favorites]
I've also called in a dead horse to be picked up. In my part of the midwest, you can pay $1000+ (this was ten years ago, I don't know the numbers now) for cremation or to hire a backhoe and bury the animal, or you can pay $100 for the mink farm to come and pick them up. Used to be the mink farm paid for the food, but over time the tables turned. The smell of that truck was really something.
posted by Emmy Rae at 9:31 AM on April 13, 2021 [8 favorites]
I honestly can't understand how feral chickens can exist.
Do they? I've read that chickens are so different from their wild ancestors as to be unrecognizable, and incapable of rewilding. But maybe that was an overly dramatic representation.
posted by Emmy Rae at 9:33 AM on April 13, 2021
Do they? I've read that chickens are so different from their wild ancestors as to be unrecognizable, and incapable of rewilding. But maybe that was an overly dramatic representation.
posted by Emmy Rae at 9:33 AM on April 13, 2021
Now that I'm thinking about it, I've only run into them in Hawaii, which of course is missing the usual type of wildlife you'd see in other parts of the world. Here in Orange County, escaped chickens would last like 8 hours before hawks came down and ate most them. Then the coyotes would get almost all the rest, then the cats, then the etc.
posted by sideshow at 9:44 AM on April 13, 2021 [3 favorites]
posted by sideshow at 9:44 AM on April 13, 2021 [3 favorites]
Yes, feral chickens do fine in Hawaii. I saw many in Kauai and Maui when we visited there. They seemed quite able to take care of themselves. There are some feral cats, but not enough to wipe out the chickens, and as has been stated few other predators. The chickens are fun to see, even on some beaches, but I told not so good to eat, too tough.
posted by mermayd at 9:56 AM on April 13, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by mermayd at 9:56 AM on April 13, 2021 [2 favorites]
You get feral chickens in Key West also. Honestly, seems like feral chickens like tropical locations, so who are the dumb ones again?
posted by KirTakat at 9:56 AM on April 13, 2021 [11 favorites]
posted by KirTakat at 9:56 AM on April 13, 2021 [11 favorites]
My childhood pastor was extremely concerned that his confirmation students wouldn't properly get Scriptural agricultural metaphors. We were smack in the middle of farm country, but it was dairy and crops. "Many people don't understand what the Bible means about sheep," he would remark after every ovine metaphor, in case we somehow got above ourselves when we were compared to God's flock. "Sheep are just incredibly, incredibly stupid and they constantly imperil themselves."
Goats did not enter into the conversation; we were believed to have enough goat knowledge to make our way through the New Testament. Nor did vines, olives, or fig trees, which being Mediterranean were considered outside the worldview of Lutheranism so we should just accept these as somewhat fantastical plants. The sea, however, needed further explanation: "You have to realize that the ancient Israelites were not Norwegian." {MINDBOGGLING I KNOW} "They feared the sea." No student in that basement classroom had ever seen the ocean; it was thousands of miles away. But almost every town had a church with an altarpiece of Jesus walking on the water while a sinking Peter reconsidered his life choices. The many stories of Jesus going about in boats or chilling with fisherman were not further expounded; we were considered to know enough about fishing.
posted by Hypatia at 10:27 AM on April 13, 2021 [40 favorites]
Goats did not enter into the conversation; we were believed to have enough goat knowledge to make our way through the New Testament. Nor did vines, olives, or fig trees, which being Mediterranean were considered outside the worldview of Lutheranism so we should just accept these as somewhat fantastical plants. The sea, however, needed further explanation: "You have to realize that the ancient Israelites were not Norwegian." {MINDBOGGLING I KNOW} "They feared the sea." No student in that basement classroom had ever seen the ocean; it was thousands of miles away. But almost every town had a church with an altarpiece of Jesus walking on the water while a sinking Peter reconsidered his life choices. The many stories of Jesus going about in boats or chilling with fisherman were not further expounded; we were considered to know enough about fishing.
posted by Hypatia at 10:27 AM on April 13, 2021 [40 favorites]
My parents live next to a sheep farm, and they saw a lamb run so hard into a fence post it killed itself. They are not bright, and these are the generally hardier, less-stupid hill sheep. The farmer reckons they lose a third of the lambs every year (although some of these are undoubtedly due to all the irresponsible dog owners who just let their dogs off leash in the sheep areas. Don't get me started.)
posted by stillnocturnal at 10:28 AM on April 13, 2021 [3 favorites]
posted by stillnocturnal at 10:28 AM on April 13, 2021 [3 favorites]
In Idaho, they have a saying, "He's dumber than seven head of sheep." The higher the number, the dumber the person.
posted by corvikate at 11:19 AM on April 13, 2021 [16 favorites]
posted by corvikate at 11:19 AM on April 13, 2021 [16 favorites]
< shanty >
Soooooon may the knackerman come,
To do the shitty job that others do shun,
One day when the scraping’s all done
He’ll take our ewe and goooooo
< /shanty >
posted by Happy Dave at 11:28 AM on April 13, 2021 [14 favorites]
Soooooon may the knackerman come,
To do the shitty job that others do shun,
One day when the scraping’s all done
He’ll take our ewe and goooooo
< /shanty >
posted by Happy Dave at 11:28 AM on April 13, 2021 [14 favorites]
The bit in the article about the unpleasantness of poultry really struck a chord. I've helped friends cull their chicken flocks - I am not generally a squeamish person, but there is something about the smell of a recently dispatched chicken that is very, very offputting. Multiply that by 20 or 50 birds and it's enough to put you off eating for the rest of the day. A recently killed chicken just smells like death in a way that I have not experienced with larger livestock or wild game.
posted by backseatpilot at 11:38 AM on April 13, 2021 [7 favorites]
posted by backseatpilot at 11:38 AM on April 13, 2021 [7 favorites]
This is a lovely article - I'm just here to chime in with a sheep death quote, from the BBC Edwardian Farm series' sheep subject matter expert (can't find his name in a thorough trawl of IMDB although perhaps someone else remembers): "A sheep's the only creature on God's green earth who's looking for the quickest way to die."
posted by All hands bury the dead at 12:19 PM on April 13, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by All hands bury the dead at 12:19 PM on April 13, 2021 [1 favorite]
Much of the "stupidity" many people seem to be observing in these animals is due to the unnatural conditions in which we keep them when we want to make their transformation from embryo to human food as ruthlessly efficient as possible. Do people really not see that? Saying something is "too stupid to live" while judging that being's right to existence based on how it acts when it has known nothing in life but a torture chamber with 0.6 square feet per bird, ammonia levels so high it melts their corneas off, and monstrous breeding practices that cause physical deformity that leads to high rates of injury seems...rather uncharitable. If you were taken from your mother as an infant and raised in a fluorescent-lit white box and fed with stainless steel wall-nipples while you wallowed in a sea of your own feces you'd probably end up "too stupid to live" too. Animals can do strange and seemingly nonsensical things when they are experiencing terror, pain, suffering, confusion, and confinement.
That being said, as a vet I admit I have occasionally thrown out the "horses have two neurons, one for suicide and one for homicide" and "if you look deeply into a sheep's eyes, you will see the back of its skull". Just in case I sounded a bit holier-than-thou up there. ;)
posted by SinAesthetic at 12:22 PM on April 13, 2021 [40 favorites]
That being said, as a vet I admit I have occasionally thrown out the "horses have two neurons, one for suicide and one for homicide" and "if you look deeply into a sheep's eyes, you will see the back of its skull". Just in case I sounded a bit holier-than-thou up there. ;)
posted by SinAesthetic at 12:22 PM on April 13, 2021 [40 favorites]
I have seen an adult cow slowly and majestically turn itself around for no apparent reason and then run full-tilt across a twenty acre grass pasture in order to stun itself against the only tree. I suppose the farmer was just glad the others didn't take the hint and try it themselves.
I keep that in my mind when I see tales of idiot humans injuring/killing themselves doing stupid tricks for Youtube/TikTok/whatever.
posted by aramaic at 12:55 PM on April 13, 2021 [4 favorites]
I keep that in my mind when I see tales of idiot humans injuring/killing themselves doing stupid tricks for Youtube/TikTok/whatever.
posted by aramaic at 12:55 PM on April 13, 2021 [4 favorites]
*sigh*. This is so unnecessary. We really don't *need* to keep doing this to animals. Plants work fine.
posted by tigrrrlily at 1:09 PM on April 13, 2021 [4 favorites]
posted by tigrrrlily at 1:09 PM on April 13, 2021 [4 favorites]
Do people really not see that?
Whatever the most ideal and wonderful upbringing possible for a chicken you can conjure up in your head is, you can raise chicken that way, and you'll be able to hypnotize it by holding it while tracing a small circle in the dirt. And, if you hold it upside-down, it will still go completely stiff for a period of time because it thinks it is now dead.
posted by sideshow at 2:37 PM on April 13, 2021 [5 favorites]
Whatever the most ideal and wonderful upbringing possible for a chicken you can conjure up in your head is, you can raise chicken that way, and you'll be able to hypnotize it by holding it while tracing a small circle in the dirt. And, if you hold it upside-down, it will still go completely stiff for a period of time because it thinks it is now dead.
posted by sideshow at 2:37 PM on April 13, 2021 [5 favorites]
No one is doing it here, but when the inevitable that's-life comment comes, I counter with the line from A Christmas Carol that also belongs in the Bible and every other book of morality:
"Man," said the Ghost, "if man you be in heart, not adamant, forbear that wicked cant until you have discovered What the surplus is, and Where it is. Will you decide what men shall live, what men shall die? It may be, that in the sight of Heaven, you are more worthless and less fit to live than millions like this poor man's child. Oh God! to hear the Insect on the leaf pronouncing on the too much life among his hungry brothers in the dust."
posted by lon_star at 3:11 PM on April 13, 2021 [5 favorites]
"Man," said the Ghost, "if man you be in heart, not adamant, forbear that wicked cant until you have discovered What the surplus is, and Where it is. Will you decide what men shall live, what men shall die? It may be, that in the sight of Heaven, you are more worthless and less fit to live than millions like this poor man's child. Oh God! to hear the Insect on the leaf pronouncing on the too much life among his hungry brothers in the dust."
posted by lon_star at 3:11 PM on April 13, 2021 [5 favorites]
and you'll be able to hypnotize it by holding it while tracing a small circle in the dirt
This is called 'tonic immobility' and it's triggered by being restrained and stress rather than any nonsense about lines and circles. E.g., from the intro of this paper:
This is called 'tonic immobility' and it's triggered by being restrained and stress rather than any nonsense about lines and circles. E.g., from the intro of this paper:
It is believed to be an anti-predator behaviour, that will only manifest in a natural setting if a prey animal has exhausted all other possible means of escape from a predatorposted by Pyry at 3:54 PM on April 13, 2021 [7 favorites]
[...]
Animals that are subjected to this test in a laboratory setting are placed on their back and gently restrained for a brief period. The longer the animal stays in this immobile state, the more fearful it is considered to be [9], though the relationship between tonic immobility and anxiety is potentially less straight forward, as it often does not correlate with other basic anxiety measures [10,11]. However, numerous experiments have been made that demonstrate that the duration of tonic immobility will be prolonged by making the situation appear more threatening to the animal, or subjecting it to aversive stimuli just before the tonic immobility trial [9,12].
The goat was dead: to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that.
posted by Huffy Puffy at 4:49 PM on April 13, 2021 [4 favorites]
posted by Huffy Puffy at 4:49 PM on April 13, 2021 [4 favorites]
farm work has a reputation for doing as much damage to its workers emotionally as it does physically
I am physically much younger. Up top I am the walrus. I think we sell the farm to the next New Yorker with the cash offer. We turned down a few because I thought they couldn't cut it. Now I don't care. Gonna save my own.
posted by Mr. Yuck at 5:23 PM on April 13, 2021 [4 favorites]
I am physically much younger. Up top I am the walrus. I think we sell the farm to the next New Yorker with the cash offer. We turned down a few because I thought they couldn't cut it. Now I don't care. Gonna save my own.
posted by Mr. Yuck at 5:23 PM on April 13, 2021 [4 favorites]
This makes me nostalgic for working with farmers and farm animals. The death never bugged me, nor the smell (except birds and concentrated swine) or blood, but watching someone grieve the loss of something that is both vocation and avocation while being emotionally cinched down so tight they couldn't move?
Farmers are wound tight... That and LGBTQ/misogyny/racism meant I couldn't deal, though I loved the work. I wish they could see how much their 'isms' hurt them and their families and drive away people who'd appreciate their hard work and passion.
I don't miss the pay and early mornings though!
posted by esoteric things at 5:58 PM on April 13, 2021 [3 favorites]
Farmers are wound tight... That and LGBTQ/misogyny/racism meant I couldn't deal, though I loved the work. I wish they could see how much their 'isms' hurt them and their families and drive away people who'd appreciate their hard work and passion.
I don't miss the pay and early mornings though!
posted by esoteric things at 5:58 PM on April 13, 2021 [3 favorites]
Saying something is "too stupid to live" while judging that being's right to existence based on how it acts when it has known nothing in life but a torture chamber with 0.6 square feet per bird, ammonia levels so high it melts their corneas off, and monstrous breeding practices that cause physical deformity that leads to high rates of injury seems...rather uncharitable.
yes, but when they've wandered across the road from the neighbors' and you can't get them out because every time you chase them out and quit, they forget you're there and come back ...
still, i've never seen a chicken hit by a car - as much as they like to hang out by the road, you'd think one of them would get hit
and then back in my hometown, hundreds of crows got ran over by a train because - well, no one knows, but we all thought crows were smarter than that
but i've never heard of an animal voting republican, so there's that
posted by pyramid termite at 7:13 PM on April 13, 2021 [5 favorites]
yes, but when they've wandered across the road from the neighbors' and you can't get them out because every time you chase them out and quit, they forget you're there and come back ...
still, i've never seen a chicken hit by a car - as much as they like to hang out by the road, you'd think one of them would get hit
and then back in my hometown, hundreds of crows got ran over by a train because - well, no one knows, but we all thought crows were smarter than that
but i've never heard of an animal voting republican, so there's that
posted by pyramid termite at 7:13 PM on April 13, 2021 [5 favorites]
So, I’m not a vegan, but this excellent (if rather grim) article, and the subsequent discussion thread, has me ruminating over the many, many plant-based sources of protein.
I think I’ll go make a PBJ...
posted by darkstar at 9:25 PM on April 13, 2021 [1 favorite]
I think I’ll go make a PBJ...
posted by darkstar at 9:25 PM on April 13, 2021 [1 favorite]
I was once in a car wreck (not driving) when a truck picking up cows that had frozen to death came to a stop in the middle of a road. I don't think about that person's job title, but Knackerman (or actually Knackerwoman in this case) would have been appropriate.
posted by The_Vegetables at 8:22 AM on April 14, 2021
posted by The_Vegetables at 8:22 AM on April 14, 2021
I don't know why it's inconcievable to some of you, that humans are the only creatures who commit suicide. Faced with the horrors of being a sentient creature raised by humans for food, I think it entirely possible that what you see is not stupidity but despair.
posted by WalkerWestridge at 1:11 PM on April 14, 2021 [3 favorites]
posted by WalkerWestridge at 1:11 PM on April 14, 2021 [3 favorites]
I meant humans aren't the only creatures that commit suicide.
posted by WalkerWestridge at 8:41 AM on April 15, 2021
posted by WalkerWestridge at 8:41 AM on April 15, 2021
Speaking of sheep being oblivious to their own safety ...
posted by fantabulous timewaster at 11:43 AM on April 18, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by fantabulous timewaster at 11:43 AM on April 18, 2021 [2 favorites]
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posted by Halloween Jack at 6:37 AM on April 13, 2021 [5 favorites]