The Year of the Pig: Not So Fast!

Pictured here: these little piglets, the size of puppies, were less than a week old when I photographed them yesterday. There is nothing in the world cuter than a tiny baby pig.

After reading over 400 new posts on blogs this morning, I noticed that some people are jumping the gun on this Year of the Pig thing. Make no mistake: I love the Year of the Pig. I am the Year of the Pig. My previous phone number was HOG-SING (and it was palindromic, too). My favorite radio station: KPIG, (107 OINK 5).

But officially, the Year of the Pig does not commence until February 18, 2007. That is unusually late for a Chinese New Year: most begin in late January. So our Year of the Pig won't last even a full calendar year, alas.

Nevertheless, given that TLC Ranch has nearly 400 mentions on my blog, and Justin Severino, the chef-turned-butcher who processes all TLC Ranch meat, has over 400, I think it is safe to say that pigs and pork will continue to provide lots of fodder, so to speak, for the Year of the Pig, in all its glory.

Pictured here: some of the amazing genetic diversity in the TLC Ranch pig herd.

The really important thing about truly celebrating the amazing animal that the pig is, is (shock alert): we have GOT to put a stop to companies like Smithfield. Please go read The Ethicurean's very cogent piece on the grim reality of factory farming pigs. (Be sure to look at the Google Earth image she found of the red water run-off by the hog factory.)

Remember: the CEO of Smithfield made $10 million dollars in salary alone last year.

A little more from DemocracySouth.org: "The hog industry has targeted eastern North Carolina. They think they can get away with unsafe operations here because we are so poor, because we   are often black, Native American or Latino..." -Gary Grant (Chair, Hog Roundtable)

And then read this piece of s--t, outrageous propaganda, from Dennis Avery (pictured here) at the disingenously-named "Heartland.org": "Hog Farms No Threat to North Carolina Water Quality." Google Dennis Avery, whose head is so far up his rectum that, if he jumped, he'd disappear. (You can Google my blog for a bit about him. He is completely evil.)

Finally, you can look at a list of the worst offenders (at least at the time of the publication) at this HTML version of a PDF file at Environmental Defense's Hog Watch.

Some links to the biggest give-a-shites (literally):

Smithfield (warning: clicking on the link for Consumers results in PAULA DEEN appearing with a truly frightening fake-a-tan)

Premium Standard Farms

Prestage Farms

I imagine when they find links from this piece, I'll hear from some Avery-clone liars marketers.

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THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: "Millions of dollars' worth of advertising shows such little respect for the reader's intelligence that it amounts almost to outright insult." — James Randolph Adams

Thanks for visiting.

Comments

[Lauren]

I wish I could carry one of those baby pigs around in my pocket. Adorable.

In fact, I JUST read The Ethicurean's piece, and I'm horrified. I'll be curious to know what sort of feedback you get from The Industry.

[german recipes]

slaughtering these pigs can be good if they are kept up like the ones in iowa they keep their pigs eating organic foods and exercising which makes the meat better tasting and less fatty.