photo: Brad Harrison (I'm surrounded by bison, but haven't shot anything on digital yet.. I really want to get this blog up.. so thanks to Brad for his pic in the meantime)


Saturday, September 30, 2006
Location: Bison Ranch, Alberta

I’ve been a little relaxed regarding my blogs over the past few days; this is not due to a lack of things to write about, but more an overabundance of subject matter. Here at the ranch, the daily sights, sounds and physical experiences constantly overwhelm me. At the end of the day my brain is usually a jumbled mix of thoughts and ideas.

Over the past two weeks I’ve herded bison and cattle, I’ve helped slaughter bison and lamb, I’ve moved chickens, I’ve collected warm eggs from the hen house, I’ve helped a vet preg-test sixty female cattle, I’ve learned to milk a jersey cow, make butter, yogurt, and as usual, I’ve captured some amazing images.

As I was settling into bed in the van last night, I was thinking about what it is that has struck me most while here on the ranch. The answer lies in the beauty and wonder found in the balance of life and death.

I’ve seen some things here that most people would find hard to handle. These things, while maybe difficult, are a definite reality of our world. I feel I’ve come to a place where I can appreciate the beauty in not just life, but also in death. This may seem strange, but I can appreciate the sanctity found in an animal slaughter. It is very important to note that this sanctity travels hand in hand with sound and sustainable agricultural practices, consciousness, respect, and gratitude.

This place has taught me that there is a right way to do things. Chris and Janet raise all their animals in open grasslands. Their bison and cattle are respected and truly appreciated. As we hand individual animals over to death, Chris says the same thing over and over, making sure I understand, “You see Dan, you see what they give us? These animals give us SO much. These animals give us EVERYTHING. It’s about being grateful and treating them with respect. It’s about bringing sanctity to the process and having their death be as quick and painless as possible.” For this reason when Chris and his brother John go out to slaughter a bison, they do it right there in the field, a clean shot that, with immediacy, takes the animal straight from grassland to god. “I don’t want my animals to ever know a factory abattoir, and I don’t want them to be loaded onto trucks and shipped hundreds of kilometers.” The more you respect the animal and what it provides you, the more difficult it becomes to kill them. Killing animals isn’t an enjoyable process, and as the animal goes down, I can see Chris has mixed feelings. I feel these mixed feelings are what give the act balance. You see, Chris is conscious of what his actions mean, he is conscious of the big picture, he sees things holistically; how his actions affect the animal, the herd, the land, his family and his local customers.

To me this is beautiful. It’s beautiful to be a rancher with a broader view of the world. It’s beautiful to know the meat is going to people you know and care about, people who are in tune and truly value what the animal has given. Again it’s this connection that I feel somehow brings balance to the slaughter.

My updated thoughts regarding CONNECTION vs. DISCONNECTION

When a conscious individual slaughters an animal for food, there is no way that individual, having consciousness, can escape the reality of what he has done. Taken the life of a living thing. In this, often, difficult moment, the universe unfurls itself a little, yin and yang are revealed, and there is a space where a deeper understanding and connection to nature can be found. In this space of understanding and connectivity, we find sanctity, wisdom, respect and an endless source of gratitude to all that which sustains us -- Mother Nature.
To me… this is connection.

When a conscious individual walks into a supermarket and buys a piece of meat encased in styrofoam and plastic wrap, that individual, by no fault of their own, is unable to have any conscious connection to the animals origin. We have built a system where, we are not only detached from our food, but also from the sanctity, wisdom, respect and gratitude found in our relationship with Mother Nature.

To me… this is disconnection.

There has been a lot of talk here on the ranch regarding this disconnect and the problems of big factory farming. Chris and I have spoken about how ranching and farming should be about managing natural relationships versus interfering with and controlling the natural world. We have spoken about how when animals are grass fed, never seeing a pound of grain, they end up healthier and produce higher quality meat. We have talked about how grazing animals actually help the grasslands stay vibrant. We have spoken about how devoting farmland to grain for animal feed, while good for bulking up beasts, is neither good for the usually captive animal, the land, or the end consumer. We have discussed how the depletion of soil quality is a huge issue facing all of North America. Our soil is falling apart due to a system where nature has become completely dependent on technology and artificial fossil fuel based fertilizers. It will take years for us to repair our soil to a naturally balanced and healthy state. It will take years for us to revamp our agricultural practices back to something that was originally quite sustainable. Although, when you look at the world today, most of us seem to be headed in an opposite direction.

When it all comes back to my current feelings of how our world treats animals; while this place may have it right, I am still very concerned. I am concerned about large-scale factory farming methods, where animals, confined knee deep in their own feces, are fed up for market with no room to move and run. This is probably the meat you’re eating. I am also concerned about antibiotics finding their way into our food supply through these animals. Again, animals you are probably currently eating. I am concerned about what it means for all of these practices to find their way onto our meal plate, and the full picture of the impact this has on our land, our earth, and our future

They die, so that we can live. – Chris, expressing what his bison truly mean.

Peace,
d