Real answers about the dumpster at the end of our road.
The circle of life is alive and well at Elwood's Organic Dog Meat.
We recently got an upsetting direct message--it wasn't the content that was so upsetting, but the accusatory tone. Rather than respond privately, we thought we'd take the opportunity to educate more "concerned folks" like this one:
Dear Concerned Neighbor,
Thank you for the message.
Maybe you don't know, but we've lived on this property for 40+ years and we're a family farm. On the other hand, you've probably never visited a farm and don't know how it works, so we'll forgive your lack of knowledge on the subject.
Just like runt pigs, there are runt puppies (as well as dogs who get sick or stop producing or die due to the natural effects of weather). Often these dogs are too much work for too little profit, which means we have to cull them--and we do so humanely and according to governmental guidelines:
Now, if we had a spider willing to do pro bono advertising for us like in Charlotte's Web, we'd save every single runty puppy and sick dog and open a petting zoo. But unfortunately, we don't, so we have a dumpster instead.
This is a sustainability story
Those dogs in the dumpster AREN'T going to waste! They're going to the rendering plant, which is a bit magical--it allows us to use ALL parts of the dog. (This is helpful as our customers actually only want to eat 40-60% of a dog's body--they say they want "sustainable meat," but no one is buying their bones, blood, organs, etc.)
So when you get down to it, that dumpster full of dead dogs is actually proof that dog farming is highly sustainable! That we're upcycling. That we're GIVING BACK. See, we aren't just farming dog meat. You can find rendered farm animals in EVERYTHING--health & beauty products paint, rubber, the food fed back to farmed animals, farmed fish, and pets.
Some people might say creating 62 billion pounds of animal body parts could be creating unnecessary biohazard and biosecurity risks--and sure, if we put it all in the landfill, we would quickly poison our planet with the gases escaping their carcasses. And yeah, when you think about it, it could seem like we're just trying to find some place--ANY PLACE--to put this waste. And sure, maybe we could find plant-based alternatives to most of these animal ingredients--but we say we're creating OPPORTUNITY.
If this upsets you...
What are you going to do, start reading labels? Come on. Who has time to switch deodorant brands? Will you stop eating animals so we stop creating this waste and instead spend efforts creating or inventing vegan alternatives? Psh. That's ridiculous.
To sum up: the dumpster full of dead puppies and dogs is an indication that the full circle of life is alive and well at Elwood's Organic Dog Meat. That our family is doing the right thing for our farm by not throwing good money after bad, and doing the right thing for our planet by not burying or burning hundreds of dead dogs on our property.
It's really not that hard to understand. Most sincerely,
Em & Landon Elwood
P.S. We have a limited number of sustainable, pasture-raised Jack Russel Terrier steaks available! As always, the secret ingredient is care. Order today: ElwoodDogMeat.com