My favorite thing was "Mutton Bustin'." I know that sounds vaguely dirty, but it's actually vaguely wrong. Four- and five-year-olds are placed on the back of sheep. They grab on tight and the sheep is let loose. Wherin the four-year-old generally holds on for dear life for a couple of seconds and then bites it, to the great pleasure of the ten thousand or so assembled cow-people. It's actually freakin' hilarious.
The girls' favorite area was the "Ag-venture," where we pet rabbits, watched chicks hatch, saw a video of a cow birthing (gross, but oddly compelling), gathered beef propaganda, and the like.
At the end of the "Poultry Party" (the chicken secion) was this mural on the path chickens take from farm to plate. Apparently, there are multiple steps run by happy people. You've got your "sedation" (I can only assume this is for the chicken), your "picker", your "eviscerator", your "ice bath", and your "cold storage." "Eviscerator" sounds harsh, but it's actually a nicer word than "Disemboweler."
A few things struck me about this lovely art work. First, at what point do they kill the chicken? I appreciate that they get it stoned, but then do they pluck it alive? If that doesn't kill it, does the disemboweling? If they survive these steps, surely the ice bath can't be good for a chicken.
The second thing that struck me was that they painted this mural in the pen where they STORED THE CHICKENS!!! Are we so high on the food chain that we get to taunt our food by teaching them how we are going to kill them and render them into food? Note that the chickens seem to be very interested in the process, and almost look like they want to climb the ramp to the ice bath.
I can only hope that this captured the very beginnings of a chicken escape and reverse-evisceration plan.
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