An audience watches the slaughter of an adult cow.
An audience watches the slaughter of several 8 month old lambs.
An audience watches the slaughter of several pigs.
Omnibus edition featuring highlights from the first three episodes together with a review of the Poultry industry.
This episode features eight suckling pigs aged from eight to ten weeks.
This episode features eight goats aged from 12 to 20 weeks.
This episode features six veal calves from a Cumbrian farm.
This episode features eight milk-fed lambs aged between 26 days and 12 weeks.
This final edition summarises the series and compiles the best bits to give an overview of the baby meat-producing industry.
Nine guests travel to the Balavil estate in the Scottish Highlands, where they join in the hunting and butchering of wild deer to better understand the processes that get the increasingly popular meat venison to the dining table. The group learns rifle skills and stalking before gutting the animal on the moor before they bring it back to the house for skinning
With the demand for duck having doubled over the past decade, the nine novice hunters are taken back to basics in an effort to understand exactly how this in-demand form of wild game is prepared. The beginners face an intensive gun training session, before they are escorted to some of the most remote ponds of Scotland to shoot mallard at dusk. Julia Bradbury presents
Nine volunteers with differing views and opinions on the rights and wrongs of eating animals travel to the Highland estate of Balavil in Scotland to slaughter rabbits, before cooking and tasting the meat. Julia Bradbury presents
Nine guests are invited to the Highland estate of Balavil to debate the moral and ethical issues surrounding the shooting and eating of grouse. After experiencing the shoot first hand, they pluck and gut the rare birds, and assess whether the experience has changed any of their views. Julia Bradbury presents
Julia Bradbury takes a look back at the different hunting methods used at Highland estate Balavil. She also examines the impact they had on the guests she invited to witness them and considers the issues surrounding the shooting and killing of wild game for pleasure and food. Last in the series
The volunteers arrive at Pipers Farm in Devon for an emotional journey as they discover how cattle are slaughtered and turned into burgers. They climb the hill to get up close to and care for the Red Ruby cattle, then help choose two for slaughter and take them to the local abattoir, where they watch the kill - up close and uncensored. They then help butcher and mince the meat to make burgers, but will any of them have the stomach to eat them?
The volunteers are still at Pipers Farm and are now leading lambs to the slaughter to create kebabs for their dinner. The group learn how to round the flock of sheep with Chip the sheepdog, and they also clip the hooves of the lambs before choosing two that are fully fattened and ready for slaughter. Then it is back to the abattoir for their second visit, where this time they help the slaughtermen. The next day they butcher the meat and make kebabs.
Sausages are on the menu when Pipers' pigs are taken from the orchards down to the local abattoir. The volunteers following the journey from field to fork spend time with the pigs and even help castrate piglets. Pigs can be raised in intensive livestock systems which the novice farm hands find challenging and something that changes their views on the meat, and the sausages in particular, that they will eat.
The volunteers discover how chickens are killed and turned into nuggets. They get the opportunity to actually kill animals themselves - but who will have what it takes to stun and bleed a chicken to death?
The final challenge for the six volunteers, who are following how animals are raised and then slaughtered for their meat, is to cut and cook up the more unusual parts of the carcass. Award winning chef Peter Gorton shows them how to transform the offal and weird organs into gourmet dishes that will be served for supper. From a whole head to testicles; from heart to tongue, and from gizzard to tail, there's not much of the animal that isn't cooked and served for the final feast.
This episode takes a look back through the highlights from the series, with added new material, following the journey the volunteers took when they came to Pipers Farm in Devon. Whilst caring for the animals on the farm, the contributors chose the beasts for slaughter, which they then watched die at the local abattoir. With the meat from the fresh carcasses they made burgers, kebabs, sausages and nuggets. By making the connection between the living animals and popular meat products, the ethics of the meat industry could be debated.
Every year in the run up to Christmas, millions of birds are killed for yuletide dinner tables. In a huge national mass cull that begins in November and has a deadline of December 25th, more than 10 million turkeys and nearly half a million geese are slaughtered. Many of these will come from huge factory farms working intensely for this time of year. Julia Bradbury examines our attitude to Christmas meat - where it comes from, how it is raised, how it gets to your plate and the history around our eating choices. In a specially constructed restaurant-cum-studio built around a poultry abattoir unit, invited guests watch as the birds are brought in for killing. They are stunned, bled, de-feathered and gutted before their eyes by experienced professional slaughtermen. The birds are then butchered and part of their flesh is cooked and eaten in the studio by the audience. Eight geese and turkeys are brought for slaughter from farms in Lancashire and Essex. The slaughter process continues as normal and each of the birds is checked by an inspector from the meat hygiene service, while a leading veterinary surgeon gives a running commentary of events. The audience participates by eating some of the cooked poultry and discussing their attitudes to the trade in mass produced birds versus those from smaller farms.
Julia Bradbury hosts a follow-up discussion to three series which explored the moral and ethical issues surrounding the way meat is reared, slaughtered, butchered and prepared for our dining tables. Many of those who took part explain why their views on meat and meat-eating have been totally changed.
