But there are different ways of slaughtering animals - some of which were better than others.
"The only slaughtering allowed was of those animals already in the abattoirs, " said Mr Billinge.
There are other contentious trade issues too, ranging from poultry-slaughtering methods to genetically modified maize.
Along with school, there were plenty of chores: cutting hay, pulling corn, planting vegetables, feeding chickens, slaughtering steers.
Nationwide polls show that 80% of Americans are strongly opposed to slaughtering horses.
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This makes it harder to track the spread of the disease, and to eradicate its source by slaughtering stricken birds.
"Home slaughtering and preparation of sick or dead poultry for food is hazardous: this practice must stop, " said Dr. H.
And when the government's advisers recommended banning traditional Jewish and Muslim methods of slaughtering animals, both lots lobbied against the measure.
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Another startup, Modern Meadow, is using tissue-engineering technique to produce in-vitro leather and meat without requiring the raising, slaughtering, and transporting animals.
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"We learnt much along the way, like how to be straightforward when discussing things such as slaughtering animals for meat, " he said.
In addition to animal welfare concerns, opponents have said slaughtering horses for human consumption could pose a threat to human health and safety.
Economists agree that slaughtering Britain's 11 million cattle would devastate the country's economy -- and a mass slaughter may be difficult to achieve.
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Last month, police in southern Tanzania used teargas to disperse about 200 Christian rioters attempting to torch a mosque over an animal slaughtering conflict.
Egypt responded by slaughtering all of its pigs, about 300, 000.
They are slaughtering herds now before the grain becomes more expensive.
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When the reindeer-slaughtering season is over, unemployment goes up to 20%.
Last month, police in southern Tanzania used teargas to disperse about 200 Christian rioters attempting to set fire to a mosque following a dispute over animal slaughtering.
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Slaughtering half a million sheep waiting to return to higher summer pastures is one of the options being considered to prevent the future spread of the disease.
Or, worse than that, if the losses are accelerating because of us - by tearing up habitats or causing pollution or simply slaughtering every member of a species?
Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin overturned a 50-year state ban on slaughtering horses Friday, ignoring two-thirds of Oklahoma citizens, who oppose slaughtering horses according to a state-wide poll.
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Two outbuildings at the farm had slaughter and butchery equipment, Brecon magistrates' court heard, and its officers found sheep heads and other slaughtering equipment in a slaughter barn.
"What I think is that stunning is friendly for the human being and our way of slaughtering is friendly for the animals, " says Motti Rosenzweig, Holland's only Jewish slaughterer (shochet).
Although there are no horse slaughtering facilities in Oklahoma, the Humane Society said the USDA has received an application for horse slaughter inspection permits from a meat company in Washington, Okla.
They believe that the use of animals in experiments and the slaughtering of animals as food for humans are all right as long as these activities are conducted in a humane way.
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"The cow is our mother, it's our duty to protect her, " said Mongia, who monitors and raids hundreds of stores, butcher shops and slaughterhouses suspected of carrying, selling or slaughtering India's blessed bovines.
True, his methods were not always the most refined: when he returned to Samarkand after a hard few years slaughtering enemies, he felt that the portal of his new mosque was insufficiently lofty.
On that fateful day that citizen militia leveled their spears and their thin blue line attacked a professional Persian force many times their number, slaughtering them to the last man on the legendary beach of Marathon.
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Although a few big firms dominate slaughtering, it took them 30 years to get to the point where they slaughter about two-thirds of all cattle, and they still have only about 22-24% of cattle under contract.
"We saw earlier this year with rebel groups coming from Chad and Sudan going into northern Cameroon slaughtering 450 elephants, taking the ivory for the purpose of selling it in order to buy arms for local conflicts" he said.
Supporters argue that a horse slaughtering facility in Oklahoma will provide a humane alternative for aging or starving horses, many of which are abandoned in rural parts of the state by owners who can no longer afford to care for them.
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