Those same farmers I was talking about before have absolutely put down their own animals. They’ve shot their dogs when they’re old and it’s time. One family in particular let their cats “rejoin with nature” aka, just leaving it outside until a predator gets it. I think that’s crewl but I can accept those cats are farm cats, not house cats and had lived ‘in nature’ their whole lives. I’ve even heard about culling day when they plan to shoot the less useful animals. They get the right ammo, carts, make plans for what they will do with the carcass.

What they don’t do is shoot a young dog because it’s not what they hate it, then follow up with shooting a goat too and are pleased with themselves. That’s a bright red flag for anti-social or psychopathic behavior, I can never remember which is which. The farmers I know see culling their livestock as a task or a burden, but I’ve never heard a farmer tell me they take pleasure from it like Governor Noem did in her book. Unprompted I must add.