Do any of you raise your own meat? Do you get weird looks and comments from friends and acquaintances? We raise meat chickens and my son has begun raising meat rabbits. People say things like, eeew, how can you eat those cute things? You know, I'll agree that they're cute (the rabbits that is!) but at some point all meat is "cute". You just don't always see it at that stage (packaged in the grocery store it's just meat, not something "real") It's NOT easy especially the process of turning it into meat, but for healthy reasons, we have chosen to do this. So how do you deal with those kinds of questions/comments? Or do you just not tell people how you feed your family?
(it's funny, those same people don't give us negative comments about us fishing, keeping and filleting the fish and eating them!)
I must admit it sometimes was hard as I was growing up having to slaughter our animals but I am a baby boomer so it wasn't something people were silly enough to make comments about but now with my hens I get the' Oh I hope you aren't killing them to eat them" bit all the time normally I don't as I got them as egg layers but occasionally I do have to butcher some & I living in a rural town would think people would not bat an eye over it since we have a huge slaughter house up the hill in this town but some get all weirded out over it...I yes it is odd that a furry bunny has a higher life price on it that killing a fish which is pretty brutal if you think about it...I am at a point in my life where I don;t care what others say or react anymore....its my life & I do what I need to keep us healthy,happy & alive.....Michele' (maryJane hen)
ReplyDeleteWe have the goat boys butchered out because there can only be so many "pet" goats in the world and I got tired of selling/giving them to people who didn't know how to take care of them or who had dogs that would attack them. I read an aricle by Bryan Welch in Mother Earth News once concerning raising your own meat. When asked "How can you eat your own animals? How can you be so callous?" he responded "How can you be so cruel as to eat animals without knowing them? Without knowing how they lived? Without making sure they were treated kindly and with respect?" That touched me so deeply that I kept the article!
ReplyDeleteWe have always raised our own meat. I used to tell the nay sayers that if you can't kill an animal for meat after raising it with love and respect, then you should become a vegetarian. I have always felt good knowing that I gave those animals the very best life they could have and being grateful to them when they give their life so the family can eat.
ReplyDeleteMy dad says the same Sheri. That unless they are vegetarians they don't really have any thing to stand on with their point of view on such. He tells people that the animals around here have a happy life till their demise, and with as bad as he is at hunting most get off with out even being killed any way! hahaha They have much better chances of survival around here then the slaughter yards, and as was stated live happy lives till then if we do catch one to kill and eat. So unlike the ones at the slaughter yards!
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