# Don't ask me if you don't want to know



## SkyWarrior (Feb 4, 2013)

I have a 3 week old Boer/Nubian cross buckling who is destined to be wethered and end up in freezer camp.  I had mentioned that we had a baby goat running around the house to my sister who asked what we were going to do with him.

I told her don't ask if you don't really want to know.  

She doesn't want to hear that we butcher animals for food.  She knows her meat comes from animals but buying it in the store somehow sanitizes it.  

I could get up on my soapbox and complain, but I'm tired of having to justify that all our animals work in some form or another.  They either have jobs or they produce food.  Milk, eggs, or meat.  That's how it is.


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## Southern by choice (Feb 5, 2013)

SkyWarrior said:
			
		

> She doesn't want to hear that we butcher animals for food.  She knows her meat comes from animals but buying it in the store somehow sanitizes it.


I think it is a matter of detachment... many people don't understand how we can see it be born, raise it, love it, and then kill it.
I know many people who can take their animals to a processor but could never process themselves... to me it's just a varying degree of detachment.


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## BrownSheep (Feb 5, 2013)

Yep Im the couldn't process it person. 
I could watch but otherwise nope not gonna happen. Mainly due to the fact I worry I wouldn't be able to do it painlessly enough.

I know many people who are aghast we eat "baby" lambs.


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## CocoNUT (Feb 5, 2013)

Hi SkyWarrior - yes...many people are aghast when you mention that you process your own animals. It does have to do with detachment. I have meat rabbits, and although I have processed them...I don't ENJOY it. I worry that it's quick enough, that they don't suffer, etc. Every rabbit I've processed has been hard, but I HAVE to move on knowing that they had a great life and their deaths are not 'in vain'...they're serving a purpose. I know I'm capable of it, I just don't LIKE to do it. Maybe that's also what turns people off. I've been thinking about getting a meat goat...don't think I could dispatch and process it myself  - at least the first time. But who knows? My opinion is, if you're going to eat meat...you should at least TRY processing something - to better appreciate where your food comes from. At least KNOW where it comes from. 
Those often are the same people who'd rather pay $9 for an "organic" tomato instead of growing some themselves!


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## BarredRockMomma (Feb 5, 2013)

I know how and have processed my own chickens I even had named them. But this time I am taking them to the processor just because of the number of birds and the time that it would take me. I'm talking up to 60 birds and so it is faster and easier for me to take them to the processor who has the setup to do that many birds.


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## bonbean01 (Feb 5, 2013)

I had a friend on facebook that fell in love with a lambie when I posted his photo...she said...please tell me you are raising sheep for their wool.  I let her know these are hair sheep...aka meat sheep and she was horrified.  I told her if she could find a market for hair sweaters, to let me know


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## GLENMAR (Feb 5, 2013)

I think my home grown chickens are delicious. I do have a problem processing anything larger then a turkey though.
If I ever wanted to do any goats, I would have to take them down the road. 

It is funny though, my parents come to the farm and have no problem getting eggs, but to get them to try some goats milk or chicken is a 
different story. 

My father used to be a hunter so...


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## SkyWarrior (Feb 6, 2013)

I guess I get tired of knowing where the question is leading to and being put in the position of having to make her feel uncomfortable.  Geez, don't ask if you can't deal with it.

I had a friend who was horrified that I hunt.  I hunt for meat.  I can't eat an antler.  If it has nice antlers, then fine.   But I'd rather have food.  She ate meat but somehow just couldn't fathom how I could shoot and kill a deer. 

If you've ever hunted for weeks and not found anything, finding a deer for the freezer is awesome.

As for the goats, we slaughter but I don't have the skill to cut it up properly (nor the utensils).  So, I have a butcher do that.  As for my bottle baby goat, well, I'm sure I'll pick a day when he's a royal pain in the rear.  By husband does the shooting and we both dress the animal.


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## Pearce Pastures (Feb 6, 2013)

Ugh, I know exactly how you feel.   My SIL will NOT even eat our chicken eggs, and makes faces and comments about them anytime she sees us collecting them or using them in our cooking.  Sweetheart, that meal from McDonald's you are sucking down is---hang on----wait for it---from an ANIMAL!


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## Southern by choice (Feb 6, 2013)

Pearce Pastures said:
			
		

> Ugh, I know exactly how you feel.   My SIL will NOT even eat our chicken eggs, and makes faces and comments about them anytime she sees us collecting them or using them in our cooking.  Sweetheart, that meal from McDonald's you are sucking down is---hand on----wait for it---from an ANIMAL!




Like somehow it's contaminated or something 


what about when ya feed raw meat to the dogs!   Then they are really mortified!


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## GLENMAR (Feb 6, 2013)

Pearce Pastures said:
			
		

> Ugh, I know exactly how you feel.   My SIL will NOT even eat our chicken eggs, and makes faces and comments about them anytime she sees us collecting them or using them in our cooking.  Sweetheart, that meal from McDonald's you are sucking down is---hang on----wait for it---from an ANIMAL!


    I do not understand that at all. If my own family wants to buy milk from the store while I have so much I am pouring it down the drain, I don't get that either.


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## ksalvagno (Feb 6, 2013)

People are just too far removed from their food. While I don't process my own animals, I will take them to a processor and put them in the freezer. I think it is great if you process your own meat. Luckily my family understands and has enjoyed meat and eggs from my farm.


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Feb 6, 2013)

> People are just too far removed from their food.


That's it in a nutshell.


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## PendergrassRanch (Feb 6, 2013)

I will never understand why people are happy living so ignorantly about the food they eat.


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## Cricket (Feb 6, 2013)

The part I CANNOT understand is why it bothers people that you are eating your OWN animals!  I can understand it a little if they're vegetarians (ho-hum), and I can understand why people can't eat their own animals, but why does it bother that you do?

My pet peeve is the, 'but is it worth it' (i.e. time and money).  Well, obviously WE think it is, or we wouldn't do it!  And half the time these are people that spend their free time playing golf, skiing, entertaining, etc.

I posted a link a while back about a college that wanted to butcher an injured working ox and use the meat in their cafeteria.  Protesters actually threatened the local slaughterhouse and their family.  The ox ended up being euthanized by medication and the meat was wasted.  Of all the animals (not to mention people!) who need help and resources, this is how they chose to spend weeks of their time and however much money it took to come from all over the country to prevent one old ox from being utilized.


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## SkyWarrior (Feb 6, 2013)

Cricket said:
			
		

> The part I CANNOT understand is why it bothers people that you are eating your OWN animals!  I can understand it a little if they're vegetarians (ho-hum), and I can understand why people can't eat their own animals, but why does it bother that you do?


I think we have entered an age of where people believe they have the right to tell you what to do, even if what you are doing isn't against the law or morally unethical.  Combine that with ignorance and you have a dangerous combination.

A hundred years ago, no one would think twice about it.  I think our society is so used to going to the store and buying stuff that it has totally removed people from their food sources.  Ksalvagno is absolutely right.  People just don't know and don't care about where their food comes from.


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## CYGChickies (Jun 10, 2013)

Haha we have the opposite! When we're showing family pics of chickens and rabbits they're all "Is this one we're going to eat?" lol. I feel so lucky when I see things about people's families turning their nose up at their eggs, milk or meat. We give our family these things often and they say it's like Christmas.


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