Hillsvale
Loving the herd life
Kathadin/Jacob lamb and Beor goat born Feb 2010
Berkshire weaners born Feb 2010
Berkshire weaners born Feb 2010
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michickenwrangler
Loving the herd life
I just want to hug your lamb! 
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Hillsvale
Loving the herd life
he's an absolute cutie for sure... they are just getting used to us, the piglets are recognizing that we come with food so that association is there now... so I am hoping I don't need to catch the female to put to bed again (mid-air I might add! lol)
glenolam
Loving the herd life
Very cute, indeed!
I'm getting interested in raising pigs for meat, but need to get the "better" half on my side!
I'm getting interested in raising pigs for meat, but need to get the "better" half on my side!
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Hillsvale
Loving the herd life
the berks are really personable, they already know that we are associated with food three days later, are as smart as a whip, make the cutest noises and are generally fun to watch...
Plus there is the benefit of knowing that your meat is clean and healthy and was raised right! priceless.
Plus there is the benefit of knowing that your meat is clean and healthy and was raised right! priceless.
SDGsoap&dairy
Loving the herd life
This question might actually need its own thread, but since it was brought up I'll just post it here. We, too, are interested in humanely and naturally raised meat and plan to do so in the future BUT having not been raised on a farm we're having trouble making the leap.
How does one prevent oneself from viewing them as anything other than food? Not to say you can't respect them as animals when they're alive, but I'm so worried I'm going to start out with the intention of raising them as meat and end up with pets. I'm REALLY not interested in having more pets... :/ The disconnect between what we eat and where it comes from is unfortunate, but that's another discussion all together.
We're going to try meat birds first and see if we can get used to that before attempting anything with four legs. Anyone else here grown up without livestock take the plunge?
How does one prevent oneself from viewing them as anything other than food? Not to say you can't respect them as animals when they're alive, but I'm so worried I'm going to start out with the intention of raising them as meat and end up with pets. I'm REALLY not interested in having more pets... :/ The disconnect between what we eat and where it comes from is unfortunate, but that's another discussion all together.
We're going to try meat birds first and see if we can get used to that before attempting anything with four legs. Anyone else here grown up without livestock take the plunge?
freemotion
Self Sufficient Queen
Not me, but my hubby had difficulty. I waited until he said ok, you can get turkeys because they are ugly! He was hesitant to eat the turkey....for about a minute. Then he was sold once he tasted it.
What helped him the most was reading and listening to Sally Fallon (lots of youtube stuff out there) and articles from www.westonaprice.org. And watching Food, Inc. twice!
He really likes the chickens, and didn't want to eat any of our birds. Then recently an rooster got injured, and my dad killed and cleaned it, and I cooked it up. DH said he was not going to eat it, but by suppertime, he sat at the table and gave himself a large helping. He'd actually spent some time researching processing online, to get comfortable with the idea. Might work the opposite for some, though.
I watched and helped with the processing of the two turkeys (part of it, couldn't handle the entire thing the first time) as a way to get me comfortable. It was a different matter when I was a kid and it wasn't my decision....now it is my decision as to who lives and dies here, that is FAR different. Seeing the total lack of stress and cruelty in the process REALLY helped me. And seeing the contrast in Food, Inc. Oh, and reading and watching Joel Salatin on youtube, too. The pigs expressing their pigness and being happy, and all that good stuff.
I want to eat healthy meat that was raised and processed without cruelty. We have our first pigs coming in three weeks.
I don't know if I can bottle feed kids and later eat them, though. I'm working on that one.
We either don't name the meat animals, or name them things like Big Mac and Lambchop. We don't spend time taming them other than enough to keep them manageable. They really don't need our petting and loving to have happy lives. Just food, water, companionship of their own kind, and time in the great outdoors, doing what they are designed to do, whether that is scratching for bugs, rooting for goodies, or skipping about and reaching for browse.
What helped him the most was reading and listening to Sally Fallon (lots of youtube stuff out there) and articles from www.westonaprice.org. And watching Food, Inc. twice!
He really likes the chickens, and didn't want to eat any of our birds. Then recently an rooster got injured, and my dad killed and cleaned it, and I cooked it up. DH said he was not going to eat it, but by suppertime, he sat at the table and gave himself a large helping. He'd actually spent some time researching processing online, to get comfortable with the idea. Might work the opposite for some, though.
I watched and helped with the processing of the two turkeys (part of it, couldn't handle the entire thing the first time) as a way to get me comfortable. It was a different matter when I was a kid and it wasn't my decision....now it is my decision as to who lives and dies here, that is FAR different. Seeing the total lack of stress and cruelty in the process REALLY helped me. And seeing the contrast in Food, Inc. Oh, and reading and watching Joel Salatin on youtube, too. The pigs expressing their pigness and being happy, and all that good stuff.
I want to eat healthy meat that was raised and processed without cruelty. We have our first pigs coming in three weeks.
I don't know if I can bottle feed kids and later eat them, though. I'm working on that one.
We either don't name the meat animals, or name them things like Big Mac and Lambchop. We don't spend time taming them other than enough to keep them manageable. They really don't need our petting and loving to have happy lives. Just food, water, companionship of their own kind, and time in the great outdoors, doing what they are designed to do, whether that is scratching for bugs, rooting for goodies, or skipping about and reaching for browse.
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Hillsvale
Loving the herd life
Don't worry about your own thread, I don't mind!n.smithurmond said:
My layers don't have names though I think they are sweet and I am unsure how I will deal with the ones who are roosters (we raised from day olds) but I view the chickens in that coop as "different" if that makes sense.
Meat chickens... as long as my better half can cut the throats I have no issues doing the rest... not sure on the turkeys but regardless the culling of meatins and turkeys are just not the same... we will detatch ourselves from them.
The piggies several days into being on our land are now approaching us when we enter their pen, they connect us to food which is fine.. we connect them to food!
The goat and lamb are starting to open up as well, they will now eat out of a bowl you are holding so things are improving there. I have no issues sitting in any of the pens and chatting the babies up, I think the interaction is good for them.
While they are in my home they will be cared for as though they were one of the dogs or the cat, fed watered and talked to/petted ... except they won't sleep in our bed!
When it is their time we will sent them off to the abitoir (sp) and they will put dealt with in a humane way... I wrote up my grocery list this morning and cringed when I had to write meat on the list...
My trotters will not be named dispite my 19 YO insistance that the goats name is budweiser!
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Hillsvale
Loving the herd life
and now a second lamb... he's a people person! :/Hillsvale said:
glenolam
Loving the herd life
I'm also learning to disonnect my pet feelings from my meat feelings. So far I've been uanble to do so with the chickens, but I think that's because one was mauled and the meat had bruised by the time I was cutting it off the bone (I only kept the meat that wasn't chomped on by the dog). So when the shake and bake was done all I could picture was the meat I threw away all black and blue....
We have three beef cows - they are all bred, but have no names. I'm hoping they have boys so we can raise them and then ship them to the slaughter house (we won't do that part). As freemotion said, they aren't treated the same as our regular "pets" - they are just fed, fat and happy.
We have three beef cows - they are all bred, but have no names. I'm hoping they have boys so we can raise them and then ship them to the slaughter house (we won't do that part). As freemotion said, they aren't treated the same as our regular "pets" - they are just fed, fat and happy.
