Animals we pet then eat

[alfriedar]

I just had a general question .. this is not to make an argument or criticize in any way its is a heart felt question as I don't know how to deal with it.

I am looking to homestead in the not too distant future depending how the sale and profit margin of my house goes but I am not sure I can raise animals like rabbits and chickens, goats or what have you other than fish.. and I'm not too sure about them either lately To care for, feed watch over and then kill to eat.. I am sure hunger would play a large role in that but if I am covered on all the aspects of my food and protein intake aside from meat.. I am not sure I can enjoy eating an animal I was familure with. I stopped eating mass processed meats of any kind as I know and have seen them lead horrible lives. I figured if I gave them a good life and then ate them I would be okay with that.. but now I am not so sure .. I can't imagine my goat being happy to see me when I feed him or her or watch them have babies that they care for and then I slit their throats when I am hungry.. I can't imagine the chicken that ate out of my hand or who sat nearby me while I read almost like keeping me company would be terrified as to why I was holding it down and chopping its head off.. So my long journey to my question is.. How do you all do it? How do you prepare your selfs to eat that cow that licked your hand and mooo'd at you in joy when you came into the barn ... How do you watch it die? I need some help to understand where my mind has to be in order to do this.
As an Infantry soldier I was ready to take out the "enemy" in combat but somehow I can't seem to feel the same way about a rabbit , deer, cow chicken etc.. Can you share your thoughts and feelings on how you all do it?

[Deberosa]

I wondered that same thing when I started my homestead. I had chickens at that time and tried to get my brain around butchering for weeks. Then one big old rooster attacked me. After that first one it got easier and many times it becomes a situation of the little critters are multiplying faster than I can accomodate them with food, etc... We have our first beef cow out in the field now. That goes beyond poultry and i can say the larger the animal the tougher it is. Turkeys are more difficult than chickens, etc. as far as getting your mind around it plus turkeys are so much more gentle, except for one Tom that got mean here. The broad breasted ones are easier because they are actually in pain after a year they get so big - same with the cornish cross chickens.

So maybe you start with the broad breasted turkeys and cornish cross chickens which will be easier because they will acutally be in pain to live and work into it gradually.

We don't plan on butchering the cow ourselves - that would be difficult. We will have a mobile butcher come who has a great reputation for being humane and fast.
And that might be another strategy to get your mind around the process because I understand where you are coming from that it's not that easy and it's something you need to get your mind around to be able to do it. However - the animals you raise yourself will have far better lives than any meat you purchase - know that is certain. To me that is what makes it worthwhile as long as I remain a carnivore.

Another way to look at it is to look at nature - watch a raccoon or a hawk decimate one of your animals and you see that you are not nearly as vicious! Or watch a coyote take down a goat or calf, it's the natural way of things.

Good luck!
Debbie

[bee_pipes]

I found the broad breasted turkey the hardest one. She was a nice old gal, and all she ever wanted to do was hang out with the chickens. A very pleasant bird. Made me sad to see how difficult it was for her to get around.

Kind of normal to have concerns about how you'll do the deed when it comes time. Natural trying anything for the first time. What we did was read all we could about it, tried out hand at it the first time, then had an experienced friend show us the second time. I saw him doing a lot of stuff that I might have missed, had I not tried alone the first time.

You give them the best life you can, then be as quick and humane as possible in dispatching them when the time comes. We isolate chickens being butchered the night before. They are held in cages so they cannot eat anything. They get all the water they want, but we want their digestive system as empty as possible. I don't know that they are smart enough to get distressed when they see a chicken getting slaughtered, but just to be safe, I do it out of sight of all the other chickens.

Nobody says you have to eat the animal you have made a pet out of, but try to make pets out of layers and milkers. In-tact roosters, bulls and bucks are not needed in numbers, and can be destructive to each other and dangerous to you. We eat mostly rooster, the hens may some day get numerous enough that we start on them. When we start goats, our primary concern will be dairy and bucks will be fixed and eventually wind up in the freezer.

Not to worry. When the time comes, you'll rise to the occasion. The animal had a good life, and you'll have good food.

Regards,
Pat

[alfriedar]

I really appreciate your genuine responses it helps .. If I do get to the slaughter part... and it goes okay.... I then have to look at it on my plate.. and think about it.. I remember a time when I got really hungry and ate a few meals that were on the icky side.. I think it was some hash and rice that was just awful but I didn't think so until food of a better quality became available. I suspect if I am living off the grid and in the back woods .. I will get a tad more connected to that way of things.. yet I am not sure .. I am looking forward to other responses as well to see how others feel and get around it .. As for the animals having a good life I am not sure when I should or how to decide to end it if its not over on its own. I also dont understand about the broad breasted turkeys and game hens.. why would their chest hurt? unless its un-natrual breed of some kind...How would I know they were in pain ? Okay let me know thanks a lot

[CountryKitty]

I decide ahead of time about my critters. Make pets out of the breeding stock, eat their babies while the young ones are still young and tender... and you aren't as attached.

My folks did this with milk goats, rabbits and poultry. I have chickens and ducks. I butchered a few ducks while trying out the meat (Muscovy ducks breed like rabbits and are very large meaty birds). Elvis the drake was caught running wild and completely unwanted on a pond, Smudge the hen-duck came from a Mennonite farm...their babies had no names and were butchered at 3-4 months. It WAS hard the first time, but became easier after that.



Suggestion:
In the military you were trained to shoot at targets long before being expected to shoot at a live enemy.
Ask to help someone with butchering their own critters BEFORE you get your own livestock. Get your hand in BEFORE it becomes personal. You'll be familiar with the way to dispatch an animal painlessly...or find out you don't have your heart in butchering.
You might also try hunting rabbits, turkey and deer and butchering them to get used to the whole shoot and butcher thing.

[alfriedar]

I really appreciate your genuine responses it helps .. If I do get to the slaughter part... and it goes okay.... I then have to look at it on my plate.. and think about it.. I remember a time when I got really hungry and ate a few meals that were on the icky side.. I think it was some hash and rice that was just awful but I didn't think so until food of a better quality became available. I suspect if I am living off the grid and in the back woods .. I will get a tad more connected to that way of things.. yet I am not sure .. I am looking forward to other responses as well to see how others feel and get around it .. As for the animals having a good life I am not sure when I should or how to decide to end it if its not over on its own. I also dont understand about the broad breasted turkeys and game hens.. why would their chest hurt? unless its un-natrual breed of some kind...How would I know they were in pain ? Okay let me know thanks a lot
All the best, AL

[Deberosa]

I really appreciate your genuine responses it helps .. If I do get to the slaughter part... and it goes okay.... I then have to look at it on my plate.. and think about it.. I remember a time when I got really hungry and ate a few meals that were on the icky side.. I think it was some hash and rice that was just awful but *I didn't think so until *food of a better quality became available. *I suspect if I am living off the grid and in the back woods .. I will get a tad more connected to that way of things.. yet I am not sure .. I am looking forward to other responses as well to see how others feel and get around it .. As for the animals having a good life I am not sure when I should or how to decide to end it if its not over on its own. *I also dont understand about the broad breasted turkeys and game hens.. why would their chest hurt? unless its un-natrual breed of some kind...How would I know they were in pain ? * Okay let me know thanks a lot
All the best, AL

The broad breasted turkey and the cornish cross chickens are not natural - they can't reproduce they've been bred only to eat and they grow so fast that their skin and bones can hardly keep up. You can tell they are in pain because of the way they walk - like arthritic people. THey don't move much - mostly just sit in front of feeders and water and are slow to get up. The turkeys are sweet though as far as disposition. THe chickens are barely to be considered animals - you will see that once you grow them. You butcher when they are the size you want or when they are so big they can hardly move for those two breeds. My opinion anyhow!

As far as that meat on the table - why would you feel any more guilty about that than you would about eating some factory produced bird that never saw the light of day or scratched in dirt and met a painful and miserable death? I didn't seem to have a problem once the killing part was over, at that point I mostly feel a responsiblity to make that life worthwhile and not waste what they gave me. And when you taste meat you raised yourself I think you may understand - there is no comparison.

People I know are amazed that we butcher our own birds but they don't think about how that Kentucky Fried Chicken they eat gets into that bucket. If they are totally vegetarian then maybe I could understand their dismay but otherwise I think what they do is worse in alot of ways both for the bird and for themselves.

[WileyCoyote]

There's room for all God's creatures - right next to the mashed potatoes.
:o ;D

When we brought our first chickens home, my children wanted to know what we were going to call them. "They are all named 'Dinner'", I said, "Cause that is what they will be!" If you name it and pet it and cuddle it and fuss over it, it is a lot harder to kill it... especially when it comes when you call. Like Debbie, when the rooster attacked me, he was very easy to kill. But I started out young, huntin fishin shrimpin and crabbin' - got hubby GOOD, the first time I was beheading shrimp in front of him - I told him to listen close and he could hear them scream...
That was just WRONG. But sure was fun! ;D

[Nightphall]

You can always just barter with someone else for your meat needs, maybe trade them some veggies that you grow too. No need to go it all alone unless you are shooting for total self-sufficency even from community members.

[bremer516]

I can sympathize with your concerns. The first lamb I ever raised (back in 4-H) followed me around like a puppy, and yes, it was really hard to see him go. But after that first one it does get easier. To me it became sort of like something you raise in the garden then harvest.

When my daughter raised pigs she knew we were going to eat she named them "Bacon" and "Sausage" and they were too.

[MooseToo]

i don't think it's healthy to feel sorrow when butchering -
no more than it's healthy to feel glee -
the ideal mind-set is when you feel, with no self-prompting, that the butchering process is nothing more than changing the status of a resource from production to consumption - no different than digging potatos or chopping/splitting firewood -

the only time self-recrimination is warranted during butchering is when you screw up and don't do it right - such as causing a wounded animal situation or a cut-off thumb situation - all things improve with practice but your most limiting inventory will prove to be thumbs -

[Drawbar]

I try to give my pets names like Steak, Rib Eye, Tenderloin and Mr Bacon...funny names that create interest, but also names that state what the animal is ultimately for so the wife, my daughter and others understand as well.

I can understand the term"if I meet it,I can't eat it," but I have always taking respite in the fact that in the good book, it states that God put Mankind over all the other animals.

I do not enjoy killing. I never have and I never will, but I did grow up on a dairy farm and learned from a young age the cycle of life. I remember at age 5, we kept having lambs come up among the missing. One day there goes Daisy out across the pasture with a lamb in her mouth. She was my Dalmatian. My Grandfather yelled to my Grandmom to "get the rifle"....and Daisy did not make it to the far side of the pasture. It was a bit traumatic, and I doubt I would do such a thing in front of my daughter, but that was farm life. You just cannot have a dog that kills livestock. Period.

The rise of homesteading has actually encouraged me on this subject. As more and more people realize that food commodities are animals raised for a purpose, it will help dispell the myth that its killing. Its not, its life.

As you start your homestead take refuge in that when Cain and Able gave from the land to God, he accepted the lamb with joy over that of crops from the ground. I don't mean to preach to anyone here or get religious, I am merely pointing out that its really is okay according to the good book.

[mimipaula1]

Our society has "DISTANCED" itself from connecting live animals to butchering = food on the table. I've actually had people tell me that they could never eat something they've known PERSONALLY--I always tell them to move away from the table 'cause my family and I won't have that problem--ha!
We've raised several animals to bottle feed/butcher and given them names like "Burger Boy", "Pork Chop", "T-Bone", etc.; that way all family members know what's up. For some reason, we don't look at chickens as pets and never get attached to them.

[Northern_bushrat]

I feel pretty much the same as you about it, alfriedar. Haven't found a solution yet. I had a hard time slaughtering my chickens and ducks to begin with, and instead of it getting easier, it got harder. I hate that godlike power of walking into the coop and making the decision whose life will end that day, because they have no chance to get away. So then I stopped keeping chickens and ducks for meat. I figured maybe hunting and fishing is what's right for me, because there at least as measure of luck comes into play and if the game pays attention, they have a fair chance of getting away. So that's the theory, but I still haven't managed to kill anything other than a few fish (also hate that but not as much as with my chickens and ducks). A moose is just way too beautiful. In a different climate, and if I had road access, I guess I would be a vegetarian - used to be till I moved up north. My boyfriend hunts and has not much of a problem with it.
Now we're contemplating getting dairy goats and then the dilemma will arise again - we'd have to slaughter the kids; there's no way we could sell them, given where we live.
Guess this doesn't help you any, other than showing that there's more people with the same kind of "problem". I don't see how you can not have it if you really love animals very much.

[BrendaSue]

Northern bushrat, I am not alone, I get so made fun of because I cannot kill and eat my animals. I have this huge pig yorkshire that is just a pet, that has outgrown us big time, I am trying to sell her but everyone that has responded wants to put her in the freezer. I have had to "play the God role" on a couple of roosters and as silly as it it still bothers me.

I use to hunt deer, ducks, rabbits and squirrels and had no problem cleaning and eating those, because it felt justified maybe.

Just nice to know I am not alone.

Thanks