How do I explain to an anti-meat person???

[Kyle@theWintertime]

I have family who gladly EAT meat but who hate the thought of KILLING ANYTHING. Yes, I know, horrible hypocrites, the lot of them.

ANYWAYS. They're staying here for a few days. Today I went out to care for my rabbits, and one of my ailing rabbits had died in the night. She'd lost condition and hadn't been looking "okay"...ergo it didn't come as a shock to me that she died, besides I'd already decided she would go in the stew pot when/if I got her condition back. I was tired of her 'issues.' So I walked by carrying the dead rabbit, and when I came in they were all "OMG WHAT HAPPENED?!"

I had to explain that no, she didn't die of being too cold (as evidenced that all my other rabbits are EXCELLENT, in fact I've had to cut rations for some of them because they're beginning to get FAT!!!) and no, she wasn't diseased (I suspect she had a gastrointestinal problem)...and then they began the sympathy.

And I am left trying to explain that while I'm frustrated that she died, and disappointed because I would have rather culled her for the stew pot...........I'm not emotionally crushed. She wasn't a pet; in fact I was sick of dealing with her constant issues and wanted her removed from my herd anyways.

They're asking all about her personality and I'm like "well I didn't like her." They're shocked.

My dad helped though...when I said "that skinny doe died" he looked very upset, but then he asked "which one again?" When I told him, he said "OH HER, yeah good riddance." Should'a seen their faces then!!!!

On that note...they think I'm a hoarder because I have "so many" rabbits. Presently I have twelve. That isn't, in the grand scheme of things, a LOT...I mean I know every one on sight, I know their general age and their bloodlines (or lack thereof in the case of the freebie Netherlands!) and the dead skinny doe aside, they're all FABULOUS. What the heck?!

And lastly...the one wanted to meet the "bunnies" so I took them 'round to see them. Most of my does are desperate to be bred (which...DUDE, WINTER BREAK, stop begging for the bucks, ladies!!!!) so they weren't super social...and I got the "spay/neuter" lecture. They also suggested I sell every homebred I've got, which............NO, that's my GOAL, to have all homebreds someday, and I can't WAIT to show my lovely pair of gals in Spring!!!!!!! They are worth more to me than their monetary value, dangit!!!!!!!

I just don't know how to talk to these people. :|

 

[Zab]

I'm sorry. I'm laughing a bit right now. Or more of an evil chuckle I guess.
And I'm happy that my closest relatives and friends - while they exclaim they could never do the ''deed'' they still think it's an awesome idea with growing your own meat. Except a few I can count on one hand who are a bit more emotional about it.. but still not to that extent.

I have no idea what you should do with those people, really. Pat them on the back with a chair possibly, but I'm not sure it would help. Or freak them out further by grinning madly. I don't know. I suppose showing factory farmed meat, exoplaining the overuse of anti-biotics or whatever you reasons for starting with homegrown meat is, would not help?

Good luck on your spring shows

 

[Tegan]

A couple of my friends used to give me heck about raising "poor innocent bunnies" for meat. I just stopped talking about it around them...changed the subject away from them when they came over and saw them...basically just didn't talk about it. Finally one day at a dinner out they were talking about the latest meat recall and how a few of them were looking for locally grown, pastured beef quarters or hogs. And I let them talk about that for a while, giving my sources of where to get the stuff etc. They kept going on and on about how mass produced meat (factory farm) is so bad for you and etc etc....and finally I looked up and said, "And you all think I'm crazy for raising rabbits for meat....do you get it now?" Not a single one has given me grief since and I can talk about my rabbits freely around them now.

 

[Schipperkesue]

Some people don't seem to understand that,

A. Not all animals are pets.
B. Animals die.

I wouldn't worry about explaining that to anyone who questions your practices. Some people will never understand this and feel we should all buy our meat at the grocery store where it is made.

 

[SuburbanHomesteader]

Seems to me that you don't have anything to explain. In my experience, a person that is "anti-meat" is illogical and ruled by their emotions - they usually won't understand or listen to any position that differs from theirs. If I were in your place, I wouldn't waste my time explaining anything to them and if they got rude, I'd show them the door.

 

[Zass]

Actually, my vegetarian friends accept and respect the reasons I raise my own meat fairly well.
I get the most grief from people who happily eat grocery store meats 3 times a day. Funny how that works? My mother and brother are the worst, blind to what goes into producing the meat on their plates.

Other friends happily munch on rabbit, and hold and pet and coo over the babies and house buns just like we do. hah

I AM guilty of treating them all like pets though. I just eat any rabbit who isn't sweet and cuddly.

 

[dayna]

I have a vegan friend, who thinks it's awesome how I raise my meat. She said the grocery store meat is the only reason she doesn't eat meat.

Some of my meat eating friends are total idiots. You've probably seen them post on fb "how can you eat that cute bunny" "omg I could NEVER do what you do".

 

[CochinBrahmaLover]

Everyone here is EVIL, absolutely EVIL.
GO TO THE STORE AND GET SOME MEAT WHERE NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED!

I'm sick and tired of seeing you people talk about this stuff. Your terrible people!



ok sorry I couldn't resist

You don't need to explain anything. They're illogical people, plain and simple. If they ask questions, answer, stand your ground, but ultimately, don't bring it up if possible.

Or you could be mean and serve them rabbit. OR, you could be like my crazy neighbor who, whenever we kill something, insists NOT TO CUT the gull bladder...

And then tries to get me to eat gull. He wants me to eat a juice raw out of a dead animal. No thank you. But you could do that just to confirm your crazyness,

 

[big bucks ny]

Don't talk about it and I believe letting them see a dead rabbit if you already knew where they stand was inviting debate. You could have avoided a lot of conflict and no one anti meat or usually anyone else for that matter goes in my rabbitry.

 

[JessicaR]

I feel for ya! My mom is the one that complains. I get the whole that's what grocery stores are for and if I try to explain that I know how my meat was cared for and what it ate, then I am automatically a doomsday prepper, and soon to be serial killer :lol: I give up trying to explain to her :roll:

 

[PSFAngoras]

My mom understands why I do it, but she's still the biggest culprit on "how could you?!".

In her defense, she does let me use her hay barn for processing though, I just have to sneak the rabbits back there to avoid the 'oh, poor things!' routine.

Still working on her about breeding her pet doe for meat. Two litters a year and she'd never have to buy store bought chicken again, but it's going to be a slow process if I'm ever successful with it.

 

[michaels4gardens]

When I first got rabbits [after I was re-married]My wife could not stand the idea of killing a bunny, -so I told her not to go back to where the rabbits were, and if she did anyway "do not pet the food" so for a while she was depressed about the "bunny killing " thing, -- then one day she agreed to taste some, [after a talk about killing chickens for food] -after that her comments were mostly about how good it tasted, and how she should cook it if we wanted some for dinner. She still hates the idea of butchering, but-- people raised in an artificial world often have these problems.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

You got the spay/neuter lecture over rabbits? And twelve makes you a hoarder? :shock:

Do they have any idea how many you'd have if you didn't eat them?

I was talking to one of my brothers the other day, and he's also one of those in denial. Buying meat at the store is one thing, but he says he doesn't even want to think of his little sis bonking bunnies on the head.

I think his big issue is that I have always been an animal lover, and he just can't wrap his head around how I've become a rabbit serial killer. Or that the beef in our freezer has a name. "You ate your pet cow?!?!" was how he phrased it. :roll:

Yeah... Tippy was just a big fluffy pet. Who would have gladly mowed you down and stomped the living daylights out of you if given the chance. It's best for everybody that he is cut and wrapped. :twisted:

 

[akane]

Don't bother. They'll never get it. I had to butcher mine in the woods 300 yards from the stable because my stepdad freaked even though he used to shoot cottontails and my mom didn't mind but she didn't want to see it. One of those many reasons I finally gave up on raising rabbits until I get my own house with land.

 

[Ramjet]

I have much the same problem .... at home.

I started this rabbit venture strictly for meat , my kids were fine with it. My wife on the other hand didn't like the idea but was OK with it until ....
Then along comes the mother in law .... who corrupts their minds worse than PETA ever could. Oh you are gonna eat Thumper?! How cruel <bla bla bla bla bla>

I give them the usual arguments - no hormones , no steroids , no antibiotics & very low cholesterol which I have a serious problem with.

You'll eat store bought meat with all that garbage in it but I'm the crazy one because I want to save myself some money by producing my own meat.
1lb of 80/20 ground beef is ~$6 here in Houston and for that same $6 I can produce ~12lbs or more of rabbit meat.

My wife says she's "embarrassed" by the whole thing .... I really don't understand what's so embarrassing about self sufficiency .... She says that's what the grocery store is for. Just don't tell anyone we eat them , problem solved.
She wont touch fish either .... and I catch a LOT of fish. My kids love it but she'll eat "something else" on those days. She'll eat sushi or restaurant fish tho.

Funny they love to eat Bambi (even the MIL) .... but Thumper is off their menu because he was raised for slaughter much like that ground beef she bought from the grocery store.

When my wife heard about my next project of quail , she told me " You are crazy , we don't live on a farm." So that's on hold for now .... cause she's crazy.


Now what to do with all these dang rabbits that are ready to be processed?! I'm afraid that if I process them they may go to waste.


.... thanks for nothing MIL.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

Especially for the older generation, growing your own food, whether animal or vegetable, is a social stigma. It is a mark of social and economic standing if you can afford to buy your food at the store and let the peasants do the dirty work for you. This also goes for sewing your own clothes, repairing your car, mowing your lawn, fixing plumbing, electrical, etc. etc. etc.

 

[Miss M]

*sigh*

SO glad I'm not in your shoes.

 

[PSFAngoras]

Especially for the older generation, growing your own food, whether animal or vegetable, is a social stigma. It is a mark of social and economic standing if you can afford to buy your food at the store and let the peasants do the dirty work for you. This also goes for sewing your own clothes, repairing your car, mowing your lawn, fixing plumbing, electrical, etc. etc. etc.

That thought makes me even more thankful for those of us that still find these types of things necessary knowledge and that we try to keep traditions alive.

Most people I talk to about spinning or teach to spin constantly ask me why at my age (23) i'd even be interested in such things when I can go buy yarn to knit, or better yet, buy the finished item for much less time and money than I have in it from A to Z. It's the way doing the whole task helps me feel grounded and the fact that I'm helping keep traditions alive that makes it all worth it.

Same goes for raising my rabbits for meat and hunting for the vast majority (80% if not more) of our red meat, and tanning the hides from those animals. As well as gardening, cutting our own firewood, composting, and knowing how to make things myself vs. buying them.

And... If we ever have a Zombie apocalypse I'll be the one who knows how to survive!

 

[skysthelimit]

Strangely, no one seems to think it's strange I raise rabbits for meat and keep the pelts.
It could be that at some point most of the family is from down south and had animals.

But, they left that lifestlye for a reason, and none of them want to eat them. Except my Uncle, so I finally have someone that will prepare rabbit for me, and I will do my best to eat it. The don't mind the fur at all though. If I take pelts, something has to happen to the bodies, right?

The people at my old job were hilarious, they asked me everytime a rabbit came in, does this one have a name (cause no namers are culls), lots of jokes about bunny stew and such.<br /><br />__________ Thu Jan 02, 2014 8:47 pm __________<br /><br />

Especially for the older generation, growing your own food, whether animal or vegetable, is a social stigma. It is a mark of social and economic standing if you can afford to buy your food at the store and let the peasants do the dirty work for you. This also goes for sewing your own clothes, repairing your car, mowing your lawn, fixing plumbing, electrical, etc. etc. etc.

And this is the biggest battle I face. I hear the stories of what they did in the back woods of Alabama, back in the day... now they live high in the suburbs, neat no fence subdivisions, and buy from classy grocery stores, in trendy plazas, and I don't think they've even so much as sewed a button on in the past 20 years. They wouldn't do anything that might cause some blood to get on their shoes. They grow house plants, not green beans. They don't even have pets in their pretty homes.

They have no idea about why I'm fascinated by all of this. I am winning them over slowly with my hand spun yarn though, of course because they aren't going to make anything themselves, they have no need of it, and would rather have some designer label from Macy's than something handmade by me.

It's all the same mentality.

 

[Kyle@theWintertime]

Except a few I can count on one hand who are a bit more emotional about it.. but still not to that extent.

So much envy for you, Zab!!!

Good luck on your spring shows

Thanks!!!

They kept going on and on about how mass produced meat (factory farm) is so bad for you and etc etc....and finally I looked up and said, "And you all think I'm crazy for raising rabbits for meat....do you get it now?" Not a single one has given me grief since and I can talk about my rabbits freely around them now.

I wish my relatives (all few of them) thought like that...my dad and I are kind of alone in the "hunt or raise good meat, clean conscience can't be beat" mentality.

Some people don't seem to understand that,

A. Not all animals are pets.
B. Animals die.

I wouldn't worry about explaining that to anyone who questions your practices. Some people will never understand this and feel we should all buy our meat at the grocery store where it is made.

I put my foot down -hard- when they tried to ask about if the doe saw the vet or not. Even my dad grumbled at them for that!

Whenever my aunt asks how I could POSSIBLY kill/eat a beautiful soft-furred creature with those pretty, big brown eyes...I remind her that she just described a COW, too, and she eats those DAILY. :roll:

If I were in your place, I wouldn't waste my time explaining anything to them and if they got rude, I'd show them the door.

Sadly not my house, so I couldn't boot 'em. I did get sick of dealing with it so I left for a few hours today. Needed a break from the constant crazy.

Other friends happily munch on rabbit, and hold and pet and coo over the babies and house buns just like we do. hah

I AM guilty of treating them all like pets though. I just eat any rabbit who isn't sweet and cuddly.

I'm lucky that my friends fall into one of two categories: people who accept differences and don't mind me raising/eating rabbits so long as I don't harass them for NOT raising/eating rabbits, and people who have discovered that rabbits are DELICIOUS. :lol:

Sadly the crazy family folk (other than my dad) won't even CONSIDER eating it, so...I can't win 'em over for taste.

Some of my meat eating friends are total idiots. You've probably seen them post on fb "how can you eat that cute bunny" "omg I could NEVER do what you do".

Yah, once in a while I have to bite my tongue and not start a fight, lol. I do seem to recall once where I got cranky and went off on one of your friends though...sorry about that.

Don't talk about it and I believe letting them see a dead rabbit if you already knew where they stand was inviting debate. You could have avoided a lot of conflict and no one anti meat or usually anyone else for that matter goes in my rabbitry.

My dad's land, my dad's rules, and he wanted me to entertain these people, hence why they got to go pet the bunnies. As far as seeing the dead rabbit...I had no choice: there's one way in AND out of the area where my lean-to is, and there's big windows I had to walk past. I didn't bring the dead body inside and make 'em look at it, I literally just walked past the window carrying some supplies and a rabbit. Frankly I'm a little surprised they saw her, I had other stuff in my arms as well.

Not like I'm gonna leave a dead rabbit lying in a cage!!!!

In her defense, she does let me use her hay barn for processing though, I just have to sneak the rabbits back there to avoid the 'oh, poor things!' routine.

I hear ya, my dad was traumatized by a botched rabbit hunt many years ago, for a while he couldn't be home when I processed rabbits...now he can be home, I just have to warn him so he can go watch TV (loudly) and pretend I'm not dispatching rabbits in the garage. :lol:

You got the spay/neuter lecture over rabbits? And twelve makes you a hoarder?

I know, TWELVE WHOLE RABBITS, that's like...a HUNDRED except...............not. :lol: :roll: When they asked "so how many do you have here?!" they were amazed at the "sheer numbers." LOL WHAT. I've known people who occasionally have SINGLE LITTERS of twelve!!!

They suggested spay-neuter mostly to "make the girl rabbits nicer" because, wanting to be bred, they were kind of unfriendly. :roll: Even sweetie-pie Breezy was cranky and ornery...she's purple as heck and feisty as the dickens, I had to move her so she'd stop trying to chew down the barrier to get to the bucks. They seemed so confused when I said she's a BREEDING doe, so I am not gonna spay her...then came the "but you already have SO MANY, why would you breed more?" questions. I carefully explained the concept of showing homebreds and briefly mentioned dinners. :mrgreen:

I think his big issue is that I have always been an animal lover, and he just can't wrap his head around how I've become a rabbit serial killer. Or that the beef in our freezer has a name. "You ate your pet cow?!?!" was how he phrased it.

Funny thing is, the most sincere animal lovers I know? Hunt or raise meat. Being a true animal lover, you wanna KNOW that meat is happy and healthy!

Pet cow is tasty. My dad is considering buying half a pet cow next year. :mrgreen:

My wife says she's "embarrassed" by the whole thing .... I really don't understand what's so embarrassing about self sufficiency .... She says that's what the grocery store is for. Just don't tell anyone we eat them , problem solved.

Embarassed? Wow. I'm so sorry you have to deal with that...that sucks.

Especially for the older generation, growing your own food, whether animal or vegetable, is a social stigma. It is a mark of social and economic standing if you can afford to buy your food at the store and let the peasants do the dirty work for you. This also goes for sewing your own clothes, repairing your car, mowing your lawn, fixing plumbing, electrical, etc. etc. etc.

Maybe I'm insane but I see all that as a mark of pride, not of embarassment. For example, my car died, and my dad thinks it's one of the few things he knows how to do to fix it, so I may be helping fix my dang car tomorrow...if it isn't too cold to work without gloves on that is! I'm also looking for a sewing machine...tired of buying clothes that have to be altered to fit decently when I can bloody well sew my own stuff.

So glad my dad isn't 100% brainwashed like his sister is.

Most people I talk to about spinning or teach to spin constantly ask me why at my age (23) i'd even be interested in such things when I can go buy yarn to knit, or better yet, buy the finished item for much less time and money than I have in it from A to Z. It's the way doing the whole task helps me feel grounded and the fact that I'm helping keep traditions alive that makes it all worth it.

AMEN.

And... If we ever have a Zombie apocalypse I'll be the one who knows how to survive!

Some of my friends have cheerily informed me that if the Zombie Apocalypse goes down, they're gonna come live with me-- I'm the guy with food and guns, LOL!!!!!!!!!!

And this is the biggest battle I face. I hear the stories of what they did in the back woods of Alabama, back in the day... now they live high in the suburbs, neat no fence subdivisions, and buy from classy grocery stores, in trendy plazas, and I don't think they've even so much as sewed a button on in the past 20 years. They wouldn't do anything that might cause some blood to get on their shoes. They grow house plants, not green beans. They don't even have pets in their pretty homes.

They have no idea about why I'm fascinated by all of this. I am winning them over slowly with my hand spun yarn though, of course because they aren't going to make anything themselves, they have no need of it, and would rather have some designer label from Macy's than something handmade by me.

It's all the same mentality.

Makes my head and heart hurt to think of it...when did wholesome living become something to be ashamed of?!<br /><br />__________ Thu Jan 02, 2014 9:55 pm __________<br /><br />Oh also, a new development since the original question...we had a late gift exchange for the family...and my dad went overboard this year with gifting, lol. He said he couldn't choose which thing I'd like/need more so he got both.

The others looked confused when I unwrapped the prettiest, finest pair of skinning/field dressing knives, complete with a very nice gut-hook. One's nice and big for deer, the other is wee, for rabbits. My aunt asked "why the heck would you want knives?"

Before I could answer, my dad cheerily explained that my knives SUCK and won't hold an edge, and how I have to keep borrowing his...and then he explained how to use them and how the gut-hook works. :twisted: I just sat there in pure delight with my shiny new knives as my dad extolled the virtues of a good knife and why perforating the guts is a bad idea and so forth and such-like.

Everyone left this afternoon. GEE, WONDER WHY!!!! :lol: :lol: :lol: