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

[Kyle@theWintertime]

I think they can. I think most people do - the only issue I'd see is they can have a tendency of lacking Vit C. Even just sprinkling Vit c on their table scraps could probably solve that, and it'd be pretty cheap.

And you live in Michigan! How does you liking GPs help me?
Our dog might eat it.. She liked the rabbit organs, and she liked the back strip I gave her. Our other dog REFUSES raw food, but she's a brat to begin with and doesn't deserve it,lol.

And I'd look forward to baby piglets! I could always show them.. Wonder if they have a meat section for gps... :hmm:

My tiny dog may be ultra-submissive to me, but she is a tiny, tiny wolf, LOL. She loves meat, has a cast iron stomach, and eats anything she can get. She hovers around, shaking with excitement, whenever I butcher ANYTHING.

My dear old departed Cocker...I say with total honesty, he was a princess. He had to be forced to go step on wet pavement when it rained, he wouldn't go out in the snow until he got his coat put on, and he was just plain prissy.

One day I was processing a bunch of birds (found someone on Craigslist selling eight to ten pound chickens and ducks for $2 apiece, SCORE!!!!!!) and I figured I'd share with the dogs. I gave my dear Cocker a whole duck liver, still warm. All for him. Now...let's be real, a fresh duck liver from an animal dispatched mere minutes before is about the most amazing and gourmet dog treat in HISTORY.

He happily took it........and INSTANTLY spat it out with a look of total disgust. Then he looked up at me as if to say "YOU DIDN'T COOK THAT FIRST!!!!" Before I could say or do a THING, the Chihuahua-mutt/tiny-wolf runs over, grabs the liver, and eats it WHOLE before licking the blood off the floor.

Yep, Bing the Cocker was a pretty, prissy princess. Cricket the tiny mutt........is a very, very diminutive wolf, LOL.

I have one too old to hunt anything but she'd kill herself trying, one that would probably mouse given the chance and a princess that would turn her nose up if her meat is frozen if I allowed it.

Kyle, I think these days chocolate coins will work fine.

I threw a nickel at my dad over breakfast the other day, just in case.

Cricket WOULD be a good mouser if her legs weren't so screwy. Though she does give the squirrels in the yard a wide berth, and she doesn't quite know what to do with baby bunnies (I had to keep telling her not to lick them).

 

[3mina]

My Frenchie would be lethal if she was bigger and had a longer jaw, watching her see the shop cat at work is like watching a T. Rex lock on target. :x
My Boxer is sooo sad when her meat isn't warm enough. She would refuse to eat occasionally, until she figured out ll that got her was hungry when I removed her meal after a few minutes.

 

[SatinsRule]

I don't believe it is ever, EVER wise to try and explain or rationalize to an anti-meat or ARA why you don't observe the same standards as they do. They have already made up their minds that you are wrong, and they're not ashamed to display that they're closed-minded about it. If they call you out in front of friends and co-workers, that's a completely different bag of jacks and marbles you're playing with, but if all they're doing is trying to argue with you, it's simply better to ignore them. Failing that, you're playing right into their overly emotional hands, while ignoring them will serve to frustrate and drive them nuts. JMHO!!

 

[the reluctant farmer]

I don't believe it is ever, EVER wise to try and explain or rationalize to an anti-meat or ARA why you don't observe the same standards as they do. They have already made up their minds that you are wrong"

All joking aside, I think you're right. Similar to politics, if folks have aligned with a "side" there is no reasoning or even rational discussion to be had. Too much energy output for too little progress.

 

[paradox]

I would have had to cook them some store bought meat, but when I set it on the table I would apologize profusely for having to serve meat from such a source. Something along the lines of "I cannot guarantee that this animal lived a humane and happy life. I cannot even guarantee they were killed in a humane manner. I also cannot vouch for the health of the animal, nor for what kinds of chemicals and medicines might have been pumped into it while it was alive. I really hate to have to serve something like this to people I care about, especially when I know how much you care about animals. But since I did not have enough of my home grown meat, I had no choice but to serve you meat from the store."

 

[Phil]

I couldn't resist I know its says hunting but it also works for prossesing your own meat to

 

[GBov]

I would have had to cook them some store bought meat, but when I set it on the table I would apologize profusely for having to serve meat from such a source. Something along the lines of "I cannot guarantee that this animal lived a humane and happy life. I cannot even guarantee they were killed in a humane manner. I also cannot vouch for the health of the animal, nor for what kinds of chemicals and medicines might have been pumped into it while it was alive. I really hate to have to serve something like this to people I care about, especially when I know how much you care about animals. But since I did not have enough of my home grown meat, I had no choice but to serve you meat from the store."

Magic!

All my friends and relations get it but I did have trouble with the inlaws. I raised the Christmas turkey one year and my sis in law asked, one summer day, how the turkeys were getting on? I said they were running round and enjoying the sunshine.

Imagine my surprise when she put her face in her hands and yelled "Oh GOD! That makes it even WORSE!"

When I asked her if it was better to eat a turkey that had lived its entire life crowded and filthy, eating nasty food and being pumped full of chemicals to just keep it alive long enough to butcher she replied.......

I kid you not!

"YES! Because then you are doing it a favor by killing it!"

How can you win with thinking like that?

My problem with family and friends is having enough pork, quail, honey and rabbit meat to sell and gift with.

I shocked someone who asked me that stupid "Would you eat a dog?" question the other day. Why ask me a question and then not like the answer YES?

And guinea pig tastes a bit sweet and nicely rich. Kill, swish in 150 degree water and pull the hair off. Cook anyway you like, its good!

Oh, and the best way to get people over the cute fluffy thing? Have them "Just get me that rabbit over there!" After you get done stitching them up they might just get the idea that rabbits are not so cute after all. :lol:

So 12 rabbits counts as hoarding eh? Wonder what 70 gets me called? :roll:

 

[DogCatMom]

I don't hunt (I do support hunting), I don't raise meat rabbits (my own bun is a "gardening assistant"; I started off looking for a fiber bun), but I do eat meat. And fish, when I can afford wild-caught. After reading this forum for a few months, I purchased a frozen rabbit, ready to cook; neither DH nor I was particularly enthusiastic about its taste (even though we used a Belgian recipe).

Over the past several years, I've increased the % of "personally raised" meat DH and I eat: I've purchased lambs from a lamb farmer about an hour away whose farm I've visited, I've found a grass-fed beef source, I've ordered a special turkey for the holidays. Our chickens *sigh* are still grocery-store chickens; the $ hasn't worked out for us yet to switch the chickens too, since they're actually our most frequently eaten meat. My work (and therefore $) has been very iffy during this same period of time, and DH himself just doesn't "get" the concept behind supporting individual farmers. If it's easier for him, then that's what he'll do, so...grocery store. Bleah.

A good motivation for me was when I discovered the Humane Farming Association. This group advocates what most people on RT advocate: good, clean water, wholesome food, humane treatment for animals intended for human food. Adequately sized quarters (with true access to the outdoors) for laying hens. All that good stuff that we support. Maybe some of the HFA's educational brochures (scroll almost to bottom of page) would help get the "industrially prepared meat" message across to some of these folks who want their meat animals to suffer in life, be sick, pumped full of meds/drugs, etc.?

 

[gardenbunny]

i'm so glad i found this forum, people here seem to have similar views to me, one person said making stuff from scratch helps them feel grounded I agree completely. I grew up in a throw away family( we generated at least 4 bags of garbage a week) now I barely have one bag of garbage because everything is made from scratch, we're so obsessed with canning my husband and I just got matching jar tattooes lol

I think people think hobby farmers love to kill but it is the opposite, if I loved to kill I'd be a hunter, no I love to raise the meat, the killing is just a necessary part of it. I always wanted to raise baby animals but was it was drilled in my head that there are too many pets abandoned. now I have a reason to raise baby animals, knowing they won't contribute to over population because they have a short life span.

in all honesty these rabbits live better than most people around the world( fresh clean water plenty of food and a clean warm place to sleep) the problem with north American society is they don't realize that north America is in the top 1% of the world. we're lucky we can choose to not be associated with the food we eat but it has made people less grounded.

people say don't name them they're food not pets, I'm a hobby farmer taking care of them is my hobby and I have no problem saying its mertle stew tonight.( mertle was a rabbit a friend gave me last year but didn't breed well with my buck, i suspect because it was too old( given as a pet to a child and given back after a few years)). I know if they weren't destined to be stew they wouldn't have been born( I wouldn't have breed them) wouldn't they rather live a good but short life rather than no life at all...

 

[JulieCunicole]

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.

Agreed. People who reach an opinion through logic can be reasoned out of it; people who reach an opinion through emotion can be emoted out of it.

If there's a news story about a person killed by contaminated meat that was traced back to large feed lots, you might be able to reach these people.

Part of the problem is that when people like you, they identify with you - and when they find out you're killing Thumper, part of them recoils. It's understandable.

__________ Thu Apr 03, 2014 9:29 am __________

I purchased a frozen rabbit, ready to cook; neither DH nor I was particularly enthusiastic about its taste (even though we used a Belgian recipe).

Hey - I live just north of you - if you want, we can join forces for rabbit cooking. The first few I made were not very good, but as I'm learning, they're getting better. Et en plus, ma famille habitait en Uccle pour une temps, et on peut parler de la Wallonie! I don't speak any Flemish, though, so I hope you're a) Wallon, or b) someone who forgives us French-speakers. :bunnyhop: <br /><br /> __________ Thu Apr 03, 2014 9:35 am __________ <br /><br />

My tiny dog hovers like a vulture when I'm cutting up meat, she loves raw scraps.

My dog can take them or leave them, but my chickens - they're vultures! They get all the kidneys, spleens, and hearts, and then they chase each other all over the yard for the treats in their beaks. They're the same with mice. They are too much fun!!!! :feedchicken: :chicken:

 

[GBov]

My dog can take them or leave them, but my chickens - they're vultures! They get all the kidneys, spleens, and hearts, and then they chase each other all over the yard for the treats in their beaks. They're the same with mice. They are too much fun!!!! :feedchicken: :chicken:

OMG you LET them have the BEST PARTS???

We fight over the livers, hearts and kidneys here! :lol: