I'm just curious, how many vegans are there on this site?

[Bizzy]

I've been a vegetarian for about 8 years. Big switch - I was raised in the midwest where you eat meat at EVERY meal! The animal products I do eat, I try to get the humane ones (free range organic eggs, family farm milk, etc.). Yes, they're more expensive but I believe in putting my money where my mouth is. Oh - what a shock, finding out that there are animal enzymes in cheese!!! And I'm a cheese-a-holic! Now I have to shlep all the way to Whole Foods once a month to get non-animal rennet cheese (at $5.99 a bag for shredded cheddar - yikes!!).

 

[mom'sfolly]

If you have a kosher grocery or and Indian food store nearby, try those for cheese. Kosher cheese has no animal rennet, and most cheeses for the Indian market don't either.

I actually eat more meat now than I did a year ago. I buy a CSA cow share from a farmer I trust. The price per pound is about $5.60; expensive for ground beef, but cheap for filet. Almost all of my meat is now from farmers markets; and I have a personal knowledge of the people who produce my food. Humanely raised, and not going through a feedlot biocontamination mill (JMHO) means a great deal to me.

 

[Katy]

Quote:
We have a cow herd and I'd just like to say our animals recieve great care and attention. Just because a person raises animals that are going to end up in the food chain doesn't mean they're not an animal lover. You have to be a total animal lover to have a cow herd or else you're not going to be out at 2 in the morning checking the heifers that are due to calve, going out to do feed chores when the wind chill is -20 and it's a roaring blizzard, spending hours out in the barn trying to save a calf that won't suck or that the cow rejected. So don't say that those of us who raise meat for the public aren't animal lovers because we are.

 

[smom1976]

Katy

We have a cow herd and I'd just like to say our animals recieve great care and attention. Just because a person raises animals that are going to end up in the food chain doesn't mean they're not an animal lover. You have to be a total animal lover to have a cow herd or else you're not going to be out at 2 in the morning checking the heifers that are due to calve, going out to do feed chores when the wind chill is -20 and it's a roaring blizzard, spending hours out in the barn trying to save a calf that won't suck or that the cow rejected. So don't say that those of us who raise meat for the public aren't animal lovers because we are

Oh I totally wish I could find a person with a cow farm to sell me some meat.. We have some cows being raised down the road.. do you think that it would be tabu.. to go and ask them if they sell the beef?​

 

[Katy]

No, it wouldn't be tabu....the worst they can do is say no.

 

[MissPrissy]

I agree with you, Katy. I grew up on a cattle farm. Daddy raised beef for the eating of. We had a good sized herd for all the years I can remember. I can't tell you how many times there was a calf born at an odd winter time and it was brought into the house by the fire to keep it alive. I can't count the number of times a cow has had troubles calving and had to be helped. You don't know animal love and care until you have been shoulder deep up a cow rump trying to get a calf out to save both their lives.

 

[Katy]

Quote:
Exactly!!! Most of the people who think what we're doing is wrong wouldn't last one day living my life. If I had a nickel for each tear I've shed over a lost cow or calf I'd be a rich woman. You can't live your life how I have to and do what I do without caring deeply about each animal.

 

[Enchanted Sunrise Farms]

i would never think that most folks on this board who raise their own meat are not animal lovers. i have no problem with the small farmer, caring for their herd, then humanely slaughtering. That is really how it should be done. i just think most factory farms are so cruel in their treatment of the animals. It pains me to think of what happens to those poor animals in their short miserable lives.

i think everyone should know where their food comes from, and be aware of the process. Elbow deep in a cows rear end? Can't get any more real than that!

Edit: Just reread, that was "shoulder deep" in a cow's rump. Now that is true love!

 

[Katy]

Quote:
Just curious what you consider a factory farm...and have you ever been on one?

 

[Enchanted Sunrise Farms]

i have to admit i haven't actually been on one. i've driven past the huge cow farms driving up the center of California. You have to hold your nose for miles.

i am open to be educated. i don't want to be spouting off here when i don't know what i'm talking about.




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