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[paxamicus AT earthlink.net]

I don't know if mine is the perspective you're looking for, because I  
have obviously not been selling these animals as meat on a regular  
basis.

I'm going to offer up some thoughts, however, for what they are worth.  
There are a lot of aspects to what you are asking.

I spent a very long time as part of the race horse industry. I  
justified it by not actually owning the animals I cared for, I was  
merely a midwifery service.
More and more, though, as I watched the horses we'd foaled age out and  
disappear off the radar, I worried. Every ugly story about horses  
being shipped to Canada
for butchering made me flush with guilt, because you know those trucks  
are full of off the track Thoroughbreds.  And it wasn't because they  
were going to end up being eaten, it was because you know
what they suffered on their way there. The day I washed my hands of  
that business I was a happy woman.

I am ok with culling and eating animals as long as I can personally  
take responsibility they are being cared for
respectfully. I culled some of the ewes and lambs in the past for a  
variety of reasons. Other than what my extended family took, and what  
I traded the neighbours, I had butchered and we gave it away to local  
shelters.
For me, whether or not I am doing something for the sole reason of  
profit makes a difference. That's my value judgement and I do not pass  
it on others. I feel like I owe anything in my care the very best I  
can give it.
If that means a swift end at the end of a pretty content life, I'm ok  
with that and hope someone does the same for me.

From a health perspective, I feel the need to eat meat.  When I was  
pregnant with my 6 yo I developed pretty severe gestational diabetes  
which did not
go away when she was born. After a long period of vegetarianism, I had  
to change the way I ate quickly in such a way as I could nourish the  
baby and me. Beans and legumes could only get
me so far. When I do not eat meat, my good cholesterol is under 40 and  
I get surprisingly discombobulated.  My family eats meat because I do,  
but it's a small part of our regular diet.

The other thing is, I am a sucky gardener. I mean, I REALLY suck. I  
could no sooner feed my family out of a garden than I could grow  
octopus arms. I am, however, quite a good animal person. That's my  
skill.
Someday I may have to actually employ it.

Then there is this. My oldest grew up in the barn, and she is a  
fantastic kid. Polite, responsible, thoughtful. She works hard. I know  
she got that from the discipline of taking care of animals. She got  
that from watching her Dad and I.
I want to involve my youngest child in an outdoor, physically active,  
mentally engaging activity. Once again, my skill is in animals and  
that's what I can share with her, so I do. I consider the sheep a huge  
step on the responsibility level
than indiscriminately tossing out racehorses left and right. I can't  
promise all those horses good homes or good deaths. I CAN do that with  
my sheep.

We touched briefly on locavorism (?) and it's much easier for me to  
find meat protein in the winter months than it is to find some other  
forms of food. Yes, I can store beans, and I use beans all the time,  
but one can not
live by beans alone. Previously frozen  meat tastes a lot better when  
it's cooked than winter mushy veggies do.

Anyway, I'm not not to make a general argument for the meat industry,  
which is appalling, or even a diet that is comprised of a lot of meat.  
When I serve meat, it's always the accent piece to the bulk. Meatballs  
with spaghetti, lamb kebabs with a tonne of veggies.
The OUNCES we are supposed to be eating, not the pounds most people  
choke down. And, I buy good stuff and make it go a long way.  Local  
and organic. Sustainably raised.

I'm throwing this out as I'm sitting here in my sheep shed, which my  
husband made wireless for me a little while ago. I am baby sitting my  
triplets, whose mother disappeared last night and whom I think was  
stolen.


Cheers






On Mar 7, 2008, at 9:12 AM, Gene GeRue wrote:

> I find that as I have moved away from raising, killing and eating
> large animals I have also moved away from hunting and toward pacifism,
> one of the few subjects on which Tvo and I disagreed. I wish I then
> had this quote to offer for his consideration: “I am not only a
> pacifist but a militant pacifist. I am willing to fight for
> peace. . . . Is it not better for a man to die for a cause in which he
> believes, such as peace, than to suffer for a cause in which he does
> not believe, such as war?”
> --Albert Einstein
>
> My perspective today is that killing--and it seems to be that the
> larger the victim the greater the feeling--tends to brutalize me, to
> make me more harsh. I still eat chicken and fish and know well the
> conditions and processes that food entails, but it seems to bother me
> less than the large animals. Those of you who do raise, kill and eat
> large animals, do you find your attitudes toward the practice evolving
> in any way as the years pass?
I