[mastersons]

 
im suzi, 38 nearly and mum to 2 boys aged 9 and 16. we keep a small amount of animals for meat and because ive gotten attached and cant send them to slaughter now they have names animals 

weve been doing it 2 years nearly and myself and my littlest love it. eldest tolerates it

[pharnorth]

Good for you. I had a single Mum phase when mine were small but no livestock then though. But we did have a shetland pony that I sometimes took the eldest to school on. That caused a few comments in the playground.

[Fleecewife]

It's a good life     Have another think about naming your animals.  All of ours are named, sheep, hens and geese, and although we don't eat the hens as they are layers, we do eat some sheep, and a couple of the geese.  For us it actually makes it easier to know their names, because then when we eat them we remember and respect the individual animal.  We don't eat 'slabs of meat', we eat a loved and cared for animal we know has had a good life with us.  Having said that, we also have some pet sheep and geese which are not going to be eaten as they will live with us until they die.  We don't breed meat animals as we breed for breeding stock, but those which don't make the grade as breeding stock are better in our view to go direct from here to the abattoir, rather than being sold into the commercial meat chain.  The ones intended to be eaten from birth, do go for slaughter, and it is easier having always known that intention.  It is a good outlook, because then you don't feel guilty for their end, and you can raise your children to be honest and open.  We all need to cut down on meat in our diet, supposedly, but to eat the animals we have raised to be happy and healthy is a great way to do things.
So carry on naming your animals and then do right by them at the end. 
We used to say 'see you for dinner' as we left them at the abattoir - now that is perhaps a bit sick, but it relieved the tension!

[Lesley Silvester]

I named all my goats. The males that were destined for the freezer, had names like Curry, Korma and Cassie(role) so I couldn't pretend that I never intended to eat them.

[Fleecewife]

I named all my goats. The males that were destined for the freezer, had names like Curry, Korma and Cassie(role) so I couldn't pretend that I never intended to eat them.

When we first got our hens all those years ago, my nieces named them things like tikka and curry too, in the mistaken thought that we would eat them!  The names stuck though.


[member=198190]mastersons[/member] Don't worry about your older boy only tolerating the lifestyle - many teenagers only tolerate every aspect of life! Then they suddenly click back to reality after a few years.  My sons and eldest grandson were the same as teenagers, but now they have families of their own, they do all the things we did with them, including growing veggies and going camping in the snow