This is a bit of an odd one, and probably doesn’t belong in this subforum, but I couldn’t work out where to put it, so feel free to move, mods, if there’s somewhere more appropriate.
We took our first sheep to the abattoir last week, a year after we got a flock. That night our son (8 years old) was inconsolable. He’d shown no signs of concern in the weeks leading up to it but since he continues to be quite insistent that he doesn’t ever want to do it again.
He’s previously had no problems when we’ve reared pigs from weaners, and even came to the abattoir once with them. I don’t know if it’s that he’s a little older, or we’ve had the sheep longer, but this time it was, without warning, very different.
For me, rearing our own animals has made me feel both that I have no problem eating our own produce (they’ve been well cared for and have had as good a life as we could give them) and more dubious about eating the product of poor welfare standards, but it’s hard to reason from first principles with an eight year old.
Anyway, I guess what I’m asking is whether anyone else has been in a similar situation, or otherwise has any thoughts or advice?