People who live near farms does it upset you when the animals disapear to become burgers and I am townie that needs to toughen up,

[twinsetandpearls]

We have a field of cows that live at the end of the garden. Thet come to see us every day, we chat to them , dd dances for them and we feed them. The cats run around in their field and the dog has done an elaborate escape act to hang out with them.

They are now gone, dp said they were herded up and taken away, I imagine to be slaughtered. I miss them, dd has given me a good talking too about how they were meant for meat and new ones will be coming

How long does it take to get used to seeing animals as food? ,

[SmugColditz]

I live in a market town, with a huge abatoir and cattle market. Animals as food is normal to me!

[fryalot]

I live in the countryside and often fields full of animals disappear, only to reappear when the weather gets warmer.

Are they dairy cows or beef cattle? It is quite possible that the farmer has just moved them to a more hospitable field, or somewhere that has sheds for when the weather gets bad.

Or maybe they've all gone off to live in a pretty little farm in the country with roses around the door like our cat did when it was poorly that time...

[twinsetandpearls]

I will have to get used to it, they just oddly became part of our family life as we have french doors so can see them for most of the day and when they see us they come right over to the garden. Now we just have an empty field.

[twinsetandpearls]

sleepy that is what dd said to me. I keep hoping dp was lying and that a cow will appear. I may need to get a life.

[TooTicky]

I hate hearing the mothers calling for their babies

[twinsetandpearls]

Stop too ticky.

Dp said my favourite cow was particularly unhappy

[TooTicky]

We live very near a small dairy farm.
I am vegan.

[twinsetandpearls]

I am wondering if it will stop me eating meat tbh.

[twinsetandpearls]

But they were only there to be farmed I suppose.

[constancereader]

I had a very traumatic few days this summer when a cow cried frantically for her calf. It was heartbreaking (am pg and hormonal) but I knew I was being a complete hypocrite as I drank my bedtime milk to stop my indigestion. I couldn't bear the way she rushed over to the fence whenever she saw anyone in case they brought her baby back .

But there was a happy ending as calf suddenly reappeared after two days .

[mehgalegs]

Ah, we are surrounded by a small herd of beef cattle too. They are quite new and the best thing is that many of them are calves with their mothers. They get a better deal than the dairy cows in the other field who have their calves taken away after three days and make awful mooing noises in the night. (Sorry, I am supposed to be making you feel better)

I am not the one to advise though as we rear our own chicken and pork.

[Anifrangapani]

Toughen up or become vegan if it worries you.

[MoChan]

God, it's heartbreaking. I can't imagine how anyone brings themselves to eat meat.

[solidgoldbrass]

Now I'd be hanging over the gate asking the farmer if he did neighbour-discounts on steaks. I quite like the idea of eating something that I know has had a nice life and would keep animals for food if I had a) enough land and b) someone else to do all the getting-up-early bits of it.

[twinsetandpearls]

Tell it how it is Anifrangapani

Have to say i don;t eat a lot of meat as we buy meat from the farmers market so we know where it has come from and we can;t afford a great deal of it. Maybe it wouldn't be so hard to cut out.

[traceybath]

Sorry - i actually go out of my way to buy lamb that was raised in our village as i've seen them have a nice happy life.

I think its important that if you eat meat you accept where it comes from, ie, not shrink wrapped in sainsburys. But thats why i only buy organic meat - i'd rather eat less meat and know its had a happy life.

[twinsetandpearls]

I have always tried to eat meat that has had a happy life as i said above but I suppose I must have been naive to where it comes from even then.

[giddykipper]

My parents have a smallholding and occasionally raise lambs to eat. It's a fact of life that you should face if you are going to eat meat. Look at it this way - you know those animals running round the field have had a happy life and a painless death. I would much rather that than a battery chicken that has had a miserable existence.

[snigger]

We live in the middle of a deer farm.

DH has to be forcibly restrained from encouraging DDs to name the stags Dinner, Lunch and Venison Jerky.

I think the longer you're in the country the more you get used to it.

I must be hard hearted, I see baby lambs and think "Give it a few weeks love......mmmmm....."

[Aefondkiss]

constancereader that gets me too, the cow crying for its calf thing... but yes I do buy milk.

[traceybath]

I didn't mean to sound harsh though t&p - perhaps you're feeling a bit more sensitive than usual at the moment.

[twinsetandpearls]

You didn;t sound harsh, and yes perhaps I am oversenstive at the moment, even transferring grief from my grandma to the cows. Am not sure she would have felt that happy knowing she had been upstaged by a field of cows.

We had named the cows, maybe we should not do it with the new ones.

[traceybath]

I got emotional over the cows and their calfs when i was pregnant. And despite my hard country ways i still can't eat venison - i blame it on being a 1970's baby - could never eat bambi .

[snigger]

The 'rut' is just starting here - seriously, two weeks in and you'd eat Bambi with a dull butter knife just to shut him up....