to think that vegetarians will not be happy until farm animals are extinct

[mrleebob]

Let's face it. If farmers can't sell them, they have no purpose to keep them. So they become near extinct.

[NerdyFace]

Mmmmm...Meat!

I literally get the shakes thinking about NOT going a day with some kind of meat ingestion!

I tried Veal for the first time yesterday and it shall be eaten again! I have enjoyed Shark in Japan along with something I was lead to believe was Whale of some description!

Tried seal on a family holiday to Alaska. Have eaten, Horse, Zebra, Aligator and Crocodile.

I like meat for no reason OTHER than taste, I love the smell and the texture.

That being said, I have NEVER encountered a preachy Vegetarian who has condemned me for my decision too eat meat or anything like that.

Those wankers from PETA on the other hand...

[ChickensHaveNoMercyForTurkeys]

I have pure breed pekin banatams Riven. They are extremely temperamental. Little cowbags

[ChickensHaveNoMercyForTurkeys]

I keep farm animals and have never eaten one. They do provide eggs though. Sometimes

[Abr1de]

I agree with cory that people should eat less, but better-quality, meat.

I'm happy to eat it once or twice a week and pay for better quality farming methods.

[YulenoYurbubson]

YANBU.

As a vegetarian, my primary aim is the elimination of goats. The fuckers.

[ClimberChick]

note yet another vegan MNer. Glad there's more of us than I originally thought :)

[droughtended]

Haven't read the whole thread, sorry. I'm a vegetarian. I don't want people to stop eating animals. What I do want is for animals to be reared, kept and slaughtered in humane conditions.

I understand humans eat meat. What makes me not eat meat is knowing that many animals suffer in the meat production process.

[splashy]

Yawn. What a boring, shit-stirring post!

Try harder op.

Or maybe just think a little!

If the world was vegetarian there would still be many farm animals, just less than there are now.

[cory]

If we only needed to eat enough meat to keep British farmers in employment and the cattle stocks safe from extinction, we could afford quite a few more vegetarians.

The truth is that the current very high level of meat eating is a bad strain on the environment. I, for one, am trying to cut down on my family's meat consumption because I just don't see how we can go on like this.

And fwiw my distinct impression is that, despite the rise in vegetarianism, people are eating more meat than they did when I was a child- chunks of meat are bigger, people are not filling up on boiled spuds and Yorkshire pud.

[ChippingIn]

It's child abuse don't you know!

[Vallhala]

It sure is, Chipping. I've had several veggie/vegan friends remark on this.

The other one is what a dreadful mother I am to have decided to bring the girls up as vegetarians and how they must be deficient in this, that or the other. They're 13 and 15 and (shock horror) unvaccinated as well as being veggie. The worst illness they have ever experienced is the common cold.

[ChippingIn]

Valhalla - it's astounding isn't it how some meat eaters feel free to criticise, judge and be incredibly rude, but the uproar should a vegetarian ask then why a meat eater chooses to eat slabs of dead animal, killed for their pleasure....

[Vallhala]

"I used to be a vegetarian but started eating meat partly because I couldn't stand being lumped together in the animal extremist camp." WTF?

I'm vegan and I'm proud to be in the animal extremist camp. :o

I often get asked why I don't eat meat, why I think I dare try to make a difference and soforth and like Marjee have been subjected to criticism and ridicule for my choice. Despite this, and as much as I have ached to on occasion, I have never asked a meat eater why they are eating a piece of cow... :o

[bintofbohemia]

OP - are you Matthew Wright in disguise?

[Marjee]

Yabu! I'm vegetarian, I made that decision for my own personal reasons and I'm happy with my choice. I don't force my opinions on anyone but have been subjected to ridicule from die-hard omnivores countless times.

[DuelingFanjo]

yawn! Another one!?

[EdgarAllenSnow]

i'm sure some people would still keep cows and sheep etc as pets, if no-one ate them.

so YABu (for another reason)

[BeenBeta]

mrleebob - its a bit of an odd theoretical question but the farm animals of the UK or even the world would not become extinct just because we stopped eating meat.

For example, wool and leather and milk are valuable commodities that would still be needed. Our animals would be bred sligthtly differenlty and some breeds would become more or less popular but animals would still be farmed.

[amijee]

"I used to be a vegetarian but started eating meat partly because I couldn't stand being lumped together in the animal extremist camp."

I find that a very strange statement.

I have been a vegetarian since the age of 4 as I hate the taste of meat.

It has never occured to me I may be part of an "extremist camp"!

[Abr1de]

Frankly, a humanely raised Aberdeen Angus steer has a great life. If slaughtered humanely it will probably die more speedily and painlessly than most humans dying of cancer.

Wild animals don't die great deaths. I often hear rabbits screaming in the woods. They are being killed by foxes, I imagine.

[jessiealbright]

I assume the OP is pro-life, then.

[Abr1de]

I think you misunderstand the logic, pingpong. Large areas of upland are given over to the sheep, at some effort to the farmers. If nobody buys the sheep they won't maintain the uplands for them. There will be no habitat. No habitat equals no upland sheep. They aren't wild animals like tigers. They rely on humans to provide grasslands. They aren't carnivores, either. They can't prey on other animals.

[pigsinmud]

I am vegetarian and I have never forced my opinions on anyone else.

I agree with Riven. If the only reason an animal exists is to be eaten, well it's probably better off never having existed.

The reason I became a veggie 23 years ago was to do with the way the animals were kept. There was not much free range, having a lovely life in the fields meat then.

I would like to be vegan, but I think that's beyond me.