Not to want our children to eat red meat?

[Flymeaway4]

I'm vegetarian, have been for 20 years, partner is not. Since before they were born, I've said I'll let them have chicken, fish etc, but not red meat including pork. Once they're old enough to properly understand that meat was once an animal, then they can decide for themselves whether they want to eat red meat too, or be vege if they like, their choice. Partner thinks I'm ridiculous and said "why can't she have a ham sandwich" at a party yesterday, "what harm will it do". There were plenty of other options there anyway: chicken, cheese and egg sandwiches, quiche, fruit etc.

In case you think it's relevant, my reasoning behind no red meat is that I think cows and pigs are too intelligent, they know exactly what is happening when they arrive at the abattoir and I think that's just too cruel (and lambs are babies). Allowing chicken and fish, until they can make their own informed decision, was my compromise. If it were purely up to me, I'd be happy raising them vege!

So, am I being unreasonable?

I'm awaiting this too @Watchkeys there must be stacks of hardcore evidence somewhere based on the amount of times this person has told us red meat causes cancer.

https://www.dal.ca/news/2019/10/02/behind-the-beef--dal-led-research-on-red-meat-challenges-orthodo.html

Apparently the evidence is hardly clear and conclusive. And most of the upset around this study is that the researchers didn't address the environmental impacts of meat production.

I've brought up two vegetarian children, now teens, who both had no problems with this and actually both love fruit and vegetables as well as a good range of other foods. I've never heard this before and don't think there's any basis for it.

Lamb isn't from baby lambs. They're killed full grown when they are bloody gurt sheep. Slightly irrelevant but a personal bugbear that people look at a leg of lamb and think it comes from a dear little fluffy lambkin

Lamb isn't from baby lambs. They're killed full grown when they are bloody gurt sheep. Slightly irrelevant but a personal bugbear that people look at a leg of lamb and think it comes from a dear little fluffy lambkin

Yeah, they’ve maybe been allowed a whole 12 months or so of living. Lucky things. 🙄

Add another "0" to that figure. One cow could provide 1,000 meals.

Lead shot has largely been phased out in favour of steel. In two years' time the transition will be complete. It was already illegal to use lead shot for shooting migratory waterfowl.

They flounced off several days ago, which lasted all of ten minutes...

@BeyondAnything like I said, it's irrelevant. I don't eat lamb! Just a minor terminological annoyance I thought I'd share 😇

If you do some further research you will find this is actually not true. Red must is incredibly nutritious. What do you think the first humans lived off?

Your reasoning doesn’t quite stack up but if you want to cut it out, fine.

Whatever they could find: fruits, nuts, insects, fish, tubers and meat.

Look at our nearest relatives (primates) to see what they most likely ate. Or ask any paleo anthropologist- you know, someone who actually studies this stuff. It’s a myth to think that they were mostly carnivores.

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2115127-ancient-leftovers-show-the-real-paleo-diet-was-a-veggie-feast/

https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/news/2022/january/human-ancestor-homo-erectus-probably-wasnt-carnivore-we-thought.html

Wrong.

“Most lambs/sheep are slaughtered at 10 weeks to 6 months, though some may be 14 months old.”

https://www.rspca.org.uk/adviceandwelfare/farm/sheep/farming#:~:text=Slaughter,may%20be%2014%20months%20old.

A sheep’s average lifespan would be 10-12 years, if it weren’t slaughtered.

Even if your false claim that lambs are slaughtered when fully grown were true (which it isn’t), that would mean the sheep would live for approximately 10% of its natural lifespan. (Lambs are considered fully grown at 1 year).

@coronabeer

Both of those articles confirm that early man lived on meat and veg. The question is about the proportion, not about whether meat eating was part of our evolution.

We don't have the same digestive system as some of our nearest relatives. We could no way digest what a gorilla does.
Chimps are pretty keen on meat.

These types of posts are so full of poor information. Our lambs are born in March inside. The majority of our male lambs go for slaughter at around 8 months old. At that point they are not fully grown but they are capable of fathering lambs. A sheep is not fully grown at one year old. More like 2-3 years old. A sheep which is 12 years old is extremely elderly. As for the RSPCA's assertion that indoor lambing is very stressful because the ewe cannot go off and isolate herself words fail me. Some ewes go to the side of the shed. Some ewes run round and try and nick other ewe's lambs. They're all different.

Are the RSPCA spouting nonsense in that article, then, @derxa ? Or is your farm one of many, and they're all different too?

What comment I have made do you disagree with? Do you know anything about sheep? Have you kept any?

Woah! Defensive much?

I'm genuinely curious, @derxa , and you seem to know what you're talking about as you're a sheep farmer yourself.

Re read my questions, but as questions rather than goads. The RSPCA might be speaking nonsense for all I know. Government does. Other authoritative bodies do.

You talked about your male lambs, so I wondered if others do it differently?

There's all sorts of different systems in sheep farming. But the life cycle is the same just like humans. My gripe about the RSPCA's snidey comment about indoor lambing annoyed me. Would they rather the lambs died from hypothermia? We try not to distress the ewe. The ideal is the ewe gives birth without human interference. We sometimes have to intervene if a lamb is stuck, breech or tangled up with another lamb in the womb.

Yanbu for wanting to raise your children vegetarian, but YABU to think your want holds more weight than their dad's.

I agree with previous pp- that sandwich was destined for the bin if not eaten at that party. Would make no difference in your cruelty argument, just minimised the waste.

We don’t give her dead body parts

See, this is why vegans have such a bad reputation. I know as an extremist you are going for shock value, but it says more about you and how immature and ignorant you are, than anything else. Keep showing why vegans have the well-earned bad reputation they have.

Extremism on both sides really. Earlier posters have said that parents who feed their kids veggie diets are dictating to them One felt sorry for my kids!. We all dictate to our kids. That is why Christian parents take their kids to church, and I take my kids to the temple.

What other people do is none of my concern, but kids fed on veggie food are not being deprived of essential nutrients if they follow a balanced diet. That is a very Western outlook, which is now being deubunked by scientists.

What did I say that was extremist? And how did it have shock value? If it is shocking to you that meat is the body parts of a once living animal that has been killed by humans, it shouldn’t be. Also I don’t see what is ignorant about it? It is factually correct. If describing something as I see it, which is factual, gives me a bad reputation with someone who is rude and calls me immature then so be it.

dead body parts

You really think that's necessary to say? Don't play dumb. You know exactly what you are doing saying that.