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? ,

I find the worse time is when the boy lambs get taken away for slaughter and the poor mummy sheep bleat and cry hysterically for a two whole nights. The third night the bleat less and the fourth night only one or two are still crying for their lost sons.

And i got so emotional over a 'breastfeeding' jersey cow over the back fence not having enough to drink, that I rang the RSPCA.

I was breastfeeding myself at the time.

What is the rut snigger?

amorous deer. they make a weird noise.

I'm a strict vegetarian married to a beef farmer but have to accept that this is our livelihood. They are cared for really well and when the 'day' comes for them to go, I know that they are treated as humanely as is possible but it is sad when the sheds are empty.

What did the RSPCA do or say themoon66?

We have a huge dairy farm out back of us. That mooing is awful. I'm not sure milk isn't worse than beef (especially if they aren't raising the bull calves).

twinset, you can usually tell dairy from beef cows by their rump shape. (if dairy you can be fairly sure they are somewhere warmer or drier underfoot for their own good). Dairy cows are really angular, almost skeletal sometimes whereas beef cattle tend to be more rounded without such protruding pelvises. sort of obvious really but I hadnt noticed till I saw them side by side at an agricultural college open day this year.

thanks mehgalegs.

Our cows were nosiy, they would also give you the creeps in the evening as you could hear them standing on twigs etc in the ha-ha. In our first few weeks in this house I was constantly imagning that we were being burgled.

Twinset.... they sent someone out. The cow HAD been ill-treated. Her single half dried up bucket of water got replaced by a proper big trough

Have you ever heard a sheep cough at night? Honestly, it sounds so human that it gives you the fear.

I didn't know that Grimma, these were big rounded and very handsome cows.

My friends little cousin (son of a farmer): "we have six lambs [names five of them]... oh, and Billy's in the freezer.

pmsl at sheep coughing in the night and Billy in the freezer/

Gentleotter dp and I once went camping the the lakes and had to sleep overnight in the car on the side of a road. I woke up in the middle of the night as i had heard a strange noise and our car was surrounded by sheep, it was pitch black and all I could see were lots of red eyes staring at us. Very scary.

Very Gary Larsen and The Farside!

yes I can see the card.

the rut, grrr

Its sounds like santa going ho ho ho with sinster overtones.

I would lol, except there's forty of them outside the kitchen doing it

Hey twinset where did you end up living? Last year (I may have been under another name then) you were thinking you'd be in Fulwood but thats not really cattle country!

twinset that happened to me in Ireland, camping in some dunes by the sea, my friend and I were terrified by the coughing of the sheep that surrounded our tent, lol.

We are in Blandford in Dorset.

Don't name cows.

Its not really on topic but did you know cows have to have passports? I only found out this week. Apparantly the paperwork for keeping cows is massive.

Animals as food has always been normal to me - I lived on a smallholding farm when i was little, ,and even remember being taken to the abbatoir and shown what happens to the pigs (not the whole process, we just saw the part where they stun the animal so it' unconcious when it's killed) Our cows were never sent for slaughter though, as they were dairy cows. used to see chickens killed as well though, if we were having a sunday roast, one would just be slaughtered at home btw they really do run around for a few minutes after the head is chopped off. It used to fascinate me.

I don't know, Our dairy cows NEVER looked emaciated, my parents were always shocked at what dairy cows in England look like. They just don't look healthy.
My mum always did the milking when we had the farm, and she overslept one morning, and when she got to the dairy, our best producing cow was standing with her legs apart, milk streaming from her udder, desparately mooing for someone to come! Bless.