Farming and Ranching is Love

Have you heard about these books promoting vegan lifestyle to children?  The latest book is called Vegan is Love.  I first read about them in Drovers magazine, and then in an article written by Amanda Radke on the Beef magazine website.  I was trolling through the comment section (Click here for the full article) when I read this comment: “ It may be graphic and I would probably hesitate to show otto(?) (I assume they mean our)children, but is the depiction in these books untrue? At some point children should learn about slaughter. By James Saunders  on May 3, 2012”

This comment struck me like lightening - stopped me in my tracks.  I had to ask myself - when did I learn about slaughter?  

I had to dig down deep in my recollections for my first experience to animal slaughter.  I think I was in kindergarten. We were at my grandma's house.  It was a chicken slaughter day. It was my chore to push my baby sister around in her stroller while the adults worked.  They killed, pluck, and gutted 50 + birds that day.  Nowhere in that memory could I recall my mom or dad sitting down and explaining to me what was going to happen or what I would see.   Did I ask questions about the process, yes! But they gave me answers I could understand. It didn't make me angry or sad that they were butchering chickens. I knew they were not pets - they were not like my dog Buddy, or the neighbor’s cat. I knew I liked chicken nuggets and they came from chickens.  It made sense, in my little kid brain.  It wasn’t cluttered with ideas about animal welfare, or the ethics of why we eat meat.  Because I was a kid!  Those are adult concepts!  Should children be taught about slaughter – YES by all means!  But are these books the answer - I'm not so sure.   I have yet to find and read one myself. So I can not offer a fair opinion on their content.  I can only offer my thoughts on teaching children about slaughter. 

Since that bygone day at my grandma’s house, I have been a part of several more butchering days.  Raising several butcher steers, and hogs. I went as far as taking a meat science class in college and learned the mechanics of the industry. In that class we butchered lambs, beef, and pork.  I made a point to work at every station, and get my hands dirty.  I will be blunt – it is not a pleasant job.  It’s not my favorite thing to do. But I learned that these animals have a purpose. They were raised to feed people. I cannot stress that point enough.

As farm kids raised with livestock we knew that these animals were not pets. Livestock are there to feed our families and others around the world. While we loved these animals, cared for and even named a few of them we knew what would happen in the end.  (I know I risk sounding hokey, or corny with this next statement.) Being raised on the farm we learned that cattle, hogs, sheep chicken, goats etc. have a noble purpose.  They die so that we may eat and nourish our bodies.   This is a very important thing to learn as a child, which is the concept we need to teach our children today.    Farming and Ranching is love!  I want to see that book on the shelf! 

Instead of Shooting the Bull, they Pulled the Calf

So to continue with the cows are calving celebration week I have a little bit of a different story to share.

To begin with the circumstances surrounding Wade and I finally getting together hover around livestock, manure, rodeo, music, dancing, and beer gardens.  Apparently when you put those things together you’ve got the setting for romance.  So it should have came as no surprise that on our 5th or 6th date out at least a few of those elements would collide again.   Sadly, it was manure and livestock this time only!

We had decided to go out and eat at a local diner, and end the night at my uncle’s house.  He and his wife had recently had a baby and I was named godmother.  I hadn’t seen the baby in a while and wanted to introduce Wade to that side of the family. ( I had already met his by our first date - but thats a different story)   We got there and were visiting, everything was going smoothly. Both Wade and my uncle like to talk and shoot the bull.   My uncle made a motion to get up – he was off to check cows as they had heifers calving.  He asked Wade to come along  – this was an honor!  I didn’t think much of it, they would be back in a couple of hours. They were gone those hours plus some.                                          

They came back in the house rosy cheeked and laughing; that’s when I learned Wade had spent the last couple of hours with 3 of my uncle’s at my grandpa’s house pulling a calf.   I could just picture my uncle’s and Wade – their first time meeting behind the tail end of a heifer.

I knew it had to be love as I climbed into Wade’s truck he eagerly gave me a play by play of the entire birthing event.  I couldn't help but notice the old sweatshirt he kept in his truck was on the floor board spotted with manure and afterbirth.  Yep, I am pretty sure at the point driving down the gravel roads listening to him talk about the heifer that he was the man for me!

Each one of my uncle’s called me the next day to tell me how good of a guy I had.

Does anyone else out there have a romantic bovine date story?