I grew up on a cattle ranch and everyone in my family hunts, other than my mom. When you grow up with it, it's just normal to you.

I don't know that I could raise rabbits in my house and then eat them though. I feel like they would become too much like pets.

I really wish I could. Trying to be more self-sufficient but but end the end I would have 100 rabbit pets, with names and no meat. Lol

I really want a farm….but I only want producing animals. Chickens, milk cows, sheep. Something that I don’t have to kill after I name it and love it for years. Haha.

I personally do not but a friend of mine does raise rabbits for meat. He said the same as Blonde - they are very high maintenance. They were moving them in and out of the basement depending on the weather and finally just put heat in the detached garage.

I fed fried rabbit to the boys once. SS19 was 14 at the time and loved it. He knew what it was when I was cooking it because it was my brothers recipe and I had him on speaker. SS15 was 9. We didn't tell him. He took about 5 bites, put it down and said "dad, I don't like this chicken, its weird"

We told him he didn't have to eat it and didn't tell him until last year when I was making rabbit stew. He didn't eat it but he did find out that he had tried it and didn't like it. }:)

I have done rabbits and cows. Rabbits aren't so bad if you have the right set up. I kept them on my uncles farm, so they were in a barn in elevated cages with a big thing underneath to catch all the nasties. Cleaned that out 1-2 times a week, they were fairly big cages so they had plenty of space. Foxes like rabbits, so If you do get them you need to be sure they're in an area where the beasties won't get them... We left the barn open once and lost a rabbit...

I named one cow once, never made that mistake again... I was DEVASTATED when it had to go... The key for me was to avoid naming them... Because the second I did I no longer wanted to kill it... And I really like rabbit... If you can deal with it... Rabbits can actually be litter box trained, I had a friend who did it (hers was a pet). and that thing never had an accident, had food and water bowls in the kitchen, etc. Idk if I could do that with something I was going to kill... I normally make the divide of "this rabbit is for food, so it'll stay in a barn/hutch." LOL

Rabbits also have the benefit of an easy slaughter, if you do it right they don't even scream at all... Just one whack to the back of the head while holding its hind legs.

Poor fluffy bunny.

I am not opposed to eating meat or poultry at all. We enjoy both. I just don't want it looking at me the day before. OR hopping and playing in the back yard.

Just be wary - DH and I also want to raise meat rabbits, but our county laws explicitly state that any animal raised for meat is classified and regulated under livestock (rabbits are the specifically mentioned example) and thereby prohibited unless you have 5+ acres. This does vary from place to place, obviously. And I know one of SS's friend's parents have 'pet' rabbits that have gotten out of control that they butcher for meat within the city. They are operating under the 'if no one notices it's not illegal' principle.

My grandma suggests New Zealand whites, btw. That's what her family raised for meat when she was growing up. They had one cow for milk, chickens for eggs, rabbits for meat, and ermine for fur.

My husband says that we have about 100 squirrels in our 1/3 acre yard that he is ready to eliminate. I ate squirrel once about 45 years ago and was grossed out when the skull was in my dish of squirrel stew.

oh secret, how i wish you were closer to me IRL!

Did you post this topic knowing it would be highly controversial?

I thank you Secret, you and I and some others can help eachother on this road. I am in research stage, we plan to buy property to homestead on in a few years. Any bit of advise is good. There is nothing controversial IMO about homesteading or processing our meat in humane ways and living off the land.

I'm done w/the rat race, the commercializing aspect of CHristmas, people that are wasteful and luxury buyers....IMO that is waste. There are plenty of ways that non meat eaters waste and harm the environment also.

My ex-husband raises on his own. Mostly lambs cows and chickens and pigs.

They have donkeys but I don’t think they eat them. I never asked. Huge garden. They produce about 90 percent of their own food and only buy spices and little things here and there from the grocery store. When my son visits, he helps Butcher. He does not kill, he gladly let’s his dad to that part. He gets close to the animals he visits so it it’s a little weird for him to eat them later. but he’s a deep respect as do I know what his dad dose. The animals have a good life before being eaten....as do the vegetables for that matter before being plucked from the earth.

It’s not something I personally do not want to do. I know me too well.... I wouldn’t be able to butcher and kill the animals I raised. It’s a lifestyle he always wanted. It works great for him.

And also. If you as a vegan think there's no animal blood on your plate while you preach at others?

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=97836&page=1

There is middle ground in this vegan / vegetarian / meat eaters debate. I am vegetarian, but I dont go around slamming meat eaters or vegans. It is this slamming of people - especially by vegans - that tends to annoy people.
I got slammed by a vegan recently for having the audacity to cook with an egg - and it didnt endear her to me. It is people on the extremes that rub me the wrong way - although I do have a lot of admiration for vegans who are so for ethical reasons. Animal care is an issue very dear to my heart.

Yes, there are horrific farming conditions that need to be improved - concentrate on humane or free range farming rather than slamming meat eaters.

If you really want to get extreme, dont drink water! Doing so wrecks a fish's house! Think of all those homeless little fishies every time you knock back a glass of H2O, you darn homewrecker!!

I just watched an old episode of the Twilight Zone today.
Aliens come to earth, they give us cheap energy, additives to make the soil better and end world hunger, protection from each other and a way to have world peace among other wonderful things.

People start going to their planet for vacations, most stay long term or even permanently.

We don't really know anything about the aliens but there is a book. The cryptographers decipher the title "To Serve Man" but can't decipher the contents.
As the main character, a cryptographer, is getting on the spaceship, his coworker yells "Don't Go! The book! It's a COOKBOOK!"

It made me think of this thread. If we could live in happiness, peace and contentment would it be ok to be killed for some other species food?

I'm not a vegan or vegetarian. I eat meat and I enjoy it. I don't hunt or raise animals for food but I'm not opposed to it. I do feel that humans are omnivorous who need both a meat and a plant based diet.

This post is being Moderated....

Nothing is wrong with raising animals for food. Farmers do it all the time. I mean it’s pretty obvious someone has to raise animals in order to make them into meat.

I have no issue with people raising rabbits for food but I wouldn’t do it in your situation because it is illegal. It’s legal to keep five rabbits as pets, but if you are eating them, then you violating the law and essentially eating your pets.

I believe you have minor kids at home. I’d hesitate to do anything illegal around children. It sends them the message that breaking the law is ok. If it’s illegal then it’s illegal.

Now of course if you are starving, by no means you should find the way to feed your kids. So I totally understand breaking laws in order to feed your starving children. But if you aren’t starving, why not just do stuff that is legal? Like if you want to raise animals for food, you could move to the country? Or if you can buy your meet from those farmers who you know don’t abuse animals? I understand your sentiment but I just don’t condone doing things as you said it “on a down low” or something especially if kids are becoming part of this