reasons to become veggi **WARNING**

[traceybrowne]

Awwww poor animals. I am not a big meat eater prefer veg then i can share it with my animals :lol: but i do ocasionally eat meat but i look out for those free range stickers and organic.

It was horrible to see those pics, i don't know how ppl can work in them places i would be sick.

Was a relief to see your signature of your lovely cosey buns at the end

 

[carasblanco]

If we don't support our British dairy farmers then we are going to lose them.

Large farms are valuable commodities that could be used for another more humane use of food growing. Baby cows are slaughtered not only for veal, but for the ability to obtain large milk supplies for dairy products. I think qualifying it and supporting the small dairy farmers that do not kill the baby cows would be a good thing

 

[Bionic Bunny]

Veal production is practically non-existant in this country due to most farmers considering it to be unethical. Most calves that are a bi-product of the dairy industry (dairy breed calves) are raised for meat alongside dairy beef crosses. Large areas of land in this country are only suitable for grazing land and cannot be used for crop production.

 

[carasblanco]

Veal production is practically non-existant in this country due to most farmers considering it to be unethical. Most calves that are a bi-product of the dairy industry (dairy breed calves) are raised for meat alongside dairy beef crosses. Large areas of land in this country are only suitable for grazing land and cannot be used for crop production.

Thank you, I am so pleased and hopeful to know that veal is practically non-existant in Brittain. When there are ethical models like this, they can catch on.

 

[oscarbunny]

Veal production is practically non-existant in this country due to most farmers considering it to be unethical. Most calves that are a bi-product of the dairy industry (dairy breed calves) are raised for meat alongside dairy beef crosses. Large areas of land in this country are only suitable for grazing land and cannot be used for crop production.

I havn't look at the pictures, as i find anything like that very upsetting.
Calves are slaughted just days old in order to get rennet, which is used in some cheesemaking (although most cheese now doesnt use this animal rennet, it uses vegetable rennet or something else).

 

[Beebop]

Whilst veal crates are illegal in this country, theres nothing to stop farmers to send calves to Europe where it is more popular and theres been talk of bringing back veal crates into Britain, so I wouldn't be so sure that most farmers see it as cruel.

I don't care whether meat is labelled organic or free range, when you look at the laws into it, really the minimum standards are far off ideal. The reason we have intensive farming is because everyone wants cheap meat, its nothing to do with space.

Besides, apart from the welfare of animals, farting cows are a big problem, is it not them who are contributing to green house gases?

I find it hard to understand why people on this thread are so willing to eat meat and dairy, we don't need it, its NOT vital, yet to get it on your plate animals have to be reared artifically and killed in a barbaric way....:evil:

 

[carasblanco]

Whilst veal crates are illegal in this country, theres nothing to stop farmers to send calves to Europe ....:evil:

omg that's how it's done.
http://72.14.205.104/search?q=cache...994.stm+uk+bans+veal&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=4&gl=us
I wondered how cheese could be made throughout the entire country without doing away with the suckling calves.

I don't care whether meat is labelled organic or free range, when you look at the laws into it, really the minimum standards are far off ideal. The reason we have intensive farming is because everyone wants cheap meat, its nothing to do with space.
Besides, apart from the welfare of animals, farting cows are a big problem, is it not them who are contributing to green house gases?
I find it hard to understand why people on this thread are so willing to eat meat and dairy, we don't need it, its NOT vital, yet to get it on your plate animals have to be reared artifically and killed in a barbaric way....:evil:

Agreed.

 

[Thea & Bobbin]

Sounds terrible but I find viewing images like this occasionally very good, it just reinforces my vegetarianism even more.

 

[Bionic Bunny]

I have done a large number of placements on different farms for my University course. I know a lot about agriculture in Britain and so form my own opinions on what I consider moral or not based upon what I have seen. I think everybody has a right to make up their own morals. If everybody went vegetarian tomorrow millions of people would die as we could not produce enough food for everyone. One of the major environmental concerns in farming is the intensification of crops and not animals.

 

[Beebop]

I don't understand, animals take up far more land as crops need to be grown to feed the animals, so if we just ate plants, we'd have far more land.

 

[elve]

Veal production is practically non-existant in this country due to most farmers considering it to be unethical. Most calves that are a bi-product of the dairy industry (dairy breed calves) are raised for meat alongside dairy beef crosses. Large areas of land in this country are only suitable for grazing land and cannot be used for crop production.

As far as I know, calves are now shipped abroad to France for veal - they suffer a sea journey on top of everything else I really should stop eating dairy

 

[MollyMay]

I am Vegetarian, Just like my bunnies I eat, carrots, greens, and all the other lovely veggies, they like.
I dont eat excel or science selective though :lol:
I became vegetarian, because i really hate the cruelty that goes on with animals. If it has a face I DONT AND NEVER WILL EAT IT.
Animals have just as much rights as humans, to live on this earth peacefully and humanley.
I am 100% PROUD to be a veggie, and i would never ever go back to eating meat till the die i die.

 

[Montana'n'Macey]

I am a vegetarian. My parents don't agree with me. I'm a christian so they have argued over it saying you are suppose to eat meat. They use "Jesus ate fish" with me, and "God put animals on this world for us to eat" which really offends me. I don't believe that at all. I use "Then why are we here?" and then they back off a little bit. And I try to use "Our body wasn't designed for meat", but they don't believe me. :? Even if God wanted us to eat meat, he wouldn't want it to be the way it is now. Not at all.

 

[Thea & Bobbin]

I am a vegetarian. My parents don't agree with me. I'm a christian so they have argued over it saying you are suppose to eat meat. They use "Jesus ate fish" with me, and "God put animals on this world for us to eat" which really offends me. I don't believe that at all. I use "Then why are we here?" and then they back off a little bit. And I try to use "Our body wasn't designed for meat", but they don't believe me. :? Even if God wanted us to eat meat, he wouldn't want it to be the way it is now. Not at all.

Very good points you have made to your parents. Our digestive system is much more like that of a cow (vegetarian) rather than that of a lion (carnivore) that just shows that we are not supposed to eat as much meat as most people do. Also when we were all hunters it was all very well eating meat because we needed to eat whatever we could get our hands on. Now however, it is not necessary to eat meat, we have so many more means to grow and create other foods.

I completely disagree with Bionic Bunny who says "If everybody went vegetarian tomorrow millions of people would die as we could not produce enough food for everyone. One of the major environmental concerns in farming is the intensification of crops and not animals."

That is a very strange statement. How much of your diet actually makes up of meat, 30% ? Take that 30% away and you wouldn't die. And if you are referring to the starving people across the globe, well they survive mostly on grains and I would imagine that meat would be a luxury for them, one that they can't afford. You can grow far more vegetables on the land needed for just 100 cows to graze upon. Plus there's the issue with methane... but let's no go there! :lol:

 

[kayjay]

Ironically white meat is possibly the worst treated farmed animals - lamb is the most free range reared so people who only eat white meat aren't really helping unless they buy free range/organic. I eat meat but locally reared only, would never buy it from a supermarket now, I like to know where the animal was reared and how it was kept.

 

[AlisonA]

Ironically white meat is possibly the worst treated farmed animals

Yes I'd agree! And because of the veal thing in particular, I'd urge vegetarians to swap to organic dairy if they haven't already - the calves are left with the mother and are never taken away alone in organic dairy farming.

Montana&Macey - well if you go right back to the beginning of Genesis you will see that it was God's original intention that we would eat plants; after the flood God then gave Noah a new instruction to eat of certain types of the animals as well as the plants - and then somewhere in the New Testament Peter had a vision of a blanket coming down from heaven full of all animals - including ones previously banned for Jews - and God told him to eat. But having said that it also says in there somewhere that Christian's shouldn't argue over such things, because it's actually not relevant in the great scheme of things, and in any case I'd agree with you that God's perfect intention would not be for intensive factory farming and suffering.

 

[Doncat5]

I usually keep out of the veggie threads, but....

I'm been veggie for around 15 years, and I wouldnt have brought my 2 little girls up to be so too, if I didnt think it was the healthiest option. Apart from my own moral opinions, I do believe a GOOD veggie diet is far better than one filled high cholesterol supermarket meat.

If I did suddenly decide to eat meat I certainly wouldnt eat the supermarket stuff, it would have to be organic and from a small reputable farm, not mass produced with no thought for the animals welfare, but unfotrtunately I think most people just buy whats convenient without giving it a lot of thought.

My theory is, if you can go to an abbatoire and watch your dinner being killed, and I mean your average abbatoire, not some high class, family run place, I mean the the sort where mass produced 'value sausages' are prepped. If you can can stand there and look into the eyes of your dinner and then prepare it and eat it, without it playing on your conscience then ok, eat meat. I cant do it so I'll never eat meat again. I could also never kill anything to eat, so I dont think I have the 'right' to eat meat at all.

I've taken a lot of stick for bringing my girls up veggie but I dont regret it at all, I've explained why I dont eat meat and said if they decide to start when theyre older they can, their reply is "YUCK". I think its important to tell them the truth but miss the gore out, and my daughters (nearly 3 and 5) both understand where meat comes from and they understand things have to die to produce it. My nephews on the other hand (5 and 9) have no idea that the burgers they eat every week are made from a cow and that bacon is sliced pig!:?

 

[carasblanco]

.
I've taken a lot of stick for bringing my girls up veggie but I dont regret it at all

I think you are amazing and wonderful & your girls will certainly be grateful that you did this, on many levels, when they are adults. There is a highly respected Doctor, Dr. Fuhrman, who explains in laymen's terms how research has shown that the meat eating diseases are largely due to whether or not people ate meat in childhood as opposed to their adulthood intake.
If I ever have children, I will do the just the same as you have done.

 

[Beebop]

I am a vegetarian. My parents don't agree with me. I'm a christian so they have argued over it saying you are suppose to eat meat. They use "Jesus ate fish" with me, and "God put animals on this world for us to eat" which really offends me. I don't believe that at all. I use "Then why are we here?" and then they back off a little bit. And I try to use "Our body wasn't designed for meat", but they don't believe me. :? Even if God wanted us to eat meat, he wouldn't want it to be the way it is now. Not at all.

I'm Christian too and my parents said exactly the same thing, but then I quoted back to them that it says in the bible to care for animals and how God looks after 'every little sparrow that falls', so animals DO deserve to be treated better!

Ezekiel 34:2-4. Woe to the shepherds of Israel who only take care of themselves! Should not the shepherds take care of the flock? You eat the curds, clothe yourselves with the wool and slaughter the choice animals, but you did not take care of the flock! You have not strengthened the weak or healed the sick or bound up the injured. You have not brought back the strays or searched for the lost. You have ruled them harshly and brutally

 

[Amethyst]

I find it hard to understand why people on this thread are so willing to eat meat and dairy, we don't need it, its NOT vital, yet to get it on your plate animals have to be reared artifically and killed in a barbaric way....:evil:

As a meat eater I find this very upsetting. I have said many times that I eat ONLY FREE RANGE AND ORGANIC MEAT, and only from farms that I have seen the welfare standards of myself. To imply that I am allowing animals to be "reared artificially" and "killed in a barbaric way" labels me as no better than those who buy battery farmed chicken or intensively farmed beef!

AMETHYST