Vegetarian Homesteader?

Vegetarian and Homesteader. . . interesting juxtaposition there, isn't it?

I decided long, long ago (feels like eons) to give up eating meat and

animal products that are derived from animal slaughter. 14 years ago,

to be precise. No meat, fish, chicken, broth, gelatin or whatever else.

I even gave Veganism a go, and I found it was not for me.

Now, be that as it may, I have respect for those who raise their

sources of meat naturally and slaughter humanely. People are

so far removed from where their food comes from that is really

is quite frightening. I appreciate the recognition some families have

and the movement for local, humanely raised and slaughtered food.

At any rate, consigning the raising of animals that are often

used a sources for food with vegetarianism is a rough road

to hoe, if you will.

Take the cow: the cow, if she is going to produce

milk, must be bred, but what if she has a bull calf? 

On to dairy goats. . . in the world of dairy animals, male animals usually

have little worth. Often the little bucklings (male goat kids) are drowned

at birth. If they are not, they are often wethered (castrated), grown out and then butchered. 

Let us move on to chickens.

Oh my.
If one buys hatchery stock, The hatcheries have little demand for cockerels (male chicks) of the laying breeds, and the little fellows, when they are hatched, are ground up or worse, if there can be a worse. 

Now, my husband is a full fledged meat-eater.

He would prefer traditional homesteading where livestock provide the family with meat,

but then here I am: The Vegetarian Homesteader trying to get with the program.

Here, I work on raising Cows and Goats for milk, butter, cheese and yogurt. . .and in time will work into raising them for humane meat.

Surely, we can do it in a more cruelty free way, and still, I respect those who do not have my convictions that recognize the unhealthy, commercially raised offerings at

public grocery stores is neither just to the animals or good for their families

and are raising their own food!