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Honestly, for me, it was too heavy. I was fed up with the industry (it's horrific, we all know this), and then couldn't accept the idea that I'd pay a local farmer to do something I couldn't (kill and butcher an animal). It eventually led to me being vegetarian, and now, vegan.

@mrbee: Sure!! And that's what I couldn't be a part of. Honestly, I doubti would have ever stopped eating animals if it was done the way it is where you are. I feel like a lot of cultures have so much more respect for the animals than we do, in the US. It would be weird to adapt to the idea of living among the animals you will eat, and I think what you're feeling is an internal morality struggle ... No matter what, I'm sure you'll find your path, and be grateful for what this change has taught you.

I was sort of raised like this and it's the reason that as an adult I don't eat meat. I was around farm animals until the age of 9 and I saw how emotionally attached they could become and how smart they are. I was heart broken every time I would form a special bond with a particular cow or pig and then one day she wouldn't be there any more.

As an adult with that kind of background, I absolutely cannot bring myself to eat meat.

Here's my take. We live somewhere that we see death fairly often. When we had pigs, it was not unusual to have animals that would get injured or too sick to survive from time to time. Sometimes Eric shot them to be more humane. After they died, they were outside in our yard, surrounded by fence so that our dogs couldn't eat them. This didn't stop the eagles, but carrion is fair game to wildlife. Sometimes the big dogs will kill animals when we're spending time with them. Rats, mice, once a rabbit. Sometimes baby birds. I admit that this still makes me cringe, and if we are actively "creaturing" and looking for smaller animals like this we will lock the big dogs up. I've come to the belief that if they get it on their own, well, I guess that's just sort of natural and what would happen with any predator, but I'm not leading them to it like some sort of reverse-canned hunt. Sometimes we see animals that predators (like the aforementioned eagles, or maybe a hawk or fox) tried to get but didn't manage to carry off. I've come to the conclusion that life is just cruel and hard, honestly. We are mostly sheltered from that if we live in urban environments, but it just is. Animals are cruel to one another sometimes, and sometimes awful things happen to living things during the course of life. I always, always, always try to eat meat that I know the source of. Life being cruel is zero excuse to me for poor treatment of animals. But I feel okay eating meat because most of the animals I would eat live a pretty good life and are killed in a humane way. I think we all come to different conclusions based on our exposure to and knowledge of where meat comes from, and I certainly can see where vegetarianism or veganism can come directly from being aware of and contemplating the entirety of the issue. I think eating less meat is a great goal for anyone, simply from the perspective that meat from living conditions that most people would feel comfortable seeing animals in requires a great deal of input (money, space, foodstuffs, etc.) and there are many other foods and protein sources that require far less and are therefore more realistic for the growing world population. Anyway, sticky and complex issue for sure.

I have always had a very hard time separating bacon from pig and beef from cow, which is why I don't eat any meat now. It's been almost a decade since I stopped eating it, and I still feel this sense of relief when I see cows in the field and don't have to worry about eating them later... sounds ridiculous, but it's a mental thing I can't get past!

My grandpa was a farmer and I was in 4-H growing up. I raised market lambs and sold them at auctions where people bought them to eat. I was able to put the money I earned towards college. I love eating meat and actually prefer to know the farm/animals where it comes from for the reasons mentioned several times above.

This is actually a huge thing for me. I have been fishing my whole life and in college got even more into it. Growing up my dad would clean the fish. In college I had to catch my own and kill them, pull the bones, start a fire, and roast my fish! (I did a lot of camping and backpacking.) So, I learned that I didn't really like to kill, and decided I shouldn't eat anything that I wasn't willing to kill.

Long story short, I eat birds and fish, that's about all I can handle taking the life of, and eat it on very rare occasion.

I grew up on a small farm and we raised our own pigs and cows for food. It doesn't bother me and I prefer it that way. My husband also hunts and I regularly see and help him clean deer and fowl, and while I typically need a day between eating the meat I just saw harvested, I get over it because it's better than knowing that chicken I just ate lived the shittiest 6 weeks it could have lived cramped in some cage.

We also live in a relatively rural are where the FFA is big and kids raise their own pigs, cows and lambs for slaughter to learn about the process. My sister and my husband have done both as middle and high schoolers. So it's part of the culture around here, too, which normalizes the practice of hanging out with your food.

lol picturing the some pig thing.

But here is my opinion. I would LIKE to think I could do it. Realistically it is way better to own your animal and slaughter it and eat it because 1) you know it was healthy 2) you know it was sanitary/fresh 3) you can control it having a "good" death 4) it got to live a much happier life than factory farmed animals. So really it seems like the best possible situation for both you and the pig, assuming you're going to keep eating pig.

Realistically if I had to kill my own animals I might just go veg because I'm a softie.

I grew up on a farm and we ate the livestock. It never bothered me, we were just raised that that's where food came from. Plus, the number of times I had to chase the cows or pigs because they had escaped, gives me little sympathy towards them.

@honeybear: LOL to homeschooling vegetarian hippies

I grew up on a farm and we raised our own meat. My husband hunts and we all fish so this has been the norm for me my entire life.

I don't think I could butcher anything, but as far as emotions? I would just pat their heads and say "aw, I'm sorry, but I'm gonna eat you."

@rachiecakes: Haha! Yeah, pigs can be evil.

@MrsBrewer: I like this!