Am I being too sensitive?

[Dage]

We have like wayyy too many wethers...like 5 and more on the way am sure! So we are selling them off to make room for new kids and does! YAY! We were told by a friend that a friend of HIS wants to buy several wethers. That´s great!
But he came by yesterday with another friend of the first friend while we were having our well pump fixed. They stood around and watched a bit then began wandering about. Investigated the hand dug well my son´s are currently working on (its at about 15ft currently)...what´s this for? No water...blah blah blah. The man I assumed never was introduced as the friend who´s interested in buying wethers. He really enjoyed looking at and studying my big Saanen buck and my big plump and very fluffy chickens (which he offered to buy for eating)...but very briefly did he state he was interested in buying the wethers. When my son offered to show him the wethers. He said nothing. And shortly thereafter left. He DID however make mention to wanting to put the goats on a cross for grilling... That just did it for me! Maybe I´m being oversensitive but to think of my goats being split and splayed is NOT something I care to imagine! The cross should never have been used. Not with Yahshua(Jesus) and not with anyone...not even a goat! I do realize that the goat would by that time already be butchered and dead. However this just slapped and hit me the wrong way! I need some feedback!
BTW! I am vegetarian!

 

[misfitmorgan]

I can see how it would make you upset with his entire attitude and all. However they are named cross grills they are not a cross. I have seen then built many ways mostly either a box frame with a middle spit or a middle spit with multiple bars comming off of it.

I personally wouldnt want to think of my does i love on one. But my wethers i know exactly what they are for and i am quite real about that and any of animals we raise for meat. I however do not try to purposely offend people who dont eat meat...but i have had more then one person take it that way.

We actually had a veg lady yelling at us in the grocery store because we had firstly meat in our cart and secondly she asked about our farm and we mentioned we raised for diary, meat, and fiber...she flipped her wig telling us we were going to hell and were evil...god ever ment for us to kill our "friends" we should be ashamed etc until the manager literally told her she needed to leave and was not welcome back to the store.

So to sum it up. Personally i would be offended by the mans entire attitude period but not specifically by the method he wanted to eat/cook an animal and not by wanting to eat my animals. Maybe im just less sensitive i dunno..however they are your animals and your property to you have a right to feel how you like.

 

[mamaperreca]

Maybe he did not know your are vegetarian? If he did then, yes that is kind of disrespectful. I also think that people that don't actually raise goats, well, they don't realize how attached we can get to them. To them it isn't any different that thinking that a cow in the field sounds yummy because they love hamburgers. We are a meat eating family and we will joke when we drive by a pig farm that they look delicious.

 

[Latestarter]

Sorry Dage, but I think perhaps a bit overly sensitive. There's no context as to tone or inflection for his comments and I doubt that as a first time guest/visitor on your property that he was intentionally trying to be rude, especially if he was considering paying you to buy an/some animals from you. Additionally, unless you brought it up in conversation, how would he know that you were a vegetarian? You live on a farm and raise animals... aren't they for food? I would tend to see it as similar to me seeing your hogs and saying how much I'd love to taste those hams after a good smoking, or taste that bacon after frying... I mean, what he said is basically one of the predominant ways to grill a whole goat, or sheep, or pig, etc. As Morgan stated, it's called a cross grill...

I think today we as a nation have become to easily offended and are overly politically correct, leading to misunderstandings and hard feelings. I wasn't there, I didn't hear the conversation. Just my impressions.

Personally, I'd be more concerned that he was scoping the place out for an after hours visit... that's just me and I'm standoff-ish and suspicious by nature... especially in today's day and age.

 

[Mini Horses]

I've had buyers (many years back) who wanted to butcher the goat there and carry carcass they wanted out. Rest to be left behind. No sale. You can buy to butcher but, just not to butcher here.

 

[Goat Whisperer]

I agree with @Latestarter @misfitmorgan

Many people eat goat. Nothing is wrong with that. You might not, but others do. Just as you choose to be a vegetarian, others choose to eat meat. It's a personal choice.
I see so many vegetarians get upset when someone mentions eating meat. If I don't eat vegetables, would it be disrespectful if you said you wanted to eat a bowl of broccoli?

As others have already stated, I think the cross is just another grilling method.

The scoping out is what would be worrisome.

I love all my goats. I have shed more tears over my goats than anything else. They are my babies. But, I do sell for meat and I love goat meat I am at the point now that I know bucklings out of certain does will go for meat. I even bottle feed. Yes, it's hard and takes a long time to get there, but not every goat can be a pet. Many wethers get sold over and over. We all know how addictive goats are, most people grow their herd rather quickly. Those first cute little wethers that cannot produce kids or milk are always the first to go. Many are seen as disposable, they are almost always last to get the proper care needed.

Of course there are exceptions to this, in some places urban goats are becoming popular- in that case these goats generally live the life of luxury.

 

[Baymule]

I vote for being oversensitive. Not to sound rude, but just how many pet wethers can one have before the feed bill gets over bloated? If you sell them, more than likely, they will go for meat. You might be better off to take them to a sale barn, drop them off, and leave. Then you wouldn't be faced with the buyers. this is part of farming. Domestic farm animals serve a purpose, meat, milk, fiber. Only a few can be kept for pets. Are you raising your goats for milk? I have read that there are lines of dairy goats that will milk for several years without drying off and rebreeding. That would take care of the problem of excess kids.

This guy's attitude just rubbed you the wrong way. He probably isn't even aware that he insulted you. When one is buying multiple wethers, it is to be expected that they will be butchered and eaten. You don't have to sell them to this guy, but then you will have to find another buyer. Maybe he might even make you a good customer, buying your wethers, that is, if you can get over your revulsion of him eating your babies. You could tell him that you are a vegetarian, you know that he is going to eat them, but please don't tell you the details.

You have to make a decision. If you continue to breed and raise kids, you have to face that not everyone wants a pet. I understand this is difficult for you. Many of us love and cherish our animals, we treat them kindly, we care deeply for them, but we eat them. If they weren't for a purpose, then they wouldn't be bred at all. If you want to save a heritage farm animal, eat it. If the farmer has no recompense in the form of profit, for raising his goat, lamb, hog, calf, chicken, then the heritage breeds would simply disappear. Many of them are in critical status of going extinct. I am going a little off topic here, but I am using heritage farm animals to bring a point. The point being, we raise our animals, we love them, we recognize that they are part of the food chain, we sell them because we can't keep them all.

I hope you can come to terms with the prospective buyer and I hope you can come to terms with yourself. This is especially hard for you as your beliefs do not include eating meat. I respect your choices and truly hope that this works out for you.

 

[Southern by choice]

In a word.

YES

Not with Yahshua(Jesus) and not with anyone...not even a goat!

My Saviour went willingly to the cross so that I may have eternal life. So I am thankful and eternally grateful.

Goats do not go to a cross they go on a spit.

You own the goats so you decide where they go but reality is that meat is eaten all over the world. Animals are food. Logic and reasoning will show why this is important. Without people eating animals the population would grow to astonishing numbers, food would grow scarce, disease rampant and then the suffering and starvation would begin. Zoonotic illnesses would be rampant as well.

Every person has a choice to eat what they want.
Keep in mind that you are on a livestock forum.
Most people on this forum raise and grow their animals for food.
Rabbits, sheep, goats, chickens, geese, ducks, turkeys, pigs, & cattle are eaten. Yes, we can love our animals, care for them, have vet care etc... but we still eat them.

I prefer my wethers to go to the freezer. Why? Because far too many do end up on the "bottom" of the priority list. People get wethers then start adding more goats etc... well the does give milk and kid and you only need 1 buck for so many does... after several years of keeping the doelings etc those wethers are now a costly animal. Many put wethers in with intact bucks for company and they get beat up during rut or mounted over and over by an intact buck. Over time they get sold, then sold again and again.
At least in the freezer I know that won't happen, they won't end up with UC, they won't end up neglected etc.

Take a look at what you wrote-

We have like wayyy too many wethers...like 5 and more on the way am sure! So we are selling them off to make room for new kids and does!

Why are you not keeping them? ... to make room for MORE kids and DOES.

When we sell for meat I have to know who is getting it so that I know the process is done humanely. If I am not sure of the person then we will assist on our property to make sure it is done right.

We also turn our chickens and goats etc into dog food.

 

[norseofcourse]

I have faced this with my sheep. I am raising them for fiber, but I also want to milk. To milk you need to breed, which gives you lambs. I cannot keep all the lambs - I would quickly overload the capacity of my land, even if I could afford to buy unlimited hay and feed.

I am not a vegetarian, but it's been difficult (and may always be) to eat an animal I've raised, or to sell them to be eaten. I know the arguments for it - they've had better lives than animals in 'factory farms', they are raised without unnecessary antibiotics and other chemicals. For my sales, I do take them directly to a local butcher, so I know where they go and how they will be treated.

Is it hard? YES! It's hard because I care about my sheep and my lambs. It's hard because I take care of them to the best of my ability. It's hard because I want to make sure they are treated as humanely as possible.

The day it's not hard, is the day I need to quit.

 

[Dage]

You live on a farm and raise animals... aren't they for food?

Their milk and their eggs are for food. However there flesh is not. Not on my farm! I am not offended by the prospect of him EATING and butchering them but really! I don´t want to hear about it! Nor the way in which he plans to do it! TMI!