I love spring. Not just because it heralds the end of winter - although this year the weather remains unseasonably cold - but because the fields around our home are filled with the cutest lambs. And
as the fields fill, so too do my memory card as I can't resist the temptation to take photographs
of these beautiful babies.
My husband, who grew up in a city, can't understand how I can coo over these lovelies and then go home and tuck into a dinner of roast lamb and mint sauce.
With out going into the arguements for and against vegetarianism, I guess my farming background means I take it for granted that certain animals are reared for the table. But I definitely want them to be well cared for and feel, that of all the meat that ends up on our plate, lambs probably have the most natural and careful life of all - although admitted a short one.
I can totally understand how you can spend a lot of time taking photos of these sweet faces!
ReplyDeleteAs far as eating them goes...personally I don't like the taste of lamb but we've raised them before and had them in the freezer for friends and family who do like it (including my husband!) They are happy and cared for and after a year a ram lamb is a pain in the neck and can even be dangerous. I've been rammed into the side of the concrete barn wall by one and that made it MUCH easier to send them to the freezer!
I am a vegetarian but my great grandfather was a butcher in a small peak district village and my grandad and now my uncles carried on the business so I grew up with meat and am no stranger to carcasses hanging up and such, I used to make sausages there in the summer holidays! I am strict vegetarian for a number of reasons really but actually, I don't like meat which is why I stopped eating it as a child. Like you, I am happy for people to eat meat, but I think everyone should understand it and the welfare issues.
ReplyDeleteGreat shots of the lambs, I love the swaledale most I think :)
I'm the same, I grew up on a farm with lots of little lambs and calves, and have absolutely no problem eating lamb stew or a tasty steak. I prefer getting good quality, free-range where applicable, meat and poultry from a butcher than buying bargain meat from Tesco.
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