Clarification on "meat breeding" and this forum

[FogCity]

Well I certainly didn't mean to cause such a disturbance. I will share my thoughts on the subject and then be a productive and friendly member of your wonderful forum.


1. Unless you get your rabbits from a shelter, don't wear leather, and and are a vegetarian, you are supporting the production of rabbit meat or the slaughtering of animals in general in one way or another. The abuse that happens to dairy cows, for example, (and I am pretty sure almost 99% of the people on this forum drink milk) is much more hideous and horrible then anything I do. What do you think your dog and cat food is made of?

2. People who raise rabbits for meat care a lot about their rabbits. I spend hours a day with my rabbits, spend lots of money to take care of them and I support 4H and other organizations that support and help develop our future rabbit and livestock breeders. Meat raisers also know a lot about rabbits and have good information to share.

3. I totally understand that some people don't want to hear about it, and I respect that, but again, see point #1.

4. I was not upset by the "boo hiss" comment, people have said much worse things to me.

And really, think about this, the person that posted that comment, wrote in a post a couple months ago...

"Thanks I'll breed them Monday, as I am going hunting tomorrow."

Really, really, you are going HUNTING and you are getting on my case...seriously.

I hunt too, and I am sure that you care for and admire the animals you hunt, I am sure you want them to be around for a long time, and would not want to see them tortured. I'm the same way with rabbits. Can we get along now?

5. Perhaps explaining myself a little may help a little. People eat meat, I eat meat. Meat that comes from factory farms, the majority of the meat in this county, subjects animals to cruel and inhuman torture. It deeply upsets me to see what happens to the food on our dinner plates before it gets there. Not to mention the destruction of land and natural resources. I raise rabbits because it is good for the environment and it is healthy. I would rather feed my children good, organic, healthy food that comes from my backyard then anything that comes from the store. Raising rabbits for meat with my children teaches them about responsibility, where food comes from, and I hope will contribute to them being more conscious of the impact their habits can have on the rest of the world.


6. That being said, I will never again mention "meat" on this site and I look forward to learning and sharing knowledge with the rest of you.

 

[TinysMom]

As a moderator - I am going to try and share my perspective and hope I don't offend folks (which means I probably WILL offend someone).

What bugs me the most is that when someone comes on here and mentions the whole topic....the folks who are members start responding to it and attacking that person (who may not know).

I promise you - moderators are on here a lot - we'll catch the post - and if we don't - instead of writing in the thread - drop a pm to a moderator and ask us to step into the thread and handle it. We'll lock the thread- contact the original poster and explain our rules - and go from there.

Or if you HAVE to post in the thread - I wish someone would come in and post something like "I know discussions of meat breeding are not allowed on the forum. I suggest we wait for a moderator to handle this." and then pm a moderator.

For me - it is the "cleanup" of going through all of the remarks by our members that makes this whole thing messy and upsetting - usually the breeder who posted will reply back with "thanks - I didn't know...I won't mention it again".

Just my .02 - for free.

 

[irishbunny]

I agree with Jen's posts.

It is much easier just to not read or reply to threads that upset you. If you can offer some friendly advice do that, but getting hot headed gets you no where. When I first joined this forum, if I got angry reading a thread or annoyed I'd let them know I was in my post but I learned not to do that and it makes the forum way more enjoyable, and you get your advice or opinion across way easier when being polite and friendly.

 

[Purple Mountain Rabbitry]

FogCity wrote:

4. I was not upset by the "boo hiss" comment, people have said much worse things to me.

And really, think about this, the person that posted that comment, wrote in a post a couple months ago...

"Thanks I'll breed them Monday, as I am going hunting tomorrow."

Really, really, you are going HUNTING and you are getting on my case...seriously.

I hunt too, and I am sure that you care for and admire the animals you hunt, I am sure you want them to be around for a long time, and would not want to see them tortured. I'm the same way with rabbits. Can we get along now?

I totally agree with you.

however the hunting quote you have is mine. I never once attacked you or I didn't mean it to come across that way as it may have. I was supporting you. and I didn't write "boo hiss" maxysmummy did, your mixing us up.

peg and irishbunny i agree with both of you. peg if i do see a post like that again i will post that and let you or one of the other mods know right away.

Crystal

 

[FogCity]

Sorry Crystal. I got you mixed up. In fact it is all one big mix up. Lets just be one happy family.

 

[Purple Mountain Rabbitry]

I agree competely

Crystal

 

[farmerchick]

why can't there be a seperate section just for meat breeding? similar to the rabbitry section on here, there are people who are on here who rabbits are just pets to them and they do not breed or show, there are ppl on here who enjoy breeding and showing rabbits that pet owners don't nessisarly agree about but still go on the forum to ask questions about breeds?

why can't there be a meat forum and if its something you don't want to hear about don't go to it, but if you have questions, or if meat rabbit owners have pet/rabbitry questions they can go to the appropriate forum. but i don't agree with discussion of animal abuse. and by abuse i don't mean what some people would view as abuse when you have to put down the animal in the end humanely...

just my two cents....

 

[OakRidgeRabbits]

farmerchick wrote:

why can't there be a seperate section just for meat breeding? similar to the rabbitry section on here, there are people who are on here who rabbits are just pets to them and they do not breed or show, there are ppl on here who enjoy breeding and showing rabbits that pet owners don't nessisarly agree about but still go on the forum to ask questions about breeds?

why can't there be a meat forum and if its something you don't want to hear about don't go to it, but if you have questions, or if meat rabbit owners have pet/rabbitry questions they can go to the appropriate forum.

This is entirely up to the mods of the forum, of course. But I think it may be a nice consideration. It would allow even more rabbit people to the forum. Diversity, in any situation, is an excellent thing because everyone brings something different to the table.

When a forum consists of a large group of people with the same exact thoughts, opinions, and interests, it can become pretty limiting. Like someone mentioned previously, even breeders in the meat industry love their animals and want to do the best they can by them. They also have a lot of knowledge of rabbit growth, development, nutrition, etc. We all have a lot to contribute to the forum. And allowing that diversity could strengthen the forum so much and help that many more people!

I don't think that means that we need to discuss graphic processing ideas or anything, by no means. But things like breeding for an overall more productive market rabbit or how to condition a market rabbit, etc...I don't know, that seems pretty harmless to me. And by having a separate forum, those who do not wish to read or participate in that type of discussion would know not to enter there. Because I agree it would be upsetting for a pet owner to just happen upon a topic about that. But having them all in one place would account for no surprises.

Anyhoo, just an idea. I'm sure it's difficult to run a forum with so many different groups on it- pet, show, breeding, etc. So it's up to the mods and what they think will work smoothly.

 

[Flash Gordon]

when i came on this forum it was a little tough for me to adapt cuz im from Bunspace ...u know the one that doesnt allow even breeders to be there...so this is a very dif forum but i learn more from here then i ever did from Bunspace..i still frequent bunspace cuz it can be fun and i have friends on their but this is the place i go for accurate info ..cuz ..the breeders and meaters are the ones that have had rabbits wayyy longer then us pet owners and they know rabbits...
were gonna have clashes on this forum its just inevitable with having so many dif ideas about rabbits ...i think mods do a good job on catching it and fixing it tho...and mods have to understand that some people act out on emotion which is understandable when they have so much love for their bun ..so go easy on them they mean well....
and meaters should know it can be a touchy subject anywhere.

 

[Nancy McClelland]

Kung Fu Tzu wrote a couple of millenia ago that "it is better to keep one's moth closed and be thought a fool, than to speak and confirm it". Think before you talk. Voltaire once said, "I may not agree with your opinion, but I will defend to the death your right to have it". Both very wise people. When I was a child a long time ago, we had rabbits, chickens, pigeons and a huge 2 acre "garden"--all for consumption. In my younger days, I was an avid backpacker, hunter and fisherman--sometimes covering up to 50 miles in a day and being so far out in the wilderness that we'd see no one for a couple of weeks. Everyone has a right to their thoughts and opinions, but no right to be rude to anyone else. I was upset a little while back and snapped off a reply in a nice way and suggested that the person read and comprehend my post even before a "mod" picked up the problem--I also got a PM with an apology as well as a public one on my post. Civility should always come first--otherwise you are liable to be the recipient of a deviated septum and rightly so. This is just like the Television--if it is upsetting to you, don't look at it. Simple!

 

[fuzz16]

i give kudos for the person attempting to take good care of his rabbits and keeping them healthy...there are pet owners out there who are a lot more abusive and worse than meat breeders.

we as humans do what we do to survive. i grew up raising chickens, turkey, quail, and rabbits. if you see videos of what is in your meat...you may want to raise your own food too.

try the meatrix.com if you want to find out why raising your own meat is so much better than buying food...healthier for your family too...our future

 

[TinysMom]

farmerchick wrote:

why can't there be a seperate section just for meat breeding? similar to the rabbitry section on here, there are people who are on here who rabbits are just pets to them and they do not breed or show, there are ppl on here who enjoy breeding and showing rabbits that pet owners don't nessisarly agree about but still go on the forum to ask questions about breeds?

why can't there be a meat forum and if its something you don't want to hear about don't go to it, but if you have questions, or if meat rabbit owners have pet/rabbitry questions they can go to the appropriate forum. but i don't agree with discussion of animal abuse. and by abuse i don't mean what some people would view as abuse when you have to put down the animal in the end humanely...

just my two cents....

We have discussed this time and time and time again. My personal take on this are that there are two main reasons that this is not done.

First - meat breeding/eating goes against the principles of certain people on the forum (aka "the owners") and they don't want this. Hey...they pay the bills - I understand that.

Secondly - our forum resources are only so much - for space, time, etc.

Considering all of the problems we have with the rabbitry forum from members who come in here and are upset about our breeding, etc. - I am ok with us not having a meat breeder forum. (By the way - we do know of some forums that we can send them to).

 

[Shaded Night Rabbitry]

TinysMom wrote:

Considering all of the problems we have with the rabbitry forum from members who come in here and are upset about our breeding, etc. - I am ok with us not having a meat breeder forum. (By the way - we do know of some forums that we can send them to).

Problem with these other forums are the only one that's /really/ active... I absolutely cannot stand, because the people on it are stupid and ignorant. However, if you would like to PM me the links in case I've missed a forum, please do so.

 

[missyscove]

One thing I've always appreciated about this forum is the way that pet owners, rescues and breeders can all work together for what's best for the rabbits. I think collaboration is really key here. I'm an animal science major which means that a lot of what I'm studying is how to grow better animals for human consumption. I recall once posting a link to a really informative paper on rabbit nutrition and another member refusing to continue reading once they saw the mention of meat rabbits. There were no graphic descriptions of anything, just a mention that proper nutrition could maximize meat production. I was shocked that someone would not want to glean information from every existing source to better the care of their own rabbits.
I hope that we can all continue to collaborate as we have in the past and, as far as I can tell, our "don't ask, don't tell" approach to meat breeding is working well. We all have so much that we can learn from eachother and I would hate to scare away anyone with valuable information to offer.