Growing up on a row crop farm, then owning my own Dairy farm and now a beef cattle operation I run into people that are vegetarians and they look down on my hunting and ranching activities as being cruel to the extreme to animals. Here’s a news flash to my vegetarian friends who think they don’t impact animal populations by eating vegetables and such. VEGETABLE FARMERS AND ROW CROP FARMERS ARE THE ULTIMATE HUNTERS!
These growers of greens and grains kill everything in their fields before they plant. That means mice, birds, rabbits, insects, baby deer, etc are all either killed or removed from the fields to grow your nice juicy head of lettuce, wheat, corn, or whatever. There is also the corresponding reductions in habitat for these same animals resulting in the surrounding habitat being impacted by these displaced animals. In other words, if you think animals are not being killed or impacted by you being a vegetarian you could not be more wrong. The fact is that all of us impact our planet just like all other living things and we must carve out our own place in this world by impacting other plants and animals.
I also, in the name of truth and reality flashes, want to explain to these anti hunters and anti ranchers that if you take a one acre parcel and put in 2 deer, a buck and a doe, and let them multiply without any restrictions, they will, in short order, deplete the food supply and starve litterally to death. This is where hunting comes in to keep the game poplulations in check. Conservation efforts manage supply of resources to numbers of animals that can utilize in a sustainable way this habitat and food supply. As hunters we are under attack by anti hunters by helping to balance and conserve these resources.
I doubt that many anti hunters will be swayed by my arguments here but hopefully some may understand. How can we as farmers and ranchers can truly care for animals while at the same time hunting them or raising them and using them to feed our families and others? Because we understand the process. We understand that for animals to be healty they must be managed and that includes ethical hunting and livestock production.
End rant.
Bob Parker