1 00:00:00,210 --> 00:00:04,430 When you think of someone who is likely to go vegan and start a farm sanctuary, I’m 2 00:00:04,430 --> 00:00:09,610 pretty sure the first person to pop into your head is not a multi-generational cattle rancher 3 00:00:09,610 --> 00:00:14,060 whose entire livelihood is dependent upon the slaughter of cows. Such a conversion would 4 00:00:14,060 --> 00:00:21,230 be nothing short of miraculous, right? Well my guest today is here to share with you a miracle. 5 00:00:25,610 --> 00:00:31,210 Hi it’s Emily from Bite Size Vegan and welcome to another vegan nugget. There is seldom anything 6 00:00:31,210 --> 00:00:37,160 quite as powerful of a vessel for veganism reaching unlikely populations than the conversion 7 00:00:37,160 --> 00:00:43,480 of the most unlikely of the unlikely. I say this all the time to people who email me and 8 00:00:43,480 --> 00:00:49,050 are upset they didn’t go vegan until their 50s or 60s, or more, but they will now have the ability 9 00:00:49,050 --> 00:00:53,880 to reach other people in that stage of life who may not want to listen to a ridiculously 10 00:00:53,880 --> 00:00:55,530 tattooed girl on YouTube. 11 00:00:57,580 --> 00:01:02,760 In the same vein, my guest Renee King-Sonnen, who married a multi-generational cattle farmer 12 00:01:02,760 --> 00:01:08,660 in Texas has the unique ability to reach other people who work in the heart of animal agriculture 13 00:01:09,080 --> 00:01:13,500 and show them there is another way, that they don’t have to make their income from the 14 00:01:13,500 --> 00:01:18,880 suffering and death of other beings. One of the objections to a vegan world is that farmers 15 00:01:18,880 --> 00:01:25,080 will be out of work. Well Renee is blazing the path to an alternative. I’m so excited 16 00:01:25,080 --> 00:01:27,449 for you to meet this one-woman revolution. 17 00:01:27,969 --> 00:01:31,340 Alright well, Renee I want to thank you so much for taking time out of your busy 18 00:01:31,340 --> 00:01:35,240 schedule caring for the animals to be on the channel and talk a little bit about your story. 19 00:01:35,400 --> 00:01:37,299 Awesome! So good to be here. 20 00:01:37,479 --> 00:01:42,210 Alright, so you could tell us a little bit about how it is that you became a cattle rancher? 21 00:01:42,740 --> 00:01:47,400 Well, I became a cattle rancher by default. I assure you it wasn’t in my plans 22 00:01:47,400 --> 00:01:55,010 to have anything remotely to do with even living in the country. My husband Tommy, he’s...he’s 23 00:01:55,010 --> 00:02:01,050 been and his whole family generationally has been in cattle ranching and so when I moved 24 00:02:01,050 --> 00:02:07,170 here, the cow’s were here, the chickens… that’s how I became a rancher was by being 25 00:02:07,170 --> 00:02:11,870 a city girl that moved to the country, and married a man that I really loved. 26 00:02:12,210 --> 00:02:14,989 Talk to us a little bit about the turning point. 27 00:02:14,989 --> 00:02:22,209 Well, I moved out here and I always fancied myself an animal lover. I always loved 28 00:02:22,209 --> 00:02:28,859 my dogs and my cats. I had a ferret. My grandma had birds. She used to take us to the zoo 29 00:02:28,859 --> 00:02:35,299 and I loved all the animals, and the rodeo, and being from Texas, that was just a big 30 00:02:35,299 --> 00:02:42,260 deal out here. Never once did I ever have a connection that there was anything remotely 31 00:02:42,260 --> 00:02:49,930 ill conceived or wrong. And when I came to the ranch, I guess in my naivety, I would 32 00:02:50,300 --> 00:02:56,830 go ‘Oh, you know, the cows are so cute! Look at the little babies!’. And I would 33 00:02:56,830 --> 00:03:04,990 want to go out there, and get to know them, I was just naive. And because who...who 34 00:03:04,990 --> 00:03:10,749 in their day to day life pets a cow? Who in their day to day life goes and picks up a chicken, 35 00:03:10,749 --> 00:03:16,980 and hugs it, and loves it? It’s kept from us. There’s a sort of a barrier there. And 36 00:03:16,980 --> 00:03:24,179 so living here, because I love animals, I gravitated to animals that I also ate. 37 00:03:25,159 --> 00:03:32,159 And I also wore on my skin or my feet, or gravitated to animals that I used to watch in rodeos. 38 00:03:32,719 --> 00:03:39,919 But...and so I started getting this connection because I did have an innate love for animals 39 00:03:40,249 --> 00:03:47,310 but it was enforced and indoctrinated upon me as a young child to love the one’s at 40 00:03:47,310 --> 00:03:55,990 home, and eat the one’s out there. And so basically, the turning point for me was the 41 00:03:55,990 --> 00:04:03,059 first time the red trailer took the baby calves that I had grown so used to and loved to the 42 00:04:03,059 --> 00:04:07,619 sale barn which eventually meant to be lot and slaughtered. And I threatened my husband 43 00:04:07,619 --> 00:04:12,860 that I go to the sale barn. If he...if we were going to keep doing this, I told him 44 00:04:12,860 --> 00:04:16,780 at the final analysis. I said ‘if we keep doing this and that red trailer leaves one 45 00:04:16,780 --> 00:04:20,980 more time, I’m gonna follow it to the sale barn’. And what they do there is once they 46 00:04:20,980 --> 00:04:29,560 leave here, their life changes forever. They become just slaves! They go into these horrible 47 00:04:29,560 --> 00:04:35,930 metal chutes! They’re just whipped into line! They’re tagged! They’re branded! 48 00:04:36,390 --> 00:04:44,060 They’re sold! They’re traded! They either go straight to feedlots where they're...where they're just...they step 49 00:04:44,060 --> 00:04:49,000 in their own feces! Their own urine! They’re just clustered all together in these horrible 50 00:04:49,500 --> 00:04:56,660 environments! They do that or they get sold to one of these nice, peaceful, wonderful 51 00:04:56,660 --> 00:05:01,910 farms where everything looks so good on the outside, and you’re driving down these Texas 52 00:05:01,910 --> 00:05:07,990 roads, and you look out, and you go ‘aww, look at those humane cows. Those are grass 53 00:05:07,990 --> 00:05:14,010 fed beautiful cows’. So, the baby cows will go to ranches like ours was where everything 54 00:05:14,010 --> 00:05:20,250 looks so wonderful from the outside. You know, all it is...we are part...we were part of 55 00:05:20,790 --> 00:05:27,440 big agriculture. We were part of the system that is destroying the fiber of everything 56 00:05:27,950 --> 00:05:30,640 we stand for as humans. 57 00:05:31,290 --> 00:05:35,060 Did you try to...I mean, I am just trying to picture this. You see them going. 58 00:05:35,060 --> 00:05:39,110 Was is it just this light that went off and did you talk to your husband about it? 59 00:05:39,350 --> 00:05:41,690 How did it progress to where you are now? 60 00:05:42,090 --> 00:05:48,190 The first time that it happened I remember the red trailer being out in the field. And 61 00:05:48,190 --> 00:05:53,500 just was like, so stark against the green grass, and the cows, and the babies, it was 62 00:05:53,500 --> 00:05:59,720 there. It was there for several days because you had to bait the babies to go in. They 63 00:05:59,720 --> 00:06:06,470 didn’t want to go in except that they were baited, and there was a chain on it so that 64 00:06:06,470 --> 00:06:12,220 the babies could get through, but the big ones couldn’t. And so, I watched that for 65 00:06:12,220 --> 00:06:18,070 a few days and my connection began to get disrupted as my disconnect. I started going 66 00:06:18,470 --> 00:06:24,130 ‘What the hell! What is going on, ya know?’. And I just...then I snapped back to the good 67 00:06:24,130 --> 00:06:30,810 rancher’s wife, you know, I gotta be tough. And the first time they had like, I don’t 68 00:06:30,810 --> 00:06:38,900 know, 6 to 8 of the baby calves trapped in there that I had rumble love the first 7 or 69 00:06:38,900 --> 00:06:44,870 8 months I’ve been here. And then when the trailer pulled out, and the mother cows literally 70 00:06:44,870 --> 00:06:52,730 chased the trailer, crying, literally chasing it trying to catch it. The little babies in 71 00:06:52,730 --> 00:07:00,639 the trailer, bugged eyed, trying to get out the little bars, their prison, and I just 72 00:07:00,639 --> 00:07:06,760 stood there in disbelief. I think I went into a literal shock. Ack, it was the most horrendous. 73 00:07:07,390 --> 00:07:13,300 I have been so tough until that point. And then when I saw the trailer go out of the gate, 74 00:07:13,300 --> 00:07:19,400 and down the highway, and the mother cow still chased them along the fence side, and something 75 00:07:19,400 --> 00:07:26,280 broke in me. Just broke and I told my husband after it all happened, you know, ‘How do 76 00:07:26,280 --> 00:07:36,060 you do this?...how do you do this?’. He said ‘Do what?’. ‘How do you raise these 77 00:07:36,060 --> 00:07:42,810 cows, these babies, and watch them go every 6 months to the sale barn?’. He said ‘Well, 78 00:07:42,810 --> 00:07:47,570 Renee that’s what we have to do. That’s what ranchers do. That’s how you get to 79 00:07:47,570 --> 00:07:53,110 keep your property in agriculture. That’s how, you know, pay for the tractors. Pay for 80 00:07:53,110 --> 00:07:57,860 you know, the insurance. Pay for the bills that come in. You know Renee, we gotta do 81 00:07:57,860 --> 00:08:02,050 that. If we didn’t do that we wouldn’t be able to sustain the ranch.’ And I’m 82 00:08:02,050 --> 00:08:05,490 like ‘Well, there’s really something wrong with this picture, ya know.’ I just started 83 00:08:05,490 --> 00:08:12,460 sensing something really wrong. Well so then, Tommy decides I need a calf of my own. That 84 00:08:12,460 --> 00:08:18,580 I need to be ‘a real rancher’s wife’ so that’s when Rowdy Girl came in. I bought 85 00:08:18,580 --> 00:08:23,920 Rowdy Girl for $300. A little bitty calf that had lost her mother. I don’t know how it 86 00:08:23,920 --> 00:08:30,129 happened. Bought Rowdy Girl, you know, I never had any of my own kids so she kind of became 87 00:08:30,889 --> 00:08:36,689 my little baby that I bottled fed twice a day, watched her grow up. And he didn’t 88 00:08:36,689 --> 00:08:42,510 know that was going to be his biggest mistake. So anyway, that’s kind of how it happened, you know the babies would... 89 00:08:42,510 --> 00:08:48,760 ...the mama’s would cry every single night when the babies left. I mean for days and 90 00:08:48,760 --> 00:08:56,779 days. They never stopped. They did not stop until they lost their voice. There was no 91 00:08:56,779 --> 00:09:03,000 break, and my husband would just go about his business watching the news, eating, doing 92 00:09:03,000 --> 00:09:07,860 whatever. And I’m over here about to go out of my mind, go outside with them, screaming, 93 00:09:07,860 --> 00:09:13,699 hollering, crying, begging forgiveness. And of course, all the while I was eating hamburgers, 94 00:09:13,699 --> 00:09:15,030 and chicken sandwiches. 95 00:09:15,340 --> 00:09:20,630 So, when is it that you decided not only that you were going to create a farm 96 00:09:20,630 --> 00:09:27,950 sanctuary out of this cattle ranch but also go vegan. I mean, was that kind of a simultaneous 97 00:09:27,950 --> 00:09:30,450 thing? When and how did that all of that happen? 98 00:09:30,990 --> 00:09:35,279 Well, what happened was every 6 or 7 months is when you sell the calves. You 99 00:09:35,279 --> 00:09:41,889 know, the mama cows were here enslaved I later learned after I went vegan. The calves will 100 00:09:41,889 --> 00:09:47,110 be born. They go to sale barn every 6 months. Well, me living here made it very difficult 101 00:09:47,110 --> 00:09:51,940 for my husband to do that so we started getting pushed out 7 months, 8 months, 9 months, until 102 00:09:51,940 --> 00:09:57,199 the last time it had been 10 months. The red trailer has not gone to the sale barn since 103 00:09:57,199 --> 00:10:03,249 February of last year. In this past December, he was...we were like at a breaking point. 104 00:10:03,249 --> 00:10:10,489 Almost ready to divorce. I gone vegan October 31st of last year, Halloween. I started watching 105 00:10:11,089 --> 00:10:15,259 just videos. I started like peeking at stuff that I didn’t really want to watch. I would 106 00:10:15,259 --> 00:10:20,509 bring chicken sandwiches home. I’d be eating them and my chickens would be at my feet, 107 00:10:20,509 --> 00:10:27,850 and I would start getting this breakdown in my awareness that I was eating their cousin 108 00:10:27,850 --> 00:10:33,130 or their mother. I’d be eating, I’d be bringing home hamburger meat or steaks from 109 00:10:33,130 --> 00:10:40,069 Kroger and I would be pulling into my driveway, and not wanting to look at the cows. I find 110 00:10:40,069 --> 00:10:44,679 myself literally not wanting to look, like I didn’t even want to know that they were 111 00:10:44,679 --> 00:10:48,590 there. I had this vision like this- that was right before I went vegan. 112 00:10:48,590 --> 00:10:54,320 And from that day forward I’ve done everything I can to no matter what it is, even from honey 113 00:10:54,320 --> 00:10:59,369 to...I used to eat my own eggs here at the ranch. I don’t do that anymore. We just 114 00:10:59,369 --> 00:11:02,540 don’t do that. I mean, every time I find out something’s vegan I immediately make 115 00:11:02,540 --> 00:11:08,729 a decision to act in integrity with that ethic because we need to be doing that. 116 00:11:08,729 --> 00:11:14,579 And Houdini had been getting out every single day, if you heard anything about this story, 117 00:11:14,579 --> 00:11:18,729 you know Houdini was getting out along the highway, and so my husband was adamant 118 00:11:18,729 --> 00:11:22,970 about Houdini was going to have to get out of here. She was a liability and there was 119 00:11:22,970 --> 00:11:27,709 no way because that was Rowdy Girl’s baby. And so I looked all over Texas for a home. 120 00:11:28,029 --> 00:11:35,139 But there was no one that would take these cows...no one. And so after that, and Houdini, 121 00:11:35,139 --> 00:11:41,430 and the cops, and trying to find homes, one day I told my husband ‘Look, you know, I 122 00:11:41,430 --> 00:11:46,710 can’t find a home. Why don’t we just figure out how to have a sanctuary right here in 123 00:11:46,710 --> 00:11:52,399 Texas’. He thought I lost my mind, ya know. He said ‘You’ve lost your mind literally. 124 00:11:52,399 --> 00:11:57,809 This is not L.A.. This is not New York’. He said ‘Would that even work? We can’t 125 00:11:57,809 --> 00:12:02,410 do that here Renee, no way. I’m a member of the Brazoria County Cattlemen’s Association. 126 00:12:02,850 --> 00:12:07,139 We can’t do that. What would everybody think? And there’s no way that can happen 127 00:12:07,139 --> 00:12:11,109 here in the middle of all these sale barns all around us.’ And I said ‘Well what 128 00:12:11,109 --> 00:12:17,580 if I just buy your cows?’ And that’s when he just about lost it. You know, I was screaming 129 00:12:17,580 --> 00:12:23,509 ‘No, let me buy...let me try to buy these cows. Let me figure out how to have a sanctuary’. 130 00:12:23,509 --> 00:12:27,589 And I said ‘Maybe you don’t know how to do it. Maybe I don’t know how to do it but 131 00:12:27,589 --> 00:12:35,519 I’m sure somebody does’. And so, that’s what happened, and I didn’t know. But my...think 132 00:12:35,519 --> 00:12:42,029 my heart space and my soul lined up with the...a real big vacuum and a need for our planet. 133 00:12:42,299 --> 00:12:47,279 It’s a planet. This is for our planet that I’ve been a force. He’s okay with it. 134 00:12:47,279 --> 00:12:49,120 I mean, he went vegan too, ya know. 135 00:12:49,720 --> 00:12:55,369 I heard about that. When did that happen...how long did that take and was it...tell me a 136 00:12:55,369 --> 00:12:57,479 little about that. I just want to hear more about that. 137 00:12:57,619 --> 00:13:01,999 That was crazy, you know. During this whole time I had tons of deer antlers on my 138 00:13:01,999 --> 00:13:08,499 wall which was about to drive me freakin’ nuts. I felt like I was living in a morgue. 139 00:13:08,499 --> 00:13:12,529 You know, because once...I don’t know about the rest of the world, but once I went vegan 140 00:13:12,529 --> 00:13:18,660 my sensitivity went out the roof. So, I’m talking about liberating with this giant elk 141 00:13:18,660 --> 00:13:24,749 on my wall and I would just go [stunned]. I mean, I was feeling the heaviness of them 142 00:13:25,439 --> 00:13:34,269 all over me and my husband was going plant-based at the time, but his heritage was as a hunter. 143 00:13:34,269 --> 00:13:41,169 His Dad, his Grand Dad, his great Grandfather had a slaughterhouse for god’s sakes, in 144 00:13:41,169 --> 00:13:47,319 Houston, one of the biggest ones. They used to drive cows from San Antonio like cowboy 145 00:13:47,319 --> 00:13:54,299 days, ya know. Because his heritage was so deep it was really hard for him to make the 146 00:13:54,299 --> 00:13:59,900 connection, especially about the deer heads being on the wall because they were just momentos. 147 00:14:00,500 --> 00:14:06,540 He would use this terminology with me and I showed him your hunter one, you know that...oh 148 00:14:06,540 --> 00:14:11,129 yeah! Back before he took them off the wall I showed him, I said ‘You gotta watch this. 149 00:14:11,629 --> 00:14:16,889 You gotta see this’. So, I showed him your...yeah, I loved that one, and of course he watched 150 00:14:16,889 --> 00:14:22,009 it. It might have been part of his decision because there were several...several different 151 00:14:22,009 --> 00:14:29,600 things that did. He finally, just one day decided he didn’t want them on the wall 152 00:14:29,600 --> 00:14:35,439 anymore and now I hear my husband talking all the time about how good it is for your 153 00:14:35,439 --> 00:14:38,719 health. I hear him talking about, because we’re having tours, we have tours every 154 00:14:38,719 --> 00:14:44,359 week now, and I hear him telling visitors how good it is for the animals. He’s making 155 00:14:44,359 --> 00:14:49,329 the connection. He’s gone from plant-based to now, I would say that in his ethics, in 156 00:14:49,329 --> 00:14:54,579 his mind, he’s probably 75% vegan in his mind. He’s definitely totally plant-based 157 00:14:55,439 --> 00:14:58,439 but he’s getting there ethically too. 158 00:14:58,999 --> 00:15:03,009 Well thank you so much for everything you’re doing and for your powerful testimony 159 00:15:03,009 --> 00:15:10,719 and just your…your passion. I think that alone- I mean look at everything that you’ve... 160 00:15:10,719 --> 00:15:14,419 ...you've accomplished by just having this change in your mind that “I’m not going to stand 161 00:15:14,419 --> 00:15:19,289 for this anymore” and now it’s become this incredible thing, so just thank you for what you do. 162 00:15:19,970 --> 00:15:21,970 Well, thank you. Thank you Emily. 163 00:15:22,110 --> 00:15:26,730 I hope you enjoyed hearing Renee’s incredible story of conversion. I think her husband may 164 00:15:26,730 --> 00:15:29,859 win the most unlikely vegan of all time award. 165 00:15:32,979 --> 00:15:38,129 Renee has the support of such heavy-hitters as Kip Anderson, the creator of Cowspiracy, 166 00:15:38,129 --> 00:15:42,860 and Howard Lyman, a former cattle rancher himself turned vegan animal advocate, and 167 00:15:42,860 --> 00:15:48,380 her mission is growing by the day. You can check out all of her links below to get in touch. 168 00:15:48,750 --> 00:15:53,049 Now I’d love to hear your thoughts on this incredible story. Does this make you rethink 169 00:15:53,049 --> 00:15:59,300 the possibility of who can be vegan? Are you an unlikely vegan or vegan-to be? Let me know 170 00:15:59,300 --> 00:16:00,189 in the comments. 171 00:16:00,369 --> 00:16:04,850 If you enjoyed this inspirational story, give the video a big thumbs up and share it around 172 00:16:04,850 --> 00:16:09,819 to show that anyone, anywhere can live a life of compassion. If you’re new here be sure 173 00:16:09,819 --> 00:16:14,949 to hit that big red subscribe button down there for more awesome vegan content every Monday, Wednesday, 174 00:16:14,949 --> 00:16:19,830 and some Fridays, and to not miss out on other inspiring stories. If you want to 175 00:16:19,830 --> 00:16:23,970 help support bite size vegan, check out either of the support links in the video description 176 00:16:23,970 --> 00:16:28,900 below and for perks and rewards for your support, you can click on the nugget army icon there or the 177 00:16:28,900 --> 00:16:34,879 link in the iCard sidebar. Now go live vegan, never dismiss anyone as a potential 178 00:16:34,879 --> 00:16:36,949 vegan, and I’ll see you soon. 179 00:16:37,184 --> 00:16:40,904 Why in the world would you eat a chicken and love a dog? 180 00:16:41,567 --> 00:16:42,617 Why would you do that? 181 00:16:43,412 --> 00:16:46,042 Here's my babies and they are so awesome! 182 00:16:46,595 --> 00:16:54,025 They love side by side together and I hope that all of you can one day make a decision. 183 00:16:56,630 --> 00:16:57,530 To go vegan. 184 00:16:57,734 --> 00:16:58,391 Peace out!