Rasing sheep - for eating

Sometimes I do not understand people. Specifically these people tend to be non- animal people. And, to give fair warning here, I am going to use this post to rant because it has been bothering me for several days now.
Let me back up. So in addition to our 22 goats (or 21.5 goats if the miniature counts as ½) and the dog and the 11 or so chickens (this number has decreased because I think an owl took a few away – they have mysteriously vanished completely) we got a sheep.
He was only 3 days old when we got him and he is black and woolly and is rather cute, but really that is beside the point. My friend’s dad owns a grazing company with some 2000 sheep and goats. Many of his ewes are lambing right now and when there are large groups of sheep lambing there are bound to be bummer lambs (lambs whose mother does not want to feed them). My friend no longer wanted to deal with these sheep (and apparently neither did her mother) so when we agreed to take one – well two days later we got a call to come get him.
Anyway he is here and I intend to feed him out and eat him.

(this white space represents the silence that usually follows that announcement)
And this is where I get the “how can you do that” or “that’s so mean” or “you’re just evil for wanting to eat him”
Frankly I’m getting a little tired of it. Why do people care if I want to raise a lamb and then use it for meat? What else are you going to use a castrated ram lamb for? Some people tell me it should be a pet – I don’t understand, should this happen to all of them? Do we all want pet sheep? Can you imagine the amount of pet sheep roaming the earth! We would be overwhelmed.
Frankly I don’t think he would make a very good pet. He is very …well void of personality. He screams when he is hungry and he toddles after you if you let him. But this is at a month old – if we had a kid who only cried when they were hungry and toddled around we would be so freaked out that they had been dropped on their head or something. He doesn’t climb and jump or do anything cute. He looks cute but he doesn’t do anything. He lives in a large crate during the day (the pasture is a swamp from the rain) and the garage at night and as long as we feed him, he doesn’t seem to care.
Then people find out he was really sick for a while and we had to nurse him back to health. Then the questions of “how can you eat him since you are so attached and have taken this much care of him?” begin all over again. Seriously people… if I didn’t nurse him back to health he would be very hard to eat that is just simple.
Then the other day topped the list. Someone told me I was either a “sociopath or had no personality” to be able to raise an animal and then eat it. And mind you this person was NOT a vegetarian (the vegetarian I know was cool with the idea) and had even come from a town known for their agriculture. In some ways these comments remind me just how far removed people are from the food they eat and in other ways it really does hurt. I know I don’t why I should let it hurt me but I grew up in a big city where I was looked at strangely for having livestock. You would think once I moved somewhere where they actually had land and horses and cows and stuff that I wouldn’t be so strange. Instead I’m still strange. Sigh.
Alright, well I’ve spoken my mind, I’ve said my piece, I think it is time to go feed Easter dinner.