Keri Brandt was a vegetarian, and David Off was a rancher. Some might say he made his living raising cattle, but many of Keri’s vegan friends probably would say he made his living killing cattle. On their first date, he took her on a cattle drive. She wondered what she was doing with a man whose values, identity and way of life were so different from her own. David was a cattle rancher whose family had been raising cattle for nearly 150 years, and he wasn’t going to change. Something had to give for their relationship to survive.
Keri did a remarkable about face. She now believes that ranchers love their animals and want them to have happy, healthy lives. She has also done a lot of research and thinks that plant-based diets can be harmful. And since both meat and plant diets can cause harm, she no longer thinks the topic is so black and white. She now eats meat and helps David raise cattle. While she is happily married the about face she did has lost her some of her vegan friends who can’t understand her new lifestyle.
The story of another vegetarian rancher romance went in the opposite direction. Tommy Sonnen married Renee King seven years ago. Tommy was a cattle rancher and his new wife did something that he warned her not to do. She fell in love with the cattle.
Renee began spending lots of time with the cattle and treating them like pets. She sat with them in the fields and sang to them. She even gave them names. Tommy warned her not to get too close because it would be too painful for her when they were killed. Renee couldn’t help herself. Her love for the animals grew, and she decided to become a vegetarian.
Their marriage soon took a turn for the worse. Renee decided she could no longer live on a cattle ranch. Something had to give and this time it was Tommy.
Tommy told Renee that he was done ranching. Rather than risk divorce, he was ready to quit and sell all of his cattle. But selling them meant they’d be killed by their new owner. Renee couldn’t live with that, so she decided that she would buy them. Unknown to Tommy, Renee had started a popular blog called the Vegan Journal of a Rancher’s Wife. Her website followers raised the money for Renee to buy the cattle. Tommy is now a vegetarian. He gave up the life of a cattle rancher for love. He now works with Renee at an animal sanctuary that saves farm animals from being killed.