When I first started learning to farm and butcher my own meat I too couldn't eat the animals right away. In fact, the first couple of chickens I did in got fed to my dog because I just couldn't bring myself to eat them. Now, I can butcher a chicken and roast it that evening and enjoy it immensely. There is a major emotional trajectory we have to travel when not raised on a farm and learning to butcher young. See my page about teaching friends to butcher recently (
http://howlingduckranch.wordpress.com/2009/10/16/city-mouse-acquires-country-mouse-skills/). My friend's not quite four year old daughter was thrilled to watch and disappointed to have to go to bed before the 'chicken we killed today' was ready to eat!
cheers,
HDR