To add:
If you do decide to halt breeding plans in place of having a child, you can always pick up where you left off in a few short years.
Outside of parental love, there is nothing better than raising kids with animals. It develops the best attributes in humans; caring, loving, respect, empathy, desire to learn, among a few.
I firmly believe that the best hearted and nicest people that I met in life have or have had animals in their background at an enthusiastic level. Especially the ones that pass the torch on to their children.