Baa, baa gray sheep...

[e_moon60]

Vegetarians might want to skip this.   Tomorrow we will get the lamb (now on the edge of mutton, being almost a year old and an estimated weight of 150 pounds in dry weather...) and then proceed to another adventure in country living, killing and butchering same.

I mentioned dry weather.  It's not dry weather.  It's cold and raining the kind of

Comments

[kimuro]

So ... cattle get butchered professionally but sheep are done on-site? Is there some sort of regulation for that or simply a matter of weights?

[e_moon60]

Weight and convenience is a big part of it. Balanced against the cost of transport and the yield. There's no regulation of home slaughter/butchery in rural areas here, though of course none of the meat or products made from it can be sold. (If a farm/ranch wants to produce meat for sale, they have to use--or have themselves--an approved slaughter facility that follows all the rules for commercial meat production.) Another thing is skill...if you're cutting up 500+ pounds of meat, it helps to know what you're doing, to make the most useful cuts and preserve the quality. And it's work--having butchered one calf smaller than Sir Loin, I'm willing to pay someone to do it, as long as the meat doesn't cost more per pound (all costs considered) than I'd pay in a market

[freyaw]

There's a business in the Adelaide area which hires out the mobile coolrooms and freezers and so forth necessary - the slaughterman/ butcher brings the equipment you've hired from him to the property when he comes to slaughter and butcher. All you need to supply is the space to park it and the facilities to run it off of (and the money to hire it, of course). I only know it exists because friends have used their services for their Highland Cattle (much easier to keep the horns if you're not using a commercial slaughterhouse facility, apparently), I haven't been able to find advertisements anywhere.

[e_moon60]

That is seriously cool! What a great idea!

Yes, here the slaughter facilities automatically get the head (with horns if any), hides, feet, etc. which are salable elsewhere.

[sbarret]

We've got some shetlands here, but so far we haven't had to face the slaughter decision since we're just starting out on the flock (and have them mostly for show sheep and selling off the babies and the wool when the time comes).

[e_moon60]

The thing about any livestock (wild or domesticated) is that if you're a good manager, their numbers will increase and eventually they'll exceed the carrying capacity of your land. At which time you have to do something--ship some away, or...the current euphemism is "harvest" them, but it means kill. As long as you have a market, you can sell them, but when the market goes...

Still...Shetland sheep? I'll bet the wool is wonderful!

[sbarret]

Well, this is our first year at it, so we know very little about wool. We're working with a woman who's been raising sheep for ages though, so we're picking up pointers as we go along.

This is us: http://ridgewayfarm.livejournal.com/

(the icon is a picture of our ram lamb when he was tiny.)

And point well taken on the increasing numbers. We tried to limit the ram to the two older ewes this season but between the times he broke through to the younger ewes and the times THEY broke thru to him, well, who knows how many lammies we'll have in a few months?

[bunny_m]

Mmm, lamb. ;9

Sounds like a lot of work, although I'm sure the meat will be all the sweeter for the effort involved.

[e_moon60]

The big calf we butchered was a lot of work (and hot--it was not the right weather, but that's when Nameless broke her leg.) This lamb shouldn't be too bad. I say that tonight, but wait until tomorrow night's report...

[bunny_m]

I look forward to the updates, both on how much work it was, and how tasty the meat ends up being. Must remember to poke the Housemate as well, and see if they can send you a wonderful recipe for Ruby Stew that works best with mutton. Works fine with lamb or beef, too, but the mutton is richer. And it's an impressively old recipe, sometimes the classics are the best.

*poke, poke*

[e_moon60]

Oooh, that sounds lovely. Please do send it. I love old recipes.

[harfafnor]

I'm originally from Louisiana and back when living there we hunted a lot. Depending on the crowd we hunted with we could have 2 or 3 deer to deal with. We did all the cutting and wrapping ourselves. Experience helped but also seeing some of those charts that tell you the cuts of meat helped a lot. I'm not sure where to get one of them, they make them for all the different animals. We got pretty good at it over time. With the equipment you mentioned it would be a much easier task.

[e_moon60]

My husband has been poring over the charts all day, reading directions, etc. Knives are sharp, sharpening tools readied. Messy-job clothing laid out. Firearm checked (clean, magazines loaded, ear protection ready.)

Tomorrow morning is the shopping trip for the necessary plastic bags.

almost a year old?

[ozdragonlady]

thats not mutton, its what us'ens call hogget ... its certainly still lamb, just a more sensible finish than chops that are one mouthful!

dont you

[ozdragonlady]

shear it first?

Re: dont you

[e_moon60]

This is my first...I have no idea if J- even has shears, or how much fleece it has on it (having been a show lamb, which is usually clipped...)

Re: dont you

[ozdragonlady]

you should get a nice sheepskin then :)