Stupid sheep was warned...

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I got a Ram a few weeks ago that was humongous in size...275-300 pounds and he was nasty, and the reason why he was free in cost. Over the last few days he has been getting nastier and nastier, and the entire sheep shed would rattle as he pounded against the wood. Yesterday he breached security by getting through the sheep shed outer boards, but some planking kept him physically in. Today he managed to get past that.

Luckily I was home and had just returned and saw he was not where he was supposed to be. I did have the chute locked so he could only get so far. Anyway there he was in the chute waiting for me. Yeah right, like I was putting him back in the sheep shed. Heck even the USDA Vet that came today had heard about this ram's nasty demeanor and had been warned about him.

Its the one thing I really hate about animal husbandry, but I don't pass off problem livestock. I called last night and the earliest date I could get him to the slaughterhouse was November 9th...5 weeks away. :( Unfortunately I could not wait that long. Usually one shot does the trick, but I missed the brain on the first shot, but the second shot dropped him. Its too bad to lose so much meat (300 pounds) but he'll be used as coyote bait for the boys who hunt, so at least not all of him is wasted.

Kind of a weird ending to a long farm day!
 
You have to do what you have to do with animals. I put down a couple I sure didn't want to.
But, mutton on the hoof? I woulda slaughtered myself. Roast slow, plenty of garlic.....yum.
 
I was raised on a "starvation sheep" ranch - I probably would be running it today had my father, bless his soul, had better partners. He had a very difficult time finding anyone better (in his mind) than Mr's Jack Daniels and Jim Beam.

Anyway the reason I'm responding to this post is the reply by Frank Fusco - Mutton, yum! Ugg - I can still remember eating mutton, drinking a glass of cold water and scraping the grease off the roof of your mouth. I like lamb but NO mutton.

I live in Montana, a fairly large sheep producing state, but it's pretty sad when you walk into any major grocery chain to buy lamb an you can only purchase lamb that comes from Australia.

I do miss the lambing season and the "piling" in the winter. Any cold weather sheep rancher will know what I mean regarding piling. Course today there are more sheds and weather protected structures than we used 60 years ago.

Jiggs Elphison
 
I guess I'm missing the joke because I do talk to my sheep. Hey I am here alone all day with them and have no one else to talk to so that's just what I said, "You ram your head again like that and I'll smoke your hiney!" :rofl:

No matter. Frank is indeed right, but so is Jigg's. Its a waste of mutton, but then again if you don't get Mutton down to 95% lean then its pretty foul tasting...worse then eating duck. Now that is disgusting!

I probably would have looked at the situation differently if I had more invested in him. As always, he was a free ram because he was nasty and the people that had him could not put him down. I don't have that problem and NEVER pass problem livestock to someone else. So he was free, been here about 3 weeks and I had nothing into him. I've slaughtered animals myself, but with a freezer full of lamb already, it seemed like a lot of work for 150 pounds of sausage??? Job wise, I got another ram who is far more tame, does his job and sires good lambs...so dispatching this one was not a hard decision. Let the coyotes take him as bait, then put the dogs on the coyote and ultimately that will save more sheep that are worthy of being saved.
 
I like duck. :eek:
Nebber had no bad tasting lamb/mutton. :rolleyes:
Y'all must not roast slow enuf or use enuf garlic. :D
I also prefer my bacon from a big old fat boar. Don't even try to give me none o' that sissified 'healthy' bacon stuff.
 
:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl: Don and Jonathan you crack me up. Hey Travis only thing that saddened me is that the meat essentially went to waste. I have eaten mutton before and it was tasty. Surely there is a needy institution nearby like and orphanage or Salvation army kitchen??? Better than Coyote bait no?:(
 
I tried to get the pelt off it but the darn thing was so big it would have been $1000 bucks!!

As for teaching the family members a lesson, in some ways I did. It is teaching Alyson about life and death and the cycle of life. She knows we have #2 in our freezer, and she knows Bill (the ram) went to the coyotes. She knows the coyotes hurt the sheep, but deer are friends with sheep, etc. She has seen a lot of dead calves on the farm too, so she is learning about death. Probably not fully understanding it at age 3, but she will be more more ready for it then most 3 year old's. I know I was growing up.

Heck when I was 5 my dog ran out and killed a lamb. As it ran across the field my Grandfather got a rifle and smoked it before it hit the woods on the other side. And I really remember how the Jewish people slaughter my prized Angus cow. It involved a sword, a pillow to fall on and a bunch of odd ball slaughter techniques. The biggest thing was that sword coming out and bam...but I stop there to help out the squeamish on here.

I will say in 2004 after putting down 300 pets for people who lacked the funds to have a vet do it, or have the stamina to do it themselves. It was just too much and so I said I retired. I'm not about that. But I take animal husbandry to heart and care for my animals from birth to death...I don't pawn it off on to someone else. Its a sad fact but we out live our pets. In the long run Alyson will in turn learn this, and where her food comes from and what it takes to get it there.
 
Tony you had to bring that up didn't you? Yes there is and the Domestic Supervisor, AKA: Wife, AKA Cow Whisperer claimed she could get him back into his sheep shed and get him calmed down. She never grew up on a farm, and has only been in 1 in her entire life so she just doesn't understand animal husbandry.

Nasty rams don't last very long here. I got nailed when I was a kid by one and that one had a very short lifespan after that.
 
Oh no brother, nothing to apologize for. I was not upset in the least. I need to have my hiney kicked for not putting some smiley faces and such in on my post. I was being sarcastic because I thought you were talking about my wife who has an ability to get the bull to go where it is supposed to. She has been ribbing me something fierce about the Ram because I messed up on the first shot. She kept saying, "I'm the cow whisperer, I bet I could have got him back in the pen."

But the whole thing was kind of a bad sight. I set some grain out so he would have his head down when I did him in, but the angle caused me to miss the brain. He ran 20 feet back and was looking at me like "what the heck did I do to you?" It was worse then that but I'll spare everyone the details of what I was looking at; it was not pretty.

Anyway, I had a single shot .44 Mag and had to reload which took some time. I always feel bad when circumstances lead to this, but I typically get it over with quick. Not this time so I kind of feel guilty for not doing my part well enough and getting it over with quick. My wife (also known as the Cow Whisperer) saw a window of opportunity to poke me about messing up, so she has been doing just that.

Its all in good fun because it has to be done. I grew up on a farm and shot a lot of animals, the hardest being my own dogs. The latter is a bit harder, but when the time comes, a man and his dog both know it and out into the woods you go for one last romp. This was just a sheep.
 
I tried to get the pelt off it but the darn thing was so big it would have been $1000 bucks!!

It's a shame you couldn't get the pelt off... my first thoughts after starting to read the thread... a warm sheepskin rug for the bedroom on those cold cold northern nights.... from your avatar, I'm assuming it gets cold up there.... I'm not a cold weather person and would enjoy having the skeepskin on the floor. I would be retired in the tropics if could afford it.
 
Toni that is what it would cost to have it shipped to Chicago according to the taxidermy guy/neighbor who took it for coyote bait. But I think there are cheaper alternatives and I am going to look into it.

As for the cold Chuck, yeah it gets a wee bit cold. I snapped this picture last year because no one would believe me likewise. Just notice the negative sign in front of the number, and that it was straight temp and not windchill factored in. In other words. -45.2 below zero (f)
 

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