>By > happy mischance (long story), I ended up finding an elderly Mexican > gentleman who happens to work part time at the local butcher shop. He > is happy to come on-farm to do the slaughter and charges $15 for > kill, skin, and dress.
This was basically the method used for the "hands on" harvest, but included simultaneously breaking the neck. The trainwreck occurred in catching the animals, which were in a horse stall, two guys in there cowboying around, catching the poor little buggers. I should have had a means of crowding the lambs, and should not have allowed what happened, but it was one of those things where I just didn't handle the situation. One of those life's lessons we've learned this year. We are building a new sheep barn, and I keep struggling with how to build containment for the quick, trauma-free dispatch of slaughter lambs, but our facility has not quite evolved to that point yet. I have a great opportunity to design that in, but as yet haven't even figured out how we are going to utilize the new building! Count yourself lucky on your kill charge...ours is $40, plus $6 for disposal fees...total to get three sheep processed...$240. And then they screwed up the cut and wrap... > My rams are sold either straight off an alfalfa/perennial rye grass > pasture or, in the winter, they eat alfalfa hay. They get no grain. I > will be growing my own hay starting next year and am still debating > the merits of straight grass versus the alfalfa/perennial rye grass > mixture. My sheep give me deep, guilt-evoking stares when I put a > bale of straight grass hay in their feeder. I think you have got a wonderful thing going with alfalfa and perennial rye! Sounds like the ideal balance of protein and energy. Our infertile soil has not been able to sustain rye or a good stand of legumes. We started on our fertility program 4 years ago and I understand it takes about 3 years for the effects of remineralization to begin showing. Sure enough, we've gone from large areas of exposed soil to solid turf and the grass-choking mats of oxeye daisy are gone. This year the soil will be able to "digest" a fairly large application of lime, which should start a cascade of reactions in the soil. I hauled in 50 spreader-loads of aged horse manure (spread on half the pasture) and overseeded with a "ruminant" grass mix, plus white clover and vetch (which shows some persistence in our weak soil). On top of that, I spread a generous quantity of chicory seed, which is great for mining the subsoil for minerals, tolerates poor soil and drought, and manages a protein level in the 20-24% range! So not only do you have wonderful sheepies, you also have wonderful soil! It seems that all the things that create "artisan" quality meat also create healthy animals and healthy soils, which in turn sequester huge amounts of carbon, for a healthier earth...What a grand plan! Barb _______________________________________________ This message is from the Blackbelly mailing list Visit the list's homepage at %http://www.blackbellysheep.info
