Although I have been raising BBs for several years now, I have never slaughtered one and haven't even eaten any hairsheep meat. I am at the point now where I am ready to try some.
I have a few "newbie" questions concerning killing/eating your own sheep. I have read that 12 to 15 months is the best age? My BBs seem awful small at that age. Will there be enough meat? Should I consider getting a katahdin, or dorper ram to sire the slaughter animals? What is the best way to kill them? This is if I try to process it myself, which I haven't decided yet. Do I need to catch them "unawares" and shoot them behind the ear? Will this affect the other sheep in the future. They are reasonably tame around me now, will the remainder of the flock be smart enough to avoid me after that? If a local slaughter house does it the animal HAS to be taken ALIVE(in Alabama)to them. Is this going to ruin the taste of the meat? (getting them all excited?) How should I have the butcher cut it up? In other words, what do you get out of these sheep? Is a 40? lb animal worth taking to the slaugher house? Sorry for the ignorance, I intially never intended to raise any for slaughter, but I have heard so much about how good it is, plus I eat a large amount of meat anyway, so I thought, "why not eat some of my sheep? I have plenty" Basically I need someone to guide me through how to go about doing this. Or, is there a book anyone would recommend that explains slaughtering your own sheep? Thanks, Chris B. =============================================== This message is from the Barbados Blackbelly Sheep mailing list (http://www.awrittenword.com/listserv/index.html). To respond to this message, send e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe or change your membership options, go to http://lists.coyotenet.net/mailman/listinfo/blackbelly To search the archives, go to http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
