Need advice from cattle, goat,sheep raisers - dangerous ram

patience · Expert Joined: Jan 04, 2008 Posts: 1762

Ironclad, copper-rivetted rule on our place is that the family is THE boss. It's a benevolent dictatorship. We do the best we possibly can to assure the well being of all creatures. But if a creature insists on rebelling, they are history. Period. The safety of the family comes first, no matter what.
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Cashmere · Light Sweet Crude Joined: Mar 27, 2008 Posts: 1971

cudabachi

I bought a group of "criollo" cattle recently and let them run with my Charolais herd.

Most of them are behaving themselves but one young heifer broke a fence nearly every day for a week.......and for no apparent reason than to see what was on the other side.

She's mighty tasty.

Bella · Tar Sands Joined: May 25, 2008 Posts: 26

I use a .22. (a Ruger MkII ). Make an imaginary X from one eye to the opposite horn and another from the other eye to the other horn. Put the bullet point blank where the lines cross. Cut the throat immediately after the shot, don't slash the neck but insert the sharp point of your knife in the angle of the jaw edge out. Push the blade in and then cut out. Do not try to lop the head off with one decapitating blow even if you have a really sharp sword. The blade is liable to bounce off the wool (unless you shaved the sheeps neck first -unlikely). Now you have a dead critter on the ground before you. take your knife and slice the hide on the hocks parallel to the Achillies tendon, but don't cut that tendon! Larks head a 6 inch loop of rope through the bloody holes you just made. Hook the ropes onto a gambrel hook or a singletree hanging from a tree limb (hopefully on a block and tackle or a lift), hoist the ram up till his front legs are off the ground and commence the gutting and skinning. You can tan (taw) the wooly hide nicely with alum and salt, applied after fleshing. Old Mutton is stronly flavored so I'd reccomend putting him into a lot of Cornish meat pasties. They freeze up nice after cooking and reheat well..A lot of work, but waste not, want not. Bella, whose been there and done that.

Ludi

Thank you Bella!
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Cashmere · Light Sweet Crude Joined: Mar 27, 2008 Posts: 1971

What is the need to bleed it after shooting it in the head?

Won't the blood all run out anyway during processing?
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Tanada

Shannymara

Bleeding out is ideally done while the heart is still beating to remove the most blood, which is why some people cut the throat to kill the animal. I read that chopping off chicken heads with an axe crushes some of the blood vessels, which can impede bleeding out. I think if you hang the animal and cut its throat right after you shoot it, it will still bleed out fairly completely.

Yes, this is still mostly "book learnin'" on my part so far, but it makes sense to me and in my limited experience is correct.
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Specop_007 · Expert Joined: Aug 12, 2004 Posts: 6288

Machete. Swing it like you mean it onto his neck. Its how they drop cows for slaughter in less then rich places. A hard swing breaks the spine so hes dead right there and drops where he stands, just a matter of a few more lops to completely get the head off.

You could also slit his throat, they do that a bit hog hunting in hawaii. Damnedest thing, jump on top of the hog and cut its throat.

If you dont get a good shot with the .22 expect a very pissed, very scared ram. Might want to have him at least tied up if your going to shoot him "just in case".
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SpringCreekFarm · Intermediate Crude Joined: Mar 03, 2006 Posts: 950

One time when I was a child, I witnessed a cow being butchered. It was just one of those things where a cow came in with a busted leg and because the farmer was going to use the meat for his own table, the butcher agreed to kill it on a Saturday. From what I remember, here in Ontario all kills happen on Mondays because an inspector must be present when the killing and processing is done. Ok, so we were at the local butcher and he asked if we wanted to see a cow get killed. We were led to the killing floor and watched as they took a sawed off .22 rifle and shot the cow between the eyes. The eyes rolled up in her head and down she went. They cut her throat and two men jumped up on the cows chest and were jumping up and down while the blood pissed from the cut in her neck. I remember being shocked at the amount of blood coming out.

Yes Cashmere, it is very important that most of the blood be drained from the body. The meat would be saturated and useless if it weren't.

The time it took from the initial shot to the cow being hung up and sent to the cooler was only minutes. Incredible to see but not for the timid.

Just thought I'd add that story.

By the way Ludi, why not just sell the animal at the local sale. Do you not have a local auction barn in your area? You might get some $$$ for this pain in the ass animal. Hire someone to come pick him up and send it off and no worries. Maybe I'm over simplifying your situation. We have a local sale barn just down the road from here and that is where the baddies go.

Ludi

SpringCreekFarm · Intermediate Crude Joined: Mar 03, 2006 Posts: 950

Ludi