I’m a bit late in writing this post, but I felt that it needed to be written.
Last week, we butchered a ram that had broken a leg a long time ago. The leg was healing, but it was crooked, and he was never going to be a breeding ram. Because he was the only sheep to go to slaughter, I didn’t want to take him to the slaughterhouse. We never take a single sheep anywhere – it’s too stressful for them. With an injured leg on top of that, he wasn’t going to have a comfortable trip.
I found a friend who wanted a whole sheep and was able to handle the carcass himself. I caught the ram, and we walked him over to a nice, grassy area of the property.
For all you people who have no idea how a proper non-stun slaughter is done, this was about as good as it gets. We put him on his side, and I stroked his face and talked to him until his heart rate slowed and he calmed down. With one single stroke of the knife, both his jugular vein and carotid artery were severed. I counted, and he was insensitive in less than two seconds. We continued to hold him until he’d completely bled out.
You can verify that an animal is dead by testing for a blink reflex. Also, there is a reflexive kicking of the hind legs that happens once the brain has shut down. Some people misinterpret this as meaning the animal is still alive, but it’s not.
When that was done, we strung him up on the tractor bucket for skinning and gutting, just as we do for our deer during hunting season. The guts and hide went into the compost pile, and now a friend has tasty meat.
I am with our sheep when they are born, and I have no problem holding them as they provide one last service to us. My responsibility to the sheep is to be sure they have a good life and a quick, humane death without fear. That was why, for this young ram, it was important that he never leave his home.
All sheep have a job. For some, it’s to provide food for us and our customers. Thank you, Desert Weyr Sean.