Well....not chickens..but butchered my first lamb.

[CDennis]

Congrats that's great!!

 

[purr]

I'm mostly a vegetarian,
That being said I am now

over the thought of lamb, I love lamb!

Your so brave , good for you that you did it yourself

 

[Bossroo]

Yup, I raised sheep by the hundreds... butchered a few every year and the rest whent to auction. Southdown has the most flavorful meat closely followed by the Suffolk and Hamshire. With the decline of wool prices, the hair sheep ( shed their wool in the spring) are now gaining in popularity.

Of those, the Dorper rivals the Suffolk and Hampshire in flavor and yield of meat.

Jeff , et al, ... For sheep, goats, etc. ... place the sheep on it's side, tie it's legs. With one hand grab the lower jaw and bend the head backwards, then right after you stab the sharp boning knife deep into the side of the neck , just below the jaw bone, and slice the knife outward ( don't cut the throat like you do a chicken as the wool ( hair) dulls the knife very fast) to sever the jugulars and windpipe, then bend the head backwards some more , this exposes the spinal chord groove between the skull and neck vertebrae. You can then sever the spinal chord very easily with the tip of the knife in one fast slice. All of this can be done in a matter of a couple seconds.

For skinning, do it simmilarly, puncture the skin only then insert the knife tip just under the skin and cut outward.

 

[miss_thenorth]

Quote:
How do you skin yours? It wasn't too difficult until I got to the breast and neck.

We hang by the back legs, start by cutting around there, that is the hardest part, getting the skin started. Tehn you just take your hunting knife and gently slice the hide away fron the carcass. After you get going, the weight of the hide will help you and it can almost be peeled off. Then you need to do the front legs, wehre it gets trickier again. having the proper knife makes a world of difference.

 

[Brunty_Farms]

Quote:
No prob. I like them alot. They are easy to raise, and are small enough for mne to process myself. Though my hubby will help if I ask him. He helped me hold the lamb yesterday while I killed. He said "Baby, you got more balls than i do!" LOL.
I wasn't looking forward to the killing part, but I don't raise them for pets. I keep telling myself they are food, and are healthier for my family because we know what we have fed them.
Same for the milk sheep, would love to have fresh milk that's good and natural too.

I thought you were a guy from your profile pic.... didn't pay attention. That's awesome that you do the killing ect. Good for you! So I take it the profile pic is of hubby and your baby?

 

[Brunty_Farms]

Quote:
Nice I will remember that...


Hey Boss... I have Katahdins... which I think I told you but I'm looking into crossing the females with a nice Dorper ram... as I'm not quite convinced the Katahdins have enough meat to make a worthy market lamb. I'm hoping with that cross I will have some good fleshed out lambs. You know of any good breeders of the Dorper? I'm in Ohio and don't mind driving but most of the good breeders travel around the country and I might be able to meet them somewhere. Figured I ask...

 

[kooltex]

Quote:
No prob. I like them alot. They are easy to raise, and are small enough for mne to process myself. Though my hubby will help if I ask him. He helped me hold the lamb yesterday while I killed. He said "Baby, you got more balls than i do!" LOL.
I wasn't looking forward to the killing part, but I don't raise them for pets. I keep telling myself they are food, and are healthier for my family because we know what we have fed them.
Same for the milk sheep, would love to have fresh milk that's good and natural too.

I thought you were a guy from your profile pic.... didn't pay attention. That's awesome that you do the killing ect. Good for you! So I take it the profile pic is of hubby and your baby?

Yeah, that's my babies!

 

[kooltex]

I cut me a piece of the lamb and sauted it up. I've never tasted such a mild flavored lamb. I cut off a peice of the shoulder, and it was sooo tender, like filet mignon. Crazy. Didn't taste at all like lamb I've had before. So if there is anyone out there that doesn't really dig the "Lamb-y" flavor just might really enjoy some Southdown.

 

[Bossroo]

Quote:
Nice I will remember that...


Hey Boss... I have Katahdins... which I think I told you but I'm looking into crossing the females with a nice Dorper ram... as I'm not quite convinced the Katahdins have enough meat to make a worthy market lamb. I'm hoping with that cross I will have some good fleshed out lambs. You know of any good breeders of the Dorper? I'm in Ohio and don't mind driving but most of the good breeders travel around the country and I might be able to meet them somewhere. Figured I ask...

Jeff, Do a Google search for American Dorper Sheep Sociey. They have a map page of breeders.. something like 23 in your neck of the woods. Buy the biggest and best muscled especially in the hind quarters, loin and shoulder ram that you can find. You will definately increase meat yield as well as the flavor in the crossbred lambs.

 

[Ariel301]

I don't do sheep, but I raise, milk, and butcher my own goats. My husband does the kill and I take it from there. Skinning sheep or goats can be a time consuming process, since you don't want to get any hair/wool on the meat. The meat is delicious though.

I have a friend who raises Friesian dairy sheep, and the milk and cheese from them is very good, rich and creamy. She had some Friesian/Suffolk cross lambs this year and they were meaty and got big pretty fast, seemed like a nice cross. She's milking some Suffolk ewes as well. I think they're producing about a quart of milk per ewe per day for her, but with more protein/grain they might make a bit more.