Homesteading and relying on what God made

[The Revolting Man]

How do you slaughter them? Shoot them?

 

[Joleneakamama]

Yes. @The Revolting Man We aren't overly fond of eating brains. Brains are still good for making buckskin after a bullet goes through them.
We like the quick kill. The boys bleed them out as soon as they drop.
For lambs a 22 pistol is good. For rams like him a nine would be needed. Same with a yearling steer. A bit bigger is better.

 

[FollowingHim]

Yesterday our boys slaughtered a ram I was quite fond of.....I was the only one though. He was super friendly as a lamb, choosing to follow and observe whover was our in the pasture. Then when he hit about a year old and the hormones kicked in, his usual approach for petting turned into ramming. He hit several of the boys, and our daughter when 8 years old did a flying belly flop one day when she walked too close and then couldn't outrun him.
I have rams now with better genetics ....and better manners.
He will be sausage. The kids will miss him......after the sausage runs out.

I will miss him....but not the liability. I tried ....but it is hard to place an animal that is dangerous. He was not fearful, or mean (like the ram that beat our oldest daughter up when she was 3) but he was big enough to hurt someone.

This guy was a son of the old ewe above.
View attachment 2029
Not the kind of critter you want to see bearing down on you!

Reminds me of a steer we had as a pet when I was young. He was a really nice animal, very friendly. He was raised with pet lambs and seemed to think he was a sheep. When he grew up he developed enormous horns. Once he was around 18 months old we'd tell visitors "come see our pet" and run out into the paddock with this massive "bull", hug him around the neck, grab his horn and drag him over to see them, and absolutely freak out everybody. It was great.

But he couldn't be trusted. Once we went to see him and found him covered in sweat beside the wreckage of a gate. The gate had been open, he'd just destroyed it for fun. He made suggestions of going for various people in the family at different times. Dad sold him at about 2 years, when he was enormous (and fetched a good price).

 

[Joleneakamama]

Reminds me of a steer we had as a pet when I was young.

We bought a 2 yr old shorthorn cross bull a few years ago. (Few?....Ha! I just thought about it and it was probably 18 years ago )
He had been a dairy calf raised by horse people. He was causing trouble as he got big enough to take the pipe rail pen he was in wherever he wanted. He would put his head through.....and go! (Loading him into the trailer was a rodeo as the fences got pushed everywhere...we eventually succeeded) Our pit bull liked playing with him...and he liked to be scratched. You could ...um, tell that he really liked to be scratched. He was that kinda happy when we shot him, as hubby was scratching him from outside the pen.

We raised a little red steer a few years ago that was so gentle you could sit on him when he was laying in the field. That is how gentle even the mother raised lambs from ole Spot always were (The ewe above). Her ram was Fido....but he wasn't man's best friend...he liked me better. I liked scratching him and I knew his favorite spots too.

In my opinion, part of the problem with male animals that get aggressive, is the size ratio between the brains and the balls. When you have a pea brained rooster with two testes that each weigh an ounce it is apparent why he is crazy enough to attack a 150 pound person! Same when a ram has hormone makers that weigh twice what his brain does.

Dogs don't have that 'problem.'
It is just wisdom not to trust an intact ram or bull.

 

[MeganC]

Yes. @The Revolting Man We aren't overly fond of eating brains. Brains are still good for making buckskin after a bullet goes through them.
We like the quick kill. The boys bleed them out as soon as they drop.
For lambs a 22 pistol is good. For rams like him a nine would be needed. Same with a yearling steer. A bit bigger is better.

We use a captive bolt pistol for killing bison and the occasional hog. Very humane and instantaneous.

 

[Joleneakamama]

Made hot dogs last night. Yummy!

Made buns too. Used homemade cheese and mayo on 'em....and today I'm making mustard.

Fast food that isn't when you make it from scratch. Those all lamb dogs in natural casings are really good. Gonna make more with the last couple of animals. Handy for work day lunches and should be really good grilled.

 

[rockfox]

Small butcher shops still use a .22 for all livestock.

 

[Mojo]

Small butcher shops still use a .22 for all livestock.

And traveling butchers from what I hear.