1st time slaughtering a sheep ram

[BSue]

So we have a ram that is about 3 years old and we are going to slaughter him soon. I've been looking through the forums and see that the majority of animals get sent off for slaughtering. I wish that was an option here. I've also seen that many use guns, we don't own a gun. So I've decided that the ram needs to be bleed. According to many who slaughter lambs they just straddle their backs and cut their necks. That will not be possible with this big of an animal. Has anyone hung the animal before bleeding, do you think I will have more control over the animal? Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

 

[Baymule]

I send my lambs out to slaughter. I have processed hogs at home, but we shot them. You don’t have a gun, so that option is out.

A big ram isn’t going to go along with your plan. My suggestion is to get 2 cow panels, put them together, wire up one end and leave the other end open. Either run him into the open end or put a pan of Feed down and let him put himself in. Close it quickly and secure it shut. The bleeding stick with a knife might go easier if you stun him first. I’m thinking a heavy hammer blow to the brain area, then bleed him out. Draw an imaginary line from the base of his ear to his eye, both sides, making an imaginary X. Where the lines cross is his brain.

@Beekissed recently bled out a ewe, but her son straddled the ewe and cut her throat.

You indicated your ram is too big and powerful for this method. If you have a way to restrain him, you don’t need the cow panels.

I wish you success!

 

[Beekissed]

I send my lambs out to slaughter. I have processed hogs at home, but we shot them. You don’t have a gun, so that option is out.

A big ram isn’t going to go along with your plan. My suggestion is to get 2 cow panels, put them together, wire up one end and leave the other end open. Either run him into the open end or put a pan of Feed down and let him put himself in. Close it quickly and secure it shut. The bleeding stick with a knife might go easier if you stun him first. I’m thinking a heavy hammer blow to the brain area, then bleed him out. Draw an imaginary line from the base of his ear to his eye, both sides, making an imaginary X. Where the lines cross is his brain.

@Beekissed recently bled out a ewe, but her son straddled the ewe and cut her throat.

You indicated your ram is too big and powerful for this method. If you have a way to restrain him, you don’t need the cow panels.

I wish you success!

No straddling went on with that, Bay....he knelt behind the sheep's neck and pulled the head back around one knee to extend the neck. If the sheep is too big to shear, he's too big to kill that way....but if you can shear him, you can do a throat stick kill. Just a simple sitting them on their butts, then rolling them onto their side onto the ground. I've found, the bigger the sheep, the less able they are to fight once on their butts and lying on their sides on the ground.

Just takes two people...one to hold the legs for a minute while the throat stick is done. Now here's a vid mislabeled as a goat slaughter, but it's a large ram....the poor ignorant bleeding heart that posted this vid didn't realize it was a sheep, not a goat and that the sheep did not suffer or die slowly. They cut the throat a lot deeper and wider than did we, because we hang our carcasses from the neck to skin them and we don't want the head to pop off from the pulling off of the hide. The kill is quick, the bleed out good and the sheep doesn't suffer needlessly.

I would not hang the animal prior to bleeding....you'll not want all that adrenaline in your meat from the panic of the sheep. You'll want the quickest, most gentle of kills for the best tasting meat.

 

[BSue]

No straddling went on with that, Bay....he knelt behind the sheep's neck and pulled the head back around one knee to extend the neck. If the sheep is too big to shear, he's too big to kill that way....but if you can shear him, you can do a throat stick kill. Just a simple sitting them on their butts, then rolling them onto their side onto the ground. I've found, the bigger the sheep, the less able they are to fight once on their butts and lying on their sides on the ground.

Just takes two people...one to hold the legs for a minute while the throat stick is done. Now here's a vid mislabeled as a goat slaughter, but it's a large ram....the poor ignorant bleeding heart that posted this vid didn't realize it was a sheep, not a goat and that the sheep did not suffer or die slowly. They cut the throat a lot deeper and wider than did we, because we hang our carcasses from the neck to skin them and we don't want the head to pop off from the pulling off of the hide. The kill is quick, the bleed out good and the sheep doesn't suffer needlessly.

I would not hang the animal prior to bleeding....you'll not want all that adrenaline in your meat from the panic of the sheep. You'll want the quickest, most gentle of kills for the best tasting meat.

Thank you @Baymule for the suggestions. Yes my ram is quite big, a Merino cross breed. My husband seems to think that as long as we tie his feet and get him laid down on the ground that he wont put up much of a fight. I however disagree.

@Beekissed That was an interesting video. I am wondering, once his feet are tied and laying on the ground like this ram, if I tie his legs to a post if that would avoid all the moving around and getting the wool full of blood. I am wanting to save the hide for a rug.

 

[Beekissed]

Thank you @Baymule for the suggestions. Yes my ram is quite big, a Merino cross breed. My husband seems to think that as long as we tie his feet and get him laid down on the ground that he wont put up much of a fight. I however disagree.

@Beekissed That was an interesting video. I am wondering, once his feet are tied and laying on the ground like this ram, if I tie his legs to a post if that would avoid all the moving around and getting the wool full of blood. I am wanting to save the hide for a rug.

Not likely....they will paddle their legs regardless, so you'd have to tie it tightly to a post prior to the cut, then you start running into the whole panic and adrenaline rush of the sheep. And you'll want some measure of paddling to encourage a better bleed out.

I think this vid shows more blood on the carcass because the animal is on a hard, nonporous surface but we slaughtered our sheep in the garden and there was a volleyball sized spot of blood left behind and just a little blood on the fur at the site of the cut...as fast as the sheep bled, the ground absorbed the blood and the sheep was also pointed downslope.

You'll be doing several things to that hide in order to tan it that will require washing of the wool/hide, so the blood will be long gone by the time you get that process done.

 

[Kusanar]

Another option if he is too hard to get on the ground, look up how they slaughter cattle for halal food. They cut the throat with them standing. You would obviously want him secured so he doesn't trample someone but the cows aren't on the ground when they are cut.

 

[secuono]

Do you know anyone with a gun?
If you have the hose on & ready, you can rinse any blood out immediately to prevent staining.
You can also have a hoist ready & hooked to the hinds.

 

[wolf]

So we have a ram that is about 3 years old and we are going to slaughter him soon. I've been looking through the forums and see that the majority of animals get sent off for slaughtering. I wish that was an option here. I've also seen that many use guns, we don't own a gun. So I've decided that the ram needs to be bleed. According to many who slaughter lambs they just straddle their backs and cut their necks. That will not be possible with this big of an animal. Has anyone hung the animal before bleeding, do you think I will hmore control over the animal? Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

I've done mine: put a deer gambrel in a tree, and a clean pallet on blocks underneath. Tied ram to tree, put a loop around a back leg and pull until he has to go down on the pallet - sometimes they lay askew and need to be hoisted a bit to get it in the right spot, then I tie that foot so it stays stretched. I have with me a knife that's razor sharp - so if I knick myself I don't feel it till I see the blood - I shove a bucket under his head hanging off the pallet and sit on his shoulder. This holds him in place. You don't have to cut ear2ear like a horror movie - just pull his head to the side, and that muscle on the side of the neck that runs into the ear - that spot carries the carotid artery. One smooth strong cut just under the ear - all you have to do is knick that artery. Try to do the side that's down towards the bucket so you don't get messy. I use this time to stroke and talk to him gentle, and thank him - they usually settle down cause their blood-pressure is dropping fast. Bucket catches the blood. He'll pass out, but don't get off his shoulder. Right before his last few breaths his unconscious instinct to flee will make him kick a few times - but he's not feeling anything. He'll expire, his rectal-pellets will fall between the slats of the pallet. After he's stopped breathing, I cut the skin between tendon and heel and use the gambrel to hoist him up, and start by removing his head - bucket gets shoved under to catch the last drips. I scrub my hands and go have a coffee. Gives time for the carcass to drain all the way. Bucket get's dumped far away, and washtub goes under the carcass - gets skinned and dressed like a deer.

 

[Mini Horses]

Nice description of a not always nice job....emotionally. Glad you brought out the super sharp knife and carotid info, as that is the key to a fast and humane end.

 

[BSue]

Thank you all for your advice and suggestions. We were able to get the job done yesterday morning, but boy was he heavy. Took three of us to get him up, one holding and pulling on the rope and the other two hoisting him up. We didn't get a chance to shear him earlier this year so the wool and hide were heavy! Now the freezer is stocked up and we are enjoying some ribs on the grill.