Mystang's Homesteading Circus

[mystang89]

Just a small update. Everything still doing well in school. Going through the routine, people learning, generally decent grades.
Trying to make time to do anything besides school..... Yeah, give up on that.

I did try to go out a few weeks ago to more the grass for the last time this year. That went over smashingly. The old bunton had a bad drive belt on it that kept slipping off. I was trying to make it last till three beginning of next year when I do my maintenance on all my equipment so I just kept putting the belt back on. When I would put the belt back on I'd have to flip the more over to get under it. Unfortunately the last time I flipped it I did so incorrectly and flipped it on the air filter side. No no. If you need to flip a mower then flip it to it's muffler side.
Anyway, I put the belt back on and noticed some oil leaked out through the air filter. Figured it would just burn out with some white smoke and be ok. (Wasn't thinking clearly apparently. The oil has no way to burn off when it's on the air filter. Doh!)

Flipped it back over, started it up, made it about 10'and the engine started to bog down. Stupid me thought it would push it's way through so I keep it going. CLINK! Thought real clearly after hearing that. Mower shut down. Piston rod broke. Darn good mower. Dummy operator lol. Oh well, good Lord gave, and the good Lord took away. Tax time comes I'll have to try and allocate some money to another bunton.

It's too bad they don't make bunton anymore. One heck of a mower. (No, bobcat doesn't make a mower that even comes close to comparing with bunton. They simply bought the name so they could sell cheaply made mowers for an exorbitant price.)

So when tax season gets here hopefully I'll be able to get a belt for the finishing mower and a new mower... And some hay.... And pay off the bills.... And.... Well you get the point.

Edit: forgot to mention Bruce. He's still alive. He tore down the lean to sliding door again. I fixed it. Again. Went through to stall door. Fixed it again. I ended up putting bungie electric fence
https://hardwareonlinestore.com/ind...NWO0Qju-4_tVsylLxRTtFc8z-OQNhF5xoCCt4QAvD_BwE
up in front of it. So far that has surprisingly worked well.

 

[Bruce]

Glad to know I'm still alive Sorry I've been so destructive

RIP Bunton. No way to replace the engine? Must be a graveyard somewhere.

 

[mystang89]

Glad to know I'm still alive Sorry I've been so destructive

RIP Bunton. No way to replace the engine? Must be a graveyard somewhere.

Lol.

Replacing the engine would cost more that it at least only slightly less than a "new" to me bunton. Might be able to find a bunton for parts on CL but I'm not too keen on that idea since there's not really a good way to see what the problem was in the first place. It's more just taking the person's word for it.

 

[mystang89]

Graphic pics ahead.
Bruce is dead. I had a doc appt yesterday morning so my wife went to let the sheep out. She got to the Rams and the two boys went just fine but Bruce game her lots of trouble so she called me for some advice. Not long into the conversation she screamed out in pain and started crying. After asking what was wrong she said that he had head-butted her in the groin. The decision was made right then, Bruce was gone.

Once I returned home I saw that he had also tore down part of the stall again. Had a look at the bruises and they are deep. Bruce lasted about another 10 min after that which was mainly me getting the knives and tables set up.

So now on to the butchering part. I only have experience with rabbits and pigs but I know the older the animal gets the tougher it is to strip the fir/wool and if it's a make it's even more difficult for some reason. This 2 year old ram was a pain getting his wool off. It probably to me over an hour just doing that. Granted this was my first time but wow.

I do have a question though. For those of you who process your own meat what do you do with the layer of fat from right under the skin? I was watching a YouTube vid

And the sheep didn't look near the same as mine. Seemed like there was much less fat and for none of my sheep being on anything but grass he sure was fat!




Is that supposed to be cut off or leave it there with all the fat?

 

[farmerjan]

Why does someone have to get hurt before a problem animal gets taken care of?
I am sorry your wife got hurt and I am glad that it wasn't one of the children because you would be looking at broken bones or internal injuries or worse. Please take this as advise that once an animal gets as destructive as he was, the only place if for him is a freezer somewhere. It is also a good way to turn off a potential "young farmer" from wanting anything to do with animals.

 

[mystang89]

Writing this for my memory for the next time I butcher.
Things done wrong.
1. Didn't take head off before skinning
2. Didn't take holves off before skinning

 

[RollingAcres]

@mystang89

Sorry that your wife was hurt. I hope that she wasn't seriously hurt.

 

[mystang89]

Since I have been living in the country, trying to raise my own food and provide for my family, one thing has struck me. It seems that many livestock owners have it in their mind that humans are born knowing everything there is to know about raising animals, planting gardens, building things etc. It seems that many of the people whom I've met have forgotten that at one time they too were just as lost as myself. Perhaps many of them were raised on a farm and taught much of what I don't know which is great but recognition that there are those out here who don't have this knowledge in our head would go a long way.

I've asked questions of some people and just got that look like, "how do you not know about this" or made mistakes and others have asked how could I have made that mistake. It's easy. Some answers are because of money and yet others are a lack of knowledge. The lack of knowledge is easy to fix. That just comes with experience.

 

[Latestarter]

Sorry your wife got hurt. Glad it wasn't a kid. Hope nothing too bad and she heals up OK. Just so you know, even a "pet" ram can be stoopid. All it takes is once. Best to have the dogs with her when she, the kids, or even you are around one, as they should keep him otherwise occupied.

If you've ever butchered a deer (you didn't mention one) it's pretty much the same deal. Yup, head and feet from the knees down come off, but it doesn't necessarily have to be before skinning... You can just cut the skin in a circle around the limb/neck and then strip the skin down. It is much easier to skin the animal if it's hanging. That way you can grab loose folds and use your body weight to pull down. I've found it's best to hang vertically from the hind legs. Put hooks through behind the tendons and haul it up with a spreader bar or something to spread the legs. I do it this way so gravity can help pull blood out of the animal and down through the large neck veins and out (head cut off).

As for that outer fat layer, you can boil it down and chop it up and add it (and the water/grease) to your dog's food. The outer layers of fat on an animal are generally the "gamiest"... the best fat for lard or general use is the real light fat located around the kidneys.

"Lard is pig fat in both its rendered and unrendered form. The best lard is called leaf lard, and it comes from the fat deposits surrounding the kidneys and inside the loin. Leaf lard is “best” because it has little to no pork flavor, making it ideal for bakers (doesn't really apply to us) and for general cooking." <--same applies to most animals. From Google: https://www.marksdailyapple.com/yet-another-primal-primer-animal-fats/

 

[Wehner Homestead]

@mystang89

In trying to relate and educate, any large livestock male of breeding age can be extremely dangerous. Females can too, especially if their offspring is being threatened.

Don’t ever turn your back on an intact male sheep, goat, pig, bull, stallion, etc.

You’ll see that Indy is a potential to not be retained due to her jumpy nature and intent for injury.

Mike also has several posts about not trusting his ram but that he isn’t flat out aggressive either.

I’m sorry we failed you and someone got hurt.