The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: egglady on November 12, 2010, 09:21:01 pm
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I was really unsure how I was going to feel about this as this was our first 2 home lambs born here that went to the abbatoir a couple of weeks ago, however, I was so full of pride when i went to pick up the meat i was really amazed at myself.
i just kept thinking that we had overseen their births, nurtured them and played with them as wee babies. then given them a lovely life and reared them totally naturally.
and then when the butcher told me that we had done a really good job - just the right amount of marbelling and hardly any fat at all - i could have burst with pride!
how bizarre and what a strange feeling!
so now instead of dreading eating our first lamb, i can hardly wait to see what it is going to taste like!
anyone else had the same experience or am i just sad?
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Thats great and well done. A very brave step and something to be proud of rightly so.
I am only half way there at the moment, I am still at the pre thinking stage - the thinking that I am not sure how I will feel -- the I have not taken anything of my own yet to the abattoir.
I am probably as unsure as you were - and I'd like to think I could be in the same place as you sometime.
Thx for sharing :)
Ta
Barry
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Don't get me wrong Barry, the actual day of taking them wasn't so hot and i did feel pretty bad but the butcher had told us that the abbatoir (st andrews) treat their animals really well, so that had put my mind at ease. plus we had already decided that we would never take just one of our animals as that would be really scary for them and that we'd always take them in pairs or above.
but i was so surprised at how i felt today & i hope you get that same feeling. it really does make it worth the while i think.
what have you got and when are you thinking?
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I can remember taking our first lambs to slaughter many years ago now, and that horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach. It never becomes easy but you do eventually see it as part of the process. I think the feeling of pride at a job well done is fully justified. Now when you eat the meat from your lambs you will be affording them the respect they deserve as individuals, making use of every scrap of meat from them, and appreciating their lives. So much better than paying to buy anonymous slabs of meat with no thought to the animal they came from - which probably had a miserable life. I still struggle with sending off some of my older ewes who have been with us for years, but the alternative is for them to go to the knacker and be unceremoniously dumped in a furnace, their meat wasted. So now I can even accept taking those old friends to the abattoir, and enjoying the sausages and burgers I make from their meat.
So well done, and long may you continue rearing top quality animals for meat.
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We took our first pair off a couple of months ago. Felt very solemn, the main gulp was when the gate shut behind them and it was too late to change my mind.....
OH much less comfy with the whole idea of eating them, but drove the trailer.
When we got the butchered meat back (didnt want to face that first time) a week later we cooked some chops and OHs reservations were largely outweighed by the fabulous taste! (they are shetlands and were sent at 15 months as hoggett).
The way I try to see it is, either I do this with sheep who have had a very happy and in relative terms a long life, or I buy it from a supermarket where I dont have that guarantee and where the lamb is little more than a baby and with much less flavour.
However I do have my pets, esp the coloured girlies, which is why it is probably no bad thing that our ram now is all white so that the lambs are white and less distinctive so I dont get as fond.
You def did the right thing and I bet you will be blown away by the taste. I havent had pangs of guilt, just a feeling of seriousness and respect for my wonderful animals!
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We found our kitchen repetoire expanded as we definitely weren't going to waste anything, especially making stock from the bones, though the dogs all go a good look-in too.
We numbered the boys rather than named them to make it a bit easier. You still feel rotten on the day
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Last Friday we went to a friends house for a meal, I supplied the leg of lamb and one of our friends is a fantastic cook, she cooked the joint it was fantastic, she cooked the leg of lamb as slow roast greek lamb joint, wow.... great taste and at the end of the evening I recieved 4 orders for whole lambs for next year, and they all loved the storys of my first years trials and tribulations along with the funny stories where bubbles the Ram butted me as I turned my back for a second and nearly up ended me !!!
Got drowned today finishing the fencing on the land where i am getting the grazing licence, next step to build a shelter for lambing.......what a great life Im loving it.......
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Our first two tup lambs went off this morning. Dan's just called from the abattoir to say he's on his way back. I think my feelings are reflected above.
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We sent our first lambs a couple of months ago. I went through the same process of being upset but then proud. They had a good life, the staff at the abattoir were kind and efficient and it is a special feeling providing your own meat. And it tastes wonderful!
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odd no problems with feelings here. they were bred for meat and they were always going to be meat. now the pigs are diffrent planned on not naming them and not getting to friendly but i still realy don't want them dead.