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Author Topic: Sending a ram to slaughter after he is used this season  (Read 4718 times)

RosemaryFenShetlandSheep

  • Joined Dec 2018
Sending a ram to slaughter after he is used this season
« on: October 06, 2019, 08:42:29 am »
Hi all,
I have some pure Shetlands and we have a ram (1 1/2 years) who is a bit too aggressive so I'm not comfortable in selling him to anyone else as a breeding ram so he needs to go to slaughter asap, but first I need to use him on my ewes this season. He will be going in with them 3rd Nov so will probably take out around 3rd Dec if there is raddle on the all the ewes. At first I thought I could send him straight away for meat, but I've been researching ram taint and don't want to ruin the meat.
How long shall I wait before I send him for meat after breeding the ewes? (there are only 5 ewes this year) Also, I'd prefer not to move him back into his paddock with the wether because there isn't much grass at all, but if he stayed with the ewes, would it mean he kept the 'taint' for longer?
Thanks!
Phoebe  :sheep:

shep53

  • Joined Jan 2011
  • Dumfries & Galloway
Re: Sending a ram to slaughter after he is used this season
« Reply #1 on: October 08, 2019, 09:30:01 am »
Ram taint is a personal thing , some can taste some can't  ,iv'e said on the forum before that we home killed an injured  8yr old ram at this time of year ,he was bright pink  but comments after eating said it was the nicest mutton ever eaten

chrismahon

  • Joined Dec 2011
  • Gascony, France
Re: Sending a ram to slaughter after he is used this season
« Reply #2 on: October 08, 2019, 11:00:19 am »
We had a young ram who became a bit too aggressive and had to go before we were injured. The meat was so tainted we could even taste it in curry, but we still managed to eat it all.

roddycm

  • Joined Jul 2013
Re: Sending a ram to slaughter after he is used this season
« Reply #3 on: October 08, 2019, 12:41:34 pm »
We used a well grown ram lamb last year on our girls and left him with them until the days started to get longer and then we ate him! He was about a year old when we slaughtered him, he was delicious and also provided me with a huge rug!

As long as they have stopped smelling you won't have a taint issue is what I have found!

Anke

  • Joined Dec 2009
  • St Boswells, Scottish Borders
Re: Sending a ram to slaughter after he is used this season
« Reply #4 on: October 09, 2019, 08:36:07 pm »
I have sent an overly aggressive tup to market beg of December in the past, as I wasn't able to get slaughter organised (150mile round trip (twice) to abattoir first and the collecting meat/carcass just wasn't an option), so if you are desperate then you may just have to forego the meat. For my own consumption I would wait until February or so before slaughter.

If he is aggressive then sooner rather than later... Shetland tups can cause massive damage to knees... I speak from experience (and no knee replacement for another 10 years or so...)

SallyintNorth

  • Joined Feb 2011
  • Cornwall
  • Rarely short of an opinion but I mean well
    • Trelay Cohousing Community
Re: Sending a ram to slaughter after he is used this season
« Reply #5 on: October 14, 2019, 11:43:36 am »
I’ll tell my story again...  We had a two year old Shetland tup who was destined for meat after his third season tupping.  We planned to fitten him for a while and send him once he’d regained condition and stopped smelling.  But in the event, he was so unhappy without his ladies (despite being with four wethers he’d known for a long time) that we decided to send him off straight away.  We had the meat all minced in case we needed to curry it or feed it the dogs :/.  But it was the most fabulous mince we’d ever head!  :yum:
Don't listen to the money men - they know the price of everything and the value of nothing

Live in a cohousing community with small farm for our own use.  Dairy cows (rearing their own calves for beef), pigs, sheep for meat and fleece, ducks and hens for eggs, veg and fruit growing

Fleecewife

  • Joined May 2010
  • South Lanarkshire
    • ScotHebs
Re: Sending a ram to slaughter after he is used this season
« Reply #6 on: October 14, 2019, 12:09:55 pm »
I agree with roddycm, if the tup doesn't have that stink which Shetland tups often wear in abundance, then the meat will be OK.  We have found that if we try to send our sheep to the abattoir near to Christmas they don't have space for them as that is their busiest time.  Being a primitive he won't put on much condition over the winter, so I would send him off straight after Christmas as soon as the abattoir reopens.  It would be fine to keep him with the ewes until then, as once they stop cycling, he will lose interest, whereas if you put him in with his wether friend then he will keep trying with him, just in case he's turned into a ewe while they were separated - that might keep him stinky.
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RosemaryFenShetlandSheep

  • Joined Dec 2018
Re: Sending a ram to slaughter after he is used this season
« Reply #7 on: October 18, 2019, 09:55:20 am »
Thanks for you your replies! It's been really helpful reading through them, and I think we'll wait until at least after Christmas to take him as has been suggested. I'm sure he'll taste great, and if not, we'll just load the herbs and spices on! :yum: Thanks again  :D

tommytink

  • Joined Aug 2018
Re: Sending a ram to slaughter after he is used this season
« Reply #8 on: October 19, 2019, 08:34:36 pm »
This ram smell, is this on the live ram? It’s not the same as taint, which is the taste of the meat isn’t it? Only jumping in and asking as this is our first year with sheep and ever since we’ve had our ram I’ve said he has a different smell to the ewes. Like, I only have to touch him and I can smell him on me for ages!

Nelson International

  • Joined Aug 2017
Re: Sending a ram to slaughter after he is used this season
« Reply #9 on: October 19, 2019, 09:04:42 pm »
I'm in the same situation Rosemary, so this has been a great thread to read, thanks.

I've never noticed any of our rams smelling in season, but we've only used them as ram lambs or yearlings, so maybe they were too young? We've slaughtered a couple of ram hoggets in the late spring and the flavour was totally fine.

I was intending to send the current pair off early in the new year after they've complited their assignment, but given my disorganisation that'll probably be June.


twizzel

  • Joined Apr 2012
Re: Sending a ram to slaughter after he is used this season
« Reply #10 on: October 19, 2019, 09:21:12 pm »
No advice on eating rams, but my rams stink from about June onwards  :roflanim:  one is a Dorset which will be in season earlier but come September they are both smelling pretty rammy  :roflanim:

tommytink

  • Joined Aug 2018
Re: Sending a ram to slaughter after he is used this season
« Reply #11 on: October 20, 2019, 08:03:10 pm »
No advice on eating rams, but my rams stink from about June onwards  :roflanim:  one is a Dorset which will be in season earlier but come September they are both smelling pretty rammy  :roflanim:

So I’m not imagining it then? He does have a strong smell compared to the ewes? I love the smell of sheep generally - the poop, the wool, everything - but he is quite a different scent  :roflanim:

SallyintNorth

  • Joined Feb 2011
  • Cornwall
  • Rarely short of an opinion but I mean well
    • Trelay Cohousing Community
Re: Sending a ram to slaughter after he is used this season
« Reply #12 on: October 21, 2019, 11:27:40 am »
No, you’re not imagining it.  Rams do have a much more powerful aroma than ewes, and it’s particularly marked when the hormones are raging.  Whether or not the amount of pong correlates to “ram taint” is, I think, not established - certainly the tup we sent off shortly after working was still very hummy, but the meat was absolutely wonderful.
Don't listen to the money men - they know the price of everything and the value of nothing

Live in a cohousing community with small farm for our own use.  Dairy cows (rearing their own calves for beef), pigs, sheep for meat and fleece, ducks and hens for eggs, veg and fruit growing

Bramham Wiltshire Horns

  • Joined Oct 2014
  • leeds
  • Bramham flock Wiltshire Horns
Re: Sending a ram to slaughter after he is used this season
« Reply #13 on: October 30, 2019, 10:14:42 am »
we sent our lambs off september last year and all was fine

they are going in in the next couple of weeks,

they are qtr of a mile away from the ewes but ar estill trying to hump each other i will tell you when i get the meat back how it tastes
 :)
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