[TheCaptain]

... for the heads of their sheep, more specifically, just the skull and horns? Is it possible for the abbatoir to de-skin them and make them look less like my sheep if I did get them back?

[bigchicken]

Witchcraft afoot me thinks. If you can get the head back let the maggots clean it up for you. lovely job. Can I be so bold as to ask whey ?.

[woollyval]

We have just had 2 sets of horns back...beautifully cleaned and bagged 

[Small Farmer]

Is one of the sheep named John the Baptist?

[Fleecewife]

It's easy enough to get the horns back, but the whole head is a different matter as it contains the brain which is Central Nervous System material so has to be incinerated.   I would love to have the head of the chap on the left, my avatar, when he finally shuffles off - he will go of natural causes but I think it might still be difficult to keep the skull.  Mounted on the wall, I think he would look magnificent     I think you could perhaps get back the skull with a special licence, if you have a genuine reason such as research, but I suspect that even then it would have to be incinerated eventually. 
If you find out more and do get a skull back, please let us know how. 

[Birdie Wife]

It's easy enough to get the horns back, but the whole head is a different matter as it contains the brain which is Central Nervous System material so has to be incinerated.   I would love to have the head of the chap on the left, my avatar, when he finally shuffles off - he will go of natural causes but I think it might still be difficult to keep the skull.  Mounted on the wall, I think he would look magnificent     I think you could perhaps get back the skull with a special licence, if you have a genuine reason such as research, but I suspect that even then it would have to be incinerated eventually. 
If you find out more and do get a skull back, please let us know how. 

He's a lovely boy  I believe for mounting the head on a plaque, the skin is removed from the skull and a fibreglass former is used instead of the skull (I've been watching Mounted in Alaska on Sky  ) so it's just the skin and horns that are kept. Don't know how the horns would be mounted without part of the skull though. A taxidermist would be able to answer though.

[Fowlman]

Mite be worth asking the abbatoir to see what the rules are.

[Dougal]

I'm strongly under the impression that ALL the head should go for incineration. If you want at least the horns then remove them before sending to slaughter? It's really easy to do. We used to take the horns off the Blackface tups regularly to stop them growing into their faces. There is a knack to taking them right at the head so that they don't bleed. There are no nerves in the horns so it doesn't hurt.

[TheCaptain]

so how come you can get the heads back from pigs? is it BSE related?

[Brijjy]

so how come you can get the heads back from pigs? is it BSE related?

Yes I think so. BSE and scrapie as far as I'm aware.

[Hopewell]

There are no nerves in the horns so it doesn't hurt.

There are definitely nerves to horns in any animal - the nerve is even called the cornual (which means horn) and in sheep and goats are cornual branches of the lachrymal (zygomaticotemporal) and infratrochlear nerves. If you are only taking the tip of the horn off then the nerve doesn't reach that far, but if you are removing horns close to the head then the nerves definitely reach that far and it will hurt. There is also a legal requirement to use an anaesthetic in adult animals (and if it is a goat for a vet to do it).

[Fleecewife]

I agree - it would be extremely painful to remove the entire horn prior to death.  The horn core bleeds profusely.  Sheep use their horns in a very delicate way at times, and know exactly where the tips are;  they also dislike being held or pulled by the horns, so they can most definitely feel them
I want the whole skull back to clean and mount.

[tizaala]

They should have the tools to remove the top of the skull with the horns on leaving the brains in the bottom half,  this leaves you with a circular piece of bone to screw to a plaque,
Mmmmm , Brains on toast, havn't had that for years

[princesspiggy]

i was wanting the skulls and horns back from my heb rams when they go aswell, so if u find out anything, let me know! i was wanting to mount them. maybe they need to go direct ot a taximdermist? i dont know
 

[robert waddell]

i know with cows horns they have blood circulating in the horn and nerves almost right to the tip