We had bought Roscoe, our Dexter bull as a calf in November 2005. We wanted to breed our 2 Highland cows with him for small, more docile cows. He bred our cow Hana twice and our other cow Dana once to produce a total of 4 calves- 3 bulls and 1 heifer (free martin). In recent months he has become ornery so we decided to butcher him and keep the last bull calf intact as a potential future breeder. So today was the day he was butchered.Now you have to understand that I am a vegetarian, but my husband Tom is almost a complete carnivore. So I have mixed feeling about this. If Tom is going to eat meat I would much prefer it be from humanely and healthfully raised cattle. But I still have issues with butchering, especially when it's an animal I know and like. So I helped Tom catch Roscoe with the help of a bucket of grain and then I took off. When the going gets tough the tough go shopping- so I headed to La Conner for breakfast and shopping while Tom and two butchers did the deed. Tom called me when the coast was clear, and he had cleaned up the driveway. So that's how I deal with it. I'm not sure how mature it is, but it is more so than I used to be in my self-righteous teen years.
Roscoe will make really good beef though- he was gorgeous to look at and even bigger than when this photo was taken last year. The butcher was even impressed by him and estimates he will make a 750 pound carcass. So Tom will get healthier meat, our food bill will go down, we'll have some surplus meat for friends and family, and there will be more grass for the remaining 2 calves and cows. All's well that ends well, I guess.
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That would be tough. We're both vegetarians, but if I can't sell some sheep, I may have to have a mobile butcher come out and take care of some of them and sell the meat. Yuck.
We still haven't butchered any sheep (Tom doesn't like lamb or mutton), but it may come to that this fall. We have 4 ram yearlings from last spring's breeding that didn't sell (and 3 wethers). So we'll see.
Sorry, I am a carnivore through and through as well... Tom is certainly welcome to come down and try some nice grass-fed lamb to see what he thinks about it. May help you guys figure out what you want to do. I didn't like lamb for years, still don't like the store stuff, but ours is much better tasting and heathier as well.
I keep telling him to try it- I might take you up on your offer- maybe when we pick up my new gotland lamb!. We may butcher these rams and start with sausage. He might be amenable to that. I'm not sure how much sausage 4 yearling rams would make- might be quite a bit! Quite a few members of my family love lamb so I might have other takers for our meat.
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