The lambs are all dead.

Sorry for the dramatic headline, but it's accurate. I've talked a few times about starting slow and experimenting with crops, and that sometimes things don't work out. So this time is one of those.

We had 4 lambs. One of the ewes had a single lamb, the other had triplets. I'm inexperienced with lambs and sheep in general, so I was watching to see when the lambed, but really don't know what to expect, or what is normal.

With pigs, it's pretty normal to lose a pig or two out of a litter -- they're stillborn or die a few hours after being born. So when I found a dead lamb in the pasture the day they were born I chalked it up to that. But I didn't find the lamb until after a pig had found it (I assumed) and all that I found was the head and spine. The rest was gone. But the other three lambs were fine.

I excluded the pigs from that pasture on general principles -- I don't know if a pig will eat a live lamb, but I don't want to find out, either. So having done that, all looked good and I watched for the next day or two. I was a bit concerned about the interactions between the lambs and the cows, afraid the lambs might get stepped on, but it looked ok.

But today all of the lambs were dead. Click on pictures for bigger versions if you want to see more detail.

Small wound on ear; not a serious attempt to eat it, just a bite wound. No tissue missing, just some blood.

The throat is how this lamb died. you can see the teeth marks in a line starting a little above my thumbnail and extending across the throat. There wasn't much blood there. I think that they

died from suffocation, having their throat clamped shut. Picture is the bottom of the throat looking up towards the ears

On the opposite side of the head there's a definite tooth mark in the jaw below the eye. Same marks on the other lambs.

I don't think this was a weasel or a fox. The teeth are too big. That fang mark is as big as my fingernail. I don't think it was a coyote because none of the sheep were eaten, and none were carried away. Coyotes might kill a bunch of sheep, but they'll usually carry it away, especially if they're feeding kits.

So what do I think it was? A domestic dog. Which bums me out. I've had three incidents this week with dogs from the dog park chasing and pulling feathers out of turkeys. I think that it's likely that someone thought it was cute to watch their dog "herd" the sheep and it went wrong quick, or maybe someone didn't see their dog go do this.

This is the sort of thing that makes shooting dogs a reasonable option. A few seconds and the lambs are dead.

No lambs for me this year. what a bummer.

Roasted leg of lamb

I traded two piglets for two lambs earlier this year, and had a customer want to buy one of the two lambs. I think that every animal should have a buddy, I couldn't leave the other lamb alone.
I've had this lamb since...august? and have been feeding it at the same time I feed my steers and goats. Sheep are pretty easy to care for.

I've talked about having a routine that is the same on the day they animal is slaughtered as any other day, so today was an example of that.

The daily feeding routine for the ruminants is to bring out 4 or 5 bales of hay with the tractor, throw it on the ground and cut the ties, reserving the string. String in the pasture is a pain in the ass if you have implements, like brush hogs, that spin. So I've learned not to leave it out there.

So today I brought out the usual hay bales, and two hog panels. Bend one of the hog panels into a C, put the hay there, and then bend the other one to complete a circle. All the sheep run in, close the circle, and then let the sheep that aren't going today out. No running around, no drama. Just a puzzled sheep looking out of the hog panel.

A quick shot from the .22, to stun him, and then you cut the throat. I used the front loader from the tractor to hold the singletree.

I skinned and gutted it using the singletree. I salted the hide, and I'll take it to the tannery to have it tanned tomorrow.

Here I've removed the front shoulders, the flank, and have cut the ribs off one side, but left them on the other. The side with the longer ribs I'll make into a rack of lamb. The side without ribs will be smaller lamb chops. The rear legs I'll just detach from the pelvis and keep as whole bone-in roasts. I'll cut the shanks off and use them later.
As I break down the carcass my pile of cuts grows larger. Here's a rear leg stacked on a pile of cuts. I haven't removed the tail yet, that's what's at the top center of the picture.
Here's the leg of lamb I'll be roasting tonight, and the rack of lamb I'll save for later. I still have to do some cleanup on the exposed bone of the rack of lamb, but you get the idea.
Here's the leg in the glass roasting pan. I rub it with garlic, rosemary and olive oil. It's on a bed of carrots and potatoes that will fry in the olive oil and drippings from the roast. YUM!!



Yield from this small lamb:
2 6lb leg of lamb roasts, bone-in
8 2" thick lambchops (about 3lbs)
4 lbs stew meat
4 lamb shanks
2 lbs lamb ribs
5 lbs ground lamb
Lamb liver
Lamb heart
Lamb kidneys
Lamb caul fat
very happy dogs (neck, various trimmings)