What to do with a feral sheep?

[Ambitious_Kate]

What about the poster on here who raised a hog for conumption named Kevin Bacon?

I kept reading and reading the responses on here wondering why someone wasn’t suggesting the sheep be humanely bled and consumed? Seems like the logical conclusion. Why is slaughtering a sheep such a remote idea to farm people, as I always thought we are? Even up here in Albany alot of folks at work who are just suburbanites have chickens, goats and a sheep or two for slaughter, eggs and milk.

I can’t feature NOT putting this particular sheep to good use. And, the response from the meat sheep people sounded entirely useful - I would have thought that was good information to know.

There’s nothing humane about keeping animals alive in particular. Seems logical to consume her meat.

Go for it, OP. There’s no reason to expend all the energy trying to find some kind of ‘place’ for her. She isn’t going to fit in anywhere else and better than she did with you folk, and why miss out on this free meat? I love mutton, and this sounds delicious.

[Ambitious_Kate]

I was thinking of buying into half a steer next year. Now I think I’d like to buy a sheep, actually, seeing as how much I love lamb/mutton.

[Alagirl]

[QUOTE=Ambitious Kate;8240033]
What about the poster on here who raised a hog for conumption named Kevin Bacon?

I kept reading and reading the responses on here wondering why someone wasn’t suggesting the sheep be humanely bled and consumed? Seems like the logical conclusion. Why is slaughtering a sheep such a remote idea to farm people, as I always thought we are? Even up here in Albany alot of folks at work who are just suburbanites have chickens, goats and a sheep or two for slaughter, eggs and milk.

I can’t feature NOT putting this particular sheep to good use. And, the response from the meat sheep people sounded entirely useful - I would have thought that was good information to know.

There’s nothing humane about keeping animals alive in particular. Seems logical to consume her meat.

Go for it, OP. There’s no reason to expend all the energy trying to find some kind of ‘place’ for her. She isn’t going to fit in anywhere else and better than she did with you folk, and why miss out on this free meat? I love mutton, and this sounds delicious.[/QUOTE]

JSwan.

Yes, it is a weird ting for ‘farm’ people to not come up with logical solutions.
Although, I am not sure I would know where to turn to to have it done.
While I - in theory - know how to, I have never done it, and it’s not something to go at with an unsteady hand.

(that’s why I think rabbit breeders are more honest than horse folk: They tend to eat their mistakes, even if they do love the buns)

[vxf111]

If she cannot handle the sheep and only caught it before with the help of tranqs and experienced helpers-- humanely slaughtering it herself is going to be a pretty major challenge, I’d think. Not to mention that the average person who didn’t intentionally get a sheep to slaughter probably doesn’t have the equipment on hand. Even if I wanted to do something like that in the OP’s shoes, I’d have no idea who to call.

[RPM]

[QUOTE=vxf111;8239384]
I realize people raise sheep for meat. It’s just that given the context of the OP’s problem, it’s quite clear SHE doesn’t and that her family may be somewhat attached. She asked for help with rehoming the sheep. If the response is “shooting is the best solution” that’s fine, but I am not sure she needed/wanted to know how this specific creature would taste. She didn’t really ask for that.

People eat bunnies too, but if I found one I needed to rehome and reached out to a breed group for help–I wouldn’t expect for them to send me a recipe for welsh rarebit .[/QUOTE]

I wouldn’t expect them to, either, seeing as how Welsh rarebit isn’t made with rabbit! :lol:

Now if they sent you a recipe for jugged hare, saying you could adapt it …

[vxf111]

[QUOTE=RPM;8240307]
I wouldn’t expect them to, either, seeing as how Welsh rarebit isn’t made with rabbit! :lol:[/QUOTE]

Okay, okay. Can you tell I don’t eat rabbit? Pretend I said “rabbit stew”

[Foxglove]

Thank you for all the responses. At this point we are doing nothing. We will continue to be extremely cautious with Mutton. The vet will be out eventually, and I’ll see what he suggests --I can’t be the first person with a similar problem. Meanwhile, I’ll contact the closest Blackbelly sheep breeder and see if she’ll take Mutton in to her flock –

Foxglove