These are the chronicles of two Shetland Sheepdogs and their adventures in rally-o, obedience, flyball, agility, tracking and therapy dog work.
Also including information on raw feeding, canine epilepsy, positive training, and lots and lots of Sheltie hair!




Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Sheep Carnage

WARNING!

What follows includes pictures of graphic carcass dismembering. No animals were hurt maliciously, just your run of the mill culling and subsequent dismantling into dog-meal-sized pieces. But if you are squeamish or hold a belief that animals should not be food (even for other carnivorous animals), then stop reading here.



Really ... You have been warned. If you keep reading and then make a mess on your keyboard and have nightmares for 2 weeks, it's not my fault.



Right then.


WE HAVE SHEEP!

The campus farm was culling 6 nutrition trial sheep, and since they were fistulated they couldn't be sent for slaughter. So to prevent them from going to waste, a friend of mine took all 6. It was a case of where if you bring a truck and take them away, they are yours for free. So she jumped at the chance, then started making phone calls trying to get rid of the extra ones that she couldn't store in her freezer. She called me, and I made a couple of calls, and in the end all sheep were spoken for. I claimed one and another couple of friends took three between the two of them. For a mere $40/sheep for the gutting and skinning, my freezer is now full! The catch, I had to dismantle my sheep after it was skinned and gutted.

This was my first "dismantling", so the friends that took the other 3 sheep agreed to show me the ropes. It was a lot more work than I imagined! Who needs sculpt class when you just need to tear at a frozen sheep carcass?! Honestly, I was feeling it this morning!

Now, for the gorey carnage shots ...

The sheep before the saws came out.

A sheep next to it's yummy organ bits.

The dismantling begins!

My artsy ribcage shot.


This is the horrible hack-job I made trying to get the front leg off. Yeah, it probably would have been neater if I had used my teeth to tear it off. Luckily, the boys don't care about how their meat looks.

This is what three dismantled sheep look like. The fourth sheep remains intact ... we were just too tired.

And this is all the meat that Gio and Romeo get to share! Plus a large garbage bag full of organ bits.

When I got home, Romeo was enthralled with all the gooey wonderfulness on my shoes. And he so kindly offered to help me clean them up.


7 comments:

Esther said...

That's so freaking awesome! Look at Anika work that hand saw, BOL!

the Corgi Girls said...

I have been waiting all day to see these photos!!! Awesome, is that you in some of the photos with Anika? You guys did a killer job... did you get to see Meridian on her B-day? And the rest of the pack? I can't wait to see pics of the boys dragging around a couple of those ribs!

Unknown said...

There are 3 very jealous Poms drooling at the screen! You guys are in serious need of a chain saw!!

Anonymous said...

Soooo.... I did the remaining one today BY MYSELF IN 25 MINUTES. Yes, it was smaller, but you know what made the difference? It was mostly thawed out. Boy what a difference that made! Partially frozen sheep fat sucks.

All in all, I had a blast last night, hope you did too! Love the pics, LOVE the video! Awesomeness.

GeeRome said...

Sure sure, Anika. Rub it in. Just because I can't clench my hand this morning ... Ouch!

Next time will be significantly less awkward ... right?

And no, that is not me in the pictures with Anika. I am allergic to cameras, that is Sara. Sara is not allergic to cameras, and she has much cooler pants.

Cool Design Shelties said...

Wish it had been "my" meat to the dogs ;o)

//Bente

Raising Addie said...

WOW... your mom rocks!!!

It doesn't get fresher than that!

Lots of Luv & Kisses
Addie and Lucie

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