Thursday

Busy runaround day, last Thursday. Seppi, Daddy and Winnie started out with a run to the dump to drop off trash.

We managed to rub the sidewall of the tire up against something and rip a flap in it. We will need to change that this coming week.

Seppi helped Daddy build a prop for Mommy’s class at homeschool co-op on Friday (she needed to demonstrate screws). Then we rushed off to swimming class.

Seppi graduated his current class, and is ready to move on to Glider 3!

In the afternoon we got back to the farm to set up for butchering a ram. These are our cutting and wrapping stations (lessons learned from last year, keeping things closer together, with the carcass hanging behind the table and cardboard on the floor to catch the drips.

We also ran the truck up on the ramp and hosed all the manure and alfalfa chaff out of the bed.

Then a quick check on Iris. As you can see, getting close.

Dropped the kids off and came back about 4:30 to slaughter a ram.

This was one of the katahdin lambs we bought last summer, twin rams out of the same ewe. They were born on March 16, so they were past 11 months, but still less than 12 months. We would probably have waited another couple weeks, but The first weekends in March are going to be drill and clinic weekends, and then we have a pig in the queue to be slaughtered as well, then two more pigs in April or May.

This ram has been fed grass and hay only, with salt, but no other supplementation. 44kg live weight, 19.5kg dress out weight.

The slaughter was a bit of a fiasco because I was talking to Kathleen on the phone and not paying attention, and I sliced through one of the achilles tendons by mistake. This dropped the carcass on the ground, and left me with only one ankle to hang the carcass from. After that, it was spinning like a top as I was trying to work, and the skinning took longer than it should have, so the gut was more bloated and heavier than it should have been. Took about an hour and a half to get it slaughtered, skinned, gutted, and hung up to chill in the shop, and get cleaned up.

Hopefully the second ram next week will go more smoothly.