My wife's friend is getting rid of her kid's show lamb that didn't make the sale. Some questions:

1) The lamb has basically been eating feed. Could I pick it up on Saturday and slaughter it that day? Is there anykind of feed-out that I would need to do?

2) Is it feasible to process it in my garage in the 'burbs? I have processed a few deer in my day, but when you hunt, you generally start with a dead deer. Besides locking the bugger up in the basement and feeding it bologna sandwiches with no crusts, how could I quietly off the thing?

3) How much and where could I take the thing to get it cut up for me?

Thanks.

Before you pick up, ask them to fast it for at least 12 hours... No feed, limited water. This is routine at commercial kill facilities for obvious reasons. For quiet kill, I would hogtie and stick juglar/slice neck. Lay a tarp down and maybe get a bug washtub for blood collection. I would process just like a deer from there. You could prob have a pro do it for $100 or less.

Note... Check with family regarding drugs recently administered and corresponding withdrawal time.

Either slit it's throat or hang it would be the quietest way. I know those sound a little barbaric, but 5 minutes later it won't feel a thing. Also would support the no-feed for half to full day so that it's not full of crap.

and i would not pay someone to do that....you don't get enough meat for that to be worth it

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stick juglar/slice neck

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this is not easy. I had to do it one time while deer hunting without a sidearm. these animals have THICK skin. Prepare yourself for lots of awful animal noises that will haunt you for years.

I would close the garage door, crank up some music, and put a .22 to its head, seems quickest and least amount of pain to me.

^ yeah, the .22 is a better option by far.

Smallest gun is a 9mm.

Maybe I take this out to the country and shoot it first.

The throat slicing is probably not going to work. Too much noise for the neighbors 40 feet away, who have kids.

Discharging a firearm in your garage in a neighborhood seems like a terrible idea. Illegal for one, not to mention dangerous. Get someone to help you and have them hold its mouth closed while you stick or do it yourself. This will be quieter than a 9mm round with a lot fewer bad potential outcomes. You could also knock it in the head with a hammer to stun it and then stick. With a live animal you just want to incapacitate it so the heart will continue to function while you're sticking to achieve exsanguination.

Do you have a hand held stun gun? That would facilitate a quieter throat slitting

Tape the mouth shut, tie ropes to back legs, get someone to pin it to the ground and slice throat. Once throat is sit and it stops moving, hang it up as soon as possible to let blood drain out. Leaving blood in taints meat. Also while skinning, don't let the hide touch the meat. That'll ruin it too. Lamb and goat are the pickiest to clean because their meat gets tainted easy

Sharp knife, slender point. Don't try to cut the skin. Stab through it, into the jugular, then slice through the rest, cutting the skin in the process. Skin cuts easier from the inside.

[This message has been edited by ajn142 (edited 1/31/2013 5:39p).]

Nail gun in the head?

9mm blank in the earhole?

Stun it with a sledgehammer to the head then cut its throat?

Are you picking it up out in the country? If you are and the kids not there can you kill it out in the woods where they won't see the gutpile?

google youtube search "halal lamb slaughter" for a half dozen demonstration videos. It seems to be a fairly quiet and minimally traumatic process

Box cutter, fresh razor blade

Just be sure to get a bucket with a large opening to catch the blood in. It ain't just gonna squirt neatly into a mason jar. Drop cloth on the floor of garage would be your friend too.

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You could also knock it in the head with a hammer to stun it and then stick. With a live animal you just want to incapacitate it so the heart will continue to function while you're sticking to achieve exsanguination.

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This is how its done at non-halal slaughter plants. We've used a high powered pellet gun to the head before, and it worked quite well to stun the animal. The previous poster that said it was gonna gush blood was right. It ain't just gonna drip neatly into a mason jar.

1) Put it in a live trap.
2) Come back and ask us how to dispatch the creature.
3) ???
4) profit

Stun to the head (hard lick from hammer)
Pull it up by back legs (head hanging towards ground)
Stab hard into jugular (twist knife a little once completely inserted)
Stand back... blood will gush everywhere
Gut and process as you would venison.

No idea on lambs. When my family used to butcher steers, they'd knock them out by hitting them in the head w. a sledge hammer, then string them up, and cut the throat.

Look up kosher/halal lamb butchering practices - I think those would be similar.

Whatever you do please video this. My gut tells me this will end up resembling a Benny Hill skit.

I love the OB.

I've been trying to find some clips on youtube - there's one of a Brazilian guy who seems to do a fairly neat job, and was catching the blood - I think he actually slit the equivalent of the jugulars - a friend used to do that w. turkeys.

The only Kosher video I found was, mostly, of a guy's camera having problems.

The Halal guys seem to just slash through the throat.

The hard part might be balancing between hitting them hard enough to knock them out v. killing them.

There's a Hindu method, Jhatka, which sounds simple, and fairly humane, but would be a heck of a mess. Essentially, tie its head to a pole, its hind legs to another, and chop its head off w. an ax...[/url]

[This message has been edited by Bradley.Kohr.II (edited 1/31/2013 11:26p).]

You need to be sure to remove the fell membrane. I remember in Meats class that the hide was left attached, and you went in with your fists to separate the hide from the carcass. It seemed like a lot of work, and I was glad to not have that task.

If you stab through the jugulars and the trachea (wind pipe) quickly enough it won't be able to produce noise and it'll lose blood pressure so fast it'll essentially go unconscious within 30 seconds. Once you stab through, pull forward quickly. Make sure you use a really sharp knife and you shouldn't have too many problems, and it's also more humane to use a sharp knife.

If you manage to get one of the arteries it might even be faster. Although I think a .22, if you can find it, would be quieter for sure.

Bellville meat market........done right.....had several show lambs butchered here.

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If you manage to get one of the arteries it might even be faster.

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If it's bright red blood that is spurting out then it's an artery. Vein blood is dark and oozes. It's actually hard to cut a jugular without also cutting a carotid which is why surgeons make the big bucks....

This sounds like a you tube video in the making.

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You could also knock it in the head with a hammer to stun it and then stick.

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This sounds like a you tube video in the making.

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Crazy architect friend of mine got two kids (the four legged kind) from a sub because he wanted to do cabrito. He had his +/-17 yo son "helping" him. Son is a nice enough guy, but the dumbass in him runs deep.

In the backyard of his gated $500K and up neighborhood, he got the first kid and popped him with the hammer. Down goes Fraizer. Hands his son the hammer and very specifically tells him how to do it. Son half ass swings, pops the kid and gets equal parts wounded, hollering, pissed off, and running for its life. Son just stands there watching a screaming goat run around the backyard while his Dad goes after it. After the Benny Hill-Dukes of Hazzard style chase, the Dad manages to trap it, all while the son is still standing there with the hammer. Finally gets the second one popped, and starts to bleed them. Sent the son into the house to bother his step-mother. There was a good year or so where everyone asked the son where to get good cabrito. He never did get it.

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Whatever you do please video this. My gut tells me this will end up resembling a Benny Hill skit.

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+1

Chemical stunning, such as carbon dioxide is an approved and effective way of humanely immobilize an animal. I imagine you could use some type of tubing sealed around the lambs head... Use dry ice placed in water at the other end... The lamb stays calm since its in a dark place, goes to sleep, then you cut it's throat. Cheap, humane, quiet, safe for you as long as you have good ventilation.

[This message has been edited by aggie_2010 (edited 2/1/2013 10:39a).]

i dont understand why people say it has "bleed out" using the power of its own heart pumping the blood? why can't you just shoot it with a .22 or hit it in the head hard enough to kill it, and then bleed it out like you would a deer that you shot?

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1) Put it in a live trap.
2) Come back and ask us how to dispatch the creature.
3) ???
4) profit

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So, the place where I am going to buy the lamb will kill it for me with a commercial apparatus before I put it in the truck, so this will be a piece of cake.

Did make for a fun thread, though.

I will probably take some pictures of the finished product before it goes into the freezer for the OB pleasure, however.