Rearing animals for the table

Whizzo

Hi,
We've all seen River Cottage and the likes and it appears to me that the UK manages to accomodate the small holder a bit better than in Ireland despite being governed by EU law.
I have moved to the stix recently (meath) and have some land and would like to keep some animals for my table but even from talking to locals it doesn't seem that straight fwd.
You take the time to ensure that the animals are happy and healthy and then take them to the abbatoir, how then do I know that I'm getting the same beast at the back door?
If any of you have experience of this type of lifestyle I'd appreciate your suggestions. Any Irish 'Good life' websites?

old boy

ide forget about it if i was you, been down that road a few times, people name de animals, make pets of them, then refuse to eat them when cooked, damm expensive buisness, buying feeding, slaughtering, giving it away, then back to de supermarket to buy it again

eddiej

Hi whizzo,

Old boy has one good point you are going to eat these feckers so just remember that you can still treat them well and keep them happy but from day one do not forgot its the captive bolt for these babies.

Keeping your own animals is a great way if you have children to show them where the food comes from. How much land have you got that would be my first staring point as this would probably decide whether you go sheep or cattle or were you more thinking on the lines of hens or what?

Please keep this going there are a few pieces of legislation you need to comply with i.e. herd/flock number, cumplosory tagging and register and a few pre movement tests but to be honest they are not that hard once you get into it plus I presume you are not going to have nudreds of animals. Anyway get back and let us know.

Eddie

netwhizkid

My father does this regularly as we have the luxury of over 300 acres of Kerry landscape. Anyway it is always Sheep we slaughter. it is always castrated male sheep about a year or a year and a half old. Castrated males are called "weathers". We usually let them fatten up on grass for a while and then feed them on nuts - special sheep variety and then let them out for about a week or two on the heather of the mountain which adds taste to the meat.

They are slaughtered by our local butcher anything up to 5 at a time. Costing anything about €30 or €40 a head. You'd pay up to €30 for a decent leg of lamb in the butcher shop. Chops, boiling stuff etc all very good, We makes sure they is a good bit minced which is good for fixing up burgers and freezing them then for use later. We have a big deep freeze and keep a lot of it but we also give so much to the extended family which all hail from the same homestead.

I find it good as I know where the sheep has been how he was treated and what medicines if anyway was injected into him during his life. Eating home reared meat always tastes good especially if he was a half mad Bas&ard which they usually are, it's like they sense they are going off to be killed and go bezerk, a good sheep dog is always handy. I find it reassuring too as I believe there is a US government conspiracy to slowly poison people through the food they eat ala Obesity.

We once got half a cow too, we sold the other half to the butcher at a profit, however tis years since we did this.

Whizzo

eddiej wrote:

Hi whizzo,

Old boy has one good point you are going to eat these feckers so just remember that you can still treat them well and keep them happy but from day one do not forgot its the captive bolt for these babies.

Keeping your own animals is a great way if you have children to show them where the food comes from. How much land have you got that would be my first staring point as this would probably decide whether you go sheep or cattle or were you more thinking on the lines of hens or what?

Please keep this going there are a few pieces of legislation you need to comply with i.e. herd/flock number, cumplosory tagging and register and a few pre movement tests but to be honest they are not that hard once you get into it plus I presume you are not going to have nudreds of animals. Anyway get back and let us know.

Eddie

I've got 5 acres, already have the chucks - and no they don't have names! My kids are 6 and 3 and when I killed one of the chickens the eldest kid said 'Thankyou for killing the chicken!' the next day as she tucked in.
They are used to seeing where food 'can' come from as I shoot and fish.

If I want 2 sheep, would I need a flock no., I know about the herd no. for cattle. My real dream would be a couple of pigs but even my local butcher said he wouldn't know where i could get it butchered.
I'm really talking about small numbers here - 1 or 2 of sheep/pigs/cattle

deisemum

I come from a farming background and my late father would occasionally send cattle to a butcher who would prepare and bag it. It was far superior meat than anything in the supermarkets and most butchers that we've tried.

I've reared and killed chickens and turkeys (years ago), at least you know they're not pumped full of god only knows what. I now get organic chickens from local supermarket that stocks as much local produce as possible and I know the farm the free range organic chickens come from.

eddiej

Hi,

I know this is not the answer you want but if you have 1 sheep you need flock number as the little wooly lawnmower is going to have a tag in his/her ear from the farmer you purchased them from and this has to be acccompanied by another tag with your number on it and iit all has to go on about 15 sheets of paper but we LOVE the Dept of Ag.

Check out the link for more info on NSIS.

http://www.agriculture.gov.ie/index.jsp?file=animal_health/nsis.xml

I know it seems daunting but if you go ahead and apply for the register (you will get it) it would be handy enough. Two sheep on 5 acres of Meath land might get alittle lost in grass though. I would suggest sheep as a good start though, they do involve a fair bit of work hoof trimming watching for maggots and blow fly etc but they are much easier to handle being smaller than daisy and co. The one big thing to watch for is the fencing the wooly land lice have a phenomenal ability to find the only hole in the hedge for about 500 miles and go through it. Also given the small numbers it may be worthwhile bringing them in at night if this was possible to try and avoid dogs though saying that dogs could get them during the day too.

Anyways I think go for the sheepies. Piggy wiggys are preety handy give me a while and will try and see if some of the local abbitors (used by a couple of local buthchers clubed together and built one medium sized one up to spec) butcher piggies. I know they are such a specialised production system now that they probably dont and you need boiling tanks to get the hair off. There is a butchers in Terenure in Dublin that does specialty meats maybe they could suggest somewhere to get them put to sleep .

Hope this helps

Any ideas on what breeds of sheep you will go for and do you want to breed some of your own the full cycle and all.

Eddie