What to do with dead sheep

[mystang89]

Wow.... Um, I'm sure the animals are healthy there but....I really don't think I like that system. Seems too authoritarian. If it came to that same thing here I probably wouldn't raise animals. I'm not a huge fan of having to report everything to Big Brother.

 

[Southern by choice]

@Sheepshape we have a scrapie program here where which by law any sheep, goat must have ID to move across state lines or be able to go to a processor. Not sure what they do about cattle here.
To move across state lines vet health certificate must accompany etc.
We have fought off the National ID system here and will continue to do so. There have been attempts for this. Poultry is one that there was a real issue with. Again fought off.
The poultry would be a nightmare alone. Poultry is lost everyday to hawks, fox, other predators... how do you account for an animal taken?

How do you control a people? Control the food.

 

[Sheepshape]

Poultry is lost everyday to hawks, fox, other predators... how do you account for an animal taken?

Ha....poultry is entirely different.Chickens can be slaughtered at home (sheep, pigs, goats, cows etc. can only be slaughtered at licensed premises), and it is only necessary to register a flock with DEFRA if you have over 30 chickens. I am DEFRA registered, but they have only ever contacted me when they have put bird 'flu restrictions in place. Foxes regularly take chickens and there is no legal requirement to keep records about them.

Since the introduction of Movement Licences we have had no real problems with ghastly diseases, so it has its uses, though is tedious to comply with. Another great advantage is that animal welfare standards have improved a lot. Healthier for folk, too as a random sample of carcasses is taken and tested for the presence of antibiotics, growth stimulators etc. Prior to the introduction of such measures some folk were not adhering to the 'meat withdrawal period' after antibiotic treatment.....now the source of the carcass can be traced.

We have few predators capable of taking livestock over here, but animals do sometimes get lost. We are able to enter 'lost' on our farm records, but I don't think that it would be looked on favourably if animals were 'lost' on a regular basis or in large numbers.

Sometimes regulations make little sense.....horses and dogs have to be micro-chipped.......but strays are often found without them. Cats?.....well nothing for cats (who probably carry more diseases transmissible to man).

How do you control a people? Control the food.

Maybe THAT's why I don't eat meat......vegetables are very unregulated.

 

[Southern by choice]

@Sheepshape you cannot slaughter your own sheep for your family's consumption?

 

[Sheepshape]

@Sheepshape you cannot slaughter your own sheep for your family's consumption?

No...slaughter to eat has to be done by a licensed premises (who usually also butcher the animal). Where things get a bit silly is that it's perfectly OK to euthanise an animal diseased or badly injured by shooting it (if you have an appropriate gun and licence), but the animal has to be then taken away for incineration.

I'm not a gun person, but our neighbour owns several and has euthanised a couple of our sheep via a bullet to the head. Seems to be a lot quicker than lethal injection into the neck veins.

 

[Southern by choice]

No...slaughter to eat has to be done by a licensed premises (who usually also butcher the animal). Where things get a bit silly is that it's perfectly OK to euthanise an animal diseased or badly injured by shooting it (if you have an appropriate gun and licence), but the animal has to be then taken away for incineration.

I'm not a gun person, but our neighbour owns several and has euthanised a couple of our sheep via a bullet to the head. Seems to be a lot quicker than lethal injection into the neck veins.

Bullet is fastest, never understand why anyone would choose lethal injection.

 

[Mike CHS]

Tennessee has contracted for a removal service for any livestock over 75 pounds. They are expected to respond within 48 hours of being contacted.

 

[Jennifer Hinkle]

Crikey.....things are very different over here. Each animal has to have two matching number ear tags, one of which is electronic and is scanned when the animal, for example, goes to market. Whenever, and wherever an animal moves, a 'Movement Licence' has to accompany them.....one copy to the buyer, one to the seller and one to the Government. All animals are therefore traceable.

If an animal dies it has to be taken to a recognised incineration facility and a 'Duty of Care' document issued (which includes the animal's ear tag number).We are inspected occasionally and have to be able to account for every animal. Unfortunately incineration costs over £20 per animal (when the sheep at market may only realise £50).Dead animals cannot be left in fields to rot/be eaten by raptors.Failure to comply can lead to a hefty fine and a ban on keeping livestock.

These stringent measures have been introduced after Foot and Mouth and BSE (though the latter was down to feeding infected cow material to other cows!). We now have some of the healthiest and least profitable animals on the planet (and a lessening of many raptors).

Our dog has been known to eat a lamb born 'fresh' dead, but that's about as 'adventurous' as we get with dead stock.

Where do you live again?

 

[Baymule]

We buried a ewe on our farm. We haven't had a lot of loss.

 

[Sheepshape]

Where do you live again?

Mid Wales.......land of 12 million sheep and 3 million people. Sheep prices are quite low (but lamb remarkably high in the supermarkets!)

This thread must have caught my eye for all the wrong reasons. My seemingly healthy and beautiful Blue Faced Leicester ewe, Marilyn, aged just 2 dies suddenly on Saturday. In the morning she was in the field 'holding her usual conversation' with me (answered loudly to her name), I went into town for a few hours and came back to find her dead in the field. I have no idea what she died of.I hadn't expected to be going through the process of dead sheep removal with her.