Thanks Julian. Sounds as if a skilled operator can cut the jugulars and effect a quiet, relatively humane death which results in good-tasting meat not tainted by adrenalin. At least, that seems to have been Carol's experience. I have always thought that bleeding to death was supposed to be "uncomfortable" (painful?) to animals, or at least anxiety provoking. Perhaps that's not always the case. Stephanie On Oct 9, 2006, at 9:36 PM, Julian Hale wrote:
> At 11:27 AM 10/8/2006, Stephanie Parrish wrote: >> Carol, >> Does he just cut the blood vessels? Or is he severing the spine(?) >> which I think would be difficult to do quickly, even with a very sharp >> knife. Does he cut the windpipe as well? >> Stephanie > > He's probably just cutting the jugular. It most likely takes a > certain amount of practice to get the technique down, but once you've > got it, the animal should barely notice the minor discomfort of the > cut. If you cut into the windpipe, they can aspirate blood and drown > before their heart has pumped out all the blood. Not only does that > leave coagulated blood behind(yuck), but the animal may suffer. I've > slaughtered one ram and a 4 year old goat wether, but I shot from > behind the skull into the brain. Both went down immediately, no > suffering. Good bullet placement avoids the horn plate entirely. > I've done several lambs like this, too, but they have soft skulls. > > By the way, shooting them in the brain is not a "stunning" shot, > you're literally destroying the brain. They don't feel a thing, > unless you somehow miss the brain. They will kick around more than > you would ever think, though. > > Julian > > _______________________________________________ > This message is from the blackbelly mailing list > Visit the list's homepage at %http://www.blackbellysheep.info > _______________________________________________ This message is from the blackbelly mailing list Visit the list's homepage at %http://www.blackbellysheep.info
