First Lambs Taken to Slaughter

[bijousheep]

So I've always loved animals and I got my first orphan lambs 3 years ago and they have grown into a flock of 12 sheep which I'm very proud of.
But... this year we had our first lambs that we'd bred ourselves and today we took three of them off to Slaughter.
I was dreading it anyway but I didn't think I'd feel so awful! The abbatoir was nice and peaceful and very small so I know they would have been respected but I just can't help but feel terrible for sending them off.

Is this a normal feeling? Does everyone feel like this the first time they send their animals to slaughter?
Please help, I just feel so upset!

 

[Beef farmer]

Shows you care for your stock

 

[Jerry]

It's a bitter sweet moment....

I know I've done the best for my stock, I've cared for them and know they have had a decent time in earth.

Im proud they are decent specimens and will be quality on the plate.

But I still have a thought for them as I walk them into the Abbatior or the market, that's part of being human.

 

[Anonymous...]

My wife sheds a tear when we sell calves
As said above it shows you care, I say to my Mrs we have given them our best care and hope they had a good start .. but I am an old softie

 

[ajcc]

Don’t beat yourself up, their reason for existing was to provide food for human beings.
You cannot allow yourself as a farmer to get too personally attached to the animals you produce.
Years ago as an employed shepherd taking my first trailer load of lambs to abattoir, I mentally toyed with idea of dropping the tailgate and liberating/saving them from their fate.....I didn’t cos it would have taken some awkward explaining and I dismissed it as a silly idea , that was 40 years ago.
I reckon any compassionate person has a conscience but you have to put it in its place or become a vegan.

 

[GTB]

I quite like dropping lambs off at the abattoir. Not much can go wrong after that! Unless Dunbia go bust....











Then I would cry.

 

[Northeastfarmer]

I Never enjoy sending them off and always think about them that day...but I enjoy keeping them so it’s as @Jerry says the bitter sweet moment...I know they’ve had as good a life as I could give them

 

[sherg]

I quite like dropping lambs off at the abattoir. Not much can go wrong after that! Unless Dunbia go bust....











Then I would cry.

And you've got to hope the grader isn't having a bad day and decides you've got a load of 3h's

 

[bijousheep]

Thank you all so much for replying. I'm glad I'm not the only one feeling emotional about it.
I just thought today surely I'm not cut out for.this if I'm so upset about it but I suppose it really is part of caring for them.

Your replies have certainly helped

 

[Old Boar]

My point of upset was loading them on the farm. Once they were in the trailer, it was the point of no return. There were a few I was glad to load, but most of the rest I just had to button up and get on with it.

 

[yellowbelly]

today we took three of them off to Slaughter.

Perhaps, due to the nature of your post, this may be a silly question but are you having one back for the freezer?
If not, make sure you have one next time - you'll appreciate they didn't die in vain.

If people didn't eat lamb/beef/pork etc there wouldn't be any animals on farms...
......you can't make omelettes without breaking eggs

 

[spin cycle]

So I've always loved animals and I got my first orphan lambs 3 years ago and they have grown into a flock of 12 sheep which I'm very proud of.
But... this year we had our first lambs that we'd bred ourselves and today we took three of them off to Slaughter.
I was dreading it anyway but I didn't think I'd feel so awful! The abbatoir was nice and peaceful and very small so I know they would have been respected but I just can't help but feel terrible for sending them off.

Is this a normal feeling? Does everyone feel like this the first time they send their animals to slaughter?
Please help, I just feel so upset!

more difficult when you've only a few i think....i can't sell my cull ewes in market cos the thought of halal......but without that market we'd all be a lot worse off...tricky one

i promise myself to give them the best life possible while they're with me and the best end....thats how i see it

i love eating my own lamb though

 

[Dkb]

I don’t like going to the abattoir but as stated earlier I always feel like I’ve given them the best I could. Never needlessly lame never undernourished etc. which unfortunately is not always what I can say about some of the other pens at the abattoir.

I also know the abattoir is a state of the art facility where everything would be done correctly

 

[Al R]

I quite like dropping lambs off at the abattoir. Not much can go wrong after that! Unless Dunbia go bust....











Then I would cry.

I’m with you on this, if those lambs don’t go then we’ll go bust pretty darn quick and we’ll be out on the street. Never really given it a second thought....
As soon as that tailgate goes up its a waiting game then, to find out the weights and grades

I appreciate that people do get affectionate about it especially when they’ve got smaller numbers but when you’ve got big numbers and always done it it doesn’t effect you?

 

[Bones]

I enjoy giving them a good last kicking as I load them on to the trailer for the last time, it seems to realise stress, and the money helps buy the beers..

 

[Lovegoodstock]

Would sell 1400 fat, but do equate with the fact they are meeting there end. Not a complete softie, but think its a quality as helps you grounded that they are an animal and not simply a commodity so want treating as such, which I believe helps in profit margins as a well farmed animal that is looked after ticks welfare and margins. Cull dairy cows was always a wrench

 

[waterbuffalofarmer]

So I've always loved animals and I got my first orphan lambs 3 years ago and they have grown into a flock of 12 sheep which I'm very proud of.
But... this year we had our first lambs that we'd bred ourselves and today we took three of them off to Slaughter.
I was dreading it anyway but I didn't think I'd feel so awful! The abbatoir was nice and peaceful and very small so I know they would have been respected but I just can't help but feel terrible for sending them off.

Is this a normal feeling? Does everyone feel like this the first time they send their animals to slaughter?
Please help, I just feel so upset!

It's perfectly normal to feel this way, it's what makes us human after all I feel like this every single time, guilty feeling mostly and very upset. It's not easy but I find what helps is to walk around your flock and look at what you have got. Then think about how you have reared them for this and how you will enjoy the meat it will take a little time, but it will soon be over

 

[AftonShepherd]

I remember trying to be honest (but sympathetic) with my 4 year old daughter about why we were sorting out fat lambs, and where the biggest ones were going.

Sympathy went out the window when she asked if we'd get any of the burgers!

 

[jemski]

I always feel proud but sad. I hate sending on ewes, especially the old girls who've been here for years.

A month or so ago when I took lambs to the abattoir for my butcher there was a pen of week old calves, 2 pure dairy and 3 beef crosses. I really struggled with that and was so tempted to buy them and bring them home. If we weren't so riddled with badgers here I think I would have done.

 

[Beef farmer]

I always feel proud but sad. I hate sending on ewes, especially the old girls who've been here for years.

A month or so ago when I took lambs to the abattoir for my butcher there was a pen of week old calves, 2 pure dairy and 3 beef crosses. I really struggled with that and was so tempted to buy them and bring them home. If we weren't so riddled with badgers here I think I would have done.

Nothing leaves an abbitior lairage once it's unloaded