Yesterday, on my way home from work, it snowed. The temperature was about 45 so it didn't stick to the ground. The wind was so strong that it was blowing horizontally. Last night it got down to 28 - our first freeze.
Yesterday afternoon, the boys from Border's Market in Plymouth, Ohio came to slaughter our ram lambs. They come to the farm, slaughter the animals, skin them and dress them. Then they go back to their shop and hang them. They take all the wastes. I wish I had taken some photos but I was engrossed in watching and conversation.
Border's has a pickup truck with a hoist mounted in the bed. According to the owners' son, it was heavy-duty enough to hoist a 6 year-old Hereford bull that weighed 1515 lbs (690kg) dressed! They were very skilled and very professional and I highly recommend Border's Market to anyone in Richland, Huron, Crawford, Morrow or Ashland Counties in north central Ohio.
I was surprised at the size of my lambs. I guessed the two larger ones would weigh about 90# (41 kg) live and the smaller one would be in the low 80# range (36.5 kg) live. However, the smallest of the three, born on May 12th, weighed 95# (43kg). The two larger rams, which were twins born on April 19th, weighed 110# (50 kg) and 105# (48 kg). I forgot to remove their hay so a few of those pounds were rumen contents. But nonetheless, I'm very happy with the growth rate of these ram lambs. They ate nothing but grass and mother's milk and had a very nice fat cover.
We're looking forward to having roast lamb next week!
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