Feeding raw lamb- which bits?

Twizzel

Twizzel

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Sorry me again!!

We are having our 6 lambs slaughtered in the next month or so. 3 of OH's sisters lambs were done today and I watched, v interesting! My question is, which bits can I keep for the dog to eat? They are being slaughtered at home so have my pick of anything. She's not on a total raw diet, predominantly kibble but has butchers bones, scraps of mince and beef fairly regularly. I'm not talking about joints but the bits you would normally throw away- offal etc, and also anything (bones) I can ask the slaughterman to pop in a bag when he butchers them?
 
Mines totally raw fed and there is pretty much nothing on a lamb I would not give him!! Lucky thing!! The leg bones might be a bit tough for some smaller dogs tho!
 
Breast, if it's to be raw, though I'd just give them the bones, after I've had the breast stuffed and rolled. ;)

Offal, if you don't fancy it. Probably not the lights, but everything else, ESPECIALLY the tripes. When I kill lambs for our own use, all the dogs sit in an expectant half circle!

Alec.
 
Ahhhh damn the slaughterman offered to cut the tripe up from the 3 that were done today and I said no thanks... although tripe never looks very appetising! I can't quite remember how we are having the breast cut, I think it's being rolled.

I left the dog in the house today whilst we did the lambs, I hate to think what state she would have got in if she came down with us!

What do you mean by lights Alec? I take it she can have heart liver (as long as it's not flukey, 2 out of the 3 today were fine) kidney etc?
 
Sheep heads are great feed for dogs. They are so rich, I'd only need to feed my (working) dogs every other day. Not sure if you can get them from the abattoir any more. Aren't they SRM? Just boil until the skin can be pulled off. Discard that and feed whole. One day when I was collecting heads from the abattoir an Icelander asked if he could have a couple as they consider them a delicacy!
 
Twizzel said:
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What do you mean by lights .......

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The lights (sp?) are the lungs, and they are generally considered as part of the "pluck", which would include the heart. I suspect that they may be referred to as "Lights", because they seem to be "airy" and to weigh nothing. It's a bit like the fact that I never feed pig meat to dogs. I don't know why, I just don't! No harm will come to your dogs from feeding them lungs, I feel sure!!

Alec.
 
Dry Rot said:
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One day when I was collecting heads from the abattoir an Icelander asked if he could have a couple as they consider them a delicacy!
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When the Bedu eat a sheep, the head is also included in the feast, and surely the most delicious and now generally ignored cut, is the cheek, or the one muscle which is in constant use, the one at the point of the jaw. It's considered as we would the oyster, on fowl. It's glorious!!

Alec.
 
Twizzel

I did exactly this a few weeks ago, home slaughter & butcher. The dogs are having just about everything I don't want, including all bones, offal (including the lungs & wind pipe & liver as long as not flukey). I rinsed the stomach out & then they have that - which they love! Also the lower leg/foot, hair & all. So pretty much everything but the fleece!

I do the same with the pigs & steers (although not home kill & butcher). I ask for everything I can have back.

Everything fed raw, no messing, I just bag it into portions & freeze for later use if you have too much. Lovely!
 
Just to be a total spoil sport, I would never feed raw sheep meat to a dog.

There is a small but present danger of the hydatid tape worm, especially in the north of Scotland and on some of the islands. The intermediate hosts are dog and sheep. In man, the tape worm can form cysts which contain hundreds of larvae (?). If the cyst bursts, these can migrate to other parts of the body and again form cysts, so an infection is like cancer. The spores can be airborn and transmitted in dog faeces. It has been a long time and I may be wrong on the finer details but that is basically correct.

As I lived in the Outer Isles and kept dogs, I once got myself tested. When I went back to the doc to hear the results, he said, "Oh yes, you tested positive for everything!" I was so shocked, I didn't ask more. But I'm still alive a few decades down the line and I think he meant that I have the anti-bodies for all species of internal parasite known to man. Either that or I'm already dead and this is heaven. Either way, I no longer worry! But I still won't feed raw sheep meat to a dog!

Lastly, if cooking sheep heads, remember to keep the eyes for Sheik Al Alec!;)
 
Dry Rot said:
Just to be a total spoil sport, I would never feed raw sheep meat to a dog.

There is a small but present danger of the hydatid tape worm, especially in the north of Scotland and on some of the islands. The intermediate hosts are dog and sheep. In man, the tape worm can form cysts which contain hundreds of larvae (?). If the cyst bursts, these can migrate to other parts of the body and again form cysts, so an infection is like cancer. The spores can be airborn and transmitted in dog faeces. It has been a long time and I may be wrong on the finer details but that is basically correct.

As I lived in the Outer Isles and kept dogs, I once got myself tested. When I went back to the doc to hear the results, he said, "Oh yes, you tested positive for everything!" I was so shocked, I didn't ask more. But I'm still alive a few decades down the line and I think he meant that I have the anti-bodies for all species of internal parasite known to man. Either that or I'm already dead and this is heaven. Either way, I no longer worry! But I still won't feed raw sheep meat to a dog!

Lastly, if cooking sheep heads, remember to keep the eyes for Sheik Al Alec!;)
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Freezing is enough to kill most parasites when raw feeding - the only one I can think of off the top of my head that isn't killed by freezing (at least, not the temperatures we can achieve at home) is one of the forms of trichinella found in wild game. Generally it's advised to keep on top of a worming regime when raw feeding - my dogs are treated with Advocate regularly to protect against lungworm (not because of the raw meat but because we're in a higher risk area and absolutely swamped with slugs and snails) which will do most parasites but I treat with Drontal/Cestem twice a year too.

I'd feed pretty much everything from a lamb - except lamb gives my two terrible wind! In regards to lights, they do get pork lights/lungs, I have no problem feeding pork (trichinella spirosis is now tested for in British pork, and killed off by freezing anyway) and lung just gives them a new texture and a wider range in terms of the different nutritional values offered by differing organs, I think variety is important so would happily feed most stuff.
 
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