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Post by Deleted on May 28, 2015 14:56:17 GMT
I got a very odd call this morning from a guy with a heavy accent that wanted to buy a young lamb. If he'd said he wanted it for his holiday dinner (there is a muslim holiday June 1st) I might have sold him one at a high price (I loose out on selling the older lamb if I sell it now). But he's a vet tech that luvs animals and wants to breed more... A one month old lamb... Really? I asked him to call back because I was riding in the car and the reception was poor there, but I'm trying to decide when he calls back if I'm just going to flat out refuse him (because he's either stupid or lying) or if I'm going to name him the same price I would for a full grown lamb.
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Post by Melissa on May 28, 2015 15:27:28 GMT
Maybe he thinks if he buys it at a young age he will get a lower price? Or he wants time to really tame it?
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Post by Deleted on May 28, 2015 16:17:08 GMT
Price as full grown, minus the cost to get it to full grown, your profit will be the same....James
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Post by katievt on May 28, 2015 16:54:31 GMT
I'm guessing he is Muslim. My family has gotten a couple calls recently about purchasing lambs for their upcoming holiday.
EDIT: They roast them whole, so they like them on the smaller side. One month old seems a little small though.
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Post by Deleted on May 28, 2015 18:35:56 GMT
Price as full grown, minus the cost to get it to full grown, your profit will be the same....James Thing is, my cost from now to October is nearly zero. I'll have to vaccinate, but one bottle covers the whole flock, so I'm only out a needle. Then the lamb's share of the minerals, but all they eat is pasture and mother's milk. My labor costs are the same with or without the extra lamb. I don't start giving feed (some of which I grow myself) until October, then I only have to provide a couple months of feed until the USDA butcher has slots open... If he eats real good and hay price is high maybe $30 worth of feed? He called back again later. He wants to learn about proper sheep facilities he'll need when he has his own sheep. I'll have him over and educate him some.
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Post by Deleted on May 28, 2015 18:41:30 GMT
He says he's Spanish. I don't recognize the accent, but the phone isn't great for picking up nuances.
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Post by Deleted on May 30, 2015 1:26:14 GMT
Ok, he seemed a decent guy when I met him, just his English isn't that great and he really doesn't know what he wants to do yet. His name is in Spanish, but he's actually Mexican. He grew up with lots of sheep in Mexico, and now that he and his wife have access to a barn and some land he's interested in having sheep himself. He didn't seem to know a thing about raising them, I lent him my Storey's Guide to Raising Sheep. He's willing to work for discounts on lambs, I might call him when hay harvest comes in and needs to go into the loft.
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Post by manygoatsnmore on May 30, 2015 22:49:46 GMT
It sounds like that "odd call" might just turn out to be the start of a very good thing.
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Post by paquebot on Jun 20, 2015 4:18:44 GMT
I'm glad to see that this thread went the way it did. Too often this might turn to putting down those whose food preparation requirements are different than ours. For some years, a cousin raised sheep. Originally it was for meat marketing. Then a few were sold for private slaughter and word got around that my cousins were fair to deal with and supplied good lambs. Many had to drive 100 miles one way since there was nothing available in between. Sheep were around but not for "those" people. Age caught up with my cousins and they couldn't maintain a sheep flock anymore. Always wondered why more farmers don't try to cater to that potential market.
Martin
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Post by Deleted on Jun 20, 2015 13:49:15 GMT
I think it's a combination of lack of understanding and wanting to be strict about their faith. The kosher/halal laws were originally written to make slaughter more humane, before guns and stun guns were available, but the language of the law makes a gun the same as a club, so they can't update to the modern method. Muslims give thanks to God at the slaughter the way Christians give thanks when food is served. Both worship the God of Abraham, I think a little understanding opens up a bridge to witness to them. It is much easier to "go into all the world" when the world comes to us.
The holiday where they insist on in-tact rams, those are supposed to be given to the poor.
You might disagree with the holidays being celebrated, but that is all after they leave your farm.
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Post by here to stay on Jun 20, 2015 18:23:55 GMT
The problem here was that they wanted to butcher the goat on the seller's place. Or they'd come in a small car and want to transport the goat in the trunk. I suppose in larger places, they had a specific person to do the slaughter but not here.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 20, 2015 18:44:29 GMT
I'd rather they butcher at my place than stuff a live animal in a small car.
Around here there's no-one USDA licensed that does halal slaughter, so customers have to do it themselves to be legal.
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Post by paquebot on Jun 20, 2015 22:14:27 GMT
In many cities, it is illegal to even butcher chickens. That makes it rather sticky on how to stay within the prescribed religious rules. This spring, I was helping a friend gardening on an Angus beef farm. As soon as we got there, we were told not to be concerned about a large group of Hmong who were due to arrive shortly. I'd seen a large steer standing alone in a small corral when I drove in but thought nothing of it. The Hmong weren't on the farm much more than an hour and then gone. By the time I got around to walking over to where the steer had been, there were only a few traces of blood. Virtually every drop of that animal was gone.
Martin
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