Butchering Bro

The meat animals don't have names, but they do tend to get labels to make it easier to know which one you are talking about. The first hogget (lamb over a year old) we butchered we called 'White Face' because he had a white face... This one is his brother, hence Bro.
We collected the carcass, fleece and this time the pluck (heart, lungs and liver - last time for some reason we didn't get it, I think they forgot) back from the abattoir today. It seemed to be 'old payesanne bloke collecting his meat' day at the abattoir. Each of them had a pristine white sheet that they openned out and spread on the back seat or in the boot as the sheep or cow was loaded for them. I felt out of place with my green towels and bin bags!
We used the same instructions for butchering as we did last time with the hope that it would be quicker and easier the 2nd time. I have to say that it was not - it took about 4 hours. We did do a few things different though and chopped up some meat for sausages instead of a roast and boned some roasts that we left bone in last time as well as cutting them smaller - more suitable for 2. So we did a slightly more thorough job. The total weight of meat was just over 10kg (from a carcass weight of 12.4kg) with the rest going to make stock (which we will use with some of the joints to make stew mmmm yummy).
We have put the pluck in the freezer to make haggis when we have got our hands on some pinhead oats.
The fleece is being washed to get the salt and the sheepy smell out of it. There will be another post about curing with Alum this time (we used Oxalic acid and soap/fat last time)

The sheep watching Doug

Cut in to bits

Lunch (perspective is wonky - chops are bigger than kidneys)