When livestock dies...

[equinecpa]

I was just wondering what most of you do when a sheep, goat or cow dies? If it dies of unknown causes do you ever eat it? How long after death do you have to butcher it?

Last month I had a lamb die, everything is frozen so I put it in the trash dumpster. I felt pretty stupid considering I feed my dogs raw and could use the meat but I didn't have a clue on how to do butcher it (even for dogs), and I didn't want to toss it intact to them.

I also had a sheep cremated (this was a pet...probably the only time I'll ever do this). She was special...and deserved that much.

[Rick]

I'm gonna guess it would be quite similar to field dressing a deer, and I learned how to do that from a you tube video, back in the dial-up days. It took 45 minutes to D/L the 7 minute video.

If you aren't familiar with you tube I will pick you out a couple of videos to watch.

[Tana Mc]

If something dies and you do not know why--- don't eat it. Unidentified animal diseases could at the very least make you sick.

The only livestock our family consumes is something we have butchered or taken in to be slaughtered professionally.

[KrisD]

I donate ours to a wildlife rehabilitation center to feed to the wild animals.