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Maureen collected her sheep from our place recently. These are all the young ewes from this spring's birthing. The mothers go off just before the births so Maureen could look after them at her own place and sort out any problems. Also it gave the grass in our field a chance to recover, although it has been too dry to get the best growth.
All the male lambs will be fattened up a bit, before going for slaughter, and I dare say one will find it's way into our freezer. Now, these will eat well, and we know that because they have spent their lives in fields which have been free of chemicals for many years.
Some years ago we had a flock of Angora goats and followed the same regime. (from the time we spent in Africa, we know that goat is a healthier meat than sheep really, but that's another story!)
When it was time for slaughter, the males were taken over to a small local abattoir. Each one was labelled with our name, and the next day we collected the joints of meat, knowing exactly which animal they belonged to.
But all this has changed by order of Brussels. The small abattoirs have been closed down and Maureen has to use the large EEC approved ones.
Now here is the problem. When she delivers her animals, they are not tagged in any way. When she collects the carcasses, she has no way of knowing whether she gets back the same animals that she took in. So instead of a carcass from one of her sheep, she may get one crawling with chemicals.
Daft or what ?
