EAST RUTHERFORD, N. J. - Castrating a lamb with your teeth is a pretty simple procedure, really. Grey Ruegamer knows. "You grab the forelegs and pin them to the ground, and then you grab the back legs and throw them on their back," Ruegamer said. And when the, uh, target area is exposed, "away you go. It's the way the Basques do it."
Ruegamer, a former Arizona State All-American who will return for Super Bowl XLII with the New York Giants, became a practitioner when a family friend, who is Basque, asked for extra help on her working sheep and cattle ranch outside Las Vegas, Nev., where Ruegamer grew up.
A good number of Basques have settled in Nevada - there once was legalized gambling on jai alai, a sport played almost exclusively by Basques, in Las Vegas - and the rancher had about 200 head of young sheep that needed attention.
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"I was hesitant," Ruegamer said with a laugh. "But it is what it is. She needed help. There was beer. Good times. It was worth it."
As for the procedure itself, "you pull them out with your teeth, spit them in a bucket, next one.
"There was other work that had to get done, so we had to hurry with that and move onto the next thing. It's just a little lamb. It's not a big animal. I have pictures."
"The blood on your mustache is the worst part."
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22854935/
Ruegamer, a former Arizona State All-American who will return for Super Bowl XLII with the New York Giants, became a practitioner when a family friend, who is Basque, asked for extra help on her working sheep and cattle ranch outside Las Vegas, Nev., where Ruegamer grew up.
A good number of Basques have settled in Nevada - there once was legalized gambling on jai alai, a sport played almost exclusively by Basques, in Las Vegas - and the rancher had about 200 head of young sheep that needed attention.
Story continues below ↓advertisement
"I was hesitant," Ruegamer said with a laugh. "But it is what it is. She needed help. There was beer. Good times. It was worth it."
As for the procedure itself, "you pull them out with your teeth, spit them in a bucket, next one.
"There was other work that had to get done, so we had to hurry with that and move onto the next thing. It's just a little lamb. It's not a big animal. I have pictures."
"The blood on your mustache is the worst part."
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22854935/
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