# Butchering, Taste and Age



## WolfeMomma

We had a Katahdin ram lamb that we had butchered at 7/6 months old. I just used some of the ground meat tonight...not a fan of the taste , it was super strong! Not like the more mellow tasting lamb I have had in the past. So I don't make this mistake again in the future do you recommend making the males werthers if planning on sending them for meat? Did we send him to the butcher at the wrong age? My husband loves lamb, and said he had never tasted one like that before


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## Baymule

We just had a 3 year old Dorper ram butchered and there is no difference in him and a lamb. 

I cut my ram lambs at a couple weeks old. Perhaps you should cut your ram lambs since they have a strong taste to you.


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## WolfeMomma

Yeah, I think I will cut them in the future because I honestly have no interest in the rest of the meat if it tastes like that. It tasted exactly how they smell in their stalls. I'll stick to beef till I figure out what I did wrong


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## Latestarter

You might also try a different butcher/processor  If he didn't properly care for the meat it could be the cause of the off taste. 

Not sure what age  "7/6 months old" equates to... (sorry - losing my mind slowly but surely) but even an uncut ram shouldn't be all gamey and strong at 6-7 months of age.  At that age he wouldn't even be full grown yet... still a baby. Sorry the taste wasn't what you anticipated/wanted. Could always use it as very expensive dog food...


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## WolfeMomma

I was not sure of his exact birth date but I knew he was between 6 and 7 months old.
It's tastes and smells horrible in my opinion ....it's like I'm licking a sheep's face. I think it definitely could be the butcher....I know he was kept with ewes before he was butchered could that of effected it?


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## mysunwolf

Have you ever had Katahdin meat before? I've found that they can be a little stronger tasting than other breeds. You can finish them on some grains to help with the gamey flavor. I agree that castrating ram lambs is a good idea, since around 7-8 months the rams can get in rut around the girls--yes, I think that could effect the meat. With wethers and ewe lambs, age doesn't matter as long as they're under 12 months. We butcher around 100-120lbs live regardless of age. Some people prefer 60lbs live because the taste is less strong.


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## WolfeMomma

I was told katahdins are a more mild meat , so now I'm confused lol. I will give other cuts of meat a try. Is there a breed that you recommend that is mild tasting ?


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## mysunwolf

Um, according to my taste buds that is marketing! I believe it's more dependent on what you feed them than breed, however I like the long wool or medium wool breeds in general for taste (low lanolin). Or cross some Dorper into the Katahdin, I've had good luck with that meat as well (though I don't like managing Dorpers).


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## Latestarter

If your butcher wasn't "clean" and careful with the carcass during processing he could very easily have contaminated the meat. I'm sorry, but IMHO even if the ram was "in rut", at that age, he wouldn't have the hormonal levels of an adult ram and the meat should not be as strong as what you are describing... It shouldn't "smell horrible" but should smell like any other fresh/raw cut of meat. I could see a (little bit) stronger flavor after cooking as compared to store bought (*zero taste) meat, but even then it shouldn't be "horrible"... 

I was under the impression that Katahdins were one of the mildest as well... One of the primary considerations as to why I was going to start with that breed. Maybe not the case? @mysunwolf in your opinion, what is a milder/better tasting breed? I was planning to cross with Dorper to add some size/meat. In either case I do NOT want wool sheep.

Just saw your new post while typing this... I was also under the impression that the wool sheep had MORE lanolin than a hair sheep? Now I'm totally confuzzled...   What problem did you have with dorpers?


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## Latestarter

Of course the animal's diet in the weeks before processing would have a large bearing as well...


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## WolfeMomma

When we lived in Montana we ordered lamb from a ranch that did grass fed lamb. It tasted great, nice sweet mild flavor. This is nothing like that at all, I find it to smell to much like the actual animal. We picked katahdins to raise because everyone said it was more mild....now I'm doubting our decision .  
I have also heard great things about crossing them with a dorper, maybe it's something I will research it a little bit more   thanks for all the advice and thoughts guys!


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## greybeard

WolfeMomma said:


> I know he was kept with ewes before he was butchered could that of effected it?


Well, I am not a sheep person but from everything I know about animal reproduction/breeding, the production of adrenaline in the days/hours   just before slaughter can have a profound effect on taste of meat. I have also read reports that adrenaline can have undesirable effects on the 'quality' of meat..including increasing toughness. That's probably very debatable..


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## WolfeMomma

Does consuming corn or a high protein feed make it a stronger taste?


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## mysunwolf

Corn and other grains should make the taste milder. Grasses and pasture make the taste stronger. Legumes and alfalfa are usually considered in the taste stronger category.

@Latestarter you're right, hair sheep do have very low lanolin! I think there's another component going on in certain hair breeds (I can think of St. Croix, BB, and Katahdin) that changes the taste. Whereas the Dorpers seem to be really mild in flavor (at least, mine have been), in addition to being very tender. I didn't like them because they weren't as friendly as my Katahdins, and seemed to have more feet, udder, and parasite issues. As far as favorite wool breeds (mostly crosses) for meat, I have only had the Cotswold, Dorset, East Friesian, and Icelandic and found all of them much nicer than the Dorper and especially the Katahdin I have had.

@greybeard is right in that poor handling in the form of spiked adrenaline can really mess up the lamb taste, but I think this, too, depends on breed. Some breeds are more flighty and seem to amp up their adrenaline faster under stress...

I think this is the old breed or feed debate, people have the same debates about hogs and chickens. I come strongly down on the side that different breeds have VERY different meat qualities because I've raised them and tasted the differences.


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## goatgurl

@WolfeMomma i'm sorry that you are having a taste issue with  your lamb.  I raise katahdins and normally butcher my wethers at about 15 to 18 months old and the meat is always very mild and tender.  a couple of years ago I butchered a 2 1/2 year old ram after breeding season and could honestly not tell the difference between the ram and the wethers.  I know that if the butcher isn't careful and contaminates the meat with the skin side of the sheep where the lanolin is it can cause an off flavor.  I hope you get it figured out.


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## AClark

Not related to breed etc, but rather than waste that meat on expensive dog food, you can soak it and remove a lot of the gamey flavor.

Soak in water for 30 minutes, salt it liberally and sit for an hour, then scrape salt and rinse before cooking...

OR my favorite, soak in milk or buttermilk over night before cooking. That takes the funk out of wild hog really well.


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## WolfeMomma

@goatgurl We have found a different butcher that we will try in the future if we don't end up doing it our selves. We hunt so processing a lamb won't be much harder then deer I imagine.
I will try soaking it in water, or butter milk and hope that makes a difference.


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## animalmom

@WolfeMomma, would you let us know if soaking improved the flavor?  Inquiring minds would really like to know.  Please and thank you.


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## WolfeMomma

@animalmom  No problem, Ill let you know how it turns out.

On another note, when looking for a butcher to process our future lambs are there any questions that you suggest I ask in regards to how they process sheep. There are several around here, I'm not sure which would be the best bet. Ill ask on our local farming group on Facebook as well.


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## AClark

animalmom said:


> @WolfeMomma, would you let us know if soaking improved the flavor?  Inquiring minds would really like to know.  Please and thank you.



I know for a fact it works on wild game, I can't see why it wouldn't work on sheep. I personally don't mind a gamey flavor, but wild hogs smell "funny" and off putting until they are soaked/brined.


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## Pastor Dave

I am weighing in late, but a processor in these parts makes no real guarantees you will get your own meat back. I have seen them do it with beef and deer. If your place was running through other sheep/mutton, you may have gotten someone elses meat. The place here wouldn't let folks observe the processing.  They may have changed after complaints, but we didn't wait around to find out. Maybe it's not the case at all with your place, but I see you changed processors. Hopefully your experiences will be better here on out.


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## The Old Ram-Australia

G'day ,I agree with Pastor Dave,we used to have our goats,pigs and lambs processed by a small local abattoir,which we later found out was notorious for sending the "best" to the local butchers and private kill got whatever was left.A local wholesaler friend had at time got 2 left beef sides once and after that he followed the animal down the kill line and tagged it himself before it got hung.Do you have another killing works you can change to?....T.O.R.


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## P0werUser

Hi, I have no experience with sheep..yet, but in regards to this thread, I would say you are better off butchering the sheep/lamb yourself. If you've butchered deer before, then you should have no issues with lamb. I found that Scott Rea on youtube has been great at teaching butchery. When I switched to butchering deer myself versus taking it to a butcher, the meat quality has just been so much better, my wife and I are super impressed with the meat. I learned how to butcher a deer from Scott Rea and he shows some awesome steak cuts for deer and we have enjoyed them, so I think you'll be in good hands to follow his lamb butchery video.






On an extra note, if you are planning to butcher a male, you might as well whether them IMO.


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## Latestarter

Greetings and welcome to BYH @P0werUser . That's a great video, thanks for sharing. I've watched several that he's made. The pig/hog butchering one was good too. I have his main site bookmarked  I personally never had a problem butchering a deer... Have done countless, but for some strange reason, have always figured to use a butcher for livestock. Doesn't make much sense huh? Biggest issue is I don't have a cold room to hang them to age... Anyway, browse around and make yourself at home.


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## Blue Sky

We once had a 2 year old ram butchered after he was injured in a fight. He was American black belly or Barbado as they call them here. He tasted fine and I've noticed they sell well even at that age. We have two Painted Desert ram yearlings in the freezer so far so good. Not all the PD sheep have color or horns, it's good to have options.


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## Laidback1

Awesome video!


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## Eddy Winko

I have recently dealt with a few of our own ram lambs, about 7 months old and fully intact, and they taste fine. The local method, which I follow as I only learnt how to do it this year, is to stun, cut off the crown jewels then bleed from the neck. Now I don't know if this method stops any possible taint to the meat, but as I say we have never had any problems.


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## Workinthedream

Hi if you can smell the meat there is definitely something wrong.  Newly butchered meat has little to no smell IMO.  We butcher all of our sheep ourselves (North Country Cheviots - NCCs) and it is not difficult at all.  Maybe even easier than a deer.  We put ours in a spare refrigerator for a week then process like the above video.  We enjoy it so much I am asking for a meat saw for Christmas   Hope you get it figured out!


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## genuck

We use a halal butcher, they always do a great job. The meat is delicious. They calm the animal before killing it. Just now we butchered our 6 year old Shetland ram, he'd been out with the ewes and no gamey taste at all. Though I will say we did a year+ ram before and to us he had no flavor at all.


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## WolfeMomma

Update!
Soaked the chops in butter milk overnight. MUCH better. Didn't taste anything like the ground meat that I had before. The only part that tasted weird was the fat, which can be avoided. So glad I found a solution to this.


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## Baymule

I am glad that you found a way to make it taste better. Did you have any ground meat made? if so, try mixing it half and half with ground beef. It might help, can't soak ground meat in buttermilk LOL


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## WolfeMomma

@Baymule  good idea, never thought to mix beef with it. We have mixed pork with our deer in the past and it worked out amazingly! thanks for suggesting !


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## Blue Sky

Can I ask a question about chicken processing?


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## Latestarter

It's an open forum...   why not?


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## Baymule

WolfeMomma said:


> @Baymule  good idea, never thought to mix beef with it. We have mixed pork with our deer in the past and it worked out amazingly! thanks for suggesting !


For a deer, I would buy a whole brisket, the fattier, the better, and grind it with the deer meat. Or I would ask the butcher at the grocery store to save me fat trimmings from steaks. The beef lasts longer in the freezer than pork. Or at least it used to, back in the dark ages when meat was wrapped in white butcher paper. Now meat is shrink wrapped or vacuum sealed and it lasts in the freezer much better.


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## Baymule

Blue Sky said:


> Can I ask a question about chicken processing?


A lot of us here butcher chickens. Ask anything you want to, we'll be glad to help.


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## Pastor Dave

Baymule said:


> Or at least it used to, back in the dark ages when meat was wrapped in white butcher paper. Now meat is shrink wrapped or vacuum sealed and it lasts in the freezer much better.


I still use the white butcher paper with the slick side for butchering my rabbits. They generally don't have to last too long in our freezer. They have always seemed to come out good.


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## Blue Sky

OK my chicken question is kind of obscure. I raise Ayam cemanis. I haven't butchered any yet. They are reputed to have black meat but I've noticed a YouTube video where a cemani was butchered and the meat wasn't black. I couldn't see the live bird or get my question answered. The total black genetics are hard to hold, how quickly does the meat color change? For some reason I can't set up an account at BYC so excuse the extra curricular.


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## Pastor Dave

I have never heard if these til you posted, so I researched. Yah, it sounds like the meat and organs are black or pretty dark. Wow! Learn something new all the time.


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## Baymule

Silkies are all black also, even their bones. I would expect the Ayam Cemanis to be no different. I wouldn't worry too much about the youtube video. When will you butcher one of yours?


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## Blue Sky

That one who crows at 2am is high on the list.


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## Mini Horses

At my farm when one sounds off several others chime in!  7 are on my list for next week...when I hope my work schedule & weather continue to be good.

Hintori on this forum has silkies and has talked about the meat color, etc.  Interesting.  At first I thought, maybe not for me.  Then, look at beef!  Certain these free range birds will be darker than the white store bought birds.


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## chickadee-ranch

I wouldn't process an intact ram at 6 months-- he should be capable of breeding 40 ewes at that age--- I know my Nubian bucks could!  and IMO if he 'can' cover that many-- he prolly has 'taint' of one sort or another.  

A Nubian wether at that age-- you can cook it like any beef with a few spices and herbs I've had folks not be able to tell it wasn't beef.


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## Baymule

chickadee-ranch said:


> I wouldn't process an intact ram at 6 months-- he should be capable of breeding 40 ewes at that age--- I know my Nubian bucks could!  and IMO if he 'can' cover that many-- he prolly has 'taint' of one sort or another.
> 
> A Nubian wether at that age-- you can cook it like any beef with a few spices and herbs I've had folks not be able to tell it wasn't beef.


We processed a 3 year old Dorper ram. There was no taint or any off taste at all. took him right out of the pasture with the ewes and to slaughter he went, no special feed or anything.


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