# Eating sheep!!



## alsea1 (Nov 24, 2013)

Well, we tasted our first mature (six or seven years old), in breeding mode ram.  I will have to replace my avatar pic as he is now in the freezer.
He is delicious.  No strong muttony flavor or anything.
We made sheppards pie with some of his ground up shoulder this eve.
We butchered him just like we would do a deer. That includes no bones and trimming away the fat and sinew.  We got over thirteen pounds of ground meat and stew meat off the shoulders alone.  Will be finishing up hindquarters and backstrap soon. 
The American Black Belly sheep are great table fare.


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## Southern by choice (Nov 24, 2013)

ok now your making me hungry!


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## bonbean01 (Nov 24, 2013)

That's the great part about hair sheep...our mature ram who got nasty also had no mutton taste, and he was so much better behaved in the freezer


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## alsea1 (Nov 24, 2013)

LOL bon. Very true.


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## Southern by choice (Nov 24, 2013)

I didn't know this. We have goats. LOL and 2 sheep... for wool. So hair sheep and wool sheep meat is different?


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## alsea1 (Nov 24, 2013)

I have eaten a wool type weather. He was really good too. But we butchered that fella before he was a year old.
He did have a different flavor though.


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## Roving Jacobs (Nov 24, 2013)

I have a yearling jacob coming home from the processor this week and I can't wait! You're making me hungry!


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## bonbean01 (Nov 24, 2013)

Someone told me that it is the lanolin in wool that gives that mutton taste when they get older?  Wool sheep that are just under a year or not much older than a year don't have the mutton taste.  Hair sheep are different.  Watson was a three year old ram who got into the butting thing big time...it's be nice, or it's freezer time.


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## Southern by choice (Nov 24, 2013)

Thanks Bon.


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## boothcreek (Nov 25, 2013)

Yea, love my hair sheep!!! Butchered a 3 yr old Ram this spring and the guys at work(abattoir and butcher shop) couldn't believe he didn't smell muttony. Carcass looked like a deer but without a strong game taste. Even the European Mouflons which unlike domestics, still rut(if your a hunter, they kind of smell like a rutting elk minus the peeing on them selfs part), and the last rutting ram I butchered was fantastic. Could put him besides a 10 month old hair lamb carcass and smell and taste is the same, he was just darker meat colour. Actually had a Euro Mouf Ram Barron Roast for dinner last night!!! Yummy!


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## alsea1 (Nov 25, 2013)

I am loving these sheep for sure. Easy to care for, and great to eat regardless of sex or age. Who could ask for more.


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## alsea1 (Nov 26, 2013)

All told about 18 pounds of boned and clean meat off the Ram.
Thats not counting the trimmings we kept out for the dog.


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## Southern by choice (Nov 26, 2013)

What was his hanging weight estimated?


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## alsea1 (Nov 26, 2013)

It looked about like a spike black tail deer
We didn't weigh it hanging.  I guess we should have.
We trimmed off as much fat as possible though.
From the looks of things I need to lay off the grain. If the ewes are that fat on the inside I'm in trouble I think.


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## Heather (Feb 15, 2014)

I have a wool ram who was 1 year old in December 2013.  He is intact but our hair ram seems to have been "getting it done" this year judging by our lambs being born.  SO, we are thinking about having him butchered.  Do you think it will taste bad?  The butcher is concerned that he will have a strong flavor but he isnt that old.  I have been waiting a while for some chops and to cure and smoke some lamb bacon!!


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## bonbean01 (Feb 15, 2014)

I've had mutton (mature wool sheep) once, and wouldn't care to have it again.  You could give it a try and if you don't like it, bet your dogs will.


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## purplequeenvt (Feb 15, 2014)

Mhmmmm! Mutton is my favorite! I'd rather eat mutton than most any other meat. 

At just barely a year old, I bet your ram will taste like lamb. What breed is he? We ate a 6 or 7 year old Romney ram years ago and he was a little strong, but still tasty. The 7 year old Border Leicester ewe....well, let's just say that I was in heaven. Tasted no different from lamb. Bonus was the chops were bigger.


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## Roving Jacobs (Feb 15, 2014)

I've eaten an 18 month old and thought he was delicious. He was just as mild and tender as lamb.

I could eat mutton and bacon stew all day every day


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## D1 (Feb 16, 2014)

Roving Jacobs said:


> I could eat mutton and bacon stew all day every day



I will be needing that recipe please ma'am....thank you


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## Roving Jacobs (Feb 16, 2014)

It's this one, although I cut the portions way down and use Worcestershire sauce instead of bay leaves and wine because that's what I had on hand


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## bcnewe2 (Feb 16, 2014)

I sell to a Bosnian market. They process right here on the farm. What they have taught me is that ewes carry way more fat around the belly compared to rams lambs.  Wethering a ram makes them carry more fat too.  They prefer grass fed with little grain.  That's about how I raise mine. Only get grain when there is nothing for them to graze on in pasture.
We butcher anything between 3 months and 2yrs old. We raise hair sheep. the 2 year olds do not have a mutton taste.  But could be because they are hair sheep with less lanolin which is what I was told causes the mutton taste.


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## norseofcourse (Feb 16, 2014)

Interesting thread.  I'm working on 'making the leap' to eating my sheep (and/or letting someone else eat them).  With probably 5 lambs expected this spring, I'll have to be able to go through with it soon, or never breed anything again... 

I have some challenges to work through.  One is, I'm not even sure I like lamb 
I've had it twice in my life, once as a roast that I only remember was too dry, so I didn't really taste it; the other time it was cooked and shredded and served on a bun, and it actually tasted pretty good, once I could put the images of my own little baby lambs out of my head... 

With the state of the food animal industry in this country, though, I see the advantages of home raised meat.  So maybe y'all can help me.  I am a meat eater - I love a good thick steak (rare), roast or hamburger.  Sausage, pork roast, pork chops, pork ribs, yum!  Beef ribs - yuck, and I'm not much for flank steak, shank or prime rib (too fatty).  So - what cuts of lamb am I most likely to like?  What parts should I just have them turn into lamburger?

This thread is also interesting because my sheep are Icelandics, and they don't have as much lanolin as many other wool breeds - so maybe that is part of the reason they are said to taste milder?  I have a wether who's not quite a year old, and I'm considering letting him graze most of the summer and processing him when he's just under 18 months old.  Challenge one is, can I actually take him? And challenge two is, can I eat him? (I saw him born, my first).  If I can't eat him, believe me I have people lined up who want to! LOL


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## alsea1 (Feb 16, 2014)

We cut ours up like you would a deer.  Trimmed the fat and all.


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## norseofcourse (Feb 16, 2014)

alsea1 said:


> We cut ours up like you would a deer.  Trimmed the fat and all.



I'm afraid I don't know anything about cutting up or eating deer, either 

I saw that you got about 18 pounds of meat off your ram - that seems low, but I'm still learning, so maybe there's things I don't realize... is it because of his breed, or because he was a ram, or because you deboned or only kept the best parts? Thanks!


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## Roving Jacobs (Feb 16, 2014)

I got about 35-40 lbs off of my 18 month old jacob and most of it was deboned except chops and legs, just for reference. Someone I know who does their jacobs at around 7-9 months usually gets 20-25 lbs finished cuts. The more primitive breeds just don't have a ton of meat on them, especially as youngsters.

I thought I was going to feel really bad about sending my first boys off to freezer camp but are so much more useful sitting in my freezer (and the freezers of my customers) than loafing around the pasture causing trouble. There have been a number of times this winter where I have been thankful that I didn't have 5 extra mouths to feed and take up space in the shelter. Plus it feels good knowing exactly what went in to the meat I am eating and that they had happy lives right up to the end.


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## alsea1 (Feb 16, 2014)

We kept no bones, trimmed all fat.  We only weighed out what went into freezer as people food I think. We cooked the trimmings up for the dog.
The primitive sheep are smaller than the dorpers or katahdins for sure.
We utilized as much of the carcass as we could.


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## bonbean01 (Feb 16, 2014)

Being there when they are born, loving on them, enjoying them...then they get older and ours are hair/meat sheep.  Was it easy taking them to a processor?  No...I cried the first time, cried every after too, even after all these years.  When we pick them up frozen and put them in the freezer, more tears are shed...I put a towel over that part of the freezer and can't look at it for a little while.  Then I'm okay with it...we love lamb meat...we know they had the best lives possible and if we don't eat any or sell any for meat...that means no more baby lambs, and no more sheep.  I love being a sheep owner...lambing time is my fav part of the year.  Will it get easier?  Probably not...could I live with no more sheep ever????  NO!!!  So...however you reconcile it in your own head and heart, I wish you nothing but the best in your adventure.  These are awesome animals...enjoy them, and know that they had good lives, and you are feeding your family "clean" meat.


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## Parsnip (Feb 16, 2014)

We had our wether lamb butchered a while ago and my parents made stew from some chopped up shoulder steak.
He was mostly Dorper with a bit of Romney.
Apparently he was incredibly tasty. I was too disturbed by seeing Jimmy in the stew pot, so I passed on trying it lol
Smelled amazing.
We have some of the bones for soup, and we got his heart and liver as well.
_Has anyone here ever had lamb liver or heart?_
We also have pig and beef heart in the freezer, all raised by us 
( can you tell my father loves to cook up heart?)
Gosh, we got the chance to have elk heart once, given to us by a friend who had gone hunting...
My dad stuffed it and baked it (SO GOOD)

But lamb and pig hearts are considerably smaller haha
I was actually surprised at how small the wether lamb's heart was.


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## greenmulberry (Feb 17, 2014)

I have had lamb liver, from a local grassfed lamb. I bought it because I was trying to learn to like liver. It was less liver-y than beef liver, but I am just not a liver person and did not care for it.


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## geniebell (May 7, 2014)

Our very first lamb was born on 4/17.  It's a ram lamb, so he will be going to freezer camp.  My sheep are Dorpers.  I look forward to trying lamb...we bought Dorpers because, like many have said, the meat is supposed to be milder.  Have NO idea what cuts to get.  And lamburger?  We eat a lot of hamburger, so I am wayyy curious how the lamburger will taste!


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## BrownSheep (May 8, 2014)

I would suggest chops, steaks, and leg of lamb. 
For our "scrap meat" we can have it either as burger or as stew meat. We don't eat a lot of stew but up until recently is what we have gotten. We've moved into burger since our family is Mediterranean and have more recipes to use it in.


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## geniebell (May 8, 2014)

BrownSheep said:


> I would suggest chops, steaks, and leg of lamb.
> For our "scrap meat" we can have it either as burger or as stew meat. We don't eat a lot of stew but up until recently is what we have gotten. We've moved into burger since our family is Mediterranean and have more recipes to use it in.



Thanks brown sheep! I can't wait to try it. My husband is Greek, so grew up on lamb...me, not...fingers crossed I like it


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## Ruus (May 8, 2014)

geniebell said:


> Thanks brown sheep! I can't wait to try it. My husband is Greek, so grew up on lamb...me, not...fingers crossed I like it


I bet you will; I never had lamb until I was an adult, and now I love it! Provided it's cooked correctly, of course. Overcooked lamb is not so great.


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## BrownSheep (May 8, 2014)

Also, garlic and rosemary....even the worst lamb in the world can be made edible with enough garlic and rosemary.


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