Butcher Lamb...to castrate or not?

[geniebell]

Hi everyone! I am new here. We just bought our first sheep about 6 weeks ago and had our first lamb on 4/17. It's a ram, and we had already bought a ram, so we will be butchering this one. Was really hoping our first baby would be a ewe . Anyway, my question is: Castrate him, or no? Is there a difference in the taste of the meat? Our sheep are all Dorpers. My husband loves lamb, but I have never been much of a fan, but in researching which kind of sheep to buy, I have read that the Dorpers have a milder taste, so I am hoping I will like it. Also, what is the best age to butcher?
Thanks in advance!

 

[promiseacres]

Not sure aboutt he dorpers but my painted deserts taste fine without castration. they are another hair breed but with horns and smaller than the dorpers. I think most people with dorpers castrate around 5 mos but not 100% on that... we did 11 months b/c we wanted more size.

 

[geniebell]

Thanks promise!

 

[goatboy1973]

I would think if you went much more past a year of age, not castrating might become an issue as far as taste and texture are concerned.

 

[bcnewe2]

I had some customers who are very good at butchering their own lambs come to the farm. We butchered same age ram and ewe lambs. Same diet and born same time, Dorper crosses. It was an amazing difference in the fat content of the ewe lambs compared to the ram lambs. The ewe lambs had about 15-20% more fat around their bellies. They were not breeding age yet. They also explained to me that a wether (castrated male) has even more fat than the females.
None of them were to fatty but there was a distinct difference.
Yummm I love lamb!
I had a bottle baby that was returned to me by the original purchasers butchered. She was huge. A real fatty. I took some weight off her just by putting her on pasture for a while. We were totally disappointed in the meat. It is marbled with lots of fat, and compared to some younger leaner lambs the meat was pinkish red. The others were a beautiful dark red almost purple and very little fat.
The owners told me she ate anything she could get into, chicken food, dog food and people food. Yuck

 

[bcnewe2]

I sell my dorper lambs for butcher at about 6 months old. Just when they start to get rammy they have to go! I don't castrate at all.

 

[geniebell]

Bcnew... Great info! So weathers have more fat than ram. We are thinking to butcher around 100pounds. I have no intention of graing...probably grass hay if we run out of pasture before he reaches weight.

Thanks goat boy! Will def be before he is a year.

 

[bcnewe2]

At that weight he'll probably be "feeling his oats". So you need a way to keep him out of any ewes you don't want him/them breeding. At 6 months or so my lambs can get close to 100#'s but average is about 70-80. I'd rather have a little less meat than lambs I didn't plan on with that ram! Since I run my sheep together I have observed my herd sire will not allow any breeding to take place other than him. But I only run about 15 ewes or so for now. Any more and he might not be able to control all the ram lambs (up to 10 or so) My ram weighs about 200 or so way bigger than the boys.

The fat differences is something I just learned about last year. If I have others butchering here I will be watching to see. But yes I could really see the differences. I didn't see a wether for comparison but I had no reason to not believe them. They begged me not to castrate anything they were going to buy.
I don't castrate because they really do put more weight and size on if left intact. Or at least that's what my experiences have been. I used to band everything.

 

[geniebell]

At that weight he'll probably be "feeling his oats". So you need a way to keep him out of any ewes you don't want him/them breeding. At 6 months or so my lambs can get close to 100#'s but average is about 70-80. I'd rather have a little less meat than lambs I didn't plan on with that ram! Since I run my sheep together I have observed my herd sire will not allow any breeding to take place other than him. But I only run about 15 ewes or so for now. Any more and he might not be able to control all the ram lambs (up to 10 or so) My ram weighs about 200 or so way bigger than the boys.

The fat differences is something I just learned about last year. If I have others butchering here I will be watching to see. But yes I could really see the differences. I didn't see a wether for comparison but I had no reason to not believe them. They begged me not to castrate anything they were going to buy.
I don't castrate because they really do put more weight and size on if left intact. Or at least that's what my experiences have been. I used to band everything.

bc, just so I completely understand...is it the fat that gives it the "strong" taste? Lamby?

 

[goatboy1973]

With our slaughter bucklings, our customers prefer intact (not castrated) male kids between 60- 100 lbs and usually get the highest price at this weight. Our Spanish goats are on the lighter end of moderately boned, and heavily muscled from the shoulders right through to their hindquarters.