[Ag-eq] Classification of sheep meat: wasRe: Lambing on the BlanchRanch: a tragedy

[Jewel]

I did, or thought that I did send a message to  ag-eq regarding classification of sheep meat, but, 
perhaps it is on its way to outer space following the tracks left by Voyager.

Repeated message:  When I was a kid, sheep meat was sold as red stripe, blue stripe or
yellow stripe:  red being first class lamb, blue: hogget and yellow: mutton.
 The stripe qualification was dispensed with years ago, but the classifications of lamb, hogget and
mutton are still used, but they do not, exactly, mirror the age classifications of the live animal,
so in the butcher shop, lamb is from birth to 1 year, hogget from 1 to 2 and mutton from 2 and
older.
I think that if you were to ask for hogget in an American butchery, unless the butcher was a Kiwi, 
he, or she, would look at you with raised eyebrows and ask if it was sucking pig that you wanted!

      Jewel



--------------------------------------------------
From: <nfoster at extremezone.com>
Sent: Tuesday, September 24, 2013 11:14 AM
To: "Jewel" <jewelblanch at kinect.co.nz>
Subject: Re: [Ag-eq] Lambing on the BlanchRanch proceeds at a breakneck pace


Hi Jewel:

Thanks for explaining sheep termonology!

When does the meat stop being lamb and become mutton?

Are there other terms for the meat besides lamb and mutton?

Nella
Quoting Jewel <jewelblanch at kinect.co.nz>:

> This year, I have 11 ewes, and usually have around that number.  I did have
> 20 one year but that,
> for my property, is really too many.
> They are crossbred Romney Hampshires with one R/H dorper cross.  I don't keep
> a ram as they are too
> dangerous;  out in the wide open paddock they are fine but when enclosed in a
> small area from which
> they can't escape, they go into fight or flight mode and as flight is
> impossible, they fight, and
> believe me, a ram makes a formidable foe, especially when you can't see him
> coming!
> I buy a ram hogget in for the breeding season and then resell it to the meat
> works as prime lamb.
> Several of my ewes were born in 07 so their breeding life is really at an
> end, so they will be sold
> as mutton:  one of them, sadly, I think is Petula, the one that has made a
> bit of a pet of herself
> and who had the abscess in her throat;  btw, she is fine now.
> I think that I will also sell the 3 that didn't get in lamb plus the whether
> lambs in March.
> All this thinning out will mean that I will keep the ewe lambs to bring the
> flock back up to
> strength.
> It is the common practice amongst proper sheep farmers to put their ewe
> hoggets to the ram, but the,
> the ewe hoggets have to be a minimum weight of 50kg and I rarely have them
> that well-grown at that
> age.
> FYI:  terminology from birth:  birth to 6 months is a lamb;  6 months to a
> year:  a hogget;  1 to 2
> years:  a 2-tooth;  2 years to 3:  a 4-tooth and after that:  a full-mouth or
> aged.  2-tooth and
> 4-tooth refer to the number of adult teeth the sheep has.  At 3 years, it has
> its full compliment of
> 6 adult teeth, hence full-mouthed.
> Going back to mating them as hoggets, they have to be a minimum weight of
> 50kg and I rarely have
> them that well-grown by the age of 6 months, so next year may be a lambless
> year;  however, I will
> ask Andrew from whom I buy sheep to run his experienced eye over them and
> tell me what he thinks.
>
>           Jewel
> --------------------------------------------------
> From: <nfoster at extremezone.com>
> Sent: Friday, September 20, 2013 10:49 AM
> To: "Jewel" <jewelblanch at kinect.co.nz>; "Agricultural and Equestrean Division
> List"
> <ag-eq at nfbnet.org>
> Subject: Re: [Ag-eq] Lambing on the BlanchRanch proceeds at a breakneck pace
>
> Jewel:
>
> How many ewes do you have?
>
> Do you keep your own ram?
>
> Also what breed of sheep do you have?
>
> Nella
>
> Quoting Jewel <jewelblanch at kinect.co.nz>:
>
> >
> > A busy morning!  When I went out to the barn to feed the ewes,  from the
> > sounds of newborn lamb
> > bleats, 2 of the ewes had lambed in a small catching pen.
> > When I searched around I found 2 lambs up on their feet, and one ewe lamb
> > that didn't look too
> > bright, so I brought her inside and put her in front of the fan heater to
> > warm up and then  took her
> > back to the newly-lambed ewes that I had shifted into another pen.  I
> didn't
> > know which ewe she
> > belonged to but I hoped that they did.
> > >From the calling of one of the ewes and the answering lamb bleat from
> inside
> > the other half of the
> > barn, I figured that when I rehomed them, I had missed a lamb, so I hunted
> > for it, found it and
> > reunited the family.
> > The one that I had taken inside to the heater seems to be ok now.
> > I will not be hand-feeding any lambs;  they make it on their own to,
> > eventually,  become lamb roasts
> > or they won't!
> >
> >          Jewel
> >
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
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> > Ag-eq at nfbnet.org
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> Ag-eq:
> >
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> >
>

--------------------------------------------------
From: <nfoster at extremezone.com>
Sent: Thursday, September 26, 2013 3:49 PM
To: "Jewel" <jewelblanch at kinect.co.nz>; "Agricultural and Equestrean Division List"
<ag-eq at nfbnet.org>
Subject: Re: [Ag-eq] Lambing on the BlanchRanch:  a tragedy


Jewel:

The other day Mike and I were having a discussion about when is sheep meat
called lamb and when is it called mutton.  I know you said lambs are under 6
months old, so is lamb meat only from 6 month or less animals?

Also are there any other words for the meat besides lamb and mutton?

Mike likes to order lamb meat because he knows it bothers me.  I always say that
lambs are to much like little goats and of course I love goats.  I love goats
for pets, not food!

Nella


Quoting Jewel <jewelblanch at kinect.co.nz>:

> I apologise if the following message has already been on the list.  I don't
> see it in sent items,
> and it does seem that some of my messages are going astray as are some that
> are addressed to me.
>
>       Jewel
>
> I have a tragedy to relate and it was caused, mainly, because I am blind
> which would have been
> cancelled out if I had been just a bit more thorough.
> I let the ewes and their lambs out into the back paddock:  oh!  maybe 4 days
> ago.  However,
> yesterday, when Sam, my honorary shepherd came to count the lambs, he found
> that one ewe and her
> lamb had been left shut in the stockyard.  I had heard the occasional baah,
> but I assumed that it
> was from one of the ewes in the paddock.
> The ewe had died, of starvation I would guess, as, not knowing that there was
> a sheep there, I had
> not been putting out any feed.  I had intended to open the yard where there
> is a water trough, but
> as there was no feed there and there are other water troughs out in the
> paddock, I hadn't!
> When Sam found them, the ewe was cold, but must have died that morning as the
> lamb had been feeding
> from her even after her death:  I didn't know that that could happen
> ! he was fine and is now being bottle-fed.
> I had said that I would not be hand-rearing anything, but this, of course, is
> a completely different
> case as the lamb is strong and healthy, and he, sure, is that!  I have never
> seen such a big lamb
> for his age which is about a week.  He must weigh 10 pounds and already is up
> to my knees in height.
> I didn't have any replacer milk powder so, until I could get some, I gave him
> cow's milk which, at
> first, he thought was vile, but he changed his mind and was away with a hiss
> and a roar.  Well,
> perhaps, not the best choice of words, as he is very quiet.
> His name, btw, is Rambo!
>
>          Jewel