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

Thu Sep 26 13:02:36 UTC 2013

Thanks Jewel, now I can impress Mike with my knowledge!

Yes, I had never heard the term hogget until you explained it.  I don't eat
meat, so am not hanging about any butcher shops!

Actually I don't know many people that eat lamb and mutton.  I see it on some
resturant menus, but that's all.

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

> 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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> > >
> >
>
> --------------------------------------------------
> 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
>
>
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