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

Tracy Carcione carcione at access.net
Thu Sep 26 15:27:01 UTC 2013 

Lamb is important in all kinds of cuisines in my neighborhood--Greek, 
Israeli, Arab, Afghani...
I don't eat meat either, and even when I did, lamb wasn't my favorite, but a 
good gyro can be mighty tasty!
Tracy

----- Original Message ----- 
From: <nfoster at extremezone.com>
To: "Jewel" <jewelblanch at kinect.co.nz>; "Agricultural and Equestrean 
Division List" <ag-eq at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Thursday, September 26, 2013 9:02 AM
Subject: Re: [Ag-eq] Classification of sheep meat: wasRe: Lambing on 
theBlanchRanch: a tragedy


>
> 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
>> > >
>> > >
>> > >
>> > > _______________________________________________
>> > > Ag-eq mailing list
>> > > Ag-eq at nfbnet.org
>> > > http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/ag-eq_nfbnet.org
>> > > To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
>> > Ag-eq:
>> > >
>> >
>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/ag-eq_nfbnet.org/nfoster%40extremezone.com
>> > >
>> >
>>
>> --------------------------------------------------
>> 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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>
>
>
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