# Are sheep good to eat?



## arhillbilly (Mar 8, 2005)

I don't want to offend anyone by that question. We have goats as pets and we could not eat them. But I have a milk cow that is giving lots of milk and I was wondering about getting a couple of lambs and growing them off. But we have never ate any of the meat. Can someone tell me if it would be worth it? What is the meat like? We always grow our own pork and beef but we thought we might try this.


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## Ross (May 9, 2002)

Lamb is good to eat sheep or mutton is definately an aquired taste. BBQ'd it tasts a bit like pork only more delicate. I had a chance to try Katahadin this spring and to be honest it didn't really taste any different than my pasture raised lamb (Polypay /+Rideau Arcott both wool types.) Now if the older animals taste as good!!!!


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## bergere (May 11, 2002)

Lamb is really good. Though it depends on what they are fed and how they are butchered to what the quality of meat is like.

Ross I found Black Welsh Mountain to be good as Mutton. Can't say that about many other breeds.


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## jimahall (Sep 18, 2005)

arhillbilly said:


> I don't want to offend anyone by that question. We have goats as pets and we could not eat them. But I have a milk cow that is giving lots of milk and I was wondering about getting a couple of lambs and growing them off. But we have never ate any of the meat. Can someone tell me if it would be worth it? What is the meat like? We always grow our own pork and beef but we thought we might try this.


I would suggest you check your local Wal-Mart Supercenter. They carry lamb. Try it and see if you like it. We usually cook it as we would pork or beef. There are many recipes for lamb. I prefer lamb over both beef and pork. Have never tried goat. My brother thinks it is evil to eat "HIS" registered nubians. :nana: 


We can try to convince you as to how delicious lamb is but the only judge is you and your taste buds.


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## Jen H (Jun 16, 2004)

Lamb (and kid goat) are wonderful. I marinate mine in lemon juice and garlic and then slow barbeque it or roast it. Mutton takes more marinating and slower cooking, but it's still darned tasty. Come to think of it, balsamic vinegar and soy sauce makes a good marinade, too.

Lamb does have a definite flavor to it. If you prefer meats without much flavor, lamb probably isn't for you. The only way to know is to try it.


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## ShortSheep (Aug 8, 2004)

I have found that different breeds taste different, also the lamb's age, diet, and weather or not they were in rut (for rams), the cut of the lamb, and how the meal is prepared all affects the taste. I've had lamb and loved it, and I've had lamb and hated it. 
I don't like supermarket lamb, nor most restaurant lamb. I've had Lincoln and shetland, both very mild and tasty. I had Jacob sausage once and didn't care for it.
Shetland pie is great! Lamb stew meat, baked in a pie crust with potatos, carrots, peas, and gravy. The lamb's name that we ate was Bertie. So we called it Bertie pie.


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## YuccaFlatsRanch (May 3, 2004)

Leg of lamband lamb chops should be cooked and served PINK - all those kiwis and Icelandics should know. The flavor gets stronger if you overcook it. Lamb is our favorite meat.


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## backachersfarm (Jun 14, 2005)

We raise ronmeys and cheviots. most have a little of some other breed from years ago, but we sre using a cheviot ram now. We put a couple of lambs and at least one ewe in the freezer evey yr. The crap you get in the store is shipped here fron New Zealand. I've never bought it, but I'm sure it doesn't compare to something you can get fresh here. Like every meat...it has it own flavor. we use it in everything just like it was beef or pork. The mutton is really good barbequed slowly or bakes slowly in the oven. The ground goes in anything we would have used hamburger. If you don't band the ram lambs you need to kill before breeding season or it changes the flavor.

Sharon


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## rickd203 (Sep 11, 2005)

I like lamb better than beef because it does taste different than beef. After many years of beef, chicken or pork it was good to try with its own unique flavor. I had goat tenderloin a couple months ago. It was very good and had a real mild taste. I was actually hoping that it would have a stronger flavor. I picked up a couple pounds of goat stew meat at the grocery store yesterday. I'll try making goat stew next week.


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## moonwolf (Sep 20, 2004)

I used to order a spring lamb locally from a farmer that raised it to butcher in the fall. It's just right sized, and the variety of cuts were ideal for small family. Either crown roast or lamb chops are really hard to beat for flavor and nutrition. Stew meat from lamb makes the best stews I've ever had in my opinon. It's not a strong taste at all. It's not the taste of beef, nor venison. I think lamb has it's unique flavor goes well with condiments like mint jelly or cranberry. I can't think of a better meal in the fall or winter than lamb with squash and something like spinach salad. Lamb stew...yum!


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## Ronney (Nov 26, 2004)

Excuse me Sharon, you've never bought New Zealand lamb and yet your calling it "crap". How would you know? It is, in fact, prime lamb and little of it actually goes to your country, most of it ends up in Europe and the UK.
Beef and sheep production is New Zealands prime industry and I suspect they would have gone broke many years back if they hadn't been producing a good product.

We get through a mutton a month in our family, most of it being in chops and roasts although in the summer I will have a complete carcase put through the bandsaw for barbequeing. The flap is beautiful if boned out, rolled and roasted but should be eaten hot as it is also the fattiest part of the sheep and gets of bit gross when cold. 

We prefer hogget to lamb - it has a bit more flavour but that is personal taste. I believe that people who have never eaten mutton can find the flavour a bit unusual but it certainly doesn't taste like beef or pork. I think you will enjoy it and it gives you another choice when rooting around in the freezer trying to find inspiration as to what to have for dinner.

And yes, as mentioned, it should be cooked pink - unless your like me and wander off and forget the time.  

Cheers,
Ronnie


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## Shahbazin (Dec 10, 2002)

I like the flavor of lamb, but admit that the stuff from the grocery has a pretty "strong" flavor to it; Shetland is much milder, & has less fat on it (1 1/2 yr old wether is what I've tried).


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## backachersfarm (Jun 14, 2005)

It may be a small % over all of what you export...but it is ALL you see in the stores here. Something you buy fresh locally or raise yourself has to be far superior to something that was killed, frozen, and shipped from the other side of the world. There must be a lot more coming here then you think or there wouldn't have been such a stink stirred up by your sheep growers when our gov tried to lower imported lamb to help American growers during the wool crisis.

Sharon


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## moonwolf (Sep 20, 2004)

I've bought frozen N.Z. lamb before and it was excellent! 
I'de prefer to buy local Ontario lamb, but I'm not going to drive for hours trying to find it if it's not offered in our local grocery stores.


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## quiet mountain farmer (Mar 27, 2003)

We raise Barbados Blackbelly sheep for the table. We feed them alfalfa, with pea pellets, and grain on the side!  They lamb three times in eighteen months, often having twins. They're small, but hardy, and you don't have to shear them.

I have discovered a lot of spices that go well with lamb. Turmeric to taco, there are many. We have eaten rams up to nearly two years old, and they were just as tender and tasty as the younger lambs. Ground lamb is very versatile. Sometimes I slow cook the meat all day, cool it, take it off the bones, then divide it into baggies, for one meal per baggie. I freeze some that way, in the juice, and keep some in the frig for using soon. Then I use it any way I want, from fancy Moroccan, through any kind of stew, clear down to taco hamburger helper! :baby04: 

I started out with a cookbook which was really good, and then branched out into inventions. I would recommend the book to anyone. Check out http://www.blackbellysheep.org for a book called "Lamb Lover's Cookbook" if you would like over 100 lamb recipes in a great variety.


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## Ronney (Nov 26, 2004)

Hi Sharon,
Whose wool crisis? The wool crisis for NZ sheep farmers happened back in the late 1980's-early 1990's and is hardly relevent 15-odd years down the track. In far more recent times, like a couple of years ago, the American Govt. attempted to lower the quota of imported lamb at the instigation of the American sheep producer and to the best of my knowledge it had little to do with wool but a lot to do with protecting the American sheep producer. Your sheep producers are highly protected and the irony of it is that they cannot produce enough meat to meet the domestic market - and this is borne out with your statement that ALL you can buy in stores is NZ lamb! - so where is American produced lamb going to?

Another interesting point is that comparatively, Americans are not in actual fact big sheep meat eaters and this is probably proved by this thread in that arhillbilly, who is obviously an adult, has never eaten sheep meat while NZ'ers and Australians are brought up on it. Most Americans that I have met personally had never eaten sheep meat before coming to this country, those I talk to over the computer have never eaten it at all and those that have eaten it belong to sites such as this one and are in a position to rear and live off their own food. Consequently the small amount that is imported from NZ and Australia is sufficient to meet the needs and possibly looks like a huge amount in the store. We export something like 350,000 tonnes of sheep meat annually and, as I mentioned previously, the bulk of it goes to Europe and the UK who are much larger mutton eaters than America. As a matter of interest, America imports more bull meat from NZ than it does mutton, much of which is destined for MacDonalds etc. Bull meat swells to nearly twice the volume with addition of water - now that is crap.

As for buying fresh or raising yourself, that is a debatable point. Ironically, probably the only people that eat "fresh" meat are those that live in towns or cities and go to the supermarket every day. Farmers who kill a sheep, pig or beef for themselves haven't a hope in hell of eating it all before it goes rotten so it gets put in the freezer. By the time the last bit of it has been consumed there is a large chance that it will be older than something imported from the other side of the world and certainly no fresher. 

Moonwolf, I'm pleased you enjoyed your bit of NZ lamb  I can guarantee you that it never saw a feed lot or grain and would have been milk and grass fed for all of it's short life.

Cheers,
Ronnie


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## backachersfarm (Jun 14, 2005)

It was not that long ago that the crisis with the wool industry occured. We have raise sheep for about 10 yrs and it has been within that time this happened, At least that was when it hit here. Why shouldn't the American gov make moves to help the industry here. Although it isn't obvious very often, That is what they should be doing. They were under a lot more pressue due to the great losses sheep farmers here were having because it was costing them more to shear their sheep then they were getting for the wool. 

I still feel buying locally is much fresher..no matter if it is in your own freezer for a yr. You don't know how long what you bought in the store was frozen and how many times it was handled and prethawed before it made it to your shopping cart. If it is too much trouble to locate a lamb producer...I don't know what to tell a person....eat the unknown I guess.

You are right about folks here not eating much lamb...and if they continue to eat what they find in the meat dept a Wally World they never will be big consumers. The only stores I have ever seen American lamb in are the Health food type grocers..so there you go. The bulk of fresh lamb in this country goes to feed the many many foreigners who reside here. Being the ones who primarily eat lamb, they seem to know which is best. I knew there was a reason I couldn't stand McDonalds food, or any other fast food for that matter.

Sharon


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## Lora (Sep 19, 2005)

Ronney said:


> .
> We get through a mutton a month in our family,...
> We prefer hogget to lamb - Ronnie


Ronnie, how do you cook your mutton? What do you consider a mutton (Different cultures consider a sheep to be mutton at different ages)? What is a hogget? small pig? 

I like lamb but don't like it _as much_ from the wool breeds as from the hair breeds; most of the lamb in our grocery stores seems to be Enzedd
or Aussie imported lamb, so it has been frozen and transported and may be a bit 'off' on flavor.

I love the lamb I raise and butcher myself - a crossbred flock of Dorper, Katahdin, Black Hawaiian, Barbado, Texas Dall, and Mouflon. Just got a Jacob's ewe the other day, too. We breed for meat as well as for the game ranches, here in Texas you can make good money if a ram has good horns.

Lora


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## Maura (Jun 6, 2004)

We butchered our Black Welsh Mountain ram at 11 months. Very mild tasting. When a label of fine tasting is attached to a breed, it usually means that it is low on flavor, but many people prefer the mild taste. If you like your sheep meat to taste like sheep, either get an older sheep, over one year, or buy a breed that is not considered good tasting. Personally, I prefer a stronger taste and plan on raising a different breed next summer to butcher.


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## Philip (Sep 26, 2005)

Lora - Lamb (in NZ terminology) is less than 1 year old, Hogget 1 to 2 year, Mutton anything after that (but sometimes used for older animals). The usual classification here is Lamb, Hogget, then 'teeth', as in 4-tooth, 6-tooth etc, referring to the ages that sheeps teeth erupt.
I would say that the nicest is hogget, followed by mutton, with lamb a poor third. Tender but hasn't had enough time to build up flavour.
Ronney - good on yer mate, tell it like it is. Kiwi farmers are the least protected of any in the world, its produce or die, and if you have an inferior product you go to the wall without any government assistance to save you


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## Lora (Sep 19, 2005)

Thanks. Many times, "Lamb" sold here in Texas is probably hogget or older, because it seems to be darker red than the lamb I butcher at home. (Usually not much over 6 months old).


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## Philip (Sep 26, 2005)

Lora - I'm not sure, but the colour of the meat may be influenced by what the lamb has been feeding on, and the age it was slaughtered. NZ sheep are exclusively grass feed (including hay or silage), with lambs usually killed at about 4-5 months (the aim is to get them to about 16-17kg dressed weight).
The older the animal and the type of feed normally influences meat colour - An example of this difference in feed and age can be seen in the difference between domestic and wild pork - one almost white, the other deep brown


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## moonwolf (Sep 20, 2004)

backachersfarm said:


> You don't know how long what you bought in the store was frozen and how many times it was handled and prethawed before it made it to your shopping cart. Sharon


The frozen N.Z. lamb I bought before in the store was dated, so I knew how old it was frozen. When thawed it looked fresh and tasted very good. I doubt it was thawed before. It also was hemisealed tight, so it couldn't have been handled directly. 
Safeway is the one offering it and they always mark a package of meat if it has been prethawed.


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## kesoaps (Dec 18, 2004)

After recently returning from a flock and fiber festival, I can assure you that lamb is good! I didn't grow up eating it, but enjoyed what I sampled there. Funny part is that dh, who'd not wanted to go, is now talking about going next year just for the food! (Guess he liked the lamb, too!)


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## Ronney (Nov 26, 2004)

Hi Lora,
Philip has pretty much answered your question. We loosely use the term "mutton" over here to describe all sheep meat but in actual fact it should only be applied to sheep that are older than hoggets.

The reason that some of your meat may be darker is that when it comes to sending lambs to the works, an animal that is nearly a year old but still has it's baby teeth is still counted as a lamb. This is important to the supplier as lambs bring in more money than hoggets or mutton Also, as Philip as pointed out, the type of grass it has been eating will influence meat colour and, like your country, grass types vary for different parts of the country.

Like Philip, I too prefer hogget as it's got a bit of flavour and got past the bland taste of lamb. I'm also partial to older sheep although the cooking has to be a bit slower.

I'm not the best person to ask about cooking. For the most part our sheep are cut into roasts and chops. I grill the chops and roasts are salted, bunged into the oven with a dollop of dripping and left to cook while I go off and milk cows, feed pigs, do lambing beats etc. etc. etc. When I finally get back to the house the meat is hopefully cooked, I drain off most of the dripping and roast potatoes, kumera, parsnip and pumpkin, make a gravy and serve with mint sauce. It always tastes good and nobody complains so I must do something right. But overall, sheep meat can be used in much the same way as beef and used as mince, for casseroleing (neck chops are beautiful when casseroled), roasting, grilling, BBQ'ing, it lends itself to marinating and the flaps make good marinated spare ribs. A good butcher will be able to take schnitzel, medalion and butterfly steaks.

PS, where abouts in NZ are you Philip?

Cheers,
Ronnie


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## backachersfarm (Jun 14, 2005)

We raise our lambs mostly on grass here at our place, but we are a very small farm. We feed the ewes a little feed while they are lactating the first couple of weeks. Most of the lambs will dive into the trough while it is available. As soon as pasture is availble, it is grass all the way. Having done this a few different ways, I feel what they eat has more to do with how they taste than what breed they are. We were always tole Romneys had a mild taste, but I cant' tell any difference between the romneys we put in the freezer and the cheviots. I know that sincewe went to all grass, the packer we use has given me a much smaller bag of fat when we pick the meat up. We put a hogget in the freezer most yrs. If one of the ewe lambs I kept back doesn't mature out the way I had hoped, she is a prime candidate. I was told buy a buyer that if they had thier first set of teeth, their lamb days were over. Sheep replace 2 baby teeth with 2 adult teeth each yr...as a rule. 

We use our lamb/mutton just like anyone would use beef. A person just needs to forget what kind of meat it is and just deal with the fact that it is meat. We sell a lot of lambs to private customers. A lot of them are paranoid about the fact that it is lamb and they have never cooked it before. But they really want to. I just tell them to get their beef recepies out and cook accordingly. We also have handouts supplied by the lamb board here in the U.S. that you can give customers. They have recipes in them.

Sharon


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## Vere My Sone (Mar 10, 2005)

arhillbilly said:


> But I have a milk cow that is giving lots of milk and I was wondering about getting a couple of lambs and growing them off.


You might want to check with someone more knowledgable tham me about whether you can raise lambs on cow milk. There's definately a difference in fat content, probably other differences as well.


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## redroving (Sep 28, 2005)

quiet mountain farmer said:


> We raise Barbados Blackbelly sheep for the table. We have eaten rams up to nearly two years old, and they were just as tender and tasty as the younger lambs. Ground lamb is very versatile.
> 
> The sheep I raise can be eaten as lamb or mutton. I prefer 4 or 5 year old ewes for larger portions. Our young lambs are just too mild flavored so the older the more flavor (not muttony). It can be eaten cold. The flavor almost tastes like sweet beef. I had a 5 year old ram and wether made into summer sausage and had someone complain that it did not taste like lamb (or mutton) at all, couldn't tell it from beef.
> We prefer the shoulder roasts, chops, shanks and leg of lamb and the rest into burger. We love to throw chops on the BBQ and most definitely pink or rare.
> A friend of ours takes a butterfly leg of lamb and puts it under the broiler 10 minutes a side and 10 minutes rest and it is served, I would call that a nice fast meal in 30 minutes.


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## Philip (Sep 26, 2005)

We're in sunny Nelson. I raise mainly Wiltshires, but have a few Dorsets which will migrate to the freezer once their lambs are weaned as it is a real pain getting a shearer in for half a dozen sheep, and they're always the only ones to get flystrike, so it'll be all over rover for them in the new year


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## Lora (Sep 19, 2005)

Thanks, guys for the info. I don't hardly buy sheep from the store, I like my hair sheep meat so much. 

When we go out west, we make sure we stop in at Sweet Meats, on the Navajo reservation in New Mexico. It is the oldest continually operating private-ly owned sheep butcher shop in the counrty (or at least that's what the sign says).

Randall (my husband) buys cooked Navajo Mutton ribs. He loves the flavor - says they go perfectly with Heineken - but they are GREASY!!! (yuk)

I enjoy getting cooking tips from all over. Thanks for yours.

And, yes, I believe that the lamb that is sold here in Texas probably is yearling or maybe a bit older. Here, an animal can be classed as 'lamb' if it was less than 18 months old when butchered.

Here is one way I tried not long ago:

I mixed spices and herbs with margerine (oleo). I used sage, parsley, garlic, and a regional mix called Adobo. Then I smeared the lamb all over with this stuff, and kept it in the fridge covered for 2 days (I kept meaning to cook them but kept running out of time  ). Then we cooked it on the grill, over mesquite wood.

Goodness gracious, I thought I'd died and went to meateaters heaven! Fork-tender, flavorful, you name it, was perfect...

Thanks again
L


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## Ronney (Nov 26, 2004)

Hi Lora,
Your very welcome - not that I passed on what could be considered a lot of use to you. Your "put it in the fridge and forget it" policy is strangely enough probably one of the best ways to treat meat. 

Philip, your quite some way from me then. I'm in the equally sunny Far North where running sheep can be hard work due to heat and humidity. I run 25 ewes of mixed ancestry but mainly Romney although some of my older ewes still have a fair amount of Border Leicster in them. Also breed pigs and milk 6 cows 12 months of the year to feed the pigs. Do you visit the NZ farming website.

Cheers,
Ronnie


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## Philip (Sep 26, 2005)

Ahh, the Far North - I'm a Whangarei boy, so know it well - could never go back though (my in-law's still live there !)
We decided on Wiltshires when we lived in Perth, WA (- as in Western Australia, not the US !) and they are a very popular breed in the Royal Show. I'm very partial to the self-shedding/easy care aspect of Wiltshires, so this year we'll cull out the few Dorsets we have. We have both polled and horned varieties, but I'll concentrate on the latter in future - very useful as handles when you have them in the yards !
Also keep a few jersey cows which we AI with Lowline semen - very easy calving and they grow fast to slaughter weight
We're also trying to breed Partridges as a commercial enterprise, but as you know, they're an unknown breed in NZ and its going to take a few years yet to get to commercial quantities

By the NZ farming website, do you mean lifestyleblock.co.nz ?


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## Ronney (Nov 26, 2004)

Hi Philip,
I'm still old fashioned enough to prefer the woolley sheep and I guess that comes of too many years of living on large stations that bred for wool and meat.

If your from Whangarei, that's not too far from my neck of the woods - we're about 20kms south of Kaitaia. I'm a South Islander born but would never go back there to live - too bloody cold - nor is the fishing as good  

Yes, I did mean LSB but didn't want to say as much as I understood that it is bad mana to list another web site of similar nature. So do you subscribe - I feel that you do but can't work out which one you are. 

Partridges, Mmm. They were introduced here along with pheasant and mallard but for some reason didn't do well in the natural state and eventually died out. It's hard to say how they will do commercially in terms of demand but with a wider cultural base I don't see why they shouldn't do well. I would be interested to know how it goes for you. 

Cheer,
Ronnie


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## Philip (Sep 26, 2005)

Ronnie - yes, I'm on LSB as Nelsun, but haven't been on in ages, I must see if I can remember my password and have a browse. What's your signon ?


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## Ronney (Nov 26, 2004)

Hi Philip,
I see you remembered your password :clap: I am less than imaginative so just use Ronnie or Ronney.

Cheers,
Ronnie


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## Tweetybird (Oct 15, 2005)

I looooooovvvve lamb and mutton. It is so good. I cook it several different ways. If it is a leg of lamb or some kind of lamb roast, I will put The adobo, salt and pepper, and rosemary leaves on it. The rosemary is better if it fresh, but dried is still good. I roast it unil it is well done, and serve with roast potaoes, carrots, andonoins. What is even better better than onions, is sliced leeks (Welch onions). As a condiment on the lamb is mint suace. That is easily made of chopped mint leaves vinigar and a little sugar. You can also use mint jelly, but I think sauce is better. It makes a wooondddddeeerrrffffuulll sunday dinner. Some nice Engish triffle or apple pie for dessert tops a fine dinner off. Enjoy!!!


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## Becky H. (Jun 30, 2004)

I had rack of lamb twice in my life. Loved it both times, most recently less than a week ago. Expensive dish at restaurants. The last time it was "breaded" with herbs. Here's a link with recipes!

http://www.bartleby.com/87/0013.html


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## Ranchermom (Oct 25, 2005)

I love the barbado meat the mutton as someone said in here is inquired taste. Its a lot stronger, goat is the same way. I just don't like the smell of it I had an uncle for years that tried to trick me into eating the meat at the family picnics but I could smell it hahaha. A lot of people love the goat meat I guess its also an inquired taste.  Love the goat milk though!

Sam


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## phxaz (Aug 23, 2015)

arhillbilly said:


> I don't want to offend anyone by that question. We have goats as pets and we could not eat them. But I have a milk cow that is giving lots of milk and I was wondering about getting a couple of lambs and growing them off. But we have never ate any of the meat. Can someone tell me if it would be worth it? What is the meat like? We always grow our own pork and beef but we thought we might try this.


I am bumping this than create a new thread- speaking of meat sheep, in Morocco that's their meat of choice: mutton. 40 % of the population is in agriculture - what the US was some time ago! Speaking from personal experience, the mutton in Morocco does not have that tell-tale "lamb" odor and taste we are used to in US, it could be from the food the sheep eat, or the way they are killed, I am not sure- but the taste is nothing as strong as the NZ lamb we get at the grocery stores here. I am posting a couple of photos of the very rare Sardi sheep- that is the typical breed in Morocco, there are not imports like we have here, 99% of all sheep in Morocco are Moroccan specific breeds. Impressive. When you get McDonalds or pizza in Morocco, you will be getting mutton. 








As you can see in the photo, farm animals are kept indoors and not outside in pens or even covered stalls. They say it is to protect the valuable animals from predators, but honestly I am unsure if Morocco has had any predators since the last Atlas lion was killed about 80 or more yrs ago. It is probably just custom, and a way to keep the animals nearby where they can be jealously guarded and kept warm and safe. All farm country village Moroccan houses have their room for the animals, even for the noisy mules. The "room" is just like any other bedroom in the house with a floor, roof, but usually only 3 sided, or sided on all four walls but with a much larger door way for beasts to exit and enter. 

Moroccan sheepherders can make a nice living on their sheep alone, Morocco depends on the sheep for most of their meat consumption. Every year for Eid all traditional families buy one male ram, costing up to 400$ in USD, for the Abrahamic tradition of the sacrificial lamb. No matter how poor a family is, they must buy one ram. Even companies lend money for one sheep to their workers allowing a no-interest loan to be paid back over ten installments. 

I haven't copy or pasted any of this, so if I am wrong on anything don't blame wikipedia or anyone else, it is all my own information and experience. The only thing I had to look up was the information on the percentage of sheep breeds in Morocco, and I put that in my own words too.

Oh! forgot one thing: sheep dogs are used in Morocco and the sheep herders use whistle sounds to guide the dogs just like they do in other countries. The sheep herding is done the same way its been done since before Christ' time. The people even dress the same way they have been for hundreds of years, and private wells are still dug and water brought up manually just like here in US over a hundred years ago. 

I wonder what sort of traits we could breed into our sheep if we could import one of these meat breeds and cross with some of our popular breeds?

*for pictures of "Sardi" sheep, just click on the hyperlink, this uploader is wonky and will not let me post pictures properly. These pictures are of my cousin's sheep he just bought recently. One sheep cost around 80$ in US money, the other was around 120. I do not know what type of greenery that is hanging for them to eat in the photo, sorry!*


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