# When to butcher lambs



## TRAILRIDER

Even though hubby thinks I can't do it....I will probably be getting a couple of Border Leicester bottle lambs in the spring. if they are ewe lambs I'll raise them up. However if they are ram lambs they will be going in our freezer. What is a good age to butcher or do you just wait until thier weight is about where you want them? They will be born in early April, so I was hoping that feeding them well will let me butcher in late fall.


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## goodhors

The main point on butchering is to get them done before they get adult teeth. Our family does not like the taste of SHEEP, but LAMBS are great tasting. Not sure what the adult teeth coming in does to the taste, but sheep meat is like chewing candles, nasty. Could be that we never ate Mutton as kids, to like the flavor. We did eat Lamb regularly, like the flavor. Though arguing with some UK friends, they DISLIKE eating anything butchered under a year old!! 

For such late babies, Fall would probably work fine. We have done some lambs at 9-10 months, to get them larger weights, still tasted excellent. We graze the lambs, just grain them to keep them coming when called, since I barn them at night in this suburban area. Too big a chance of loose dogs running that might hurt them.

I would suggest you band them too. Removes the chance of hormones to flavor the meat, keeps the lambs "less" aggressive than Rams might be. Sheep bunt each other for herd status, but you don't want them bunting you. Always scratch the cheeks and UNDER the jaw, NEVER on the top of head or faces. Seems to incite them to bunting harder! Some folks never band their lambs, but I want no chance of anything flavoring the meat since husband is VERY picky on flavors. Band as soon as possible, make sure you get both testicles below the band. Early banding in the season, greatly reduces fly infection problems. Wethers DO gain weight easier and grow faster, than ewe or ram lambs, without any supplemental feeding. Seems the hormones slow growth down some. 

We always had meat breeds, so they were big. Not sure what kind of weight goal you would have on BL lambs. I wanted our wethers weighing in at 150# live, at the least, before processing. A couple went heavier than that when we couldn't get a date right away at the processor's. Again, they were just grazed, very little grain and gained very well. At these larger sizes, the cuts of meat are good sizes for a meal. No quarter size lamb chops here!

You can shear the lambs before processing them if you like. BL's have nice wool to play with on projects.


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## birchtreefarm

Flavor has a lot to do with breed, and less to do with age, although lamb is typically mildest even in stronger tasting breeds; sometimes you really can't tell the difference if the breed is known for mild flavor, like Icelandic, for example. We've eaten 4 year old ewe that didn't taste noticeably different from lamb, but the cuts and roasts were bigger.

We've had 4 year old ram turned into sausage that you wouldn't know was ram unless I told you.

Adult teeth coming in do nothing to the taste. I've actually never heard that used as a cutoff, but it just has to do with age, and the idea that mutton tastes awful, so if they have their adult teeth they are too old to eat. Again, it depends on the breed more than anything.

What I would do is ask the person you plan to get lambs from if they have any chops or plain ground meat you can buy to try. If you like the taste, then get that breed. If you don't, try something else.

When to butcher is basically when they are the size you want. If you do get ram lambs I would band them - they'll be nicer to have around as wethers and won't get all hormonal and want to bash things like each other, your fencing, or you.


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## Callieslamb

And if you don't use the fiber.....offer it for sale here.


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## Ross

Flavour and finish has everything to do with feeding. Breed is a minor contributor. A fine wool reed will not finish like a meat breed meat wise so consider how you will feed it. There are basically 2 types of "finished" lamb. Light and heavy. You won't get a Leicester lamb to finish light, it will need to be fed out later. Honestly the wool will be worth more than the meat. But sure you CAN finish a Leicester for the table. As a bottle lamb get jr to eat grains from day one. Start with rolled oats (YES I HAVE USED OATMEAL FOR THE KITCHEN) and work up to cracked and whole grains. All lambs grow the fastest and best on the first 3 or 4 months of life, they convert feed stuffs the best then. So feed for growth, nail them with a hot 18-21% protein creep feed ration and build them up to free choice eating. Keep on mind you are weakening their kidneys extremely if they live past a year to try and become 3 year old adults. No issues as lambs, they won't suffer eating a hot ration. Get them gone by 8 months as fin(er) wool breeds never finish as well as the carpet wool breeds. They pack on fat and have other issues. Vaccinate vaccinate vaccinate!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! No kidding get them vaccinated!


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## Barn Yarns

I disagree that breed has little to do with flavor. The last lamb I butchered was 4 years of age. I currently have a 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 year old that will be going to freezer camp this winter, along with 3 or 4 of this years babys. 

There are folks out there that can tell you the breed that they are eating. I think if you are in the biz long enough, you should be able to. 

My breed is very mild and i can tell the differences in age. only real flavor change was in a ram that had been in the breeding pen, but he was a youngster. 

a grain fed sheep is going to taste different than one that is grass fed. same goes for goats, beef, pork, venison.... etc. 

Id suggest that you should ask who you are getting your Leisters from as to when they butcher and what they feed. 

I myself shoot for the 9-12 month bracket as its still 'lamb' that I am selling. if I keep one for my own freezer, then it might be older. of course... they get older when the freezer is full, too.


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## goodhors

Sorry, any sheep, any breed, that is over a year old is an adult sheep. Not lamb by any kind of figuring. They have their "adult" teeth. 

Western Lamb, sold in grocery stores under that title, is a special "classification" of sheep for selling commercially in the market. Those western States can't raise their lamb to butcher weight of 130 pounds in one year, it takes them two years to get there. So they are allowed to sell SHEEP two years old, under this misleading title of "Western Lamb". If you accidently get some at the store, you CAN TELL it is not actually lamb by the taste. Back to that nasty candle flavor again, because you are eating adult animals by their age. We ended up feeding what I bought to the dogs, inedible to us people with that flavor and texture. That was when I found out about that trick name for older sheep. This was way back before we raised our own lambs to eat.

I have eaten a variety of sheep breed lambs, but don't find any taste differences between them. I do believe it is the food they eat which makes flavor differences, rather than breeds, IF the animals are under that one year age.

We always have a quantity of lamb in the freezer, serve it often when company comes. We have never had a negative comment on the flavor of the meat. We get the compliments on the food, then the question about "What kind of meat was that?" They are always shocked to find they ate lamb, almost never have had lamb that tastes that good! Husband is a good cook, is careful cooking lamb to never overcook it. Meat is NEVER dry, whatever cut he is serving.

So in our experience, breed has nothing to do with flavor, though animal age and feed they ate, will influence that flavor.

As mentioned, find out what size is reasonable for the breed you plan to eat. We had some very small lambs for DD the first year she showed 4-H, Dorset crosses. The seller said that lambs would be fully ready to process when they got to 100-110 pounds. If the lambs got heavier than that, it was money wasted because all the food would be going into fat layers. They just would be small market lambs, from small breeds. It worked out well for DD, perfect size for a small child aged 11yrs. She could manage them herself, Judge made good comments on their condition, NOT being overly fat for size and breeds.

A number of breeds just don't get that large when finished, ready to be processed. You have to know your breeds, know where the lambs will finish growing, so you are not wasting money feeding finished lambs extra, keeping them longer than you need to. That would be poor economics, making your lamb cost you more per pound than needed. Lambs are one of your most economical meats in return product meat, to cost of raising them to market weights. However starting with little breeds, they just won't ever return as much meat as the larger breeds are able to. Limited in size by their genetics.

We were trying to get our lambs grown fast and as cheap as possible. So pushing the feed was going to cost us more than grass feeding them would. We have to buy lamb pellets, grain in quantity and that cuts into the profit margin when selling project lambs at Fair. Grass is well managed for the horses already, lambs graze what horses don't eat, so are really almost free to feed on that grass. Lambs we sold, got complimented by buyers later to DD on their good flavor when eaten.


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## Ross

No 4 year old is a lamb. Judging by teeth development is a good method but really anything much over 18 months will take on a mutton flavour. Most hair breeds are an exception but its still mutton. Just good mutton!  

The feeds that can impart a sharper flavour include wheat, brewers shorts, and of course (if you can still buy it) animal feeds with fish meal in it! There are others too. Grass fed over a lamb fed a high protein, corn oat barley mix......?? Maybe a little different. Nothing to get very excited about. Cheaper? Depends on predation losses, buying in bulk or growing the grains etc. Find what works for you. Regardless pasture feeding still makes vaccination advisable.


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