# Ram lambs: to cut or not to cut



## notasnowballs (Dec 28, 2010)

I only have two ewes, and I breed them every year. I keep them for wool, and someday I'll get brave enough to butcher one of those lambs. This is my second year of lambs and they are TOO CUTE. Other than making sure a ram lamb doesn't boink his mommy and sisters.... why do we castrate them? 

I ask because last year we did tail docking and castrating by the knife method, simply because of cost and the supposed simplicity of it. It was done and over quick, but the inside of my bathroom looked like the Texas Chainsaw Massacre! So... this year I'm looking at banding, or... not doing anything at all!

If I sell or eat this lamb, which I only have one and it's likely I'll do... really what's the point? He is a cross breed, Romney cross mother with a really good Columbia father. He's a big boy already, so will be a good meat lamb, but not much else. 

Oh, and as far as shearing, I cut the hair off the sheep's rear often anyways because I just hate having gross poop and stuff on there to deal with, so I'm always giving a trim. So that's not a big deal for me because we only have a few. 

Does having their family jewels give the meat a funky taste? Why else do we castrate besides the sexual maturity issue? Stupid question, but I gotta ask.


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## zephyrcreek (Mar 30, 2012)

It can intensify the strong lamb flavor if they are not castrated, depending on the age they are butchered. Banding is so easy my lambs never even make a peep. It also makes life so much easier. Why worry about keeping everyone seperated if I do not need to.


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## notasnowballs (Dec 28, 2010)

At what point is too late to band them then? I may not be able to get to it until later.


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## Ross (May 9, 2002)

If the ring can't slip over easily its too late.


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## zephyrcreek (Mar 30, 2012)

The younger you do it the easier it is on them. The suggested time is 3-10 days. I waited until 2-3 weeks this year because we had such severe weather. I banded a goat at 5-6 months last year. Unfortunately he learned many buck type behaviors before I was able to band him. It was a very frustrating situation. In fact I was talking to hubby today about butchering the goat. It's just not worth the hassle of keeping him. He should have been banded much earlier, but he was not in my care at that time.


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## MDKatie (Dec 13, 2010)

I like to dock by band around a week old. Any younger and I personally feel it's too hard on them. I don't want to risk them not nursing or having a hard time because of the pain of docking. 

Castrating, I like to wait until at least 8 weeks if I'm banding. Cutting I would do it younger, like 2 weeks max. Although if I have ram lambs born now they're likely for the freezer, so I dont' band. Our 13 mo old Romney ram was delicious. Our 11 month old Southdown rams were also delicious. :goodjob: And the 11 month old Southdowns were in with their mother and sisters and never bred any of them (they were in with them from birth until I put the ram in to breed the ewes around mid-September..minus about 2 mos when I weaned them). Any longer than that and they probably would have bred the girls.


And if you cut again, do it outside!


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## Maura (Jun 6, 2004)

I kept one ram lamb because he had really nice fleece. Had him wethered at four months. The rams I am going to eat I don't wether because a wether will not muscle up as much as a ram. The rams I sold I did not wether and they went on to become studs. 

If you butcher them around a year old they should not be strong tasting. It also depends on the breed. Some breeds are so mild tasting that you'd want to wait a little longer.


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## farmerDale (Jan 8, 2011)

Some breeds are more prolific as well, and my 7 month old ram lamb did an admirable job breeding my ewes this winter. 

I use rings, the sooner the better. Unless you like chasing young lambs!!! lol


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## Barn Yarns (Oct 7, 2012)

i use a bander. i had one that I waited to like 6 months, but boy was it a battle!  I usually tag and band the same day, so by mid May, ive got it done if im going to do it. This year, tho all my rams will be banded. 
I do currently have a 5 yr old intact ram hanging to be turned into hamberger. I pretty much have waited the winter on him to loose his 'musky' smell from breeding. We have eaten an 18 month old intact ram that had bred and it had a little more flavor to it than the 12 month old wether that we butchered the same day.


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## BobDFL (Jul 7, 2006)

I usually band sometime after the second C/D&T shot and I'm sure the testicles have dropped fully. 

I prefer to band any ram that won't be used for eventual breeding, since it makes them much easier to handle later one. I have been told to not castrate because of the ethnic market but I've never had anyone care that bought one for meat.


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## goodhors (Sep 6, 2011)

We band them so they grow better, don't develop ram behaviour. We have seen the wethers gain weight faster than both the ewe and ram lambs, be at market weights quicker. I expect wether growth advantage is because there is no homones directing growth into male and female development for breeding later. Our wethers had plenty of meat on them, but evenly distributed, not masculine like a ram is. We exercised them with big field grazing, had plenty of muscles for the meat.

The ewe lamb purchased with 2 wethers was clearly the biggest of the three by a good margin, but was WAY behind in size by the end of 4 months. All fed and exercised together. The wethers went to Fair, made good weights in Market Lamb. She stayed home, too small take. She did grow, just took her lots longer to make weight for processing.


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## houndlover (Feb 20, 2009)

I no longer castrate my ram lambs. I separate them from the ewes in June when mine start cycling for the year, and they're either sold as meat lambs or rams for someone else. I find that in my area, it's much easier to sell uncastrated grass fed lambs to ethnic customers. I have been keeping records for many years, and my growth rates are the same for whethers and rams, and I've never noticed any flavoring problem, but again, they're all slaughtered by 8-9 months of age and not kept here.


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## mekasmom (Jan 19, 2010)

notasnowballs said:


> Does having their family jewels give the meat a funky taste? Why else do we castrate besides the sexual maturity issue? Stupid question, but I gotta ask.


Castration is done to prevent a nasty taste in animals you plan to eat. I think it is best when done young because in older animals, even if you wait a period of time to butcher past castration, they still taste nasty IMO.


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