# lamb vs mutton



## uarelovedbygod (Nov 1, 2003)

At what age does sheep meat stop being "lamb" and become "mutton"? And is there any difference to the two types of meat beside toughness? Do the two taste the same?

Thanks!


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## Maura (Jun 6, 2004)

Techinicly, it is lamb until one year of age. We have butchered after the one year mark with no regrets. Even the five year old ram was tender, or I should say most of the meat was. The ewes are not going to be tough. Well, a really old animal is naturally going to be tough, make burger out of him. Our sheep are on pasture all summer, hay all winter with a little grain if the girls are pregnant. The taste is going to be dependent on breed and to some extent what they eat. You also have to know how to cook it. If your lamb/mutton is low fat (pastured usually are), you need to cook it like game (slow and moist cooking). Although, I always pan fried the chops.


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## Lazy J (Jan 2, 2008)

Actually the differentiation occurs at slaughter. A lamb will lose the 'spool joint' while a mutton will retain it.

Typically the one year mark or the presence of milk teeth is the differentiation.

Jim


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## Ronney (Nov 26, 2004)

Traditionally a lamb remains a lamb until the first lamb of the next season hits the grounds at which point it becomes a hogget i.e. a year old. Sometime in the following months it will cut it's first set of permanant teeth and will be known as a 2th and is a R2 year old. The following year it will cut it's next set of permanant teeth and will be classified as mutton.

Yes, the taste does change. By the time it is a 2th or mutton it is mature and has lost the insipid wishy-washy taste of lamb. Most rural NZ'ers don't eat lamb and would much prefer a 2th which is tender and has some flavour.

Maura, it's a fallacy that pastured sheep don't put down fat because they definately do and I've a paddock full of little tubbies that are to go to the works next week along with some older sheep that are so fat they are only fit for sausages. My sheep have never seen grain in their lives, are pastured 12 months of the year and spurn hay. While I recognise that it isn't always possible to pasture all year round in parts of the States, it is possible to finish sheep on pasture alone and have a good covering of fat.

Cheers,
Ronnie


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## o&itw (Dec 19, 2008)

. 

I had mutton before I was "conditioned" by society to not like it. I like it as well or better than lamb, and don't really understand what taste there is to it that people object to..... Of course.. you couldn't get me within 10 feet of mint jelly... so maybe I'm just weird.


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## mistletoad (Apr 17, 2003)

o&itw said:


> Of course.. you couldn't get me within 10 feet of mint jelly... so maybe I'm just weird.


I love mint sauce and my grandmother's mint jelly, but that vile green stuff in the grocery store ought to be called jellied mouth wash!


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## Maura (Jun 6, 2004)

Here, if you want fat on your meat you grain the animal. Some people keep them on pasture until a month or more of the butchering, and put them on grain to fatten them. I can see where growing animals with no subzero weather and nice pasture all year you would end up with fat animals.


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## cathleenc (Aug 16, 2007)

Maura said:


> Here, if you want fat on your meat you grain the animal. Some people keep them on pasture until a month or more of the butchering, and put them on grain to fatten them. I can see where growing animals with no subzero weather and nice pasture all year you would end up with fat animals.



not so. I was just yelled at by our shearer for how fat our ram is. Never seen a speck of grain in his life - and he's a tub. All the sheep were in great to overconditioned state - all hay or grass, no grain.

I'm guessing the quality of hay plays a big role.


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## catahoula (Dec 14, 2005)

It might also depend on the breed of sheep, our Icelandics do fine on grass in the warmer months and hay in the winter. When I say "do fine" I mean grow lambs, make milk, and get fat. Other breeds may not be as assertive as Icelandics and may need some grain to supplement their diet, I don't know.


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