[Jacob-list] dress out weights

[Linda]

We currently have in our freezer a four year old ram, a five year old ewe, a four year old ewe and a five month old ram lamb. Last evening's grilled 5 year old ewe chops were excellent.  The four year old ram has no gamy taste.  The only difference between ground old ram and ground beef is that this ground old ram has hardly any fat.  The ram has never been grained.  Our rams that have been grained do have some fat - but still haven't been gamy. We have brought quite a few adult rams into the cold dark barn.  The only off taste sheep we ever had was a 7 month old ewe lamb.  I still don't quite know what was different with that one, but I fed it to the dogs.

Dress out percentages on horned sheep vary alot depending on the age and sex of our horned breed.  I read an interesting study about dress out percentages on rabbits back when I raised alot of rabbits.  The rather expensive study came to the conclusion that if feed and water were withheld from a rabbit for 36 hours prior to butchering the dress out percentage was higher.  The actual weight of the meat was the same, but since the digestive system was empty, the percentage was higher.  Hope the study wasn't funded with my tax money :-)

Dress out percentage on a four year ram with massive horns is going to be alot lower than the dress out on a four month old ram lamb.  That head weighs alot.

On adult sheep (excepting grown rams) we get about 40%.

Linda
 
www.patchworkfibers.com
Registered Jacob Sheep, Angora Rabbits, Handspun Yarn

>
> is 50% really good for sheep? that sounds really high, for our boer
> goats we got 40% and they said that was high.  what do the meat
> sheep breeds dress out as?
>
> so does anyone winter their freezer meat down where there is grass
> year round? anyone know what meat is like from a 1 1/2 old animal.
>
> Thanks steve and trish
>
>> From: "Steve and Trish Barrows"
>> To: "Tom and Judy Riddolls"
>> Subject: Re: [Jacob-list] dress out weights Date: Fri, 14 Jul
>> 2006 15:54:25 -0400
>>
>> Hi Tom,  I can tell you that our March lambs average about 65
>> pounds on the hoof, live weight, by October 10th, and dress out
>> about 50% processed meat. We'll get about 32-33 lbs back from the
>> butcher.  Our ram lambs right now are about 35-40 lbs, and the
>> ewes are a bit smaller.  I hope this helps! Steve and Trish
>> Barrows Amazing Grace Farm
>>
>>
>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Tom and Judy Riddolls"
>> To:
>> Sent: Friday, July 14, 2006 11:11 AM Subject: [Jacob-list] dress
>> out weights
>>
>>
>>> so i have four big lambs growing fast and had some general
>>> questions about expected weights.  I don't grain my lambs at
>>> all.  I grain the mothers a little as the two month old lambs
>>> are still nursing some.  I have no interest in processing them
>>> early and would rather wait.  I was mentioned earlier that in
>>> the UK they let the grass fed lambs go a year or more, what
>>> does this do to the meat? we like the sounds of low fat (i
>>> assume grass fed will be lowest in fat??) but i don't want the
>>> meat shop to say it is too strong tasting or tough.  Also i
>>> have two "flocks" two girls that are the same size (they most
>>> be pushing 120 lbs) and three young ewes i just got from a
>>> flock that has adults hardly topping 80.
>>>
>>> what size lamb can i expect from a small ewe after a reasonable
>>> maturation time
>>>
>>> Also what is the average dress-out ratio with jacobs? i assume
>>> it is less than 40%?
>>>
>>> thanks
>>> Tom
>>>
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>
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