[Jacob-list] Jacob-list Digest, Vol 98, Issue 18

[Zach Oaster]

My personal experience is that the meat from my unaltered 1.25 year old ram
lambs has been over the top delicious without a hint of "gaminess" (as
chefs like to call the flavor of muttony sheep and old buck venison meat).
I butchered a shetland ram that was between 2 and 3 years old last year and
had a similar outcome... delicious meat, not any noticeable unwelcome
flavor.

I have had commercial lamb from the supermarket that has tasted far gamier
(muttony) than I'd prefer... and I've been a hunter since I was age 14
eating whatever deer I shot (including old bucks that weren't "tasty")...
so I know what I'm looking for in terms of flavor, and I've been nothing
but super happy with my Jacob sheep meat. I've never done any castrating
simply because I wanted to wait till the boys were big enough to evaluate
for breeding stock, and since that is 6 months, that is plenty old to be
castrating (and isn't ethical at that age in my opinion without vet
assistance -- $$$$$).

I know I'm sounding like an advertisement, but I think Jacobs along with
other smaller breeds of sheep have a leg up on commercial lamb in regard to
flavor. I don't have a direct biological explanation to offer (maybe fewer
growth hormones naturally coursing through their veins?) but
my palate never lies. My next experiment is to buy some old retired Jacob
ram and see if the meat is still palatable... I suspect it is.

^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^
Zach Oaster
zach at fattoaster.com
^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^
Visit Zach & Lindsay's farm blog: http://www.fattoasterfarm.com
^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^



On Fri, Jun 22, 2012 at 8:05 PM, Christi Churchill <buddhababi at gmail.com>wrote:


> If butchering is planned, wouldn't NOT banding him reduce the taste

> quality of the meat?  Curious because we have one whose testicles did not

> drop until he was 5 weeks old.  They have dropped now, but I'd rather not

> band him as long as the meat will be OK.

>

> Christi

>

>

> On Fri, Jun 22, 2012 at 12:48 PM, Carl Fosbrink <fourhornfarm at frontier.com

> > wrote:

>

>> My question is what do you intend to do with this ram that you think he

>> needs his scrotum banded? Do you intend to keep him for wool or have him

>> butchered at a later date or sell him? Banding a ram's scrotum at a year of

>> age is a dig deal and would be costly to have it done properly.

>>

>> ------------------------------**--------------------

>> From: "G & J Johnston" <westergladstone at btinternet.**com<westergladstone at btinternet.com>

>> >

>> Sent: Tuesday, June 19, 2012 6:27 PM

>>

>> To: <jacob-list at jacobsheep.com>

>> Subject: Re: [Jacob-list] Jacob-list Digest, Vol 98, Issue 18

>>

>>  May I throw into the discussion the fact that here in Great Britain,

>>> banding

>>> is not allowed after seven days of age.  This can sometimes be almost

>>> impossible to stick to with hill flocks or with very small sheep such as

>>> Soay.

>>>

>>> Juliet

>>>

>>> www.scothebs.co.uk

>>>

>>>

>>> ______________________________**_________________

>>> Jacob-list mailing list, sponsored by Swallow Lane Farm & Fiberworks

>>> Jacob-list at jacobsheep.com

>>> http://www.pairlist.net/**mailman/listinfo/jacob-list<http://www.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/jacob-list>

>>>

>>

>> ______________________________**_________________

>> Jacob-list mailing list, sponsored by Swallow Lane Farm & Fiberworks

>> Jacob-list at jacobsheep.com

>> http://www.pairlist.net/**mailman/listinfo/jacob-list<http://www.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/jacob-list>

>>

>

>

> _______________________________________________

> Jacob-list mailing list, sponsored by Swallow Lane Farm & Fiberworks

> Jacob-list at jacobsheep.com

> http://www.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/jacob-list

>

>

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://www.pairlist.net/pipermail/jacob-list/attachments/20120622/8dcba7f4/attachment.htm>