No offense, but those weights seem light to me. But I wouldn't pay too much attention to the weight myself. I tend to favor butchering after 6 months and before 12 months. Afte 6 months so they can get some size and before 12 months so they are still lambs. Another timing consideration is how much meat is in your freezer. If you want to wait after a year, you can get yearling mutton or plain old mutton. Then make sure your butcher hangs the meat from the aitch bone during aging versus the hock. That will make the meat tenderer. Texas A&M did a study hanging mutton that way and they got mutton that resembled lamb in tenderness.
As getting them to table, it took me about an hour to butcher my first lamb. He went right on the spit. Which was a mistake. I should have cooled the meat at least overnight, so he ended up being a bit tough. > >Message: 2 >From: "m.yarosky" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Date: Sat, 7 Feb 2004 08:52:44 -0600 >Subject: [blackbelly] Slaughtering >Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > >Hi, >I have a small herd of 24 blackbellied sheep. There are 3 Rams which are = >now 11 to 12 months old and one weighs about 50 pounds and two others = >(from twins) weigh about 45 pounds. >My question is when is the best weight or optimum weight that they will = >grow ; and when would the best time for getting them prepared for the = >dinner table be?! >Looking forward to feedback on this. >Thanks, >M. Yarosky, >Sunny Slope Farm > =============================================== This message is from the Barbados Blackbelly Sheep mailing list (http://www.awrittenword.com/listserv/index.html). To respond to this message, send e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe or change your membership options, go to http://lists.coyotenet.net/mailman/listinfo/blackbelly To search the archives, go to http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
