I was watching a show about herding dogs this weekend, and it occurred to me that there are ALOT of sheep in this world. Every single sheep dog tv show i’ve seen is set in England or Australia. Where there are alot of sheep.
There are indeed sheep dogs in America. I have seen live trials here. So surely there’s a good number of sheep in the US.
But I have NEVER eaten sheep, except once in a fancy restaurant somewhere - and that was lamb. Not sure if even the gyros I’ve eaten had actual lamb meat.
So there’s a billion sheep in the world. We use them for wool. But do they get “totally” used - wool, meat, hooves and all? Each sheep?
Is lamb or sheep a common ingredient in any American “meat product” like hot dogs or olive loaf? Dog food? (I have a feeling it’s just a special ingredient in some dog foods, not a standard one)
Older sheep don’t qualify to be “lamb” meat do they? So do people eat older sheep meat?
Who is eating all this sheep meat?
(please, no Hal Briston jokes. He’s suffered enough!)
Lamb isn’t really a terribly exotic food. Yes, there are some dog foods that contain it. But I can go to any supermarket in town and find lamb in the meat dept. It’s not the most popular meat in America, but it’s not unknown.
As far as I understand it, some sheep are grown to adulthood for wool and breeding and others are sold young for lamb.
Most livestock animals can provide meat on a one-time-only basis, as well as provide other products on an ongoing basis, such as wool, milk, or eggs. Perhaps sheep are more valuable as wool producers than they are as meat animals; on the other hand, that doesn’t account for some lambs being taken for meat before they have the chance to produce much wool. Whatever the reason, not much sheep meat seems to reach the market.
So once these sheep have been bred and give wool and are near the end of their sheepy lives, do they get turned in to mutton?
What countries in the world eat alot of lamb and sheep? I am guessing the UK, Australia and Greece. Is there alot of sheep eating in the middle east? How about Canada or South America? Mexico?
I’ve never seen mutton sold in the U.S., although it’s possible that it is sold in other countries. I don’t think elderly animals of any kind are considered marketable as meat, at least for people. I think even cattle are slaughtered at about a year. Meat producers want a return on their investment as soon as possible. Possible healthy older animals would be used for pet foods, although, most dog foods I’ve seen specifically say “lamb.”
You don’t see a lot of “American food” made from sheep, other than the obvious lamb chops, lamb shank, leg of lamb, and so forth (as cher3 mentioned, there’s lamb in every respectable supermarket and butcher shop). Ethnic foods are a different story. I assure you, if you had “real” gyros, they had lamb in them. Indian and Pakistani food has lots of lamb.
Sheep for meat are almost always slaughtered young (hence the word “lamb” throughout the previous paragraph). Sheep for wool are a different story. By the time they’ve reached the end of their useful wool-producing days, there’s no market for human-consumed meat. Elderly sheep can still be used for pet food, though.
I eat lamb fairly often. It appears on a lot of restaurant menus and we even cook it at home about once a month. It is a welcome change to the more common meats and very flavorful.
Mutton is a different story. I think it would be easier to find spotted owl meat in stores than mutton. I have shopped in supermarkets with a large exotic meat selection. You can get kangaroo, rattlesnake, and alligator but there is no mutton to be found (or horse). Those meats simply aren’t available commercially. You would have to kill a grown sheep yourself to find out first-hand why people here don’t ever want it.
You don’t find a lot of people eating lamb in Australia these days. Why? Too bloody expensive.
When I was a kid, lamb was what you ate if you were growing up poor and working class. Chicken was the luxury. That has now reversed for some reason.
I still eat lamb on my kebabs, and sometimes I’ll splash out and buy some lamb chops to cook at home. It’s definitely not worth the money - although it is very nice meat.
I went for many years without touching the stuff. This is because my ex was Vietnamese, and the Vietnamese and Chinese tend to view lamb as rank, gamey, and foul smelling.
Yumm! Lamb kebabs. That’s what I’m making for dinner tomorrow!
I don’t know about down under, but around here the best way to get good lamb is to go to a county fair and buy a whole lamb from one of the kids. It supports ag education, helps out the kid, and you get a freezerful of fine meat.
Well-not a freezer full. Generally, the lambs are around 110 to 130 pounds on the hoof. You fill out a form, and you get a call from the butcher when it’s ready. A yield of 60 to 70 pounds of meat is pretty typical, and I’ve never paid more than about $250 plus the butcher’s fees. And it’s all cut exactly the way you like it.
In Houston, at least, one can purchase mutton at halal meat stores, and I once got several pounds of mutton from a friend when he had a sheep or goat (can’t remember which) sacrified on `Eid and had more meat than he knew what to do with.
Horsemeat is hard to find because most states in the US prohibit its sale for human consumption. (Which pisses me right the fuck off; if you don’t want to eat horse meat, fine, but don’t prohibit it for those of us who do. Stupid food taboos… Makes me want to start a business selling horsemeat “not for human consumption” :nod nod wink wink: )
Taking the U.S. as a whole, there are lots of sheep and horse carcasses that pile up. They are either destroyed on site (lots of horses are buried) or they are sent to a rendering plant. A rendering plant is where they process animal carcasses to use in other products. Glue isn’t that common for these animals but it does happen. There are an assortment of other products like soaps and lubricants that are made from farm animal remains.
Sheep which are bred to be eaten are eaten as lambs. Sheep which are bred to produce wool die of old age, exposure, or are killed when unproductive and either buried or sold for pet meat.
Similarly for chickens: there are those bred for eggs and those bred for meat, and never the twain shall meet.
Nothing like in New Zealand where sheep are practically the national animal and lamb the national dish. Sheep dog shows actually make prime time TV there - they take them VERY seriously.
I like me some sheep meat, I do. In New Zealand, it really is the national dish. I don’t eat it very often any more, as it’s more of a big meal food, and I’m just one person, but it is my significant meal of choice come Christmas or Easter, and that all comes from my New Zealand-ness.
