The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: ChaseView on September 17, 2012, 02:41:41 pm
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Hi,
We have just sent out first 3 lambs to slaughter (texel/suffolk x about 8 months old) They were slaughtered and butchered at our local butcher about 4 miles away. The meat has a lovely flavour and is nice and lean but very tough. I just wondered if anyone had any ideas why?
The lambs were finished on grass and the occasional bit of coarse mix. However due to the lush grass this year we had to bring them in 2 weeks before slaughter to dry them up , so the last 2 weeks they had a bit of poorer grass and hay. They were dry and clean by the time they went for slaughter and didn't look like they had lost any weight. We put them on water only for the last night.
Many thanks for any help!
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Could they have had a stressful time going to/through the abbatoir? If so the adrenalin can affect the quality of the meat.
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Did they hang long enough at the abbatoir?
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You shouldn't have to hang lambs. I agree with Lahill - stress is the most likely cause.
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thanks for the info. I don't **think** they were stressed but how would I know? The trip to the butchers is only 15 mins and they went in the trailer fine so I thought things were OK. Is there anything in particular to look for or avoid? We have more lambs to go in Nov/Dec and I really don't want the same thing to happen again, plus the next round of lambs are Balwens and far less tame than the crosses we just slaughtered.
Thanks
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I used to keep Black Welsh Mountain, and I always liked the lamb to be hung preferrably about 7 days or even a bit more, and it was beautifully tender. Though of course stress at slaughter would probably cause a problem as well
BWM is very lean meat mind, so perhaps it might be different with a "fatter" breed.
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My butcher hangs lambs. The meat is always tender, but don't forget when cooking to rest it for a short time before serving. How did you cook your lamb and what part of the lamb have you tried so far?
I might be prejudiced, but I think welsh lambs are more tender than texel and suffolk so your balwens might be fine.
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are you certain it was your own lambs that you got back :farmer:
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My butcher hangs lambs. The meat is always tender, but don't forget when cooking to rest it for a short time before serving. How did you cook your lamb and what part of the lamb have you tried so far?
So does mine. With any meat it is important that it has at east come out of the other side of rigor mortis - although that shouldn't take more than 48 hrs in a fridge.
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The hoggett and mutton I sent recently was also hung - for the best part of a week. It is fantastic. Young lamb shouldnt need as long but maybe 2-3 days - also stress might indeed play a part.
Did the lambs come back the sort of weights you were expecting? (if not it might be they arent your ones...:-OO usually deadweight is approx half liveweight.
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My commercials have always been hung for 7 days. The Shetlands more like 4 days. Problem is...now i have eaten Shetland meat, ALL other lamb seems tough now in comparison (to me!)
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I must admit, the same thought as robert crossed my mind. You are at the mercy of your butcher :o
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are you certain it was your own lambs that you got back
Not a stupid question. I know one place which is said to be careless.
We have our lambs butchered by a different firm so that they can be hung for a week first. Our abattoir won't do it, won't return the fleece, won't give the time of day.
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are you certain it was your own lambs that you got back :farmer:
A neighbour sent their Shetland lambs to a local abattoir and they came back larger than when they went in :innocent: . Not the 'profit' they wanted :o . We go elsewhere ;) ;)
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Thhe wonderful joke about EID tracability. first off, the head with the tags, who knows what belongs to who now?
Stressed meat is usually very dark, i have had problems with young bulls slaughtered as veal. they can get very excited easily.
never with lamb, but hanging is important. as far as i know texture of the meat will not be affected by feed or management on the run up to slaughter, but taste could be.
i would suggest lots of lamb casserole, sausage and burgers!
d
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Young Texel x should be very very tender. Not, in my view, especially flavoursome, but incredibly tender. Ours is, anyway. I haven't tried Suffolk x Texel so I don't know what difference that makes. But breed does make a difference - our Charollais x lambs are succulent, sweet and full of flavour - but not quite as tender as the Texel x.
In your case, I would wonder about stress, speed of cooling at abattoir, correct carcase, hung for at least 3-4 days, cooking process and relaxing time before eating.
I have found that my own home-reared meat simply doesn't take as long to cook (and/or need as high a temperature) as the cookery books say. And I am anal about the relaxing time (in a warm but not hot place) - for chops too, not just joints - and I really do think it makes a difference.
I do hope it's cooking / relaxing - so that you can have some better meals off the remainder!
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What do you cross your Charollais' to SITN?
The main complaint I hear about Suffolk is that it tends to be fatty meat... tho whether that is just cos they are good do-ers or dependent on the farmer is something to be considered here I guess
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I don't **think** they were stressed but how would I know?
Have you had to chance to see how the staff at the abattoir handle the animals? Some can be quite rough and shout alot which would stress the animals. Were your lambs put in a pen as a single group or were there sheep from other farms in the same pen? If there were other sheep in the same pen there would be confrontation as they try and sort out the hierarchy.
I hope with SallyITN's advice you manage to get some good meals out of the lamb. It might be that you need to treat it more as hogget and cook it at a low temperature for longer in order to tenderise it. :fc:
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We only kill hoggets for home consumption but make sure they are hung for at least 10 days and the meat is beautiful.
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Out of interest what was the fat grading of the lamb? A lack of fat can tend to make the meat much harder to cook making it pretty tough. Also were they ram lambs? wethers? or ewe lambs? Ram lambs at this time of year can be a bit tougher and more 'gamey' due to the elevated hormone levels All the other thoughts that I have had have already been covered by others here so I'll not trouble you with those ;) .
Having worked in the slaughterhouse on the belly shearing I have found that the most stressful part for the stock is the transport. It is never in the slaughterhouses interest to make animals stressed because that will dent their profit margin! They are also very heavily controlled by meat inspectors and vets to keep them as good as they can be.
Have you though about doing a few trial runs with your lambs in the trailer (No jokes about sunday drives or trips to the cinema!) This would get them used to loading and travelling and drop their stress levels for teh next time.
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That's an interesting idea :sheep:
Our land is a bit spread out so and I don't have a sheepdog so I often move them around the holding by trailer. Their final trip down the road will never be their first trip in a trailer
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What do you cross your Charollais' to SITN?
He goes onto Texel crosses-out-of-Mules and Texel types.
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Having worked in the slaughterhouse on the belly shearing I have found that the most stressful part for the stock is the transport.
For my girls, the most stressful part for them is me turfing them OUT of the trailer in the field 'cos they are not meant to be the ones getting in. They love trailer rides..... run like crazy to be the first one in. LOL. If I leave the car door open at the back they will get in there too and stand in the footwells waiting to go for day trips! Nutty sheeps!
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Hi all,
thanks for all your replies. We have contacted the butcher and he said they’ve seen the same problem this year with other lamb . "The grass is going straight through them" – which ties in with us having to take the lambs in to dry them off. He suggested giving them a little corn. He also said to mention it when we take the Balwen in – they will have a look at the lamb and hang it a bit longer, if they think it needs it. He said lamb shouldn’t need hanging more than 4 days and the native breeds are likely to be better than ‘commercials’. Extra hanging means more weight loss – but half the weight and twice the quality is fine by me.
It's a very small abbatoir and I don't think they have mixed our lamb up with anyone else so hopefully it is the crazy weather this year causing the problems with the grass.....
I checked about stress levels too - my partner dropped the lambs at the butchers and here's what he said
"Loading the lambs was pretty quick and I assume stress free (not sure what stressing would look like for a sheep, but they weren’t charging about banging into walls or baaring). Just as quiet unloading and the guy doing it was calm, didn’t shout and they went into their own pen. I don’t think there’s any chance they got mixed up with anyone else’s – I don’t think anyone else was bringing any in and the weight is about what we expected.
This is our first time sending lambs to slaughter so any thoughs gratefully received
Thanks :)