The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: ewesaidit on November 22, 2014, 05:19:08 pm
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:wave: maybe daft question - how is mutton normally prepared by the butcher - is it basically chopping all the retrievable meat up into stew style chunks or is do you actually get mutton chops/roasts?
What is the going rate for selling mutton per kg? Have a couple of older ewes ((5yr olds) probably in the 80 - 90 kg mark - what sort of deadweight can be expected?
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deadweight is usually about half the liveweight.
carcass quality depends a bit on the breed and how they were fed - they can be very fatty. I get mine cut up the following way.: back legs left entire and on the bone for roasting (done covered and slowly with a bottle of red in the roasting tin it will be the best meat ever!), the shoulders cut into chunks for stewing (curries mainly in our house), and anything else minced (tell the butcher to keep it lean and maybe not use all the fatty bits - we have found that when we do the cutting up ourselves we can make sure, but our last lot was done by the butcher and the mince is really nice and not too fatty).
we don't sell any of ours, but it is a good bartering tool.
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:thumbsup: thanks Anke what do you reckon would be a fair price per kg (my potential customers might not have anything to barter with)
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Loins could be boned and rolled (trimming out any excess fat).
As for price per kg, look at some websites that sell mutton by the kilo to get a guide. I sell mutton at £60 per half. It all depends on what demand you have and how eager your customers are :).
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thanks Foobar :thumbsup: will have a look
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We sell ours as you would a lamb, chops, roasting joints etc. We keep ours entire and they go at circa 18 months,our vet says keeping them entire makes them less fatty. Ours sell for £75 per half sheep
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There is a guy I know which sells fantastic mutton, he butchers it into joints and stuff. In my opinion mutton is a nicer flavour than lamb. He keeps his for about two years, so they're not old ewes and the meat is still nice and tender, I think mutton is more exsepnsive than lamb, as it costs more to rear.
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:wave:thanks for taking the time to reply folks, much appreciated
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I always regret slaughtering our old girls, but eventually it's inevitable and I consider it better than selling to the pet food trade. The last two were nine years old. The neck, breast and chops were rather fatty, but with judicious paring of the fat before cooking, these cuts still made good eating. The shoulders I boned out and used the meat to make 'to die for' scotch pies. The legs, roasted slow and low, were amazing. To me it just shows that no matter what the age of the animal, if raised well, slaughtered well and butchered well it will supply meat that the 'foodies' would fight to eat. But we keep it entirely for ourselves chez nous!
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Sadly I don't eat any old ewes I send them for the cull, maybe I'll look into eating them. I was told the older they're the tougher the meat, the only mutton I eat is off two year old sheep. I always kill my lambs as hoggetts anyway, I find its a nicer flavour!
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Thanks for recent replies Pomme Homme and Waterbuffalofarmer. Don't think I could send them off through a market so if it came to it would want to either have them taken to a specific abbatoir and use the meat or have them euthanased on site and collected. Managed to find a home for one ewe recently as a companion to one other so with a bit of luck can find a couple more homes in due course.