[SallyintNorth]

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!

[JUNIOR MEMBER pufflepets]

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

[Haylo-peapod]

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. 

[si-mate]

We only kill hoggets for home consumption but make sure they are hung for at least 10 days and the meat is beautiful.

[Dougal]

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.

[JFDI]

That's an interesting idea

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

[SallyintNorth]

What do you cross your Charollais' to SITN?

He goes onto Texel crosses-out-of-Mules and Texel types. 

[JUNIOR MEMBER pufflepets]

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!

[ChaseView]

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