I'm going to pause for a moment to laugh at some of the comments I'm sure will come along. Hahaha Hahaha Hahaha. Ok, I'm good lol. I know nothing about sheep, only spring lambs are very pricey. Can you get older ones cheap? Are they good to eat? Is there an age cutoff when they get to gamey?

I heard the ones living around you have on plaid skirts and matching lipstick and when someone drives by they make a noise that sounds like caaaaaaatch....come..baaaaaack!!!

i've heard the big uns are baaaaaaaad

Taste depends on what they have been fed to finish out. Mutton is meat from an older sheep, I like it better, if it's been fed right. Back in the olden days lambs were very seldom sold, they would keep them to 2 or 3 years old. Ran them in a separate herd called a wether(sp?) herd after they were separated from their mothers. Ewe lambs were mostly kept for replacements. The best thing about mutton is, the chops are much larger.

Hay breath it takes some getting accustomed to.

Spring lambs are always expensive here, I think mostly 4h kids buy them now.

turn em around,ya wanna talk some "gettin used to."

Thanks billcat. I'm looking into this as a potential for cheap meat. Maybe find a farmer willing to sell a live one, I can butcher it. I just don't know what to look for and don't want to end up with meat tasting like a hobo's taint lol.

I just read an article on hogette (sp). I guess that's in between a lamb and mutton.

You want them ..no more than a year old.

Cheap meat. How bout rabbits?

We ate the younger lambs on the farm and one time we "tried to eat an old buck" gag a maggot!

Yep, that's what I want to avoid.

Sprung, rabbits are on the list. We used to raise them years ago and you can put a bunch of meat in the freezer quick with them.

I have and do raise sheep. The ones I did raise in the past were wooly type sheep. They are much fatter. Wood butcher them at about 100 lbs. or so. I thought they were good eating. Chops and such cooked in the broiler to let the fat drain away, Sheep I currently raise are American Blackbelly Sheep. They are a hair sheep have a coat more like a deer. Leaner and more like eating venison. Butcher them after a year old as they grow slower.

In the us any sheep over a year is considered mutton when butchered. You might be able to find a fall lamb or a 4h lamb that the fair was canceled. If the fair does happen try to get on the buy back list and get one at market price also backup lambs or lambs that didn't make weight can normally be bought for market price too.

Do yours get just grass and hay or grains as well in the winter cw? Just so I know what to ask when I start visiting farms. I'm gonna wear my bibs so they don't think I'm a greenhorn lol.

BR549.

Are those your neighbors sheep Nessy lol.

Their his friends!!!

I Feed them a good alfalfa hay. Also a rolled corn oats and molasses mix in the morning. Also they have a sheep mineral always available. One thing you need to be aware of. If you purchase a feed mix or supply a mineral. Be SURE it doesn't contain any copper as it will kill them.