Lamb vs. Steak page

[NWPrimate]

I just noticed that the lamb shoulder steaks that my wife brought home were $8.99 per pound.
I was curious how that compared to the grass fed beef rib-eyes she's been buying, and saw that they were $14.99 per pound.

I sure love a good rib-eye, but I think I might just like the tender delicious fattiness of the lamb steaks even more. Usually she gets steak in a 3/1 ratio with lamb, because she doesn't like eating cute animals, but I'm still working on converting her. I'm thinking about asking her to get more lamb and less beef the next trip considering the price difference.

The lamb is Umpqua Valley, and says pasture raised on the package. I'm curious at what age lambs are slaughtered for steaks. Do they have a chance to eat grass, or are they still on milk as slaughter time?

I guess if the lambs are pasture raised, it follows that their mothers are as well, so that helps.

Does anyone have any knowledge on the nutritional differences between lamb and beef, given similar habitats and feeding conditions? I know lamb is a lot fattier, but I'm a fat eater and it seems like a natural way to keep the bulk of my calories coming from fat.

I'd love to hear some thoughts on fatty acid profiles, nutritional density, whether the lambs are eating grass or more likely suckling etc...

I love being able to pick the collective brain of such a knowledgeable group.

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Whoops! I screwed up and posted this to recipes instead of nutrition.
If you found this, please feel free to comment in the other thread at http://www.marksdailyapple.com/forum/thread51845.html

[Cariboom]

As an Animal Science major who was on the Sheep show team for my school, I can tell you that lamb is far from the cute newborn creature you think it might be. The lamb that is brought to slaughter is as big as possible... usually 100+ pounds at the time. I believe it is "lamb" because it is under a year old. We get Spring lamb because those are the previous year's brood.

I think lamb is one of the rare animals that is raised mostly on grass its whole life. There may be some grain in the feeders, but sheep do really well on open range. In California, we'd see great rafts of sheep in the foothills with Portugese shepherds with them. It's not very cost-effective to feedlot sheep as they forage differently than cattle.

[carlh]

she doesn't like eating cute animals

"Don't worry, they chop off the face."