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[–] 4 points 1 year ago (5 children)

With how industry has changed chickens.. I am always surprised they haven't managed to modify sheep so that the adults are as desired as the young.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago (4 children)

    Why should they? Adults are more expensive to raise per kg of meat.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago (3 children)

    I assumed the adults were a lot bigger.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    Not a lot. Growth slows down fast when an animal gets older.

    So they are slaughtered at between 6 and 12 months, because that's the time where the growth slows down too much.

    No point in having a 30% heavier animal if it takes 2x as long to get to that point.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago (1 child)

    Totally, I didn't realize they grew so fast. And in my head a lamb is like a baby. Guess not really.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago

    Yeah, it's like with the human term "child". A child is anything from birth until age 12 or so. There's quite a bit of a difference in that age range.

    For sheep, a lamb is anything up to roughly a year.

    In fact, sheep enter puberty at ~3-4 months, so a lamb will usually be slaughtered during puberty.

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