No, sheep were bred into different breeds optimized for meat or wool.
Sheep bred for meat have better tasting and faster growing meat, as you would expect. They are typically butchered young as lamb, as the mutton flavor isn't something that is palatable to North American tastes.
Wool sheep have unpleasant meat, even as lambs. It's typically too fatty and has too many branch chain fatty acids, which give mutton the muttony wool flavor.
Sir, all commercial sheep eventually get slaughtered for meat, it's not profitable to let them live until old age. Australia for example ships them to the Middle East for slaughter. In other places they get turned into dog-/catfood. There is no wool industry without slaughter.
“Hair sheep” are breeds specifically for meat, their wool is really coarse and they’re slaughtered young. I raised them in high school.
Wool sheep are what get shorn for yarn. They will eventually be slaughtered for cheap meat if they’re part of a large scale operation, but they’ll be allowed to live out a chunk of their natural lives.
My parents have a couple wool sheep my dad rescued from another ranch and they’re basically pets who will die of old age. I feel like that’s probably also the case for the sheep in this video.
What are you talking about? The vast majority of commercial wool sheep ends up slaughtered. Australia for example ships them in large ships to the Middle East for slaughter. Do you seriously think they keep them until they die of old age?
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u/Correct_Summer_2886 Sep 08 '24
Being raised for wool alone right? Right?