is the word 'mutton' off putting?

[CopperBeech]

Would be interested in the odd few if you had surplus going through Farmborough. Also totally get your last statement, was recently thinking if there was someone tupping lots of ewe lambs, the ones that didn't get in lamb, at the right price, could be marketed as hogget or run on for first class mutton. I'm at the niche end so learnt that running around after small amounts of sheep is not really worth it but a batch close to the butchery as part enjoyment choice and marketed right would/could work. I would like to try a bit of lamb/mutton charcuterie next year as a separate side note. If you had a bunch of the aforementioned you would sell of farm for more than you would get at market etc to run through spring - Xmas I would be interested.

We need to talk.

 

[Norfolk Hill Farmer]

On the face of it Mutton seems like an easier sell than Lamb, at least to the average consumer you are offering meat from a large sheep for sale, whereas with lamb, you are still offering meat from a large sheep ,but to many people they can only think of a fluffy baby lamb.
I sometimes cringe at lambing time when TV programs come on, showing celebrates and others, cuddling lambs and giving them names. We then go on and try and sell the meat by the same name.If we called it baby panda, that would only be slightly worse.

 

[Paddington]

Tried getting neighbours interested in our lamb some years ago with the following spiel - they're rare breed, low fat, grass fed and locally killed so less stressed than supermarket lamb at a reasonable price.Thought I had a good chance but got the response "are these the little lambs we see gambolling in your field ? Oh, no couldn't eat one of them."

 

[Netherfield]

Why is there this stigma with lamb though, how many 'chickens' , those little yellow fluffy bundles, are slaughtered every day to sate mans appetite.

 

[hendrebc]

Why is there this stigma with lamb though, how many 'chickens' , those little yellow fluffy bundles, are slaughtered every day to sate mans appetite.

No one sees chicks in a field. Out of sight out of mind

 

[Old Shep]

Time and time again I have the conversation about the age and size of lambs when they are slaughtered. I would say 50% of women think they are the size of a 6 week old lamb! After that size they would call them sheep. I ask them to visualise the size of an average leg of lamb and scale it up to a while animal, but they still don't get it.

 

[primmiemoo]

Time and time again I have the conversation about the age and size of lambs when they are slaughtered. I would say 50% of women think they are the size of a 6 week old lamb! After that size they would call them sheep. I ask them to visualise the size of an average leg of lamb and scale it up to a while animal, but they still don't get it.

I just explain that the lambs are hoggets now which almost automatically leads to saying the age and that they're almost adult.

 

[Obi Wan]

Could it be marketed using it's continental name ? The reason I suggest this is after watching a BBC Scotland landward programme a few years ago. They explained how the Scottish prawn fishing industry had expanded UK sales by selling under the name "Scottish Langoustine" which I think is derived from the French name - also known elsewhere in Europe as Norwegian Lobster, Dublin Bay Prawns or Scampi. All the same product but using the French name has given it some sort of gravitas and upped UK sales. Having just scanned through the French, Italian & Spanish options for Lamb & Mutton - maybe there's a reason why this hasn't happened. Best options I could see was (drum roll)

Italian for lamb is Agnello - Spanish for lamb is Cordero...........

Back to the drawing board perhaps

Edited for wee spelling ooops

 

[CopperBeech]

Interestingly, I was in the local pub the other night and asked a bunch of young people, late teens to mid twenties, if they liked lamb, they pretty much all said they did, many of them saying it was their favourite meat.

I then asked if they ate it much and they said no. . . . . . . .

Issue being, its not something easy to cook, and its expensive. So if lamb is on offer they would choose it, but not necessarily cook it themselves.

The big exception, which was hailed as a brilliant, but rare to find thing, was lamb burgers.

In my opinion, we need to worry less about the name and the age, people get over that, or they don't and if they don't, then they are probably the kind of person that is going to take a lot of effort to convert, when we are already failing to cater to a keen target market. If you want to improve lamb sales, start by making it more accessible to those that actually want to eat it, before you worry too much about those that don't.

Once you get it going, more folk will eat it, because as much as we try, our word as a farmer, will never stand against someone telling their mate that the lamb burgers are banging when they are looking at the menu in whetherspoons. Thats just life.

Lamb needs a makeover in the sense that we need to find, junk, fast food, snack type options and then push on with the grass fed, high welfare, free range, local, natural etc angle.

Last year we had a big village fair thing, 1000s of folk came and most of them were from Basingstoke and Newbury, and fairly towny. We had a big bbq thing we made and cooked a whole bunch of hoggets over the flames and did lamb rolls with other bits in. It went a alongside hog roast rolls and people chose the lamb. We sold out completely and could have sold what we did many times over. There were a lot of ewes and lambs running about the fields next door, and no one batted an eye lid, because it was a few quid and it tasted good!

 

[Norfolk Hill Farmer]

Hope this doesn't sound stupid.
Can a burger made out of mutton be called a lamb burger ?

 

[hendrebc]

Interestingly, I was in the local pub the other night and asked a bunch of young people, late teens to mid twenties, if they liked lamb, they pretty much all said they did, many of them saying it was their favourite meat.

I then asked if they ate it much and they said no. . . . . . . .

Issue being, its not something easy to cook, and its expensive. So if lamb is on offer they would choose it, but not necessarily cook it themselves.

The big exception, which was hailed as a brilliant, but rare to find thing, was lamb burgers.

In my opinion, we need to worry less about the name and the age, people get over that, or they don't and if they don't, then they are probably the kind of person that is going to take a lot of effort to convert, when we are already failing to cater to a keen target market. If you want to improve lamb sales, start by making it more accessible to those that actually want to eat it, before you worry too much about those that don't.

Once you get it going, more folk will eat it, because as much as we try, our word as a farmer, will never stand against someone telling their mate that the lamb burgers are banging when they are looking at the menu in whetherspoons. Thats just life.

Lamb needs a makeover in the sense that we need to find, junk, fast food, snack type options and then push on with the grass fed, high welfare, free range, local, natural etc angle.

Last year we had a big village fair thing, 1000s of folk came and most of them were from Basingstoke and Newbury, and fairly towny. We had a big bbq thing we made and cooked a whole bunch of hoggets over the flames and did lamb rolls with other bits in. It went a alongside hog roast rolls and people chose the lamb. We sold out completely and could have sold what we did many times over. There were a lot of ewes and lambs running about the fields next door, and no one batted an eye lid, because it was a few quid and it tasted good!

Can't like this enough. Lamb burger and kebabs are a great start and probably more important than selling the high quality cuts. You will always have mince to get rid of and it will be much easier to get someone to eat burger than a chop. We need another summer like we just had and adverts on the telly about lamb burgers for the bbq
When everyone realises how good lamb is then we can sell them chops and joints

I'm making myself hungry thinking about lamb burgers

 

[Macsky]

Could it be marketed using it's continental name ? The reason I suggest this is after watching a BBC Scotland landward programme a few years ago. They explained how the Scottish prawn fishing industry had expanded UK sales by selling under the name "Scottish Langoustine" which I think is derived from the French name - also known elsewhere in Europe as Norwegian Lobster, Dublin Bay Prawns or Scampi. All the same product but using the French name has given it some sort of gravitas and upped UK sales. Having just scanned through the French, Italian & Spanish options for Lamb & Mutton - maybe there's a reason why this hasn't happened. Best options I could see was (drum roll)

Italian for lamb is Agnello - Spanish for lamb is Cordero...........

Back to the drawing board perhaps

Edited for wee spelling ooops

How about changing to the french that mutton was taken from - mouton, sounds better already!

 

[Woolless]

Interestingly, I was in the local pub the other night and asked a bunch of young people, late teens to mid twenties, if they liked lamb, they pretty much all said they did, many of them saying it was their favourite meat.

I then asked if they ate it much and they said no. . . . . . . .

Issue being, its not something easy to cook, and its expensive. So if lamb is on offer they would choose it, but not necessarily cook it themselves.

The big exception, which was hailed as a brilliant, but rare to find thing, was lamb burgers.

In my opinion, we need to worry less about the name and the age, people get over that, or they don't and if they don't, then they are probably the kind of person that is going to take a lot of effort to convert, when we are already failing to cater to a keen target market. If you want to improve lamb sales, start by making it more accessible to those that actually want to eat it, before you worry too much about those that don't.

Once you get it going, more folk will eat it, because as much as we try, our word as a farmer, will never stand against someone telling their mate that the lamb burgers are banging when they are looking at the menu in whetherspoons. Thats just life.

Lamb needs a makeover in the sense that we need to find, junk, fast food, snack type options and then push on with the grass fed, high welfare, free range, local, natural etc angle.

Last year we had a big village fair thing, 1000s of folk came and most of them were from Basingstoke and Newbury, and fairly towny. We had a big bbq thing we made and cooked a whole bunch of hoggets over the flames and did lamb rolls with other bits in. It went a alongside hog roast rolls and people chose the lamb. We sold out completely and could have sold what we did many times over. There were a lot of ewes and lambs running about the fields next door, and no one batted an eye lid, because it was a few quid and it tasted good!

This chimes with what we have found when we've cooked for a slightly older cohort, our friends. They really enjoy the lamb but it is expensive in the shops and folks have a budget and limited time to cook.

Burgers have been a huge hit and I am pestered for more from folks that have had them. Cheap and easy too. They need to be pushed harder by QMS/AHDB/whoever.

 

[Norfolk Hill Farmer]

How about changing to the french that mutton was taken from - mouton, sounds better already!

Only the French could make the word Mutton sound sexy

 

[yellowbelly]

Burgers have been a huge hit and I am pestered for more from folks that have had them. Cheap and easy too. They need to be pushed harder by QMS/AHDB/whoever.

I've said this on here before, the AHDB should be trying to get one of the big burger chains to try lamb burgers. Apparently they can't/won't cook lamb burgers on the same grill as beef burgers for some reason. If that's really the case, the AHDB should fund a dedicated lamb burger grill in a few selected stores and see how they go.
IMHO, if one chain does it and it's successful, the other chains will follow suit so they don't loose sales.

 

[hendrebc]

I've said this on here before, the AHDB should be trying to get one of the big burger chains to try lamb burgers. Apparently they can't/won't cook lamb burgers on the same grill as beef burgers for some reason. If that's really the case, the AHDB should fund a dedicated lamb burger grill in a few selected stores and see how they go.
IMHO, if one chain does it and it's successful, the other chains will follow suit so they don't loose sales.

McDonald's I'm NZ did a lamb burger not sure if they still do. But if they did there then why not here

 

[hendrebc]

https://www.google.co.uk/search?cli...31j0i131j0i67j0i131i67j0i22i10i30.PRDF4k6WD9E
A quick look on Google for comes up with lamb burgers at McDonald's in NZ up until 2013 and a lamb burger in Australia introduced in 2012 and a "beefless" McDonalds in new dehli were lamb is on the menu. I found a thing on the McDonald's website were you can ask questions and it comes up with stock answers. It said there are no plans to introduce a lamb burger in the UK

 

[yellowbelly]

I found a thing on the McDonald's website were you can ask questions and it comes up with stock answers. It said there are no plans to introduce a lamb burger in the UK

If the AHDB got some lamb burgers into, say, Burger King, I expect that they would change their tune.

 

[Norfolk Hill Farmer]

For me again it comes down to the name again. McDonald's have a winning formula and if it ain't broke don't fix it as far as they are concerned.
I doubt if they would contemplate having a veal burger , however welfare friendly, at least in this country.
Perhaps calling it a sheep burger or mutton burger or even something like a Pasture burger would remove the association with baby lambs.

 

[Paddington]

We sometimes make merguez sausages with lamb or mutton mince, very tasty and everyone can grill a sausage. You can put them in tagines, so go for the ethnic food market (thriving in London ).