Why does lamb cost so much?

gingin_2

According to my father (so don't blame me if I am wrong!) lamb is the only meat that can't be intensively reared - all lamb needs land and space to grow costing the farmer more money to breed. If you buy a standard chicken from the supermarket it will have spent it's life in a cage along with 10,000 other chickens, hence the low price. If you buy a free range chicken of the same weight it is going to cost you double just because the costs of rearing it are higher, as all lamb is free range it is also going to cost more.

thriftlady_2

gingin wrote:

If you buy a standard chicken from the supermarket it will have spent it's life in a cage along with 10,000 other chickens, hence the low price.

That's egg layers not birds for meat They are indeed kept in terrible conditions but in a big barn not cages.

Penny_Watcher

gingin wrote:

According to my father (so don't blame me if I am wrong!) lamb is the only meat that can't be intensively reared - all lamb needs land and space to grow costing the farmer more money to breed. If you buy a standard chicken from the supermarket it will have spent it's life in a cage along with 10,000 other chickens, hence the low price. If you buy a free range chicken of the same weight it is going to cost you double just because the costs of rearing it are higher, as all lamb is free range it is also going to cost more.

Absolutley right gingin. You can't factory farm lamb. Most pork/bacon is grown in intensive factory conditions. Ditto chicken and to a lesser extent beef. Lamb grows outside on the hills. Also it's not fed all sorts of chemicals to make it grow artificially quickly.

Debt_Free_Chick

thriftlady wrote:

That's egg layers not birds for meat They are indeed kept in terrible conditions but in a big barn not cages.

I have to admit that I thought broilers were raised in pretty much the same way

kiwifruit_2

ariba10 wrote:

I never saw lamb for sale in N Z only Mutton.

Lamb is very much sold in NZ supermarkets/restaurants etc...we dont export it all but it is one of our major export foods....Lamb is cheaper in NZ than over here in UK, and is probably (IMO) more popular than chicken for the sunday roast........Mutton is a common meat and if cooked slowly is mouthwatering.......

Trow

Where I live is well-known for lamb - and don't believe it when they say the farmer are minted! One of my friends farms works on a large bank overdraft all the time, and they take no money out of it. In fact lamb is worth so little from the farmers perspective that many people here run their family farms 'part-time' as they need to have a job in addition to survive.

Lamb is also a lot of work, because it is not intensively reared. Also there is less meat on every animal than there is on, say, a cow or a pig, but the work involved in rearing them is probably more, and the butchery work not that much less.

But yes, good lamb is the best meat there is IMO, and worth paying extra for.

DrFluffy

ariba10 wrote:

And yet you never see Mutton for sale.

All the big supermarkets sell it, as do many of my local smaller stores...

A lot of people don't like mutton (unless you know how to cook it, it can be like eating leather!), so the market isn't there... Hence the fact most lambs are slaughtered at the 3-6 month stage, when they are at their most £££. No point letting them live and becoming less of a source of income...

Horasio

When I was in Australia, the lamb was superb, far better than their beef.

I don't remember the price but I imagine it wasn't very expensive

V.Lucky

My family love lamb, so much so they are having it for Christmas Day dinner!!

Didn't realise it couldn't be intensively reared, I am veggie, and do miss my lamb. May consider (and I say consider) eating it in the future. I have considered eating Organic meat too.

moglo

:eek:To get a piece of lamb for 6 people costs about £39 or more. How is that reasonable. Also whilst travelling through Yugoslavia I found abundant supplies of Goose meat. I ate Lovely Goose meals for a few pounds everywhere from Prague to Budapest. Why doesn't the Uk breed Geese here and why does a moderately sized goose here cost around £100. Supermarket meat is overpriced and very often tough and tasteless. The government should support organic produce more so it becomes more mainstream as its not that much more expensive than non organic but its healthier and without dangerous chemicals having to be ingested.