Lamb and mutton, collectively sheep meat (or sheepmeat) is one of the most common meats around the world, taken from the
domestic sheep
Sheep (: sheep) or domestic sheep (''Ovis aries'') are a domesticated, ruminant mammal typically kept as livestock. Although the term ''sheep'' can apply to other species in the genus '' Ovis'', in everyday usage it almost always refers to ...
, ''Ovis aries'', and generally divided into lamb, from sheep in their first year, hogget, from sheep in their second, and mutton, from older sheep. Generally, "hogget" and "sheep meat" aren't used by consumers outside Norway, New Zealand, South Africa, Scotland, and Australia. Hogget has become more common in England, particularly in the North (Lancashire and Yorkshire) often in association with rare breed and organic farming.
In
South Asian
South Asia is the southern Subregion#Asia, subregion of Asia that is defined in both geographical and Ethnicity, ethnic-Culture, cultural terms. South Asia, with a population of 2.04 billion, contains a quarter (25%) of the world's populatio ...
and
Caribbean
The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...
cuisine, "mutton" often means
goat meat
Goat meat is the meat of the domestic goat (''Capra hircus''). The term 'goat meat' denotes meat of older animals, while meat from young goats is called 'kid meat'. In South Asian cuisine, goat meat is called mutton, along with sheep meat.''O ...
.
['']Oxford English Dictionary
The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the principal historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP), a University of Oxford publishing house. The dictionary, which published its first editio ...
'', 3rd edition, June 2003
Lamb is the most expensive of the three types, and in recent decades, sheep meat has increasingly only been retailed as "lamb", sometimes stretching the accepted distinctions given above. The stronger-tasting mutton is now hard to find in many areas, despite the efforts of the ''s.v.'', definition 1b At various times and places, "mutton" or "goat mutton" has occasionally been used to mean goat meat.
Lamb is the most expensive of the three types, and in recent decades, sheep meat has increasingly only been retailed as "lamb", sometimes stretching the accepted distinctions given above. The stronger-tasting mutton is now hard to find in many areas, despite the efforts of the Mutton Renaissance Campaign
in the UK. In Australia, the term prime lamb is often used to refer to lambs raised for meat. Other languages, such as
French, Spanish language">Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas
**Spanish cuisine
**Spanish history
**Spanish culture
...
, and Italian language">Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance languag ...
, make similar or even more detailed distinctions among sheep meats by age and sometimes by sex and diet—for example, ''lechazo'' in Spanish refers to meat from milk-fed (unweaned) lambs.
The definitions for lamb, hogget and mutton vary considerably between countries. Younger lambs are smaller and tenderer. Mutton is meat from a sheep over two years old, and has tougher flesh. In general, the darker the colour, the older the animal.
;Lamb: A young sheep which is less than one year old. From 1 July 2019, the Australian definition is, "an ovine animal that: (a) is under 12 months of age, or (b) does not have any permanent
in wear". This new definition meant that Australian farmers could extend the term "lamb" by another month.
This followed a similar definition change in New Zealand in 2018. In Britain the definition is still "0 permanent incisor teeth". A permanent incisor tooth is said to be "in wear" if it protrudes further than the nearest
.