LAMB Slaughtering, Cutting, Preserving, and Cooking on the Farm UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FARMERS’ BULLETIN NUMBER 2264 PREPARED BY AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH SERVICE CONTENTS Selection and care of animal before slaughter 3 Preparing for slaughter 4 Slaughter 6 Chilling the carcass 21 Cutting 22 Freezing and frozen storage 38 Meat cookery 38 Preserving lamb pelts 40 PRECAUTIONS The Law The Federal Meat Inspection Act requires that all meat which is to be sold or traded for human consumption must be slaughtered under inspection in an approved facility under the supervision of a State or USDA meat inspector. A person can slaughter his animals outside such a facility only for use by him, members of his household, his nonpaying guests and employees. He is not allowed to sell any portion of the carcass. For more details about these regulations, consult your county extension agent or write to the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, United States Department of Agriculture, Washington D.C. 20250. This bulletin supersedes Farmers’ Bulletin 2152, “Slaughtering, Cutting, and Processing Lamb and Mutton on the Farm.” Washington, D.C. Issued August 1977 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Washington, D.C. 20402 Stock No. 001-000-03709-9 Lamb Slaughtering, Cutting, Preserving and Cooking on the Farm By H. Russell Cross, _Research Food Technologist_,[1] Curtis Green, _Meat Marketing Specialist_,[2] William R. Jones, _Extension Meat Specialist_,[3] Roger L. West, Associate Professor, Meat Science,[4] and Anthony W. Kotula, _Chief, Meat Science Research Laboratory_, [1] (Photographs by Donald K. Rough[1] and Terry K. O’Driscoll[5]) [1] Meat Science Research Laboratory, Northeastern Region, Agricultural Research Service, Beltsville, MD. 20705. [2] Standardization Branch, Livestock Division, Agricultural Marketing Service, Washington, D.C. 20250. [3] Cooperative Extension Service, Auburn University, Auburn, AL. 36830. [4] Department of Animal Science, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL. 32611. [5] Beltsville Agricultural Research Center, Northeastern Region, Agricultural Research Service, Beltsville, MD. 20705. SELECTION AND CARE OF ANIMAL BEFORE SLAUGHTER