Lamb: Has anyone ever heard of "Ram Taint"?

I heard a radio RTE 1 documentary on Saturday morning about a month ago concerning Lamb and a thing called "ram taint". Has anyone heard of this? How can you ensure that any lamb you buy does not suffer from this?

AFAIK the only way to ensure this is to ask the butcher if the lamb was a castrated male (a wether ?) or killed at a pre-pubescent stage, male or female (a hoggett ?).

As a kid I knew more about this stuff and the number and kind of teeth (in the lamb's jaw ) were used as an indicator of the possibility of ram taint. There was a tooth check on pigs as well for boar taint. It has also been suggested for use in bars and BB threads for "bore taint".

The meat from rams is has a much stronger taste and is not a delicacy! In Ireland most lambs are born around March and in September, 6 month old uncastrated ram lamb meat will have this taste. Most farmers will have castrated their lambs much earlier to prevent this but there can be a few around.

[broken link removed]

Ring Of Kerry Quality Lamb - Low Call: 1890 252 978
c/o Joseph McCrohan,
South Kerry Development Partnership Ltd.,
The Old Barracks,
Bridge Street,
Cahersiveen,
Co. Kerry.

These are the guys who were talking on the radio about "ram taint". It appears they are producers who are getting involved in marketing direct to the consumer.

More power to them. I hope they are successful in improving the quality and consistency of Irish Lamb.

We are a group of over 25 sheep farmers who live around the Ring of Kerry. Motivated by a common commitment to quality and a drive to keep our enterprise sustainable, we decided in Spring 2009 to come together as a group and market our lamb directly. We have partnered with local butchers, and together can guarantee our customers the highest quality product from an environmental and welfare perspective on farm, to processing, packaging and transport further down the chain.

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