[Sca-cooks] A few more words on lambs

[Patrick Levesque]

On 21/05/06 08:38, "Terry Decker" <t.d.decker at worldnet.att.net> wrote:

> Interesting, a veal is a calf raised for slaughter, so if one doesn't turn
> it into veal, then it gets castrated and becomes a steer or an ox.  This
> suggests a problem in determining whether a calf is being raised to be veal
> or beef.
> 
> I think that technically "boeuf" can be a bull, an ox, a steer, or a cow
> with the conotation that it is being kept for meat, but the precise meaning
> of the term here is probably defined by the context of the writing.
> 
> Bear
> 
> 
> 

Actually, in French, Ox and Beef both translate as 'Boeuf' - there is no
differentiation between the two terms. Same thing goes for Calf and Veal,
which are 'Veau'. 

The general impression one gets from De Serres, in the many chapters dealing
with various farm animals, is that the selling of younger animals for
slaughter is not a common incidence - this is hard to justify economically.
The ones that are sold are those animals which are deemed, for some reason,
unfit to grow up and accomplish the labor they are required to.

As for older animals (Oxen, Sheep, etc...) their fate is precisely
described: once they've given a few good years of service, they are fattened
over the course of their last summer to be slaughtered in the fall. Although
De Serres doesn't mention it, I have a feeling that they would fatten the
"unfit" young animals destined to slaughter as much as they could too.

Generally, animals are brought to the market when they are either young
(i.e. Before castration) to be solde as farm animals, or old (after they've
been fattened) to be solde for human consumption.

This said, we have to keep in mind that this is only one source, in a very
specific part of the world (Languedoc) and customs may vary from place to
place and era. 

Petru