Sheep/ lamb meat is cheaper in cost, lacks nutritional value and has higher cholesterol as compared to goat meat. Goat meat is actually lower in calories, total fat, saturated fat, and cholesterol than not just lamb, pork and beef meats, but also turkey and chicken meat.

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Just as young sheep are called lambs, young goats are called kids. Goats that are slaughtered for meat are typically neutered males (a.k.a. wethers). They are usually slaughtered around the age of 9 months.

“People say goat tastes like lamb, but it’s just not a good enough qualifier. It’s most similar in structure and fat content, but also like bison is to beef, goat is to lamb — it has a little bit more earthiness to it.

The easist way to tell the difference between a sheep and goat is to look at their tails. A goat’s tail goes up (unless it is sick, frightened, or in distress). Sheep tails hang down and are often docked (shortened) for health and sanitary reasons.

Rams are male bighorn sheep, animals that live in the mountains and often settle arguments with fights that include ramming their heads into others. Not to be confused with mountain goats, rams can be identified by their long, curved horns, long fur, and split hooves.

Well, lamb comes from sheep, while mutton comes from goat, right? Wrong. The truth is that both lamb and mutton are meats obtained from sheep. The Oxford dictionary defines lamb as ‘a young sheep’, or ‘meat from a young sheep’, while mutton is defined as ‘meat from a fully grown sheep’.

However, for practical purposes, the two species often ARE separated because sheep and goats have different needs. In particular, sheep are highly sensitive to copper, so some goat-feeds and minerals cannot be consumed by sheep. Sheep and goats also have different fighting-styles.

Sheep are easier to keep than goats, with one caveat. Sheep are wired to flee when frightened. Even tame, in-your-pocket sheep are frightened by procedures such as shearing, hoof trimming, and annual vaccinations.