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Ram lambs not intended for breeding are castrated, though some shepherds choose to avoid the procedure for ethical, economic or practical reasons. [1] Ram lambs that will be slaughtered or separated from ewes before sexual maturity are not usually castrated. [23] In most breeds, lambs' tails are docked for health reasons. [8]
The animals most commonly slaughtered for food are cattle and water buffalo, sheep, goats, pigs, deers, horses, rabbits, poultry (mainly chickens, turkeys, ducks and geese), insects (a commercial species is the house cricket), and increasingly, fish in the aquaculture industry (fish farming).
The traditional modes of reproduction include oviparity, taken to be the ancestral condition, traditionally where either unfertilised oocytes or fertilised eggs are spawned, and viviparity traditionally including any mechanism where young are born live, or where the development of the young is supported by either parent in or on any part of their body.
Sheep meat and milk were one of the earliest staple proteins consumed by human civilization after the transition from hunting and gathering to agriculture. [24] Sheep meat prepared for food is known as either mutton or lamb, and approximately 540 million sheep are slaughtered each year for meat worldwide. [147] "
Carcases from these lambs usually weigh between 14 and 30 kg. Older weaned lambs which have not yet matured to become mutton are known as old-season lambs. Yearling lamb — a young sheep between 12 and 24 months old; Saltbush mutton – a term used in Australia for the meat of mature Merinos which have been allowed to graze on atriplex plants
Each female bird will lay about 150 hatching eggs for the next 34 to 36 weeks, until the birds reach around 60 weeks of age and are slaughtered for meat. This cycle is then repeated when another flock of 20 week-old birds is put into the barns to begin the process again.
Most wild bovids live for 10 to 15 years. Larger species tend to live longer; [3] for instance, American bison can live up to 25 years and gaur up to 30 years. The mean lifespan of domesticated individuals is nearly ten years. For example, domesticated goats have an average lifespan of 12 years.
The only living mammals that lay eggs are echidnas and platypuses. In the latter, the eggs develop in utero for about 28 days, with only about 10 days of external incubation (in contrast to a chicken egg, which spends about one day in tract and 21 days externally). [11] After laying her eggs, the female curls around them.