At 15:22 +1000 3/9/99, Susan Carmack wrote:

>Today my husband accidently picked me up a leg of lamb from Australia and
>not New Zealand. The NZ lamb was delicious and didn't make me itch so I
>assume that the NZ lamb was grass fed or primarily grass fed. How is the
>lamb from Australia? I would like to use it but I am apprehensive until I
>find more out about what the lambs eat there.


Well, I think I should answer this, as I come from a long line of
Australian sheep-farmers :)

Australian sheep are generally raised on grass or hay. Grain supplements
are comparatively quite expensive, and are usually only fed to sheep when
grass and hay are not available (during summer and autumn (January through
April) and droughts).

There is likely to be more grain fed to Australian sheep than to NZ sheep,
but I would expect the Australian lamb you have to be well worth eating.

I'd be interested to hear how you think it compares to the NZ lamb.

 ...Richard.