Re: Ewe People

1

My first mental question on reading this was, do the engineers actually add value from a problem-solving perspective, or are they just good at following directions and being intelligent foils for the bakers to talk their problems out with?


Posted by: Minivet | Link to this comment | 02- 8-23 7:57 AM
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2

I thought Yew People would be next.


Posted by: fake accent | Link to this comment | 02- 8-23 8:06 AM
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3

Are you people even trying?
https://nextshark.com/viral-woman-shepherd


Posted by: | Link to this comment | 02- 8-23 8:22 AM
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4

Americans don't eat much mutton.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 02- 8-23 8:40 AM
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5

"I can't actually make that post title work, sorry," she said sheepishly.


Posted by: Doug | Link to this comment | 02- 8-23 9:44 AM
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6

I thought Yew People would be next.

Surely we could manage one of Yew People, Y.U. People, Yeoh People, Yu People, or Ew! People.


Posted by: ajay | Link to this comment | 02- 8-23 9:47 AM
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1: Generally when they've failed challenges, it seems to be the fault of the engineers - not accounting for the weight of the cake or the fondant, not thinking through the center of gravity, choosing the wrong mechanism for the wheels relative to the load, that sort of thing. Sometimes it's the quality of the baking, but that gets less airtime because it's more fun to watch a cake robot navigate an obstacle course than it is to watch a judge eat a piece of cake-robot. (Not actually. The robot must be edible aside from the motor and wheels, but does not have to be delicious. It had to deliver a dessert to the judges intact. Still, less fun to watch judges eat a regular old delicious dessert.)


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 02- 8-23 9:56 AM
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8

I thought Yew People would be next.


Posted by: apostropher | Link to this comment | 02- 8-23 10:01 AM
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9

The next step from this series is clearly a complicated baking-related heist movie.

...Well, since you ask me for the story of a complicated baking-related heist...
https://archive.org/details/JFSP56/0706.mp3


Posted by: ajay | Link to this comment | 02- 8-23 10:18 AM
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10

4. Or even lamb, IME. Given that almost all other meat eaters eat as much sheep as they can wrestle down their necks, can you explain why Americans don't. They even make shepherd's pie out of beef (which is actually cottage pie) as if they don't understand what a shepherd's job is.


Posted by: Chris Y | Link to this comment | 02- 8-23 10:23 AM
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4. Or even lamb, IME. Given that almost all other meat eaters eat as much sheep as they can wrestle down their necks, can you explain why Americans don't. They even make shepherd's pie out of beef (which is actually cottage pie) as if they don't understand what a shepherd's job is.


Posted by: Chris Y | Link to this comment | 02- 8-23 10:23 AM
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4. Or even lamb, IME. Given that almost all other meat eaters eat as much sheep as they can wrestle down their necks, can you explain why Americans don't. They even make shepherd's pie out of beef (which is actually cottage pie) as if they don't understand what a shepherd's job is.


Posted by: Chris Y | Link to this comment | 02- 8-23 10:23 AM
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13

Fuck. Sorry.


Posted by: Chris Y | Link to this comment | 02- 8-23 10:24 AM
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14

Hey, I'll take as many sheep-related comments as I can wrestle down my neck.


Posted by: Minivet | Link to this comment | 02- 8-23 10:30 AM
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15

The US has always been more oriented toward cattle than sheep. I'm not sure why but it's an interesting question.


Posted by: teofilo | Link to this comment | 02- 8-23 10:49 AM
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16

Not for lack of trying, it seems. "In Connecticut in 1666, sheep were exempted from taxation and given exclusive pasture rights on parts of the land."


Posted by: Minivet | Link to this comment | 02- 8-23 11:00 AM
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17

It's probably a sex thing. Like how American lusts were so bad, only corn flakes could restrain them.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 02- 8-23 11:03 AM
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18

A lot of interesting stuff in here (a lot of Spaniards were selling their stocks of sheep during the Peninsular Wars creating a glut on the market), but I suspect it's dated and the real answer is factory-farm operations were more profitable with cows for whatever range of reasons.


Posted by: Minivet | Link to this comment | 02- 8-23 11:03 AM
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19

A lot of interesting stuff in here (a lot of Spaniards were selling their stocks of sheep during the Peninsular Wars creating a glut on the market), but I suspect it's dated and the real answer is factory-farm operations were more profitable with cows for whatever range of reasons.


Posted by: Minivet | Link to this comment | 02- 8-23 11:03 AM
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20

You can get lamb at almost any grocery store but I suspect most Americans couldn't even tell you what animal mutton comes from.


Posted by: apostropher | Link to this comment | 02- 8-23 11:10 AM
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21

More.

Few foods suffered quite the same public relations calamity as a result of war. "U.S. GI's were fed canned Australian mutton, which by all accounts was just awful," says Bob Kennard, author of Much Ado About Mutton. Wherever he travels, the Welsh mutton expert says he hears a similar story: "I am told that someone's uncle or father came home from the war and wouldn't allow sheep meat in the house -- they never wanted to see it again. It just went completely out of fashion."

Posted by: Minivet | Link to this comment | 02- 8-23 11:10 AM
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22

21: That's a fascinating article. I suspect this part is particularly important:

The infamous sheep and cattle wars that took place in Western states like Texas, Arizona, Colorado and Wyoming between 1870 and 1920 threatened to bring the sheep industry to its knees. Shepherds, who were generally Native American or Latin American, required a free range and plenty of grass, which often left cattle subsiding on weeds and fighting for the same territory. Cattle farmers, who benefited from the support of government officials, viewed sheep as invaders. Armed conflicts ensued, leading to the slaughter of sheep -- and men.

Posted by: teofilo | Link to this comment | 02- 8-23 11:24 AM
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23

My parents used to carry ground mutton in the trading post sometimes (my mom has a funny story about accidentally making burgers out of it one time thinking she was getting beef), but it's hard to find and Navajos mostly slaughter their own.


Posted by: teofilo | Link to this comment | 02- 8-23 11:26 AM
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24

22: Yep. Also the part where it says an industrial infrastructure developed to transport refrigerated beef all across the country, but was not developed so thoroughly for mutton. (Yes, it's all carcasses and/or chunks of meat, but I presume if they designed primarily around the assumption of cow, there are probably efficiencies that would not mesh perfectly with sheep.)


Posted by: Minivet | Link to this comment | 02- 8-23 11:29 AM
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25

24: Yeah, the parts about how mutton requires particular kinds of handling that we don't have the infrastructure for at scale were really interesting.


Posted by: teofilo | Link to this comment | 02- 8-23 11:32 AM
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26

I learned in ag econ long ago that sheep absolutely refuse to give birth any time other than early Spring. Fertility is triggered by days are just starting to get longer. It's possible to monkey with it by keeping the ewes indoors with artificial lighting but that's not economical. So fresh lamb is for sale at Easter but not around labor day, unless imported from Argentina or Australia. This makes lamb and mutton less attractive to modern industrial farming, where you want to kill each animal a precise number of days from birth, and also run the execution facilities all year round.

The other issue re mutton is the decline of the woolen apparel industry in the U.S., since mutton is essentially a byproduct of wool.


Posted by: unimaginative | Link to this comment | 02- 8-23 1:50 PM
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I learned in ag econ long ago that sheep absolutely refuse to give birth any time other than early Spring.

Yes, sheep have a very specific lambing season that drives the whole industry.

The other issue re mutton is the decline of the woolen apparel industry in the U.S., since mutton is essentially a byproduct of wool.

Also true. There was some big shift in the '70s or so where the US market got flooded by cheap wool from Australia and New Zealand and that pretty much killed off the US wool industry. (It was one of the factors that killed off the Navajo trading posts, which mostly traded in wool.) There's an interesting economic history project for some enterprising grad student lurking in there.


Posted by: teofilo | Link to this comment | 02- 8-23 2:47 PM
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26.1 well more or less.
https://www.nationalsheep.org.uk/for-the-public/culture/sheep-farming-year/

"March and April are peak lambing time in the UK, although the main season runs from February to April and some farmers even lamb before Christmas."

Also, gestation is 145 days so birth in early April implies conception in early November (so fertility is presumably a result of shortening days).

But actually you can lamb any time of the year if you want to. It's more difficult in autumn but perfectly possible especially with less seasonal ewes.
https://www.sheep101.info/201/lambingsystem.html


Posted by: Ajay | Link to this comment | 02- 8-23 3:02 PM
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29

"The ram effect, light control, and/or hormonal manipulation of the reproductive cycle" sounds like a lot of added costs for Big Husbandry, compared to a nonseasonal polyestrus species.


Posted by: Minivet | Link to this comment | 02- 8-23 3:05 PM
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30

Yeah nonseasonal ewes may have come along too late to save US sheep farming...


Posted by: Ajay | Link to this comment | 02- 8-23 3:10 PM
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31

I've pretty much switched to making gulaš with goat meat.


Posted by: lw | Link to this comment | 02- 8-23 3:21 PM
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32

Someone moved to town and asked where to buy goat meat. I said "Salem's Market". Then, this fall I met Salem. He was good people. I still haven't eaten goat myself.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 02- 8-23 4:47 PM
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33

The US has always been more oriented toward cattle than sheep.

250,000 miles of stone walls say different.


Posted by: Spike | Link to this comment | 02- 8-23 8:19 PM
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34

sheep milk dairying operations do all kinds of complicated shenanigans to extend the lambing & therefore lactation seasons of their flocks, for which i as an adorer of delicious sheep yogurt & cheese am v grateful.


Posted by: dairy queen | Link to this comment | 02- 8-23 8:32 PM
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35

see https://blogs.cornell.edu/newsheep/management/reproduction/star-management/


Posted by: dairy queen | Link to this comment | 02- 8-23 8:33 PM
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36

If it's so prevalent, where's my McShaun?


Posted by: Minivet | Link to this comment | 02- 8-23 8:47 PM
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37

Where's my Ben and Jerry's "Shearing is Caring" ice cream?


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 02- 8-23 9:04 PM
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38

35: If I were trying to give the vegans something to make the assertion the sheep milking was Satanist, that's the figure I'd draw.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 02- 8-23 9:06 PM
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39

35: imagine how the ewes feel!


Posted by: dairy queen | Link to this comment | 02- 8-23 11:53 PM
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40

33: interestingly, that's roughly the same historical moment that Merinos were introduced to Australia, launching its huge wool export industry.


Posted by: Alex | Link to this comment | 02- 9-23 2:44 AM
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41

Click here to join the Cornell University sheepgoatmanagement list server. The purpose of the list server is to ask about and exchange information about sheep and goat management.

Put it like that and it's almost tempting!


Posted by: Alex | Link to this comment | 02- 9-23 3:09 AM
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42

On the bakineering: I used to love Scrapheap Challenge / Junkyard Wars when it was on 20+ years ago. The thing that amazed me was just how successful they could sometimes be. They had a special episode where they had to make planes, and the UK team, while testing out taxiing on the field, just took off and did a loop around the airfield and landed it. With a plane built out of scrap wood and old washing machine parts.

The other one I really miss, was the one where they used to attempt to solve ancient engineering problems: erecting Stonehenge, building a Roman campaign bridge across the Rhine, etc. Some of those they failed, and some they succeeded.

They built Stonehenge with real-sized and weight trilithons really easily, using high school kids, which put of damage into the "no-one knows how they could have moved and erected such heavy stones" nonsense.


Posted by: nattarGcM ttaM | Link to this comment | 02- 9-23 3:43 AM
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43

20: I think that a lot of stuff sold as lamb in the United States is really mutton.


Posted by: Bostoniangirl | Link to this comment | 02- 9-23 4:54 AM
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44

42.1: That was a great show.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 02- 9-23 7:50 AM
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45

Almost everything sold as lamb in the UK is actually hoggett, which is late adolescent sheep; another year it gets to be mutton. Mutton went out of fashion because the WWII generation was, quite rightly under the circumstances, fed on "ewe mutton", which was elderly sheep that weren't even much use for wool any more. So the boomers were prejudiced against mutton by their parents, but not against lamb (read hoggett). But if you order anything described as "ghosht" in an Indian/Pakistani/Bangladeshi restaurant, you get mutton, because meat eating people on the subcontinent, and their British descendants, don't have this inherited prejudice, and mutton is their default. If you want to buy mutton as such in Britain, your best option is a South Asian supermarket. It may be halal, in case that bothers you.

A Muslim colleague once remarked to me that Eid ul Adha was "not a good time to be a sheep."


Posted by: Chris Y | Link to this comment | 02- 9-23 1:41 PM
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46

Apparently in Indian English "mutton" can be either sheep or goat.


Posted by: Minivet | Link to this comment | 02- 9-23 1:46 PM
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47

I think Salem's meats are halal, but I've never been to his store.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 02- 9-23 2:04 PM
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48

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Posted by: NEMO69 | Link to this comment | 05-31-23 10:17 PM
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