The purpose of this experiment was to quantify the seasonal variations in lamb meat quality and identify the contributory factors associated with the various production systems used in the UK. The approach taken was therefore largely a systems one, with the various production systems used in the project mimicking those typical of the British sheep industry supplying lambs onto the market from April to January.

Material and methods 504 spring-born lambs [equal numbers of entire male (E), castrated male (C) and female (F)] which were the twin-reared progeny of Mule ewes (Bluefaced Leicester x Swaledale) and Suffolk rams were allocated to one of 7 finishing systems (n=72 per system). These were combinations of 4 diets and 4 slaughter periods (at 2 monthly intervals between June 1992 and January 1993) in an incomplete factorial design: concentrates (CS1), grass (GRI, GR2), silage (SL2, SL3) and roots (RT3, RT4); all but the grass diet were fed indoors.