FOOD

Lamb and Easter

For celebrating or denoting special occasions, religious ones strongly among these, eating lamb is the practice in many parts of the world. Lamb is a much-chosen food at Easter.

The National Sheep Association in the UK provides on its website a ‘Buyers Guide to Lamb’, which explains the circumstance in the UK. It says:

‘Most baby lambs are born in spring and are ready for the food chain around six months later – meaning autumn is the time when British, grass-fed lamb is most plentiful. However, some producers make sure their lambs are born earlier so they are ready for the table at Easter…. Another option at Easter are lambs born the previous spring, which will have taken a little longer to reach the supply chain, because of their breed or the farming system. These lambs (referred to within the industry as “old season”, or “hogget”) will be nearly 12 months old’.   

For noting is that a lot of the lamb bought and eaten in the UK at time of Easter is likely to be from New Zealand. The lamb would have been born the previous autumn (New Zealand spring).

The fundamental matter is that lamb for food has been slaughtered at very early life stage.

In the UK it has just been Easter weekend. On the Saturday, the organisation Animal Justice Project staged a event ‘Skip The Lamb This Easter!’. This was in London’s Leicester Square, a much-peopled place. The centrepiece was ‘a visual protest: a confronting art piece exposing the cruelty behind lamb farming.’ Animal Justice Project handed out information leaflets and had discussions with those stopping to regard the hard-hitting presentation. Among the information in the leaflets was this:

‘Baby lambs are typically sent to the abattoir so people can eat a “leg of lamb” when they are just 3-6 months old, but some are killed as early as 10 weeks. At the slaughterhouse, they are stunned with electric tongs before their throats are slit. A terrifying ordeal for any animal, let alone one just a few weeks old. These innocent lambs are denied the chance to grow and live the full lives they were born for.’

The first photograph shows the ‘Skip The Lamb This Easter!’ event.

The second photograph shows some Easter cards. Their existence as a product aimed at humans would indicate a public love of lambs. Humans also eating lambs surely indicates dichotomy of human thought on lambs.

And some lambs will have never known Easter.

9th April 2026