Generally the same sheep is used for wool and slaughtered for meat. Old sheep produce subpar wool, just like old humans hair is thinner etc. You also don’t want to keep feeding an animal that’s likely to die before you can harvest the wool.

Warning video at bottom of page is graphic: https://www.woolfacts.com/wool-and-animal-welfare/slaughterh...

In the past, yes, you were correct, but now, you're incorrect.

For starters, no-one buys hogget or mutton anymore. The only sheep meat there's a market for is lamb.

Secondly, the largest profitable market in wool is fine wool used in clothing, like from merino sheep. They're terrible eating, but their wool is amazing.

Dual purpose breeds like the Romney provide coarse wool, which is great for carpets and blankets, but the market for both wool carpets and wool blankets has shrunk in the face of competition from synthetic fibres.

Domestic demand is low, but cheap protein is always in demand.

https://www.agric.wa.gov.au/sheep/sheep-live-export?page=0%2...

https://www.worldstopexports.com/top-sheep-and-lamb-meat-exp...

The US is an outlier here.

I'm a New Zealander :) And if I wanted to purchase a mutton or hogget roast, I'd have to go to a specialist butcher, and cross my fingers. Pretty much all of our sheep raised for meat are butchered as lamb, simply because it's what the world market consumes.