Meat Lambs

Our lambs’ lives

Our lambs are born on our farm and raised with care. They spend their first few days of life bonding with their mothers in a special pen, called a lambing jug. While there, we can keep a closer eye on them and intervene if they need to be bottle fed or some extra TLC. After their first week, our lambs get their ears pierced with their USDA required ID tags and the boys will be castrated if we intend on selling them for meat before they get introduced to the main flock of sheep. They spend their next week or two of life getting to know the rest of the flock, making friends with the other young lambs, learning to follow their mothers around the barn and paddock area, and learning to respect fences as barriers. After that they begin joining the flock out in the pastures each day.

Lambs that are not destined to become permanent members of our flock or who are not being raised by us as meat lambs are weaned from their mothers between 3 and 4 months of age when they leave the farm for their new homes. Those lambs that stay with us are allowed to wean themselves naturally, and are only separated from their mothers if they are rams that have not been castrated, or are continuing to try to nurse at 5 months of age. All meat lambs staying with us continue on pasture until they reach slaughter weight, at approximately 6 to 8 months old.

Our approach

Our goal is to raise healthy, happy lambs to become healthy food for ourselves, our friends, and our customers.

All of our lambs are vaccinated against clostridial diseases (overeating disease and tetanus), and are regularly checked for internal parasites using the FAMACA system and are wormed when needed. Any animals on our farm that become ill are treated, with antibiotics where appropriate, under veterinary supervision. We will not allow an animal to suffer due to lack of medical care, and will seek to prevent any illnesses that can be prevented through a combination of flock/land management techniques, wormers, and vaccinations.

Our sheep are primarily pasture raised. Most of what they eat is grazed directly from our pastures. However, in cases of drought, and as we are building up the quality of our pastures, they are also supplemented with hay that we purchase locally. Between breeding cycles our sheep are fed grain only as a treat and to encourage them to come to the barn at night. However, as lambing approaches, and while the ewes are nursing we feed the ewes grain rations daily to help support their nutritional needs and get the lambs off to a good start. No one goes hungry around our farm!

Purchasing one of our lambs

Lambs meat yield from live weight will vary, but is typically around 45%, so a lamb will typically yield 35 – 55 lbs of meat after processing. If you purchase a slaughter ready lamb, we can transport your lamb to a custom processor of your choice (within 20 miles of Seguin, TX), or you can pick it up from the farm by appointment. Whichever option you chose, you will have to pay the processor directly for the custom processing of your lamb. The processing cost varies depending on which processor you use but typically runs between $120-150 in our area. Keep in mind that with custom processing, the meat can not be resold and is for your personal/family use only. Custom processing facilities are inspected by the State of Texas but are not USDA inspected.

Theoretical Example: You pay us $400 for a lamb, we drop it off at a local processor where you make your custom cut sheet order with them and pay them processing fee of $125. This gets you a total take-home meat cost of $525, at $9.54-15 per pound. While each processor has their own “standard cuts” that they offer, you can pick and chose how you would like your meat packaged. If you want it all as ground lamb, they can do that. However, most people opt for cuts of leg (generally 2, unless you want them cut into smaller roasts), shoulder roasts (again usually 2), ribs, chops or loin roasts, and ground. You also can ask for the organ meats, bones for soups, the head, or other more specialty cuts if your processor provides those services. After the lamb is processed, in one to two weeks, you pick up your meat wrapped and frozen at the processor.