How we manage our flock of lamb differently at Sparrow Hill Farm

An overview of our lamb operation

As always, everything we do on the farm is in an attempt to bring the best quality food to market while respecting the animals, the soil and the environment. Take a bit of time to read this, and you'll have a better understanding of what sets us apart and why our lamb is so exceptionally good!

Our ewes are a mix of breeds that do well on forage-based diets and who lamb well unassisted on pasture. We put the ram with the flock the beginning of December which gives us lambs around the beginning of May the next spring. After the lambs are born, they stay with their moms and are rotated through lush pastures until November. 

Why manage the flock to lamb in the spring?

One reason we manage our flock to lamb in the spring is that it's more in sync with nature and the sheep's natural fertility cycle. In many operations sheep are bred to have their lambs in the middle of winter which is not how nature works. 

Birthing in the middle of winter causes problems with lambing and stresses the ewes. However, it does line up the lambs maturing during the prime market cycle when top dollar can be earned at the sale barn.

Since getting top price on the commodity market is not our goal, it allows us to once again work with nature rather than against it. In the wild, it would never work if the deer or any other wild animal started having its babies in the middle of winter. They would go extinct. 

Another reason we choose the beginning of May for our lambing time is that it's the time of year when the weather is warming up and there is green grass. When a ewe has access to fresh green grass, it makes their milk more nutritious and high energy. This results in a healthier more robust lamb with better natural immunity to parasites and other potential environmental pathogens.

Having a smorgasbord of fresh greens rather than the hay we feed in winter is also important for the ewe in maintaining her body condition and strength while she is raising two small babies. By timing the cycle with nature, this allows us to avoid feeding grains and other energy supplementation that would be needed if we lambed in the winter. 

With plenty of milk and forage (the lambs start eating grass in their first week of life), they grow fast and healthy all spring, summer, and fall. And they mature into young sheep, which on the market is known as lamb.

A common misconception about lamb

I've had questions before where people assume that lamb is produced from a very young animal, such as the case with veal. Or they assume we're taking a suckling lamb off the mom and processing it. This is not the case. By the time the processing date comes around at 6-7 months, the lambs are old enough to be on their own and have actually been weaned by their moms. And the lambs are roughly the size of their moms when they go to the processor to be humanely and carefully processed and turned into the cuts we sell. 

What makes our grass-fed lamb so popular?

Better weather, better forage, less stress, and syncing with nature. It all works together in creating the building blocks to the tender, juicy, nutritious, 100% grass-fed lamb that is so popular with many of you.

As always, eat well and stay healthy!