Lamb

The supply of lamb is greatest around Easter.  You'll see another spike in availability (and a small decrease in price) in early fall, if you live near a metro center.  It's because the breeds of sheep that produce most American lamb are very seasonal breeders.  There are other breeds we use to produce lamb year round but they are slower growers and don't do as well in the feedlot environment.

The price you describe is pretty normal.  If you live near a lamb producer, consider purchasing a whole lamb or cull sheep for Ella.  You can have it ground or cut to order - I usually have the whole thing cut in one pound "steaks" when I do a sheep for the dogs.  Check out eatwild.com to get some ideas on where to find lamb sellers in your area, if possible.
 

The lamb in our grocery stores tends to be pretty expensive. I don't normally buy it. It tends to have an off smell to it when I buy it, and I don't want to feed it raw.

Off Topic: Becca, When you sell to individuals to you have to freeze the meat first? I'm wondering if its just a Maryland thing, or maybe its just with pork and beef. I don't know anyone to buy lamb from only beef and pork. Off to check that website.  

 Becca-

thank you.

I just emailed some local farmers that sell goat, lamb, chicken, turkeys, geese, you-name-it, they have it on their farm, it seems.

ACK.  I had NO DANG IDEA what to ask these people, but I emailed them.  hahahaha.  These are the same people I was going to email a year ago to inquire about goat meat, but never got around to it.  I bet they're going to read my email and think I'm an idiot.

 

Again, who usually butchers and processes the animals/meat from farms?  Can you tell I'm clueless?  hahaha. 

No need to feel unsure - if they advertise on Eat Wild, they are passionate about helping people switch from grocery store mass-raised animal products and should be eager to talk to you about what they offer.

Processors usually freeze the meats they cut, mostly because, I think, it keeps the meat fresh until pickup - otherwise you'd have to add however long it takes you to pick it up, to the shelf life.  I've asked not to have my meat frozen before and it's been no problem, so it's not a regulation thing here.

Where the animals are killed and processed depends on the supplier.  Some actually do it all on their farm, but that's pretty rare.  You need to have a pretty nice setup to sell meat killed on the farm.  Most people do as I do and deliver the animal live to the processor.  I have four options where I live, and will ask the person purchasing the meat, which they prefer.

If you want it custom processed, the butcher will do that for you.  Usually I then also pickup and deliver because it makes payment easier.  I take a deposit which covers the cost of processing, just in case something happens on your end, I'm covered and can always use the meat myself.  The meat comes prewrapped and a USDA butcher has labels with handling instructions just like the stuff in the grocery store.  A medium sized lamb, cut in small portions, will fit in a normal sized cooler like you'd take to the beach, or half fill a regular sized freezer portion of a fridge.

thank you!  This helps a lot.

 So, do you think a whole goat would fit into a decent sized chest freezer?  Will most farms process per customer request (like half an animal vs. a whole animal?)?

 
And I know prices are obviously going to vary according to the individual farm AND the animal and type of processing (I would guess), but if you had to guess off the top of your head, what do you think a whole goat would cost?

I've been told to have it cut into 4" chunks by others who feed their pit bulls raw.  But what about bones and organs?  How's that divided/processed?

I'm looking mainly for a few recreational bones for her, SOME organs (I'd LOVE to get some brain, if I could), but mainly muscle meat.  I'm not opposed to feeding a few complete raw meals, but I mainly cut her raw meats up and stuff her kongs with it and freeze the kong.  I'm not an all-the-time raw feeder because Ella doesn't do well on an all raw diet. 
 

 I wonder if there are any sites like that for Canada.  I wouldn't even know what to Google.

chewbecca

Is it me or has the price of lamb gone up?

Is it, er, out of season or something?  I usually can get Ella small lamb steaks for $1, but now they're over $2!!!

ACK.  I got one lamb steak for her today and 2 nice pork steaks.  I use these to stuff her kongs.  She won't be getting too many kongs if the lamb steaks are going to be over $2 (almost $3).  The steaks are only about half a pound, too. 

     The cheapest cut of lamb I can find outside of mutton are lamb ribs @ $1.99 lb. Funny you should mention that you notice lamb has gone up, because in my area, it's actually one of the only things to have come down in price! It's been $3+lb. for years; I think the last time I got it for $2 was when I first started feeding raw back in late '01 ... goes to show how marked up everything is over here Is there any way you can find mutton? I can't always get it, but sometimes the butcher has mutton strips or cubes with hunks of fat for .99 - $1.09 lb. On a rare occasion, I can get mutton/beef scraps for free.
     Speaking of rising prices, has anyone noticed that chicken backs have doubled in price? I can't get them under .89 lb, which is outrageous & I refuse to pay that! I can still get quarters for less! Didn't mean to hijack the thread, just curious if my area is the only one that has gone insane with the chicken back prices ...

    

About 75% of lamb is mostly grass fed - pasture raised, in other words.  Thus, the price of feed doesn't affect the lamb we raise as much.  In fact, many farmers last fall got out of farming altogether when the drought affected hay prices, and dumped their stock on the slaughter market.  Sheep are often a niche or filler stock (goats too) - there are not many "sheep-only" farmers in other words.  So there's been a downward pressure on lamb prices at a time when most meat is climbing dramatically.

Mutton is generally only available in the northeast or some places in the midwest, where there's a demand for it and a good supply both.  However, if you can find local farmers you can deal with, you can purchase cull animals when they are available.  Mine run around $1.25/pound including processing.

You can get muscle meat one of a few ways.  Ask for larger cuts and bone it yourself, which will result in large bones and a happier processor (lol).  Or have the processor debone most of it and cut down the bones into mangeable chunks.  This will result in more wasted meat, however.  Or, you can ask for ground meat and then the processor is free to get it off the bone in any way he can, which means you'll get more meat (and he'll be happier).  Then you ask for the bones to be cut down - one pound of goat or mutton bone is about 3 or 4 inches long.  These bones will be all or mostly consumable, depending on how aggressive Ella is at chewing, and how old the animal is - the only time I've not seen my Border Collies able to eat every bit of a sheep was when I feed them mature rams.

On a whole animal you get every bit of it, but you have to make sure they know you want it.  You can't get tripe or intestines usually, but you can have anything else as long as the inspector passes it (if you are using a USDA processor).  Make sure they know you want all the bone scraps too.

If you are purchasing piecemeal  (by the part), they should offer a list of what they have on hand.  You want boneless cuts, or if you want to save some money you'll want bone-in - then you just bone it yourself.  USually shoulder, shanks, neck and breast are cheapest - but the neck and breast are definitely RMBs - very hard to get the meat off.  If they don't list organs, tell them you are interested in organ meat also - they may not have any on hand at the moment, but would be willing to put these in the freezer if there's a market for them.  Again, it's best to mention this is for a dog and that you aren't interested in prime cuts - or their $7 a pound meat!  If you mention a budget, they may be able to work with you - if they are selling by the cut, there will be a great deal of the animals that they are not selling and may be currently sending off to dog food companies for practically nothing.

A goat is usually the same size as a lamb.  It will fit in even the smallest chest freezer, and in fact a kid (young goat) will fit in the top freezer protion of your fridge (though not much else will [lol] ). 

huskymom

I wonder if there are any sites like that for Canada.

When I went to that EatWild.com the had a place to click if you were in Canada.

TheDogHouseBCMPD

huskymom

I wonder if there are any sites like that for Canada.

When I went to that EatWild.com the had a place to click if you were in Canada.

 

Wow!  Totally missed that.  Thanks.  There aren't any places close to here though.  Everything in Ontario is in the southern part.  A few places in Manitoba aren't tooooo far, but I'll have to see about them.

 The price of ALL food has been going up thanks to the rise in fuel prices.  I haven't bought one recently but I usually go to Publix and buy slabs of New Zealand lamb ribs for my dogs.  Each slab has about 8 or 9 ribs on it and I  pay about $2.59 a slab ( which is about a foot long  and about 3 in at one end and 6-7in at the other.   I think it's a really good deal. I also buy lamb shoulder steaks  when they're around $2.50/lb.  I've been getting nice big slabs of beef ribs at the local butcher for about $5.99 a slab.

I'll be interested to see if Emma's lambie rolls go up. She eats premade raw lamb, some, and she eats lamb redbarn rolls. Hmm...