Gourmet Lamb

JULY 2024: Contact us to reserve a lamb for this year.

From July through September we sell lambs for the freezer. These are mostly Jacob ram lambs that do not meet our requirements for breeding and BFL-Jacob crossbreds. The rams are moved at four months to a smaller field and fed locally grown alfalfa hay. The wethers and crossbred ewe lambs remain on the pasture.

CUSTOMER CHOICES 2024
1. Size - live weight at $3.00/lb
Small lamb : 65-75 pounds - July, 2023: Some lambs are reaching 60 pounds but many are still smaller.
Medium lamb: 76 - 85 pounds
Large lamb: 86 - 99 pounds
X-Large lamb: 100+ pounds (limited number, if any)
Expect 40-45% of live weight in meat. Customer can choose to take organs or not.

2. Harvesting/Processing
Lambs will be harvested on the farm and delivered to Gates Ranch Meat Company (see below). An alternative is that the lamb be harvested here and the you pick it up and deliver it to a butcher shop of your choice that might be closer to you. In each case the customer pays me based on the live weight on the day of harvest (and the slaughter fee) and pays the processor when picking up the meat.

3. Schedule
Scheduling harvest may be the most difficult part of this process. We need to choose a time when the Farm Harvest person can come here, the butcher has time and space, and you will be able to pick up the meat. We also work around other busy times such as marketing of lambs at local fairs and hunting season.

4. Cost (2024)
Lambs are $3/lb live weight.
Farm kill fee is $55 per lamb. Include this in your payment for the lamb because I will have already paid for the service.
Butcher fee at Gates Ranch is $125-$135, paid to the butcher shop when you pick up your lamb. This is based on hanging weight of less than or more than 50 pounds. The hanging weight is what is delivered to the butcher (no offal, horns, hide) and most of our lambs will be under 50 pounds. You can expect about 75% of that weight in meat.

5. Reserve a lamb
To get on the list for a custom lamb or if you want to find out more contact me by phone 707-688-3493 or email (form at bottom of page). Reserve your lamb now. I will sell unreserved lambs by mid-August.