Sheep breeds and taste

I've been experimenting with sheep as a new product for the farm.  Lamb is well-accepted and popular. and grass-finished lamb appeals to me.  Most of what they eat is produced on the farm, and the care required during their growing phase is pretty minimal. 

Right now I've got a flock of about 40 katahdin sheep, and 20 of these sheep that I believe are suffolks.  The katahdins are hair sheep -- they shed their wool every year, and so don't require shearing.  The suffolks don't shed their wool, and do require yearly shearing.  Both breeds require foot maintenance every 6 months, to trim their hooves.  My ground has no rocks to speak of in it, and so the sheep hooves don't get worn down as they would on rougher ground. 

The farmer I purchased my katahdins from raises his sheep on pasture, but provides feed for them throughout the year, and prior to purchasing my ewes I bought a couple of lambs from him to see what they tasted like, and what the yield was like. 

Taste is one of the primary reasons that I raise the animal breeds I do.  If you're going to go to the trouble of raising an animal by hand why not raise the animal that you prefer the taste of? 

I also purchased three hair sheep that had been raised on grass, and that gave me a useful comparison.  what does feed-raised lamb taste like compared with grass-fed? 

Grass fed lamb is leaner and smaller than feed-lamb.  In texture the penned-and-fed lambs were a little more tender, but not so that it really made any difference to the end consumer (me).  Both were acceptably tender.  Smaller:  grass fed is 50-70lbs on the hoof, grain-fed is 70-90lbs, same birth date. 

Fresh, as in eaten on the day that it was slaughtered, the fed-lamb was bland.  So much so that it really didn't taste much like lamb.  It just tasted like meat.  It could have been chicken.  I was pretty disappointed.  While the yield was better, the lamb didn't taste like lamb.  I ate a couple of chops and a bit of the leg of this lamb.  hanging it for 7 days improved the flavor. 

The grass-fed lamb however, was good tasting immediately.  If I were to want to spit-roast a lamb, I'd take a grass fed, hands down, as they're usually cooked relatively fresh.  hanging for 7 days also improved this lamb, and comparing the two side by side, I have to say that the grass-finished lamb was preferable to the fed lamb. 

So I want the katahdin because they don't have to be sheared, but I want good taste.   I'm happy to report that a grass-fed katahdin is as good as a grass-fed suffolk lamb, and I've tried both this year. 

I have both suffolk and katahdin lambs available right now.  if you'd like to try one, let me know. 

The dog doesn't even like green peppers

 This is my dog, Monster.  He doesn't like green peppers.  But if a pig is going to eat it, he considers it his job to make sure that he makes a valiant effort to eat it himself.  When we get these massive shipments of fruits and vegetables, he's in a quandry.  While he's saving this green pepper for himself, thousands of other vegetables are being consumed. 

 Being the dedicated dog, he takes a good bite of it, and then decides he doesn't like it. 

But when pigs show an interest in this green pepper he carries it off.  Dogs are clearly zero-sum thinkers.  If a pig eats it I have lost it, so I must save it, even if I really don't like it. 

"free range", chickens and regulations. Public comment period

The Seattle Times has a story today about the debate in the egg industry about what exactly "free range" means, and what "organic" means.  

Several things stood out in the story -- first, the cornucopia institute, who I've never heard of before, came up with rankings of egg producers and a report about various practices.  Check this excecutive summary for pictures of what some larger egg producers (and the industry) consider "outdoor access".  I think that this sort of reporting -- showing people what the conditions their food is raised in -- is very valuable.  Lets people make informed choices about their food.  I'd have to say that roofed, enclosed outdoor porches don't quality as "outdoor access" in my book, but the regulators have agreed that it is.  That's the sort of regulation creep that makes "organic" or "free range" useless as labels for consumers. 

What I think is less valuable is the cornucopia institutes rankings.  One of the top-ranked egg producers in washington state claims "3800 square feet per bird" space.  Which I believe means that their birds are kept in a 3800 square foot pen.  And that same producer says, and I quote, "...We do not kill any chicken for meat so as they age we end up as a nursing home for retired chickens.".

I don't think it's fair to compare farms that are producing 10,000 eggs a day with farms that are producing 30.  And this whole business of "we don't kill our birds" is odd.  By buying hens you've already killed all the roosters.  Why stop there?  You'll find their website here.   If I were only keeping 3 birds, I could lavish time and attention to them and get a perfect rating -- but I couldn't make a living off it.  Apples to apples, i say. 

The Seattle Times story has a link to make public comments about the practices to the board, you'll find it at the bottom of the story.  Take a couple of minutes and post your opinion. 

You'll find the Seattle Times story here.