The Real Dirt on Lamb

No, this is not a post about my favorite lamb recipe, although this mint crusted rack of lamb recipe from The Grassfed Gourmet cookbook sure was fabulous.  This is about my growing awareness of the seriously overlooked meat that is lamb.  We have raised a few lamb here and there, not exactly enjoying the experience because their wool insulates them from the shock of our super-charged electric fence, so we constantly caught flack from our neighbors when they escaped.  We found an amazing supplier of grassfed lamb for our farmers' market booth, so we now buy the lamb fully grown and arrange for the slaughter and cut & wrap, but not the production.

I was naively under the impression that most lamb was grassfed, being that it grows fairly quickly (8-10 months) and can thrive on even marginal rangeland.  To my surprise, I found out that over half of American lamb is actually confined and fed grain and hay for the last 2-3 months of their lives.  What about all that fabulous grassfed lamb coming from New Zealand and Australia?  Turns out that our friends down under have had some poor grass years and are turning to grain finishing their lamb as well. It is estimated that approximately 10% of lambs in Australia are completely lot fed, while around 50% or more are now receiving grain finishing or supplementary feeding (According to the Sheep Meat Council of Australia).

Some friends and I conducted an informal taste test of grain finished Australian rack of lamb, purchased at Costco for $10.99/lb. and the grassfed American rack of lamb, which we retail for $21/lb.  The grain finished lamb had a thicker layer of mostly inedible fat, there was more meat on the rack, yet the taste and consistency were quite different.  There were larger pore spaces in the meat, making it actually feel mushy on the tongue.  The grassfed lamb had less fat that was actually soft enough to eat (not gristly) and the meat was dense, rich, and sweet. 

So the California raised grassfed lamb tasted better, but why does it cost so much more?  Some of the reasons include the cost of land in California and the price of irrigating pastures.  The slaughter and cut & wrap charges are much higher than other states as well.  Grassfed lamb has a lower meat to bone ratio and the yield is smaller, making the meat more expensive.  Also good ol fashioned economics mean that a product that is not readily available (California grassfed lamb) will fetch a higher price.  Rather than thinking about the price of the California lamb, let's wonder about the price of the Australian lamb.  How can it possibly be that cheap ($10.99/lb.)???  When you factor in the transportation and all of the middle men involved, what is that Australian producer actually making per pound?  Row crop producers in this country average about .8 cents for every dollar of food they produce.  If that same proportion holds true for the Australian sheep farmer, they make about .88/lb. of lamb.  My math might be wildly off, but I doubt the Aussie producer is making a fair wage for that cheap Costco meat.

Comments

[Matthew McCormack]

The problem with the grain finishing is that the extra weight gain is mostly fat.

I found this site because the Australian lamb available at Safeway in Baltimore is so greesy and rubbery that I thought it MUST be grain fed.

Thanks for the information! I am going to stick with grass fed cows from the downtown farmers market until I find pastured lamb here.

[Deborah Bauer]

My experience with raising livestock, as a meat cutter and cook I have found grass fed
Dorper lamb to best the best lamb I have ever eaten.I'm not a huge fan of grass fed beef due to its inconsistency of finish,I enjoy free range grain finished but perhaps grass finished would be better.

[Catherine]

Raising lamb totally on grass depends, too, on where you are in the country. Our lambs are born outside in May (we need to wait until it warms up here in Minnesota), and it's hard to get the lambs to market weight before the snow flies in December. So we add some grain to their diet, but it's just a small percentage. But if we lived in CA, we'd go to entirely grass fed...

And those prices you're paying---Lordy. If you buy directly from a farmer, you'll pay less. For example, we charge about $6.50 per pound if you buy a whole or half. (We don't ship, so don't get excited.) But try buying direct---it'll be cheaper.

And thanks for writing about lamb---it's a great meat!

Catherine
Rising Moon Farm
www.risingmoonfarm.com
Author of The Compassionate Carnivore: How to Keep Animals Happy, Save Old MacDonald's Farm, Reduce Your Hoofprint, and Still Eat Meat.

[Rebecca T. of HonestMeat]

The Californian grassfed lamb was from a hair sheep breed called Dorper. Since hair sheep don't produce wool, they have little to no lanolin production. This is supposed to make the meat more mild and less "muttony" flavored. In my research I found that Australia and New Zealand are still mostly using wool breeds, with Merino sheep dominating in Australia and Romney sheep dominating in New Zealand. However, I believe the mushy texture of the Australian lamb was due to grain-feeding and not the breed. The flavor was pretty good but the texture was awful.

[Sam Burton]

It really is the cost of lamb that keeps most people away. A nice slow roasted or lightly smoked leg of lamb is an absolute delight, but it is just not value for most pocket books.

[Carrie Oliver]

That's an interesting comparision between grain-finished and grass-only lamb. Were the lambs from the same breed? In my limited experience tasting what I'd call artisan lamb (no one near me can tell me what's on my plate so I won't eat it) I've found really high seasonality in the flavors, whether grain or grass-finished, and by breed. Would love to learn more.

[Tim]

I was very surprised also when we found out how much lamb is produced with grain. I mean, c'mon! Sheep and cows can obviously do just fine on grass...just manage your grass and give them something good to eat. There is a local lamb producer but she raises hers mainly on grain throughout, as the pastures are ruined due to continuous grazing.

We have a few now that we are trying to finish. The problem with just grassfed for most producers is getting them to the desired weight. Given that sheep (unlike pigs and cows) usually have a fixed processing cost, the more the farmer can get them to weigh, the lower the processing cost per pound. Nevertheless, we're raising only on grass and whatever the weight is when their time is due, that's what it is.

Thanks for a great post.

Tim
Nature's Harmony Farm
www.naturesharmonyfarm.com