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Lamb on the hoof. What do you look for?


pax

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A year ago I got a bunch of Katahdin ewe lambs with which to train my Border Collies.

My ewes are now one year olds with lambs at heel.

Is there a market for field raised lamb in the DC area? Can I turn my hobby into something that might pay a little back?

What would you want in farm raised lambs?

Any suggestions as to how I go about getting rid of some of these things? :biggrin:

“Don't kid yourself, Jimmy. If a cow ever got the chance, he'd eat you and everyone you care about!”
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The best source of information would be your County Agricultural Co-op Service person. They are fantastically knowledgeable and are a completely free service. You can find the phone # in the usual section that has government-type lists in the phone book.

The downside is that often they can be very busy, particularly in the Spring and Fall. If you hit it right, you might get a visit to your place where you can chew the fat. Or so to speak :biggrin:

Good luck.

Oh. Get info ASAP about the young male lambs. They can be uh . . . "troublesome" if left to their own devices, I hear. :rolleyes:

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I didn't get many, but those I did, I banded. (A form of castration). :biggrin: My husband couldn't bring himself to help.

But thank you.

I've been keeping livestock a long time. The sheep are just a new thing cause I hit 40 and found out I don't bounce so well as I used to. Sheep are less bouncy than horses. :wacko:

I can hit the ag agent, that's a good suggestion. I planned to just run them to the Mennonite butcher in town but once I get them back....oh. I am going to be like a neighbour sneaking eggplant into your car at church, only with lamb.

I was really just wondering if there was a niche market for it, especially since I feed only natural stuff and vax sparingly.

Based on the level of enthusiasm I drummed up here, I guess I ought to put the girlies on Norplant. :raz:

“Don't kid yourself, Jimmy. If a cow ever got the chance, he'd eat you and everyone you care about!”
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I didn't get many, but those I did,  I banded. (A form of castration).  :biggrin:  My husband couldn't bring himself to help.

[ . . .]

I was really just wondering if there was a niche market for it, especially since I feed only natural stuff and vax sparingly.

Based on the level of enthusiasm I drummed up here, I guess I ought to put the girlies on Norplant.  :raz:

Yeah, the rubber bands. Heh. I used to have acreage and liked the idea of lambs. It was just those rubber bands that sort of flew through my dreams at night that made me decide to not do it.

The Farmer's Market here (Blacksburg) has one vendor that sells beef (frozen cuts) from their farm. They do a good business. As you are further north towards DC (I imagine, anyway), with even more of the "foodie" type thing going on, I would imagine you could do fairly well at a Farmer's Market near you, with lamb. Might be worth a call to the management of the market(s) to see what their rules are, if you have enough to sell and are willing to give up some Saturdays or pay someone to cover the stand for you.

I'd buy lamb if it were here at the market.

There is a guy who runs one of the farms attached to the university who grows lambs, a flock of them each year. They're basically used to test different feeds and grasses. Each year he sells out, ahead of time, in the Fall. He just trucks them to one of the slaughterhouses nearby and the people pick them up "ready to go" from there.

Maybe you should just have a big party with lots of roast lamb. :raz:

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As a very occasional visitor to DC, I've noticed that quite a lot of locally raised meat is sold at the Dupont Circle farmers' market, with heavy emphasis on pasturing and no hormones/antibiotics, so there's obviously an urban clientele that would be interested.

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Hmmmm could Lamb be an addition to a semi annual event in North Carolina? otherwise I will take anything not walking off your hands :rolleyes:

tracey

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Thanks, emsny. I guess I should really go down to the bigger farmer's markets and see what's happening. I do a local CSA so I don't go as often as I should. I guess I'd need to have some kind of freezer unit. Oy. My dogs' pets are turning into a thing.

rooftop, at the moment, they are still walking. But I'm open to suggestion. :smile: It might get funky shipping lamb to NC though, so if you're serious, I have a lot of sheep farmer friends down there I can put you in touch with. :smile:

“Don't kid yourself, Jimmy. If a cow ever got the chance, he'd eat you and everyone you care about!”
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