a year ago, two lambs were born to our two suffolk ewes. two female lambs, and we made a promise to the boys that females would be kept for more breeding.
a month ago, kenny and i started talking about butchering one of them any way. if we continue to keep the female sheep born to the meat sheep (suffolks are bred for their meat), we will have more animals than we can handle. then we’ll just become “that stinky farm that has more poop than animals,” we’ll end up on the local news as animal hoarders and we won’t be keeping to our original farming plans…our “Constitution” as it were: to grow our own meat.
we ran our idea past the boys and it was unanimous: Poppy would be be the sacrificial lamb this year (normally we wouldn’t name the animals that are planned for future butchering…or normally they’re names are “chops” or “dinner” or “shank”, etc).
a butcher (meat processor?) who lives a mere 1.5 miles from us picked up Poppy this morning. i felt a mixture of sadness (because we were there when she was born) and relief (we are fulfilling her purpose). the boys wanted to be awake to see her go. they watched from their bedroom window.
it’s traditional to have a leg of lamb for Passover supper. we’ll have our roasted leg of lamb on Easter Sunday. because the ultimate sacrifical Lamb conquered death forever. for all of us.
so now…i will have a freezer full of chops, ground lamb, and another leg. i don’t like lamb meat. i like spinning their wool.
I’m with you on lamb as meat, in general, though roasted leg of lamb is pretty good. But if we raised our own lambs, the rest of my family would be more than happy to eat the meat. Too bad cattle are so big….
Linda – Kenny recently had ground lamb meatballs with mint over orzo from a local restaurant. i’m going to see if i can replicate it. I had a taste, and it definitely tasted like lamb to me. I’ll make lamb dishes for guests who enjoy the flavor.