The Benefits of Raising Grassfed Lamb

[@OBRfarm]

Yes finally a sheep and lamb vid!

[@chancevicino3270]

Great video, really* appreciate your outreach supporting small farm operations, skol.

[@originman4825]

Well that's the price for the cheapest and lowest quality meat products available in india sometimes even spoiled meat(goat,lamb) products sometimes which are grain fed and finished, probably even injected with antibiotics.this is a matter of fact in local butcher shops in and around a small size City in india ,even the most butcher shops all around India except the northeast.

[@TheGrassfedHomestead]

Thank you for the lamb content Luke and Diego! Question for Luke: are the contents of the meat CSA box USDA inspected for retail sales or are you pre-selling the live animal into shares and doing custom butchery?

[@grocefamilyfarm3062]

The Grass-fed Homestead great question! Everything we sell is going through one of 3 or 4 USDA inspected facilities. Logistically it would be hard to process this much meat on our own. But the regulations wouldn't accommodate it here either. 95% of our meat crosses state lines. And most of our pickup sites are Farmers markets where we are under local health Dept inspection. It's also nice to get animals processed and have options. For instance, I'm usually making enough of x kind of sausage to distribute 100+ lbs to my CSA shares, plus bulk up my Farmers market and restaurant order inventory as well.

[@grocefamilyfarm3062]

I'm sure there could be some sort of work around for a different context. But I can't say what would work there. We're certain glad that this marketing model that fits so well into our existing regulatory and processing constraints.

[@TheGrassfedHomestead]

Thank you for the reply. I'm trying to make my lamb enterprise profitable, thus sustainable, so I'm interested in learning more about different sales models. I look forward to listening to the podcast. Take care Luke!

[@grocefamilyfarm3062]

The Grass-fed Homestead sure thing. It's not always a simple thing to efficiently move product at scale and at a good price. But it is possible.

[@212acres3]

Going to add some sheep to our homestead. Thanks for the video.

[@RandyKleinman]

Luke and Diego, thanks as well from me for all the content about lamb. We got started with lamb in April 2017, 6 ewes and a ram on 14 acres in MN. I would like to know about how many square bales Luke needs for each ewe for the winter time. We basically need square bales from mid-October to about mid-April or May 1st, and I feel like I probably purchased much more than I needed, and I don't really know what to do with 30-40 square bales come Spring time.

[@grocefamilyfarm3062]

Randy Kleinman right now we feed about 2 high quality orchard grass and alfalfa/grass square bales per day for 22 full grown sheep and 11 lambs born in the fall. They are moving every 10 days. And they have access to 1 round bale in each paddock in addition to the squares. We may be too generous. But our ewes are going to lamb in May. So we don't want to be too stingy with the girls.

[@RandyKleinman]

Groce Family Farm Do you supplement with any non-grain stuff like sunflower seeds or alfalfa pellets? We were advised to do that with our ewes during breeding season and shortly before lambing.

[@grocefamilyfarm3062]

Randy Kleinman we only provide forage. But we intentionally chose a breed (st Croix with some crossing) that can perform with little inputs, for that very reason. I couldn't advise someone with a different setup. But for now what we are doing is following the extreme low input and intervention model, in hopes that our lower time and money inputs with the right sheep will result in good profitability and low risk.

[@RandyKleinman]

Groce Family Farm Thanks Luke. I spoke with our sheep mentor and her advice was for if we could not find a high quality alfalfa hay mix, to supplement some protein for pregnant ewes. It was very difficult to find good hay this year that wasn't moldy. Fingers crossed, but we have only purchased hay and fencing and a first aid kit for the sheep this year. Hoping the operation stays low cost for when we begin meat/wool production. We have Tunis sheep. Thanks also for the video on day range poultry. I wrote a grant application to the state to try tractor vs day range side by side in a two year trial based on what Diego featured at your farm.

[@elliottcoxon]

Thaught you where going to say. Im coming to you from England! In your introduction, i nearly went into shock.

[@chraleple9476]

Where do you even buy ewes and rams at on the east coast for farming? Around NOVA. Every search I've come up with are for super expensive registered show animals. I can't find any "nursery" or breeding farm for sheep.

[@iwantosavemoney]

That’s cool great price for you that’s awesome I would like to do something like this

[@johnkillen588]

As usual Diego, good job! thanks

[@PerimeterPermaculture]

How would you compare lamb in terms of the meat, is it closest to beef, pork, poultry?

[@RandyKleinman]

Beef. Lamb is a red meat.

[@maddog8148]

How many sheep do you hold on your 15 acres of land?

[@Mosiano]

Great vid

[@jeffefird2400]

How many acres is the farm?

[@DiegoFooter]

10ish.

[@AndreaS-oq7sw]

What's a CSA?

[@foreverpermaculture8572]

What grain is he bringing in.

[@grocefamilyfarm3062]

Forever Permaculture we bring in non-GMO feed from a local Mill for our omnivores: pigs, chickens and turkeys.

[@mikepompeo323]

"I love lamb"