100% natural pastured beef, pork, lamb, goat, poultry & eggs
Home of Goats + Yoga in Central Illinois
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Grass-Fed Lamb
Willow City Farm’s grass fed lamb is second-to-none. We only raise a few at a time, and our breed of choice is Katahdin/Dorper cross sheep. We don't want to over graze our pasture and we prefer to only raise a few at a time to meet the needs of our clients.
We chose to sell Katahdin/ Dorper crosses primarily due to their superior, but mild taste. Our sheep are raised on grass/hay and have free access to minerals and fresh water. As lambs, they are never fed grain, just their mom's milk and pasture which has not been sprayed with any pesticides or man made fertilizers. (We use alpaca beans!)
The Katahdin is a mid size sheep. They require no shearing, and the ewes are generally exceptional mothers and mature early. They have above average internal parasite resistance and tolerance which reduces the need for worm medicines, and they usually can breed out of season and they can give a 175% lamb crop with good management.
The Dorper are a fast growing, very tender meat producing sheep. They are an easy to care for animal that produces a short light coat that is shed in late spring and summer. It was developed in South Africa and is now the second most popular breed in that country. This breed was developed by the crossing of an English Dorset Horn x Blackhead Persian in the 1930s. The breed has high fertility and maternal instinct, combined with high growth rates and hardiness.
Purchase Lamb
2023 Pricing:
Whole/ Half Lamb - These lambs will be 9-12 months old. $12/per lb for
whole/ $12.50 per lb for half based on hanging weight; Processing &
packaging is extra. We have regular butchering every few weeks
during the summer..
A non-refundable deposit of $100 per lamb is required when ordering,
and this will be applied to the final cost.
Not sure how to cook lamb?
We have LOTS of recipes on our blog! Check them out here.
Why Lamb?
It's Got Flavor:
We've done a good job over the years of breeding the flavor out of our food. Eat blindfolded and you'll have a hard time identifying a lot of what you eat. Take pork, for instance: The fat-phobic transformed pig meat into something so lean, it went from juicy and piggy to dry and tasteless. Thankfully the heritage-breed believers have rescued old-fashioned pork, but at a price the masses can't afford. Meanwhile, luscious lamb chops, shanks, racks, and roasts--from animals whose genetic traits haven't been mucked with like pork--are waiting to be discovered by you in the supermarket meat case, or better yet, from your local shepherd at your farmers' market.
It's Multiculti:
It's Healthy: Grass-fed lamb, like other grass-fed meat, is an efficient way of getting the concentrated goodness of grass into our bodies. Besides that, lamb is rich in iron,zinc, selenium, vitamin B-12 and niacin, but it's particularly rich in alpha-linolenic acid (ALA, one of those important omega-3 fatty acids you hear about). A 3-ounce serving of lamb, according to the American Lamb Board, has almost five times
as much ALA as the same size piece of beef.
Check out our Pinterest page for some more great lamb recipes!
Lamb is a cross-cultural meat, approved by the major religions—Jewish, Islamic, and Christian--and eaten in quantity everywhere except America. Globally it's the second most popular animal protein after goat. The Middle East imports more Australian lamb by volume (and they've got lots of lamb to export) than anywhere else. China is a growing market for the Aussies, too, as well as Japan. And while we're at it, let's remember that the Australians know a thing or two about great food. They consume about 20 pounds of lamb per person each year compared to our paltry 1 pound per person.
It's Snazzy:
There's nothing quite so classy for a dinner party or holiday meal as a rack of lamb, or better yet, two racks of lamb, their rib bones interlocked like the arch of sabers at a military wedding. Or how about a crown roast of lamb, two racks tied together to form a circle? Fit for a king! Caterers know that lamb lollipops--rib chops in which the bones have been scraped clean (to form a natural handle) and the meat trimmed down to a two-bite nugget are an irresistible nibble at holiday cocktail parties. A butterflied leg of lamb on the grill is a crowd-pleaser at any time of year. And don't forget about lamb shanks; they are fall-off-the-bone succulent when braised, whether in the oven or in a pressure cooker.
