Our little blackbelly lambs may have trouble "grading" like wool breed sheep, but there's no question they can attain a succulent "artisan" quality. As we struggle along to found our little flock and farm, we sure take some interesting side-trips into the many aspects of a birth-to-harvest operation.
Yesterday, we got some real surprises. First bad, then...oh my!!! Lamb chops so delicious it sparked a celebration! The two lambs we had just harvested were "finished" differently this time out of necessity. We are trying to establish a totally forage-based flock, but can't do that just yet because our land needs to undergo a lot of healing before it will be capable of eliminating grain. Still, we shoot for harvesting the lambs at the peak of the grass season, before the pasture quality starts to decline. Because of the time of year these boys were born, they went through the summer months, beyond the quality pasture season. However, they found themselves shouldering out the nursing ewes at a feed bunk loaded with alfalfa and grain, topped with a little soy. By all accounts, this is NOT a good finishing diet for ruminants. There is way too much protein, which can actually reduce the "finish" on an animal because they require the "energy" component of the feed to metabolize the excess protein. The energy is what makes the fat. Protein in excess drains the energy off. However, these guys obviously didn't suffer too much from their excess, except in one significant way...the excessive protein resulted in an early case of sheath rot in one of the wethers, which would have definitely been a problem had it gone any longer. Still, there were a couple of interesting questions that we had to wait to find the answers to while the lambs hung at the abbatoir...firstly, I have an article that says alfalfa can taint the flavor of the meat! The second was a lot more subtle. I have read that calcium in the meat interferes with the toughening process that sometimes happens after death. Alfalfa is famous for its high content of calcium. That is not the only thing that makes calcium virtually a "wonder" mineral, but we sure had a vested interest in the results of this harvest. Our pastures are low in calcium (we are working on that, but can only achieve small increments of progress). The last lambs we harvested had a couple of unfortunate strikes against quality...the first was that I obviously wasn't supplying enough calcium, and the second was the unfortunate appearance of a neighbor when the slaughter truck pulled in. I should probably save that for another post. Anyway, the most recent two were ten months old and lovely, long-bodied animals. One hung at 56 lb and the other slightly less. Like typical blackbellies, there was a small amount of fat cover, but well, much too much visceral fat! These boys were probably past their "physiological finish point" where we were throwing money away feeding them, because they really weren't going to get any better than they were. Because of a prior experience (another post), the animals were settled and quiet in the barn and nobody was allowed to lay a finger on them. They were dropped in their tracks within seconds of each other and never knew what hit them. The truck was full of warm beef and had at least 30-40 minutes trip to the abbatoir. This is another aspect of quality...cooling too quickly can cause toughening. I read that sometimes it is better to persuade your butcher to slaughter late in the day, so the small, thin-fat-covering carcass will be put in a cooler that is warmed somewhat from being filled during the day. Yesterday I picked up my order (the lambs had hung for about 21 days) and quickly opened a package of chops. They had a very thin strip of fat on the outer edge and the meat was flecked with fine bits of marbling. The meat was a very appealing color. I had a good feeling. I couldn't wait to tear into the barbecued chops! No nothin' on them but salt and pepper. The first bite almost startled me! I could have cut the meat with a dessert spoon! Unquestionably we had surpassed "choice" and gone to "artisan!" The meat was so moist and tender and the flavor was so unbelievably succulent! Dinner was so divine, we had to top it off by dashing to the local cafe for a slice of cheesecake and coffee! Our lambs have always been moist and delicious, but this degree of tenderness was the stuff of $100 a plate restaurant meals! Gee, we have such an untapped treasure in these animals! There is so much to learn about "finishing" them to this artisanal quality, but the first thing we need to do is really acknowledge what we have and what we are capable of. I have a lot more thoughts to share, but this is enough for one post! The important notes are: High calcium levels in the meat interfere with the toughening process. Longer cooling times help tenderness. Too much protein negatively impacts "finish" and is not good for the animal, but alfalfa does NOT hurt flavor! Never let any fool get anywhere near your animals at slaughter time, if it is at all possible to avoid it. I have a couple of other things to share, but this has rambled on long enough. Regards, Barb Lee Blacklocust Farm Registered American Blackbelly Sheep http://www.blacklocustfarm.net _______________________________________________ This message is from the Blackbelly mailing list Visit the list's homepage at %http://www.blackbellysheep.info
