Feedlot Lambs?

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(Eileen: If this is in the wrong section, please move it to a more appropriate place.)

 

I have always chosen lamb over beef as my "go to" red meat. This is partly because I prefer the taste, but also because I don't like feedlots and all the environmental problems they create. I have always thought of sheep as a pasture-raised animal.

 

My question is: do lambs ever "finish" in feedlots, and if so, how long are they held there?

[workindogs]

Yes, some lamb is finished in feedlots. I don't know how long...I'd guess that it "depends". Like beef, time in feedlot can be influenced by the relative cost of corn/grain vs grass/pasture

[Pipedream Farm]

Australian feed lot

 

I found this in my first google search; it makes me wonder how much Australian and New Zealand lamb is finished on feed lots.

 

Mark

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Australian feed lot

 

I found this in my first google search; it makes me wonder how much Australian and New Zealand lamb is finished on feed lots.

 

Mark

Thanks! Another reason to avoid New Zealand lamb and take the trouble to find domestically grown animals.

 

From the site you linked:

 

What PLA do well at ‘Rosemary Downs’ is take mobs of pastoral bred lambs, usually 4 to 8 decks at a time of varying weights and feed them to a condition and weight that best suits the prevailing markets. Some lambs from the same mob may be best suited to domestic markets while others will make the heavy export markets; some lambs may be ready for market in 4 weeks while others may take 8 weeks.

[Liz P]

Can't stand the taste of lamb from Australia.

[Alchemist]

I've heard that a lot of "grocery store" lamb is fattened in feedlots. I now buy lamb (a whole lamb at a time) from someone I know. It's given grain during weaning, but for the rest of its life is grassfed.

 

Be aware that a lot of what's called "grassfed" beef is actually finished on corn. I also buy my beef from a local farmer - it's fed only on grass and hay. You have to do your research to locate this (eatwild.com is helpful). The beef I buy (Angus) is bred to do well on grass. I buy a half a beef at a time, and split it with a couple of other people. It's leaner, and you have to take care in cooking it not to turn it into shoe leather. It's a bit pricier than supermarket beef (I think I'm paying $4 and change per pound, takehome weight), but that just makes us more careful about not wasting any. I did have to invest in a freezer to keep it all affordable.

 

Joined a pasture-raised chicken CSA, and also buy pasture-raised pork (Berkshire) as well.

[frisbeegirl]

_{Many people I know say the lambs finished on pasture have a stronger flavor than lambs finished on grains and silage,}

 

_{For me the local grassfed lamb is the best ever!}

 

_{Don't plan on eating mine.}

[Debbie Meier]

Yes lambs finish in feed lots just like cattle.

 

Often times when you see cattle or sheep grazing in pastures you are seeing the producing cows and ewes not the steers or lambs being fed out for slaughter.

 

We've been working dogs at a friend feedlot who is now finishing his own cattle, previously he only backgrounded cattle in his lots. This is some of the info he shared in regard to cattle.

 

Cattle will often go into a concentrated feeding system beginning at approx. 400 lbs, often times first to a background operation to get them on feed, closely monitored for illness and vaccinated, they will be there for 90 days or so and then they move on to the finishing feedlot or confinement barn where they will stay another 6 months or until they reach their target weight.

 

When you go to the sale barn you see 100's of lambs that are not yet ready for slaughter, they are purchased up often time to go into feedlots, here is some info on feedlot numbers in the US from a number of years back http://www.aphis.usda.gov/animal_health/nahms/sheep/downloads/sheep01/Sheep01_is_PartIV_Highlights.pdf

 

Lambs often go into feedlots and onto a concentrated ration to "finish" them, according to this publication http://ag.ansc.purdue.edu/sheep/articles/feedlamb.html a minimum of 30 days.

[gcv-border]

Hmmm. Maybe I am not the best shopper, but $4+change per pound sounds quite reasonable I just paid between $4 and $5 for a pound of grocery store beef, and that was not the expensive stuff (but it wasn't the cheap stuff either). And the other cuts just go up from there.

 

Jovi

(I think I'm paying $4 and change per pound, takehome weight), but that just makes us more careful about not wasting any. .

 

.

[Gideon's girl]

I paid $4 a lb takehome for 1/4 of a grass fed steer, which was a little more for ground beef and a little less for steaks than the grocery. The ground beef was so tasty that I would have paid double gladly. I'm raising my first grass fed steer this year and am still trying to figure out how much freezer space I'll need.

[Alchemist]

Hmmm. Maybe I am not the best shopper, but $4+change per pound sounds quite reasonable I just paid between $4 and $5 for a pound of grocery store beef, and that was not the expensive stuff (but it wasn't the cheap stuff either). And the other cuts just go up from there.

 

Jovi

 

Don't forget that what you're getting is not just steaks and roasts - but also ground beef, beef heart, liver, shortribs, etc. I've had to work to acquire recipes for parts of beef I didn't cook in the past. (A slow cooker is a wonderful invention!) And there are parts that I only eat when my husband is out of town (more fool him!). Still - if I buy a quarter beef at a time, the price is FAR less than I'd be paying for individual cuts at the farmer's market. And it's grass-finished, unlike the corn-finished beef at the farmer's market. But you do need a freezer. I haven't calculated the impact of the freezer on my ecological footprint. Part of my decision is health-based (reduced risk of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, better omega fatty acid profile, lower fat content), part environmental (impacts of CAFOs on receiving water quality), part is ethical (humane treatment of animals).

 

Personally I *like* the stronger flavor of grassfed lamb. I know some people like the taste of hair sheep (milder) more than that of wool sheep. I've heard the higher the lanolin content of the wool, the stronger the flavor. I sure like the taste of the grassfed Border cheviot X lambs I've been buying! And I've discovered some REALLY tasty ways of preparing cuts of lamb I never knew existed - some of these displace old favorites!

[Alchemist]

I paid $4 a lb takehome for 1/4 of a grass fed steer, which was a little more for ground beef and a little less for steaks than the grocery. The ground beef was so tasty that I would have paid double gladly. I'm raising my first grass fed steer this year and am still trying to figure out how much freezer space I'll need.

 

I'm with you. I was never a big fan of cheeseburgers or of meatloaf. BOY, do they taste different/better with grass fed/finished beef!

 

I can fit one quarter of a grassfed beef on one shelf (plus the hanging baskets) of our upright freezer, with some of the ground beef stuffed into odd crannies. It's come to between 150 and 200 pounds takehome weight for a quarter of a grassfed Angus beef. More if you include soup bones. One whole lamb (live weight close to 100 lb, takehome weight close to 50 lb) easily fits on one shelf of our freezer.

[Gideon's girl]

I just bought a 15 cu ft upright and I have a 9 cu ft chest. That sounds like I should have enough space as long as I use up what is in there.