Here's how to butcher a lamb…
Two weeks ago, we said goodbye to our beloved ram lamb Guido, and hello to the most delicious meat I've ever tasted.
Okay – next to our homegrown chicken and pork, of course. But this lamb stands alone. WOW.
If you're on the fence, come to my farm. I'll roast you a rump roast that's been marinating in garlic and spices until it's cooked a perfect medium rare.
You'll take a bite…
… and then you'll beg me to let you come and live on the farm so you can eat this incredible lamb all year round.
… and I'll let you, of course, because I'm nice like that. But I'll make you promise to always do the dishes.
… and then together, we'll eat lots of delicious meals centered around succulent red meat that is far too often disregarded in our culture.
I think it's only fair to meat everywhere that even if you “don't like lamb” you give real, grass-fed lamb a try. Sourced from a local farm would be best. Because our Katahdin lamb was enough to even have my parents moaning in culinary bliss (they'd never had lamb before).
You're going to hear me talking a lot about lamb soon because we've decided to go into the meat sheep business. Over the next few years, we're going to work on expanding our Katahdin herd and preparing lamb for sale in the real marketplace.
It's just amazing. Seriously. I don't know how else to say it.
Couple that tender, fatty meat with the fact that these animals fatten quickly… and on grass!… and it's a recipe for perfection.
But before the recipes come the hard part. The butchering. So here's how to butcher a lamb.
How To Butcher A Lamb
1. Separate the lamb.
Withhold feed for 12-24 hours. This will ensure the rumen is empty come evisceration time (an empty gut is much easier to work with than a full one).
2. Kill the lamb.
Some prefer to slit the lambs throat. Others, like us, choose to shoot the lamb. The only essential is that the animal is calm and that the kill is instantaneous. It's very important to me that the animal remains happy until it's last moment and that the moment happens without any stress or struggle. Guido was shot with a .38 revolver in the back of the skull. He died instantly.
After he was shot, his throat was slit to help release the blood. I jumped into the pen and held his head and shoulders on my lap, using my hands to massage the blood out of his body, and gave thanks for him.
3. Hang the lamb.
There's a really strong tendon that runs on the back side of the leg. A quick poke with a knife through the back of the leg allows you to easily hang the lamb up by that tendon.
Oh wait… you mean that tendon? The tendon I just slit there with my super sharp knife? Fuh-get-about-it…
We used a gambrel and some basic wire to hang ours. Very primitive. No need for super-specialized equipment.
4. Skin the lamb.
There are a million methods to skinning a lamb, but the basics are very simple. We cut around the top of the leg and used a sharp knife to gently separate the skin from the flesh. After beginning, it was easy enough to push with our fingers and separate that way. The hide was cut inwards, along the butt of the lamb, towards the anus – which was tied off with a string to ensure that nothing left the backside and contaminated the meat – and then down the belly. After you cut around the anus, it's easy enough to pull the hide off (sort of like pulling a sweater off) until you get to the head.
By the way, the hide is currently curing in salt in our shop awaiting it's tanning destiny.
5. Remove the head.
Gently cut through the flesh at the top of the neck until you hit the spine. Located a vertebrae and cut between it and the next one. Use your hands to twist the lamb's head until it pops off, using your knife to separate any spare bits of flesh.
You should now have a skinned, headless carcass. You can remove the front hooves at this point, if you wish, by locating the first joint, bending the hoof with your hand, and using your knife to separate it at the joint.
6. Eviscerate the animal.
The process is very similar for every animal. DON'T PUNCTURE GUT-TOWN, man. Be careful! A small slit at the top will get it started – continue cutting down the belly of the carcass with just the tip of your knife – very shallow cuts.
Using your hands, work the innards free. I prefer my hands because I'm much less likely to puncture the guts with my fingers than with a knife. All that's in the body cavity needs to come out, by any means necessary.
We kept the liver, kidneys, and heart. The lungs and head went to Toby. The intestines were composted. Not an ounce wasted.
7. Rinse the lamb.
Your lamb should be hide-less, head-less, hoof-less, and gut-less. It should resemble a carcass hanging in a butcher shop. Once final rinse of water will ensure any stray hairs or dirt have been removed.
8. Age the lamb.
Our lamb was then placed in a canvas bag and hung in an outside tree for 1 week to age. The temperature was perfect for this: between 36 and 43 degrees. If you butcher at a warm time of year, you'll want to refrigerate the carcass. This helps the flavors to develop, the muscles to relax, and some of the moisture to dissipate.
9. Butcher the carcass into cuts.
After one week, we brought the carcass inside and spent a few hours butchering it ourselves. We watched this fantastic video that walked us through a step-by-step process on how to cut up the carcass and since doing the Farmstead Meatsmith's class last fall with our pigs, we felt a lot more confident in recognizing bones, cuts, etc.
Although, take note, you'll want a pretty hefty bone saw to do this part. We had a weeny one and it was a lot of work – a lot more than it would have been if we just had the right bone saw to begin with.
Sharp knife. Hefty bone saw. Easy peasy.
Each cut was wrapped in plastic wrap and then in butcher paper before it was labeled and put into the deep freeze.
If you've never raised your own meat, there's simply no way to describe the incredible joy that comes from stepping back and staring at the final product. Guido was a beautiful ram – a ram fed by our own hands each day. We cared for him.
… and that care, that dedication, that commitment to him, makes the pleasure of his sacrifice and life-sustaining meat all the more appreciated.
Every bite is savored. And not an ounce is wasted.
And Amen.
More posts on Sheep:
- The Sheep Saga
- Why You Need Sheep
- Preparing for Sheep on the Farm
- Preparing for Lambing
- Lambing in Winter
Amy
February 9, 2015 at 4:59 pmThank you for sharing. I’ve been trying to convince my husband that raising a lamb for meat would be great. We butcher deer, but hubby is having a hard time separating farm animal from pet.
Jenny
February 9, 2015 at 5:46 pmI love your approach on these posts, Shaye. It’s thoughtful, and yet you don’t shy away from the graphic nature of processing animals.
Shaye Elliott
February 11, 2015 at 12:20 pmThanks, Jenny. We try and make it reflective of the experience.
stephen riley
November 6, 2018 at 10:34 pmthis is a really good website thanks all of you and the compliments are mint
Angi
February 9, 2015 at 6:33 pmMy mouth is watering just thinking about that amazing looking lamb! We got some grass fed lamb from the farm we have a cow share with, and IT. IS. INCREDIBLE! I know just what you mean when you talk about the satisfaction of raising your own meat. You know exactly what kind of food they were fed, and just how happy they were while you were caring for them. It is the best. 🙂 Love your pictures too!
Anonymous
November 6, 2018 at 10:37 pmso is mine pics so so good 100% perfect with extra thicc bits
Abby Jo
February 9, 2015 at 6:43 pmGreat post, kinda looks like a deer when all ready to hang. I have a question, does the breed you are raising taste different than other breeds of lamb? I heard lambs raised for wool sometimes don’t taste as good? Is this true? What is your take on this?
I would love to came over for some lamb, and I would do the dishes
Rachel
February 9, 2015 at 6:49 pmBeautifully written. It’s amazing how much reverence we have for these animals that provide so much. I’m always heartened to read descriptions like yours that help solidify how challenging (but so worthwhile) it is to take this task head on and not turn away from an essential element of keeping livestock. Thank you.
Kelsey
February 10, 2015 at 6:37 amI’m very intimidated by home butchering! It is one of my New Year’s resolutions to learn how/get familiar with the process. I saw that you watched a video and took a class but does everyone do this?! Everyone makes it look so easy!
Crystal
February 10, 2015 at 8:18 amWill you be doing the tanning yourself? What are your plans for it once done? We will be butchering a goat and my husband was wanting to try his hand at tanning. Not sure what we would do with it once he is done.
Amy @Home & Farm Sense
February 10, 2015 at 10:05 amShaye-
We raise Navajo churro sheep for meat and fiber. Ours are also 100% grass fed. We love the meat as well, especially if it is marinated in buttermilk for 3-4 days – the flavor is amazing and the meat is super tender…
Shaye Elliott
February 11, 2015 at 12:19 pmGreat idea, Amy! Thank you!
Leslie
February 10, 2015 at 6:24 pmAs a girl who is just beginning her adventure in raising her own meat (rabbits), this post spoke to me. Really enjoyed this, as I do all of your posts 🙂
Kristen
February 10, 2015 at 9:58 pmThank you for sharing – we just butchered our first rabbits but we did not have a good knife. What kind of knife would you recommend?
Trudy
February 10, 2015 at 11:04 pmI am from NZ and we have grass fed lamb here regularly. It is absolutely delicious. It’s one thing I couldn’t get over when visiting the States was that no one seemed to eat sheep. Beef, pork, chicken there was in plenty… but no sheep! Some friends of ours who shifted from England to the States actually ended up buying a block of land to run sheep on, just so they could have mutton and lamb. To anyone who has never tried it, I say go and try it ASAP!
Sarah
February 11, 2015 at 10:33 pmI got a cookbook written by an Australian, and I couldn’t source a quarter of the meat and fish varieties without paying exorbitant prices through the internet, let alone finding it locally. The American diet is, how can I describe it? “Americanized”.
Sarah
February 11, 2015 at 10:25 pmI normally shy away from your butchering posts, due to the fact that they gross me out. Just keepin’ it real 🙂 I’m a wanna-be homesteader, and I LOVE a good lamb chop, so I decided to read through, and I have to say that this was fascinating and impressive (among still grossing me out). Reading about butchering, say, in Ingalls’ Little House books are different from reading blog posts on it, and reading blog posts are different from actually doing it. So here’s hoping I can align my perspective to yours and so many other conscientious meat farmers out there when, Lord willing, we will have a homestead of our own 🙂
And lamb always reminds me of this scene from My Big Fat Greek Wedding:
“Ian’s a vegetarian. He doesn’t eat meat.”
“He don’t eat no meat?! Oh…that’s ok, I make lamb!”
Sheila Orr
February 11, 2015 at 10:49 pmThank you. That was beautiful as well as thoughtful. Having spent my childhood summers on a farm I realise it’s good to care for the animals but to always keep in mind they have a purpose.
Keltia
February 12, 2015 at 4:50 pmA beautifully written piece. Handling a topic that may not be easy for a lot of people to understand unless you have made the decision to raise your own animals for meat, can be hard. The issue of raising your own meat is still a very tender issue, I for one am in favour of it and also have butchered my own and had someone come and do the bigger animals.
I am one of those people who believe that if we choose to eat meat, we should be responsible for how it is raised, slaughtered, and used. I especially like how you honored the animals and gave thanks for it. It is something I always do along with the tears.
Lamb here in Australia, is big business. There is a saying here that Australia rode on the sheep’s back, back through out history. Spring Lamb is always a must, roasted and or bbq’ed lamb has a big part in our food culture.
Good luck with it all
Mummaducka
February 12, 2015 at 8:12 pmI’m an Aussie and we eat lamb maybe 3 or 4 nights a week. I love it, roasted, grilled, stewed, in a curry. So versatile. When I was younger we had sheep for wool and meat. Fat lambs here are usually a merino, border leicester cross. So the ewes are merino for the wool and the ram is a border leicester. Poll dorsets are also extremely good meat and the crossbred ( anything other than merino) wool is usually the wool used in carpets. I reckon if your going to have sheep, you may as well get money for the fleexe and meat!!! One thing I would have to tell you is that your meat would be doubly good if you had castrated that lamb. Wethers make well flavoured, tender and more fat marbled meat. Ram meat and bull meat are the toughest of the lot!
Deborah
February 12, 2015 at 8:27 pmI loved your article , I butcher a lot of deer, hogs and rabbit. But today was rabbit butchering day and I became an emotional wreck!!!! I have been living off the land and raising my own food for years. After reading your blog I was like okay I can do this!! Fresh raised meat is so wonderful . I really enjoy your blog!!! God bless!
Jane
February 14, 2015 at 9:12 amGreat article. Lamb is my all time favorite meat…I wish I could grow my own..still looking for a good (not arm and leg costing) on line source of lamb!
Michelle
February 16, 2015 at 11:45 amShaye – it looked like Guido was an intact male – was there a reason you kept him intact? My husband is a cattle rancher and has always said that the testosterone in intact males makes the meat taste funny, I was just wondering if this is the case for lambs or no?
Shaye Elliott
February 18, 2015 at 7:51 amGuido was intact- but he was so young, the meat had no flavor from the testosterone. Had we wanted to raise him for longer, he would have needed to be castrated.
Jaime
February 11, 2017 at 9:01 amOh good that answers my question..less than a year old? I’m from central Washington as well
Therese Bizabishaka
February 17, 2015 at 2:43 pmAs an Aussie all I can say is that lamb is great. Lamb roast, lamb chops, lamb neck in stews, slow cooked lamb shanks yum. Don’t forget that home made mint sauce is a great accompaniment to roast lamb. We use a different breed here which seems to have more external fat which I quiet enjoy. Would butchering a goat be essentially the same?
Shaye Elliott
February 18, 2015 at 7:46 amYes!
Rose
February 24, 2015 at 5:02 pmSooo…I need a good recipe for the Lamb Fries! ;D
Jill Frank
March 2, 2015 at 12:55 pmWe have just started raising a few sheep ourselves. We currently raise chickens, duck, and turkey for meat and plan to add rabbits this year. Hopefully by this time next year we will have our first lamb on the table. One things I heard works really well during the skinning of sheep – make a slit on the leg (like you already do) and use the air compressor to shoot air under the hide. Apparently the hide will easily separate from the muscle. It is something we plan on trying when the time comes. Look forward to following your blog.
monica
March 6, 2015 at 2:01 amthis post made me cry. I personally could not have a farm, i would have a million pets and become vegan lol…. i know i know it’s a way of life and they are meant to be eaten but not for me.
Rae
March 6, 2015 at 3:25 pmMy grandpa used to raise sheep, and many of my uncles still do. Grandpa did his own butchering (lamb, pig, chickens, beef) and taught me to cook roasts when I stayed with him.Before I was married I was able to get as much as I wanted free. Of course grandpa also gave me 2 milk cows for have the price as one when I decided at age 6 that I wanted a milk cow like my mom. Sorry sidetracking, your blog reminds me of my grandparents.
I have tried cooking lamb so many ways and my Husband finally asked me to stop around our 3rd anniversary , he just didn’t like it.
This makes me want to sweet talk some relatives and have some on hand for when he is gone for Guard weekends and see if I can’t improve my skills. Making soaking it in buttermilk would help like when cooking elk?
Rosalyn
March 6, 2015 at 5:22 pmIt’s weird how Americans don’t seem to do lamb very much, in Australia it’s a staple, more so than beef or pork. I know you have hair sheep but do consider getting a couple of woollies one year, shearing is not so difficult (it’s definitely full of laughs the first try though!) and it’s super awesome to have a big doona (quilt) stuffed with your own homegrown wool! Nothing more comfortable. It’s warm and snuggly, but it breathes so you don’t overheat. You can even get the kids to sew their own patches on the cotton cover!
Adrienne
March 8, 2015 at 8:19 pmRead your blog on acquiring lamb and the latest on butchering. Very informative and well written. I’m on the east coast in NC. I have been searching locally and I’m finding lambs are about $175 and up! Can you comment on the current pricing? Your post had suggested $50 per lamb and im curious if the market value has trebled or if Katadin are just rare here in the east? Our plan is to buy a pair and begin a source of homegrown lamb. $350 plus fencing just to get started…. We have 8 acres and will section off a paddock and divide it in quarters to rotate grazing.
Shaye Elliott
March 9, 2015 at 10:51 pmI like lamb sells for $5/lb (cut and wrapped) on average.
Veronica
April 17, 2015 at 7:00 amSo how much did he dress out at?
Shaye Elliott
July 17, 2015 at 7:10 pmThis lamb dressed out at about 75 or 80 lbs.
Rick Cragg
October 19, 2017 at 8:52 amHey Shaye as always love the post. We slaughtered our first two lambs last weekend. The are North Country Cheviots. Letting them age now. Can’t wait to make some curry or Indian “65” (my favorite) with them. Have you ever tried making sausage? We are going to try this weekend – maybe adding some pork as well and try kielbasa. Keep up the posts love reading what is happening on the farm!
Billy
June 19, 2018 at 1:11 pmGreat guide on how to butcher a lamb. Really goes through all the steps in detail and the method and respect given to the animal is honorable.
TJ
August 28, 2018 at 9:30 amI found this article very informal/helpful. As someone who regularly harvests and butchers my own deer every year, I found quite a few similarities to my own experience with venison. One thing I’m curious about though, is why do you rinse the carcass with water prior to letting it hang? I’ve always been under the impression that introducing water to the carcass promotes bacteria growth and therefore I never opt to rinse with water unless the deer was gutshot or there is a serious mishap during field dressing. We typically use a propane torch to remove excess hair; just don’t hit one spot for too long. My assumption is that with a controlled harvest/butchering process, most of the excessive blood and hair are much less likely to soil the carcass as compared to a wild game harvest/field dressing. I look forward to reading your reply. Thanks much!
Rob
November 20, 2018 at 5:31 pmI see he was intact. Do you think it makes a difference in flavor? Also, how about mutton? I’m butchering some rams right now and our family thinks it tastes very good.