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
Thank 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.
It’s hard to do. It helps to remember that it’s okay to love a farm animal as you would a pet, and it’s best that way even. I saw another article today written by Katherine Dunn on Modern Farmer (“Farm Confessional: What Butchering Your Animals Really Feels Like” found here: https://modernfarmer.com/2014/10/butchering-animals/ ). In it, the author says she prefers to hang white flags in their pen and pray for them and appreciate them and their sacrifice before slaughter. She prefers to be there in the same place when they are slaughtered. It makes it more personal, and makes it easier to bridge that gap between pet and farm animal. It’s healthier and more humane for all involved.
If that helps to read through for ways to handle the emotions going through his head.
What is your insight on how to buncher an entire lamb ?
I always treat my farm animals with the greatest care and respect and when the day comes its always hard to say goodbye….
We are butchering our first lamb today. We started with poultry. Second year with pigs And now lamb chop. I fully believe that giving them love and a good life if important. I know the meat taste way better. After we put lambchop in the freezer we will have harvested around 400 ilb of meat. My hard diligent work for 8 months will feed us over a year
I love your approach on these posts, Shaye. It’s thoughtful, and yet you don’t shy away from the graphic nature of processing animals.
Thanks, Jenny. We try and make it reflective of the experience.
this is a really good website thanks all of you and the compliments are mint
My 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!
so is mine pics so so good 100% perfect with extra thicc bits
Great 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
Beautifully 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.
I’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!
I was raised and brought up in a farm with animals. Learned how to do it ,and ,I became a butcher of a meat packers that used to slot 6,000 hogs a day. Once you learn, yes it is easy, however , much better when your meat can be organic.
Will 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.
Shaye-
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…
Great idea, Amy! Thank you!
As 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 🙂
Thank you for sharing – we just butchered our first rabbits but we did not have a good knife. What kind of knife would you recommend?
I 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!
I 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”.
I 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!”
Thank 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.
A 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
I’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!
I 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!
Great 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!
Shaye – 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?
Guido 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.
Oh good that answers my question..less than a year old? I’m from central Washington as well
As 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?
Yes!
Sooo…I need a good recipe for the Lamb Fries! ;D
We 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.
this 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.
My 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?
It’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!
Read 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.
I like lamb sells for $5/lb (cut and wrapped) on average.
So how much did he dress out at?
This lamb dressed out at about 75 or 80 lbs.
Hey 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!
Great 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.
I 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!
I 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.
Thank you for sharing your journey. We raise Shetland Sheep and will be butchering soon. The care and compassion you have for the animal and the process are commendable. Your gratitude to him for his sacrifice is touching and appreciated. Reading this has made the task we face seem much more approachable. We hunt and eat what we harvest, butchering our game ourselves but I was considering taking our lamb to a butcher because of the attachment we have to them. Thank you again for sharing and making the process a little less daunting.
Well i am going to harvest my first lamb tomorrow. I didn’t think about the ageing process. Too warm here in Tennessee, will have to refrigerate it. Learned other great tips also. My confidence is up….the kids need to stop naming them though. Hopefully I ll the trigger. Greg
Although I could not take this life, I thank you so much for honoring the life of your animals.. my Buddhist nature approves of your thoughts and consideration. /bows/
We have had sheep for milk and fiber for about 8 years now. Last Sunday we butcher our first, and today we butchered our second and third ram lambs. The killing was tough, and there were a few tears. Then I wasn’t sure if we would be able to eat it but we have had lamb for dinner 3 times already!
Thank you for your post, and I wish I would have found it 2 weeks earlier.
Any suggestions for a fast kill that doesn’t involve shooting? I’ve come to love lamb brain and want to both have a humane fast kill as well as the ability to harvest the brain.
My brother who has a farm is bring me frozen lamb. I never watched the buthchering. He has farm worker help who I don’t trust, Is there any way in 104’F this month that the lamb might carry bacteria or other after butchering human illness from leaving the carcass in the heat too long before cooling the meat?
Great post , we also brine and smoke the rear legs as in the norweigan tradition .this year we will also make gyro meat with our lamb and grass fed beef .