ShadyBrook Farms in/near Athens Georgia

[Mike GadgetGeek Stock]

I know the difference, but I got sidetracked when I went to Shadybrook Farm to pick up my grass fed lamb. 

These, of course, are pigs, and fairly unusual pigs to me.  They are Red Wattle pigs, and Large Black/Red Wattle crosses.      




I ordered a lamb from farm owner Jennif Chandler way back in the spring, I wanted her to give it an extra month to fill out (partially due to our draught, and available grass), what I wanted was to be able to secure 45lbs+ of good grass fed lamb.

I picked our lamb up at the farm yesterday and have possibly been bitten again by the poor processing bug. 

The dinner we had last night of chunks of lamb neck made into a stew were very good and very tasty.

I due hope that Jennif gets the processing arena worked out as she is also thinking about adding pigs (heritage pigs) to her farm.  Here are some pictures, not of lamb but of our excursion to a nearby pig farm (right down the road a ways from her farm) where they are raising two or three breeds of pigs.  The Red Wattles are interesting as well as the Large Blacks both are heritage pigs I'm told.  The litters of young piglets were way too cute and I took too much time there at the farm taking pictures and sortof wishing I could wind back some years and become a farmer.

Here is a set of the pig pictures-  I'll add some lamb pictures in a day or two. 

Click on this for more Cute Pig pictures

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[larmar20]

What was the problem with the processing?

What breed of sheep did you get?

I used to have a couple of Hawaiian Blacks (actually they were very mixed breed  but mostly Blacks). They were small boned and didn't have a lot of gristle, but they weren't very big. I don't think I ever had one dress 45 lbs, usually about 35 lbs for a nine month old lamb.

Now I have Barbados Black Bellies (also not purebred). They are much bigger, but a little more bone and gristle. I usually get about 45-50 lbs from a nine month old. Anything older than that tends to add mostly fat pack rather than meat.

I wish I had my Hawaiian Blacks back.

[Mike GadgetGeek Stock]

What was the problem with the processing?

What breed of sheep did you get?

I used to have a couple of Hawaiian Blacks (actually they were very mixed breed  but mostly Blacks). They were small boned and didn't have a lot of gristle, but they weren't very big. I don't think I ever had one dress 45 lbs, usually about 35 lbs for a nine month old lamb.

Now I have Barbados Black Bellies (also not purebred). They are much bigger, but a little more bone and gristle. I usually get about 45-50 lbs from a nine month old. Anything older than that tends to add mostly fat pack rather than meat.

I wish I had my Hawaiian Blacks back.

I know that Jennif is working on the processing end and will do well in her endeavors.

The breed of sheep that I got, quoting from Jennif "Katahdin ( hair sheep) sired out of bluefaced leicester cross ewes. BFL crosses produce 40% of market lambs in the UK. Kats are the best sheep for meat. Jennif"

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