Woohoo Filling out a Cut Sheet for Lamb

Woohoo! Filling out a Cut Sheet for Lamb and Goat with Mary Lake Shearer, Shepherd and Butcher Mary. m. lake@gmail. com Marylakeshearing. weebly. com (802) 338 -2250

Knowing the carcass helps. Image from: http: //www. clovegarden. com/ingred/as_sheepcc. html

Basic Breakdown Hind/Leg Section Loin Section/Saddle Fore/Shoulder Section Hind Shanks Legs Loin Rack Breast Shoulder Fore Shanks Neck Photo from: http: //faujimeat. com/demo/our-products -3/fresh-lamb/#

Every plant has a different sheet Ask to review your cutting instructions with the meat cutter.

Your Options All your options are not listed here. Be clear and concise about what you want. Review your cut sheet with your meat cutter. The more a cutter can do on the band saw, the happier they are, typically. Some consumers can and want to do further cutting or processing at home. Some consumers want meal prep to be as easy as possible.

Things to consider: Sometimes having multiple animals cut the same way is easier for you and the cutter. When selling whole or half animals, having a standard cutsheet for your consumers can be helpful. Then, if they need to, they can request their preferences. Consider selling meat by the pound instead of by the whole or half. A 40 lb. box or a 20 lb. box can give a consumer all the same cuts as a whole or half lamb, with extra ground and stew. Getting extra ground and stew is a common request. How can you do this: - Use a yearling or older animal in good condition - Use a yearling or two-year-old ram for sausage - When selling boxes, process more lambs than boxes sold, use some shoulders and legs for ground and stew.

Shanks Traditionally a lower value cut because it is tougher muscle, but popular in some areas. Fore Shank: Meat is tighter to the bone. Usually less meat than the hind shank. Hind Shank: Usually bigger than fore shank. Photo from: https: //purebred lamb. com/butcher-shop/lamb-shank/ Thinking Point: Sometimes, I keep only the hind shanks, and put the fore shanks to grind. I’m not stuck with piles of shanks to sell, and I have a few more ounces to add to my stock of ground lamb. Photo from: Alamy. com

Leg of Lamb Many muscles and smaller cuts within the leg. Easy to separate and make into cutlets, stew, kebabs, etc. Empower your eager-to-butcher customer to do this on their own. Cutting the leg in half, sirloin end, round end. Leg slices or chops. Boneless or butterflied legs. Thinking Point: Some plants charge extra for boning out legs and shoulders. Legs are a great source of lean stew meat. Photo from: istock. com

Loin Section Loin Roast. Whole tenderloin can be found here. Loin Chops are typically 1 ¼ in thick. Two inch chops can be a fun way to do something different. http: //www. foodsubs. com/ Rack of Lamb: Same as a Rib Roast. Rib Chops, or lollipop chops. Thinking Point: Making Frenched ribs is easy and fun. Buying two racks to make a crown is even more fun! Even older animals have decent loins worth saving. Amount they add to ground is small. http: //www. realfoodtoronto. com/

Breast, or Spare Ribs Making Riblets from the breast is fun and easy for your cutter to do on the band saw, not so fun to do at home. Photo from: https: //mettricksbutchers. com/products/breast-oflamb Photo from: http: //www. seriouseats. com/2012/ 01/the-nasty-bits-lamb-ribs. html Photo from: https: //classconnection. s 3. amazonaws. com

Shoulder Roast, whole/square-cut or cut in half. Bone-in, boneless, tied or netted. Blade Bone and Round Bone Chops. Thinking Point: Shoulder meat is great for ground lamb because of the fat folded into the meat. Makes for balanced ground that can stick together in a patty or meatball. The shoulder is harder to bone-out, making it a beneficial boneless roast for your customers. There maybe added fees for boning out shoulders. Photo from: www. apjmeats. com/ourproducts/lamb/ Photos from: http: //justcookit. co. ke/product/lamb -shoulder-chops/

Neck Whole necks are sometimes sought after for roasting or for stews. They are fairly easy to boneout at home. Slices are easy to do on a band saw and can look nice packaged. Slices are difficult to do at home. Thinking point: There is one neck per lamb. Photo from: http: //www. albertmatthews. com/

Packaging Inspected facilities typically have vacuum sealers which are great for selling meat because the consumer can see what they are getting. Paper-wrapped meat can be a good fit for consumers who buy whole lambs every year. Chops and Slices - 4 loin or rib chops per package - 2 -3 neck or leg slices Roasts: One per package, consider cutting large legs or shoulders in half. - Leg roasts 4 -6 lbs. - Shoulder roasts 3 -5 lbs. - Loin and rib roasts 1/5 -2 lbs. - Two shanks per package, hind together, fore together - Whole neck 2 -3 lbs. Ground, sausage and stew - Generally 1 lb. packages - Hot sausage is great for rams

Offals, or edible organs From inspected facilities, you can receive back: hearts, livers, tongues, kidneys and sweet breads if they pass inspection and do not become contaminated. All of these items can be yummy, but you might want to know what your customers are interested it. Maybe its livers for pate or tongues for pickling, kidneys for a dog treat or sweet breads for gourmet appetizers. Organs are often the responsibility of kill floor staff, not cutters because they are saved and handle during the slaughter process. It’s good practice to let your kill floor staff know what you want, in addition to marking it on the cut sheet. You can most often do this when you are unloading your animals at the slaughterhouse barn.

Thinking Point: How do you sell you meat? Maybe different ways – restaurants, by the whole or half, wholesale to stores or in person. Rib Pocket – another way to enjoy the breast, and another way for you to sell it. This works well when selling face-to-face, like at a farmers’ market.

Thinking Point: What is missing from this cut sheet? What happens when you don’t request cuts? Notice how ribs are listed.

Resources/Tips VSGA Web site, list of slaughterhouses. http: //vtsheepandgoat. org/resources/ American Lamb Board has great handouts that you can order, often for free, and give out to your customers. http: //www. americanlamb. com/lamb-101/ NOFA small ruminant parasite workshop with Kimberly Hagan, Feb. 18. Sterling College Summer Course about on-farm slaughter and processing, July 2017. Process a lamb on the farm for your consumption. Tour your processing facility. Open-mind, patience, friendliness, fun, share your passion. My Web site marylakeshearing. weebly. com

On-Farm Slaughter and Custom Processing - Up to 30 lambs or goats per year - Itinerant slaughter comes and slaughters, leaves waste for you to take care of (this may be composted, or taken to a composting facility) - Carcasses taken to a custom cutter who has carbon copy sheets for you to fill out and mail in to the state for their record keeping. Risks - Open-air, possible contamination - Handling and transferring, possible contamination - Small-scale business, customer service may vary Benefits - Seeing the process, seeing the internal health of your animals (parasite damage on livers or signs of pneumonia on lungs, etc. ) - Potentially less stress - Potentially more flexible and more available Cost is about the same, but often more straight-forward with on-farm.

Photos by: Natalie Conn

Items needed: Warm water Containers for organs to be saved Tarp for vehicle Bags for carcass Plan for guts, hooves, head and hide Photos by: Natalie Conn

Photos by: Natalie Conn

Set-up for on-farm slaughter Animals to be slaughtered should be in a pen with water, no feed for 12 hours or so. (This reduces the chance of their gut content emptying during the process and contaminating meat. ) Have a tractor or lift set-up for hanging carcasses for skinning and gutting. Warm water for washing knives and hands. Containers and bags for offals and carcass. Contaminants Protecting the carcass from contaminants is a constant endeavor. Contaminants are anything that might have poop on it: dust, hay, wool, hair, dirt, your hands, your gloves, tractor buckets, bed of your truck.

Being a part of it all Slaughter and processing can be the most difficult part for producers because they have put so much time, effort and loving care into raising their animals. It never hurts to share your passion with processors and requesting they take care, too, or thanking them for good work done. It is important to follow the process of your animals to ensure care is given to processing them. This allows you to sell your meat with confidence and pride. I don’t like thinking of the death that comes from processing, but the life my animals bring to my family and community through their nutritious meat. It is my goal that all my animals and the animals I process are treated with respect and care, so their meat can feed many and inspire health and happiness.