Our lambs spend their days happily frolicking in the beautiful rich pasture of Snoqualmie Valley. They are grass-fed and are rotationally grazed on pasture to ensure their vigor and the health of the pasture. We raise both Finn sheep and Romney sheep. Finn sheep are a hardy heritage breed and crossed with our beautiful Romney’s make for healthy lambs with beautiful growth, size and flavor.

This year we are offering whole and half shares of lambs (usually 10-14 months of age, delicate flavor, most tender meat) and mutton (over 2 years old, developed robust flavor).

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Meet Willie (Nelson) our distinguished Romney Ram and Dahly, one of our sweet Finn Ewes.

Participating in our lamb share program is a unique chance to buy lamb directly from a farmer. This means there can be a few more logistics involved. Below is information to help walk you through the process, as always we are here to answer any questions.

How It Works:

• When you buy a lamb share directly from the farmer you are actually buying a “share” of a live animal. Doing this allows farmers and customers access to a type of slaughter and butchering overseen by the Washington State Department of Agriculture in their “Custom Meat Program.” It is similar to a fruit or Vegetable CSA in that you are investing in the farmer and in the animal before you receive the product. 
• You’ll put down a non-refundable deposit on your lamb share to hold it until harvest.
• When our harvest dates arrive, butchers will come out to the farm to do an on-farm slaughter. This is, in our opinion, the lowest stress for the animals since they are at home, in a familiar place with their familiar handlers. 
• After slaughter the butchers will take the carcass to the butcher facility where the lamb will “hang” for 5-7 days. This process, also called dry-aging, allows the meat to become more flavorful and tender. This is also the point at which the butcher will weigh each carcass giving us the “hanging weight.” This is the number we will use to calculate the final sale price.
• During this time you will also fill out a form with your cutting instructions, this is your chance to decide what kind of cuts you would like, how thick you want chops cut and how many you want per package. 
• Once the lamb is cut and ready to pick up the butcher will call you and you will go pick up your lamb at the butcher shop and pay them for their work. (more details on payment and costs later).

What You Get:

• Depending on if you get a half or whole share, lamb or hogget, you will go home with approximately 25-70 lbs of beautiful, local, grass fed lamb.
• The amount that you take home will also vary depending on how you decide to have your meat cut.

Cost:

• There will be three payments made by the customer.
  • The first will be to Carnation Farms in the form of your deposit immediately following registration.
  • The second will be to the butcher. They will charge a “slaughter, cut and wrap fee.” You will pay this when you pick up your beef from the butcher.
  • The third will be a final payment to Carnation Farms for the balance of your lamb share, calculated after we receive the hanging weights from the butcher. 

• Carnation Farms charges $10/lb for a lamb share. That $10/lb is applied to the hanging weight of the animal. Hogget shares are $8/lb.
• Our butcher this year will be Linds Meat. They charge $175 slaughter, cut and wrap fee. The fee is applied to each animal, so if you bought a ½ lamb share your butcher fee would be $87.50. 
• The below table shows this information in a way that might be more clear to some folks. All figures below are for a ½ lamb share. The hanging weight is based on the average weights from our last harvest (30 lb per half.)

Example of 1/2 Lamb Share
Hanging weight (LBS)	30
Cost per LB	$10.00
Total to Carnation Farms	$300.00
Deposit (To Carnation Farms)	-$50.00
Butcher Fee (To Butcher)	$87.50
Total Cost	$387.50

When:

• Our current butcher dates are set for May 4th. I will send out regular updates as we get closer to harvest. The whole process from slaughter date to pick up will take approximately 1 week though it will depend on the butcher’s schedule.

How to Reserve a Lamb Share:

• To reserve a lamb share please respond to this email with your full name, if you would like a whole or half share of a lamb or hogget, your phone number and any questions you have. 
• We will then send you an invoice for our deposit
• We will be in close touch with upcoming dates and logistics

We are here to answer questions and provide more information. Just email us at alexh@carnationfarms.org. Again, we appreciate your interest in our lamb share program, and look forward to the chance to share local, grass-fed lamb with our community!