At Yew Tree Farm, Caroline and Jon Watson rear Herdwick sheep and Belted Galloway cattle, producing fantastic meat. Through the year, Caroline will be sharing life on the farm with Artisan-food’s readers, in particular issues surrounding sustainable meat production.

many customers like to eat lamb in spring. These lambs are nearly fully grown and the meat is tender. However, I think it often lacks flavour but this suits some tastes. The diet of an animal hugely affects the flavour of its meat. The

lack of flavour of some spring lamb is most likely a result of the lack of fresh grass available in winter, or the lamb may even have been reared indoors. The normal cycle of a sheep farm, (certainly ‘up north’ in the

Fells) is that ewes give birth in spring, the weather is usually bet- ter and the grass finally growing! This allows the lambs to deve- lop on their mum’s milk and then fatten on good nutritious sum- mer grass. Grass is cheaper than feed and better for the animal’s health. The resulting lamb meat is then sold through autumn and winter. On our farm the lamb is not slaughtered in autumn rather it is reared until the following spring and onwards. This meat product is called ‘hogget’. The advantages of hogget are that it has larger cuts, much more flavour and the meat is marbled but still tender (unlike some older animals). So, there is a hearty hot pot or succulent leg of lamb for every oc- casion, no matter the time of year.

Issue 1 • April 2010

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