Lamb FAQs

Nature Gully Farm - Ordering Lamb

1. How Does Ordering Work?

Step 1 — Reserve Your Lamb
Place a deposit to secure your whole lamb.

  • We sell whole lambs only — not halves or individual cuts.

  • We raise one batch per year in our outdoor, pasture-raised flock.

  • Once sold out, orders reopen for the following season.

Step 2 — Choose Your Processing Window

  • Select from three available date ranges for your lamb to be ready.

Step 3 — Licensed Processing
Your lamb is:

  • Inspected

  • Processed at a licensed facility

  • Prepared by a licensed butcher

The butcher prepares a balanced mix of standard cuts (see cuts section above).

 

Step 4 — Pickup or Delivery

We contact you when your order is ready.

  • Farm pickup is included.

  • Delivery can be arranged for an additional fee.

2. Am I Buying Lamb or Mutton?

    Does It Matter?

 

Lamb — under one year of age.

Mutton — over one year of age

Lamb is:

  • More tender

  • Milder in flavour

  • Often preferred

While we market and sell lamb, if you are looking for mutton, contact us. One may be available on occasion.  

While grocery stores label product as “lamb,” age verification is rarely enforced.

If you want confidence in what you are purchasing, source directly from a local farmer you trust.  

Yes — we are biased. But we are also transparent.


3. What Am I Paying For?

You pay for the packaged meat you take home, per pound —not  the live animal weight.  

Typical Weights

  • Live lamb weight: approximately 70–110 lbs

  • Final packaged meat: typically 35–55 lbs, heavier on an older lamb. 

Most whole lambs yield less than half of their live weight as finished cuts.

Our outdoor-raised, grassfed (natural weight gain)  lambs are born May-June, and harvested with 3 dates from December through March.

Later harvest dates result in larger lambs.  The difference may be between a 35 pound box and a 55 pound box.   

The Live Weight / Final Weight is because these items are removed:

  • Hide

  • Head

  • Organs not processed

  • Natural processing loss

You are billed based on the final packaged weight — a combination of meat and bone.


4. How Much Freezer Space Do I Need?

Plan for approximately:

  • 1.5 cubic feet of freezer space 

  • This is like a small-sized, sturdy moving box

 

5. Why Whole Lamb Only?

Selling whole lambs allows us to:

  • Provide you with a variety of cuts, flavor and texture profiles

  • Maintain fair pricing

  • Keep processing efficient for the butchers 


 

If you are ready to reserve your lamb, place your deposit early, as we have one batch per year, so that lambs can live outdoors in Alberta weather. 

We raise one season at a time.