California lamb has traditionally been noted for being tasteful, tender, and lean. So what makes California lamb so unique?

Availability
California Lamb is available year round. Unique to California are Milkfed Spring Lambs, which become available just in time for Easter. These are closely followed by lambs which are born a little later, and therefore, will be ready during the late spring and summer months. Spring born lambs will be able to take advantage of unique climate and feed resources to supply the needs of customers through the fall and winter.

Climate
A mild climate is the key to California lamb’s uniqueness. Tenderness, taste, and leanness can mainly be attributed to good year-round growing conditions, brought about by California’s superb weather. Mild seasons generate a wide variety of high-protein feeds,provide a healthy environment for the livestock, allow lambs to be sold for market directly from weaning, and decrease the chance of stress to the lambs and ewes.

Feed
Because California has such a highly diverse geography, sheep ranchers have learned to adapt to their environment, utilizing the best feeds available in their particular locations. Many lower elevation valley operations use lush alfalfa hay in the fall, when hay cannot be cut and baled, then graze on foothill pastures. Often sheep are transported to the high mountain ranges, rich in excellent forage. In other areas, lambs are grazed on irrigated pastures, where protein-rich clover is used to market many lambs from the spring through early fall. All of these feeds produce excellent-quality lambs with a reputation for taste, tenderness, and leanness. The tradition of taste is second to none, and many different markets vie to purchase these lambs from California’s many pastures and ranges.

California Infrastructure
As one of most populated states in the Union, California has a very advanced infrastructure. Even the most remote pastures and rangelands are easily and quickly accessible by a well-maintained road and highway system. The many livestock trucking companies that operate in California offer modern, healthy, low-stress conditions for sheep transportation.

Livestock Management
The rancher’s ability to determine the most effective management techniques is based on a mixture of observation, experience, and a hope-and-prayer that the weather will cooperate. The environment and nature makes management decisions seem instinctive, using reason and judgment to capitalize on the resources available. Decisions on feed, health, lambing, shearing, and labor are all determined by the physical conditions surrounding the sheep, such as rainfall, temperature, and feed. Sheep excel under peaceful, calm surroundings. Therefore, one of the rancher’s objectives is to maintain a reduced-stress environment, where the sheep can grow and flourish naturally. The California sheep ranchers share this objective, and earnestly strive to offer a product second to none.

Benefits To The Environment
Sheep in California offer numerous benefits to the environment, including wildlife habitat improvement, herbicide reduction for weed control, better crops and easier land preparation. Sheep are important in improving wildlife habitats by grazing foliage, leaving more seeds for birds and small animals to feed. By grazing bird nesting areas, the sheep prune tall grasses, allowing clean, healthy, protected conditions for the birds to build nests. Interesting, also, is that many nesting birds use wool scraps to line their nests. Herbicide usage is reduced when sheep have grazed the crops. By grazing, sheep reduce crop residue before spray applications, which allow direct contact on the target weeds in alfalfa, grain, and other crops. Also, grazing along the many miles of levees in the central waterways makes it unnecessary for farmers to spray herbicides on the levees, decreasing the chances of water contamination. Many farmers in California have discovered that sheep grazing has improved the efficiency of their operations. Because sheep will graze residue foliage, the farmer often will spend less time preparing their land for the next crop. This ultimately translates to less time and lower operating costs to the farmer. Reduced weeds will yield lean, lush alfalfa, with no dry matter in the first cutting of hay for good, nutritious feed. Additionally, the crops and land benefit from the ‘natural’ fertilizer generated by the sheep.