Frequently Asked Questions

Frequently asked questions

Are you organic?

Nope! Our hat is off to Snoqualmie Valley Lamb, the farm where these sheep came from, for being one of the only operations in the region to pursue organic certification for their meat. Because we graze 100% on leased ground, we do not have the ability to control all pasture inputs, and there are significant barriers to entry at our scale. However, the pastures we graze are herbicide & pesticide-free & we are happy to answer any questions transparently about flock and pasture management.

Do you grain feed or finish?

Not at this time. Less out of idealism or grass fanaticism (although we do have that), but more that our sheep voted with their mouths—we tried to introduce winter grain to ram lambs to an entirely universal snub. Our sheep are 100% grass and forb fed; they graze pasture and eat local hay & eastern Washington alfalfa from birth until butcher, with pasture making up the majority of their diet.

Do you sell lamb shares?

We don’t, but plenty of other great shepherds and small farms do, and it’s a great, efficient way to get meat in your freezer.

We choose our retail cuts specifically to ensure customers have a great first (or second, or four hundredth) experience cooking our lamb. We cook what we sell; working with the skilled cut and wrap staff at our local processor on custom requests and cuts standardizes what we offer and ensures that every piece of the animals we took care raising is to our specifications.

With shares, customers pay a flat rate for everything—from premium cuts to bones and trim. However, many customers purchasing shares also find themself with cuts they’re not familiar with or that they don’t enjoy. Curated boxes and individual cuts ensure that every piece of the animal goes to someone who truly wants and appreciates it. If you are used to buying by the hanging weight, our boxes are aligned with an approximate $10-$13/lb hanging weight on our animals.

If you’d like to create a custom box or have product inquiries, please reach out directly.

Can I buy individual cuts?

Yes! Inventory will slowly adjust, expand and refine as the season goes on. Boxes make the best use of our limited packing, delivery and shipping time—as we grow, we hope to improve and diversify how you are able to purchase our wonderful lamb by the cut.

Why is your lamb more expensive than the grocery store?

Over 70% of lamb in U.S. supermarkets is imported from countries with enormous, highly developed sheep industries. Their scale — thousands of ewes, vast grazing lands, specialized labor, and efficient processing systems — allows them to price lamb far below what a small American producer can approach.

U.S. lamb production is comparatively tiny, and raising lamb here is an uphill battle at any size. There are incredible ranches doing it well, but small farms like ours carry higher per-animal costs.

We raise a limited number of animals with year-round care, local processing, and labor intensive management. Our prices simply reflect the true cost of producing small-batch, American-raised lamb — we aren’t even in the same market as the grocery store. And when it comes to carbon footprint, local food systems, and keeping Whatcom county fields in agriculture? That might not be a bad thing.

Do you do tours?

That depends on the time of year! In 2025, our sheep were on more than 6 properties in 4 months; we are nomadic by necessity and public access depends completely on the circumstances of the host field or farm. Whenever possible, we will partner with other local farms to support each others’ livestock businesses, including on seasonal farm tours.

What do you do with the wool?

We are lucky enough to have friends in our small shepherd community who are experts in the local fiber world—we plan on partnering with our small mills and partner shepherds to move our wool through whatever channels make best use of it. American wool is often not worth the labor it takes to press and bag it; there are exceptions at our small scale thanks to dedicated fiber enthusiasts. However, as a shearer, more often than not, I see wool used as compost/mulch (still a worthy end goal!) or disposed of. We do keep the hides from our animals that are processed and will be selling tanned skins as they come available.

Sheep have tails??

THEY DO! Our rams keep their long, hock-length tails their whole lives. Ewe lambs have 3/4 tails so the two are visibly distinct from the edge of the field. Tail docking is primarily a management & hygiene decision to mitigate devastating fly strike in animals; having dealt with this in the past, it’s no joke and docked tails make sense for many operations. However, climatically & at our scale this is not a primary concern—we crutch/dag (shear) the sensitive areas seasonally as needed to ensure animals are clean and hygienic. The long, gigantic, racoon-like tails of the rams are one of our favorite things about these sheep.