Last month we visited Back Creek Farm, our source for local pasture-raised lamb. Joe and Robin Hampton took us on a tour of the farm and explained how they got into raising sheep and all that it entails.
Joe and Robin met in the NC State poultry science program, and afterward got jobs for the NC and US Departments of Agriculture, respectively. Joe had grown up on a dairy farm, but he never realized how much he liked cows until he found himself spending his first paycheck on a pair of heifers. The couple bought Back Creek Farm in 1984; they kept their full-time jobs, but the farm was an activity to do together. During a period when their jobs had them traveling, they hired two staff members, Derek and William, whom they continue to rely on to run the farm.
During our visit, William drove us around on a trailer pulled by the tractor. We left the roadside and rumbled uphill through the trees until we reached a pasture where a flock of lambs rested in the shade, guarded by a pair of Akbash dogs, a Turkish breed that’s only semi-domesticated. Farther on, we stopped at a gate between pastures and disembarked. Joe hollered as he opened the gate and the cows began streaming through, followed by a long line of sheep, two llamas, and a handful of shy calves. All the animals commenced munching on the new grass. When the Hamptons supplement the animals’ feed, they spread the hay over the ground rather than using a hay ring, to encourage the animals to move about and thus fertize the whole pasture.
Originally the Hamptons raised bulls to sell to neighbors, but the farms that were finishing beef disappeared in favor of housing developments. The Hamptons met Jennifer from Firsthand Foods and talked about their common goals, and they switched to finishing beef. The farm always had sheep; Joe explained that the great historical grazing areas always had multiple species grazing, so he thinks it is the right way to manage pasture. Sheep eat plants that cattle don’t like, but they have a bad reputation among cattle ranchers because they will eat plants down to the bottom, starving the cattle if not managed.
For years, the Hamptons only sold sheep to the Bosnian-American community, who wanted small (70 pound) sheep to kill during festival celebrations. In 2015, Weaver Street Market asked Firsthand Foods about sourcing local lamb; Jennifer from Firsthand contacted the Hamptons. They began trying to raise larger lambs, breeding their ewes with larger males; the lambs are now about 100 pounds, with 120 as the goal. Bigger lambs will increase profits and satisfy the needs of restaurants, who need larger cuts.
A lamb is classified as a sheep that’s less than one year old; the Hamptons would like to slaughter the lambs at ten months but are currently doing it at six months as they strive to meet demand. They raise Katadins, a breed that puts no energy into making wool but instead grows quickly and has a mild-flavored meat. The breed is also naturally resistant to parasites. Another challenge is to have a year-round supply of lamb; sheep are seasonal breeders who usually have their lambs in the spring, but the Hamptons are trying to alter this by breeding the sheep with types that lamb at different seasons.
Both Robin and Joe are retiring in January of 2017 and look forward to being on the farm full time, although they may continue in part-time jobs–Firsthand Foods has asked Joe to coordinate their “lamb network,” encouraging farmers to add sheep to their pastures as a profitable venture. As we re-boarded the trailer, Joe said a word of thanks: “Thank you for being interested. We’ve been here since ’84, and to be pretty candid, for the first 20 years, nobody cared.”