Cross Timbers Homestead

🐑 A plain-English guide

What is a lamb share?

If you've seen farms selling a "whole" or "half" lamb and weren't sure what that means, here's the whole thing in plain words — how it works, how much meat you get, and what it costs you in freezer space.

The short version

You're buying the animal, not the package.

A lamb share is a portion of a single, living lamb that you reserve ahead of time. You buy the animal — a whole lamb, or a half split with someone else — and a licensed butcher turns it into the cuts you actually cook with.

It's the oldest way of buying meat there is: you know the farm, you know the animal, and you get a freezer's worth of it at once instead of a shrink-wrapped tray at a time.

How it works

Four steps, start to freezer.

  1. 1. Reserve a share. Whole or half. A deposit holds your spot for an upcoming lamb.
  2. 2. We deliver the lamb to a licensed Texas butcher. Our part ends at delivery.
  3. 3. You tell the butcher how to cut it. Chops, roasts, shanks, stew meat, ground — your call. You pay the butcher directly for processing.
  4. 4. You pick up your meat. Vacuum-sealed, frozen, and labeled the way you asked for it.

If it's your first share, we'll walk you through the cut choices so nothing about step 3 feels like a quiz.

Whole or half

How much should you get?

A whole lamb is one animal, all yours. A half is split with one other customer down the spine — you each get a mix of cuts from front to back. A whole St. Croix lamb usually yields somewhere in the range of 25 to 40 pounds of packaged meat; a half is roughly half that.

A half share is the sweet spot for most families — it fits in a standard freezer and gives you months of meals. A whole share is the better value per pound and suits a family that cooks lamb often or wants to split it with friends.

Either way you choose your own cuts, so the same share can lean toward quick weeknight ground and chops or toward big weekend roasts — whatever your kitchen actually uses. You pay the processor directly for cutting and wrapping (typically around $1–2 per pound hanging weight); the share itself you reserve with us.

Why ours

Pasture-raised St. Croix, born and raised on Texas grass.

Our lambs are St. Croix — a hair-sheep breed whose meat is milder and leaner than wool-breed lamb, closer to veal than to gamey mutton. They're raised entirely on pasture in the Eastern Cross Timbers, with no grain finishing and no routine antibiotics or hormones.

That's the difference a share buys you: not just a price per pound, but knowing exactly where it came from.

Reserve a lamb share →

See also: how we farm · pastured pork shares · back to the homestead

FAQ

Lamb share questions

What is a lamb share, exactly? +
A lamb share is a portion of a single, live lamb that you reserve before it goes to the butcher. You're buying the animal — whole or half — not pre-packaged meat off a shelf. The butcher then cuts and packages it to your spec.
How much meat is in a lamb share? +
A whole St. Croix lamb usually yields somewhere in the range of 25 to 40 pounds of packaged meat, depending on the animal and how you have it cut (bone-in vs. boneless, how much you keep as ground). A half is roughly half that. We give you a realistic estimate for the specific lamb when you reserve.
How much freezer space do I need? +
A half lamb fits comfortably in the freezer compartment of a standard kitchen fridge; a whole lamb is better suited to a small chest or upright freezer. We'll give you a realistic estimate when you reserve your share.
Do I have to know how to butcher? +
Not at all. A licensed Texas butcher does all the cutting, wrapping, and freezing. You just tell them how you want it — and we'll walk you through the choices if it's your first time.
What cuts will I get? +
You choose. A lamb yields chops, leg and shoulder roasts, shanks, stew meat, and ground — plus organs and bones if you want them. You give the butcher your preferences and they cut to match.
How is this different from buying lamb at the store? +
You know the exact animal, how it was raised, and who raised it. Ours are pasture-raised St. Croix lambs from Johnson County, Texas — no grain finishing, no routine antibiotics or hormones — and you get to choose your own cuts instead of taking whatever's in the case.