What Is Hogget?

This question is one of our FAQ'S so I thought I would put a little blog together explaining more!

For many years as we know sheep have predominately been bred for wool and milk. Our ever evolving world meant that wool wasn't a necessity therefore sheep farming had to change. Breeding of sheep completely changed. There was a great demand for meat. Breeding sheep for meat changes the way farmers buy and breed sheep. The sheep require different characteristics from those producing wool.

Like most things it all depends on consumer demands. Lamb was a quicker turn around for the farmer. Most commercial farms will speed their growth by feeding cereal diet. Which works well for so many famers and again consumers need certain things by certain times take Easter for example.  Lamb is the meat of choice, so farmers need their lambs to be ready in time.  Its a fine line, lambing needs to start for a certain time to produce lambs, but for it to be lamb it needs to be young enough. So to get the right balance it needs to be timed and that's were the feeding of the lambs is so important for this commercial method. As a country we also import a serious amount of New Zealand Lamb, which again has been processed very quickly and pushed on a cereal diet until they are at a certain weight. And don't forget we have some of the highest welfare standards in the world, I don't know what New Zealand's welfare standards are and also how far has that piece of meat you look at in the supermarket travelled to get to the BRITISH supermarkets? We have so many amazing farmers in this country producing some of the finest meats why are we importing?

We do things a little differently!  Although times such as Easter, Christmas etc are very important . We would rather start to prepare a year in advance and let our animals grow naturally. Our sheep and their lambs are left to roam the fields munching their way through the grass and hedgerows.  Animals being left to their natural ways very rarely come up against many stresses in their lives, this and their maturity brings the most amazing goodness to their meat. The way we give them their titles is by their age. Here is a list of how you can distinguish between the 3. 

Lamb - 3 months old - 6 months 

Hogget - 1 year - 2 years

Mutton - 2 years plus

So What is ‘Hogget’

“Hogget is simply lamb with wanderlust and a decent education. It’s killed when it’s between twelve and eighteen months old, so it knows a thing or two about flavour. It doesn’t overwhelm like old mutton, yet still bleats with ovine delight.” - Tom Parker Bowles, Let’s Eat Meat

Hogget is a darker more textured meat. Its maturity offers a certain richness and tenderness to the meat and with this comes the most incredible flavour. Although older, the Hogget is incredibly tender and flavoursome along with some serious health benefits you just don't get from younger, more commercialised meat.

We aim to be as sustainable as possible and the way we sell our home reared meats is no exception. Here you will find the contents of our Grass Fed Hogget Boxes. These are great to try for the first time and start at just £50....

Hogget Roasting Joint 1 -1.5kg

Hogget Loin Chops x 4

Hogget Mince 500g

Hogget & Mint Sausages x 6