Spring Lamb

Breeding

Traditionally lambs are born in spring, when the weather is warming up and there’s a summer of rich pastureland ahead; when nature provides the best conditions for survival. Although sheep are naturally hardy creatures, a newborn lamb is susceptible to the cold, and so most breeds only come into season when the days start to get short – in time to give birth in the spring.

In order to provide lamb throughout the year, many large retailers rely on lamb from New Zealand to see them through the winter, or else resort to animals born through controlled reproduction, where ewes are artificially brought into season through hormonal intervention.

There is, however, one breed of sheep in Britain which can reproduce naturally all year round, and that is the Dorset. Dorset ewes will take the tup (ram) in early summer to lamb in late November, ready to provide spring lamb in time for Easter. The Dorsets are lambed in sheds to shelter newborns from the weather and from predators, and once they’re strong enough they’re back out in the fields, with drystone walls and their mothers for shelter.

How to cook

While lamb and Easter have become synonymous, spring lamb – a surprisingly delicate meat – is easily (and often) abused with powerful, overwhelming flavours.

Where you might otherwise cook lamb with rosemary, garlic, anchovies, capers and peppers, be a little more gentle with spring meat and go for seasonal flavours, such as wild garlic, kale, leeks, spring onions, purple sprouting broccoli and spinach. 

Legs should be served a little pink, while shoulders still need long and slow cooking in order to tenderise. Always rest the meat properly before serving, wrapping it in foil to keep it warm.