Saltbush reared Wiltshire Horn lamb, home delivered

"The best lamb I have ever cooked"

Irene Sharp - founder of 'Come Grill With Me' and co-founder of 'Grill Sisters'

"Perhaps the best tasting sheep meat in the country." 

 Richard Cornish - GoodFood

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Saltbush Reared Wiltshire Lamb / Hogget / Mutton

Saltbush reared, dry aged, Wiltshire lamb, hogget and select mutton.

Pork and Beef

Although we don't raise pigs or cattle ourselves we know where and how to source sensational pork and beef.

For pork and beef we select only young adult females.

For pork, we avoid all the pungency, and male hormone vaccination issues, by only selecting young females that have not yet produced a litter of piglets (more correctly called gilts).

For beef, 6 "No's" define what we reject so we are left with beef that is much, much better than is usually available via the industrial saleyard to supermarket/commercial butcher supply chain.

No Yearlings (too immature not enough flavour)

No Males (not as sweet, too firm, less delicately flavoured)

No Wet Aged ( dry ageing results in a different microbial impact on beef which produces a more tender and sweeter flavoured product)

No Droughts (we source animals close to the processing abattoir, in high rainfall North East Victoria)

No Grain Fed (60% of our customers have told us that they want free range, grassfed beef, and that they don't want feedlot raised cattle)

No Mad Cows (we select British breed - usually Angus Cross - animals with a quiet temperament because we believe that the meat is more tender than that from high adrenaline, flighty animals)

Why Choose Us?

We aim to sustainably produce Australia's most delicious lamb, hogget and mutton.....while preserving the stands of native grasses and saltbush and wetlands of our Wakool River country grazing land.

OMG! Now this is what lamb should taste like.... this is an amazing product. Reminds me of my youth we grew up on lamb back in the day .... so much flavour. After 38 years in professional kitchens I would have to say this is the best lamb I have come across .....not to mention great service . Delivery organised for me and delivered to my front door, arrived fresh cold and portioned perfectly. I have had lamb 3 times this week for dinner and loved it. Makes sure you give Saltbush Billy a crack you won't be disappointed. 

Erin
Chef and customer

To  see our customer reviews please go to: www.facebook.com/SaltbushBilly/Reviews

About Us

Saltbush Billy

Wiltshire Horn producer

Our customers' support enables us to honour the legacy of our soldier settler family who had the foresight to preserve extensive  stands of natural saltbush, native grasses and wetlands. 

Six Secrets to our slow-grown, aged gourmet Lamb/ Hogget

What makes our product so special?

The Wiltshire Horn breed of sheep we produce. Wiltshire Horn sheep are an ancient breed of sheep probably brought to England by the Romans and there are some notable differences between them and most modern commercial breeds. The most notable difference is the sweet tasting flavoursome meat without the lanolin / “lamby” flavour of the commercial breeds. Wiltshire Horn sheep shed their wool and don’t require shearing, crutching, mulesing or any of the chemicals associated with protecting sheep from fly strike. Wiltshire Horns are slower to mature than most commercial breeds and generally take longer to achieve the carcase weights of the most common commercial breeds. Whereas most modern sheep breeds can breed all year round, Wiltshire Horn ewes generally only cycle once per year in the Autumn with the shortening of daylight hours which means most young Wiltshire Horn ewes do not cycle in their first year, and so don’t usually have their first lamb until they are 2 years old. Because the ewes cycle in late summer or early autumn the lambs are usually born at the end of winter which is a more natural synchronisation with spring pastures for the newborn lambs. Grazing on natural saltbush and native pastures. Our sheep are raised on natural Riverina pastures with the following varieties of saltbush:

· “Hedge Saltbush” (Rhagodia Spinescens)

· Ruby Saltbush (Enchylaeana Tomentosa)

· Bluebush (Maireanna Brevifolia)

· Creeping Saltbush (Atriplex Semibaccata)

· Flat Top Saltbush (Atriplex Lindleyisub. sp Conduplicata)

The abundantsaltbush varieties are preferred by the animals during summer when the greenwinter/spring trefoil and other native grasses dry off.

Abundant fresh water. We are lucky to have flowing water forming the boundary of the land where are sheep are raised. From birth our sheep are never further than 600 meters away from a drink which means their meat is more tender than when stock are required to walk long distances to get a drink from a muddy dam. It also means our sheep are better able to digest the saltbush they favour. The age of our sheep when slaughtered. We process most of our lambs as “two tooth” lambs properly called hoggets which results in a more flavoursome but less “lamby/lanolin” flavour. The difference between young milk fed fat first cross lamb and our slow grown weaned hogget is something like the difference between a fresh young “drink now” pinot noir and an aged shiraz. We also process lambs at around 8 -12 months old as well as select mutton when we have a hogget that missed muster or a fat barren ewe in fantastic condition because she hasn’t raised a lamb. Our butchering process. We minimise handling and yarding to ensure that adrenalin levels at the time of slaughter are lower than when animals are processed at large scale abattoirs. We don’t use dogs to muster and handle our sheep. We don’t road transport our animals for processing during hot weather. Our butchers dry age our carcasses for at least 14 days which allows the met to “set” promotes tenderness. Chemical free animal husbandry. All our lambs are vaccinated with “6 in 1” sheep vaccine. We don’t usually drench our sheep due to the sparse stocking rate and unirrigated low rainfall grazing country (although we reserve the right to if necessary for animal health). There is no dipping, or jetting for flies…..and much less stress on the sheep as the result of less mustering and yarding of the sheep.

Location

We home deliver to: 

VICTORIA:  Greater Melbourne, Greater Geelong, Ballarat, Bendigo, Echuca and along the Murray to Wodonga, Bright, Myrtleford, Beechworth, Wangaratta, Benalla, Nagambie, Shepparton, Mansfield, Alexandra, Yea, Seymour,, Kimore, Lancefield, Woodend, Daylesford, Kyneton, Castlemaine.

NSW: 

Griffith, ,Leeton, Narrandera, Junee, Wagga, Yass, Queanbeyan, Albury, Howlong, Corowa, Tocumwal Moama.

ACT/CANBERRA

NSW Riverina

Australia