Necking Lamb: Here are the winners of Lamb Champs Competition

Both winning farmers participated in the Lamb Champs competition for the first time this year. The competition was tough and the prize money big, but both enjoyed the experience and preparation very much.

The agricultural network Saai presented the third Lamb Champs competition in the Pretoria National Botanical Garden on Saturday 20 July. Both winners in the lamb and goat meat sections are from the Free State.

Lamb has proven itself

Jason Davel from the Donkerberg farm in Reitz’s Île de France lamb walked away with the laurels in the lamb section.

“Just being there and building relationships with people who are there is already a tremendous experience. Winning just adds so much more value to everything. It has now put us on the map and I look forward to seeing what it will mean for our farming going forward,” said Davel.

When it comes to preparing the lamb, he believes, the ewe also plays a very big role. “We have tested ewes in previous lambing competitions, such as the Royal Show’s carcass competition and the Bieliemieliefees lambing competition, to see how the lambs turn out. Of course, the ram is also a factor to consider. We only use rams in our herd.”

However, Davel did not put all his eggs in one basket. After they determined which ewe and ram together would make a good lamb, he had ten lambs to choose from for this competition. He believes his preparation of the lambs was also different.

“We wean lambs at 60 days. From there we give them creep feed. We would like to be able to slaughter in 120 days. We use feed from Meadow Feeds, and it’s tested and gives us excellent results. So an incredible amount of preparation goes into the lamb.

“The work is one thing, but the love we put into making sure each lamb does well is what was special to us.”

To win is a great privilege for him and he did not expect it at all. “But this Lamb Champs competition only proved to me that I am doing the right thing and that I am on the right path.”

Goat meat is healthy meat

The goat meat of Danie Strauss, owner of Central Saleyard and co-owner of the Boerbok stud Rietkuil in Philippolis in the Free State, reigned supreme in this section. He believes there is a great demand for goat meat because it has so many healthy properties.

“There is an incredible need for goat meat in South Africa, but it is much more expensive than lamb meat and is therefore not available on the shelves. Goat meat has so many health properties, for example its fat is lower in cholesterol than chicken meat.”

Strauss entered this competition because he wanted the Boerbok breed to come into its own.

“The Boerbok breed is the largest goat breed in South Africa and we have been breeding it for a very long time.”

He said that preparing a lamb for the competition was just “bite and turnip”.

“The lamb I used came from incredible breeding material that I used in my stud. I already put the lamb on the field in March, which I think gave him that field flavor that I hoped he could carry through. I didn’t feed him hard, just fed him well.

“When I had the kid slaughtered, the butcher didn’t want to class him as an A2 carcass, but I knew the kid was well-fed, so it told me his marbling was absolutely between his meat. This is also one of the Boerbok breed’s great characteristics – the marbling. And I am convinced that this is one of the reasons why he was the winner.”

The Boerbok breed is exported worldwide. “I think that we won means a lot for the export of Boerbok. When it comes to the meat qualities, it is definitely seen as the number one breed.”

How does the assessment work?

Dirk Lamprecht, business manager of Landbouweekblad, was one of the judges at the Lamb Champs this year. We called on him to hear what the judges look for the tastiest lamb and goat meat to point out.

“For judging the meat, each judge had to download an app on which they measure the meat. Each judge was divided into a group of three people and the group tasted the meat of 20 sheep or goats.”

Points are awarded for these criteria:

1. Appearance – look at colour, grain and fat quality
2. Smell – herbaceous, wild, fresh or sulphurous.
3. Flavour – the judges all taste the same cut. Is it bitter, sweet or sour.
4. Tenderness – does the meat fall off the bone, how easily does the meat cut, and is it tough.
5. Texture – stringy, mealy, and how firm it is.
6. Juiciness – dry, juicy, does it have fat in it, is it watery?
7. Mouthfeel – it melts away in your mouth.
8. Overall conclusion.

“All the groups do their assessment and the 15 top animals go through to the next round where, among other things, professional chefs do their assessment to determine the winners.”