Preferred Meats Farmer Network-

Martin Emigh's Lamb Ranch 

We have been fortunate to visit Martin Emigh's ranch on a couple of occassions. On one of the trips we were able to bring along a bus load of chefs! As we made our way to Solano County, about 65 miles north of San Francisco and 25 miles south of Sacramento. Exiting the highway, the terrain became very flat as we drove the long, straight country roads alongside expansive wheat and alfalfa fields and rangeland pasture.  We were in the heart of Solano County, of which 62% is devoted to agriculture.  Surrounded by the cities of Dixon, Fairfield and Rio Vista, we pulled into Martin Emigh's driveway. 

 

 

 

Emigh is as you might imagine - a tall man donning a white cowboy hat, jeans, a mustache and friendly smile. So all the Bay Area, Napa and Sacramento chefs piled into the bus and we began our tour.  As we drove through the beautiful pasture lands, we learned that Martin Emigh been raising lambs his whole life, just as his father, grandfather and great-grandfather had done on this very land. Since 1877, Emigh and his family have used the same reliable methods in their production. 

 

 

 

Emigh crosses white-faced Rambouillet ewes with black-faced Suffolk-Hampshire cross rams and harvests about 5,000 lambs per year. After lambing (birthing) occurs in a segregated pasture area where the ewes can be observed, the baby lambs nurse with their mothers for the next five months. Shortly afterwards, they are slowly introduced to a diet of the grasses that are native to the pastureland here.  We pulled the truck over to the side of the road to get a closer look at -- and even taste -- these luscious grasses.

 

 

 

Emigh's land is made up of alfalfa, clover, filaree, and rye grass that all grow naturally with no pesticides or fertilizer.  

 

                         

 

 

As we looked across the pasture, the warm, spring wind was blowing just enough to make the moment perfect. Over the next six to nine months as the lambs mature, they graze on these grasses throughout the rainy season. As the weather becomes drier and the grasses lose some of their essential proteins, the lambs move a few miles away to Emigh's irrigated land so that they maintain a healthy level of nutrients necessary for their diet and development. 

 

This is as complicated as the story gets. The lambs receive no antibiotics or growth hormones and this is the way the way the Emigh's have been raising lambs for four generations. At the end of our tour, we went back to the Emigh's home to be joined by more of the Emigh family:  Jeanine Emigh, Martin's wife, Martin's dad, Richard Emigh, and his nephew Ryan Mahoney. We all sat down to enjoy Jeanine Emigh's own recipe for grilled rack chops - and boy, were we happy.

 

 

 

We're pretty sure you're going to find this lamb to be consistently wonderful and that you will also appreciate Martin's artistry and simplicity in the work that he and his family do to bring you a very special product. Preferred Meats is proud to be working with Martin Emigh.  

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