Dorper Lamb Half Share

Half of a whole Dorper lamb, approximately 30 pounds of takeaway meat, custom-cut to your specification, flat $18 per pound including processing. Pickup August 15, 2026 from Colorado City, Arizona, or freezer-pack LTL delivery available. This is the way most direct-to-consumer meat brands will never sell lamb, because most of them do not sell lamb at all.

What You Get

A half lamb share is half of one Dorper lamb, butchered to your cut sheet. A typical half share yields roughly:

• 6 to 8 lb of chops (rib and loin combined)
• 1 leg (5 to 7 lb, bone-in or boneless, your call)
• 1 shoulder (3 to 4 lb, roast or chunked for stew)
• 2 shanks
• 8 to 10 lb of ground
• Optional: rack frenched, neck for braising, organs (liver, heart, kidney) if you want them

You decide the cut sheet during a 15-minute phone call after order placement. Want all the shoulder ground? Done. Want extra ground and skip the shanks? Done. Want every bone saved for stock? Done. The lamb is yours, the processor cuts it the way you want it.

The Cut Story

A whole-animal share is the closest you can get to a butcher-shop relationship without owning the freezer. You commit to the animal in advance, the processor handles the cut and pack, and you take delivery of the entire half. The cost-per-pound drops because you are buying everything, not cherry-picking ribeyes.

Dorper genetics are why this share is approachable for cooks who have not bought a whole-animal share before. Dorpers are hair sheep, developed in South Africa in the 1930s and brought into the United States in the 1990s. They shed their coat instead of growing wool, which means they produce almost no lanolin. Lanolin is the source of the strong gamey smell that turns people off imported lamb. No lanolin, no funk. Every cut in the share, from the loin chops to the ground to the shanks, tastes mild and clean.

Our lambs are born on Circle 7 ranch country in the Utah-Arizona strip, raised on native range forage, and harvested under 12 months. The half share gives you access to cuts we sell out of fastest individually (shanks, rack) and cuts we never list separately (neck, organs) without paying retail per cut.

Why Circle 7 Has Lamb When Other DTC Brands Do Not

Online meat brands skip lamb. They skip whole-animal lamb shares entirely. We sell them because we raise the lambs, because we have a local processor we trust, and because our customers wanted a way to stock the freezer for the year without paying retail per cut.

Marbling and Quality

Every cut in the share comes from the same animal: a Dorper lamb under 12 months, range-raised, fine intramuscular marbling, clean white fat, rose to deep pink meat color across the cuts. The shoulder runs richer, the loin runs leaner, the leg sits in the middle.

How It Ships (or Pickups Up)

Pickup option (default): August 15, 2026 from Colorado City, Arizona. We will email you a 30-minute pickup window the week before. Bring two coolers or a chest freezer in the truck bed.

Delivery option: Freezer-pack LTL from Colorado City. Add $85 to $145 depending on zone. Insulated carton, gel packs, transit 1 to 3 days, hard-frozen on arrival.

Suggested Use

A half share fills a 5 cubic-foot chest freezer comfortably with room for sides. Plan menus across 6 to 9 months. Chops for date nights, leg for holidays, shanks for winter Sundays, ground for weeknight tacos, shoulder for low-and-slow stew. Most customers report they cook lamb 2 to 3 times a month and the share lasts roughly 8 months.

Cut Specs

What Is Different About Circle 7 Lamb

1. Dorper breed, not wool sheep, so no lanolin and no gamey smell.
2. US ranch-raised in Utah and Arizona, not imported.
3. Range-finished on native forage.
4. Custom cut sheet on a phone call, not a generic mystery box.
5. Whole-animal pricing means $18/lb across the board, including the shanks and rack you would pay more for individually.

Customer FAQs

Can I customize the cut sheet? Yes. After you order, we schedule a 15-minute phone call to walk through your preferences: chop thickness, ground packaging size, bone-in or boneless leg, shoulder roast or stew chunks, whether you want organs, what to do with the neck and trim.

How much freezer space do I need? A 5 cubic-foot chest freezer holds a half share comfortably with room for sides. A 7 cubic-foot freezer holds a whole share with room.

Will it taste gamey? No. Dorper hair sheep produce almost no lanolin, which is what most people are reacting to when they call lamb gamey. The flavor across all cuts in the share is mild and clean.

What if I have never cooked lamb shanks before? The pickup includes a printed cooking guide for every cut in the share, including shanks. You also get email support from us through the cooking year.

Can I split the share with a friend? Yes. Many customers do. You order, we cut, you split the cuts at pickup or delivery. The order ships as one share to one address.

What if I can not pick up on August 15? Contact us 7 days before pickup and we will arrange freezer-pack delivery or hold for 2 weeks in our walk-in.

Pairing Recommendations

Build a freezer-and-pantry kit alongside the share: dried herbs (rosemary, thyme, oregano), garlic, lemons, dry red wine for braises, polenta, couscous, and a few cans of crushed tomatoes for shoulder stews.

Storage Instructions

Hard-freeze at 0F or below immediately on arrival. Cuts keep 12 months frozen. Ground keeps 9 months frozen. Plan to use ground first, then chops, then roasts. Do not refreeze thawed cuts.

Related Reading

• Lamb 101 for Beef Eaters
• How to Cook Lamb Chops
• Roasting a Whole Lamb Leg
• Braised Lamb Shanks Recipe

Image Specs

• Hero: cut sheet of all share cuts laid out on butcher paper, top-down, 1600x1200
• Detail: stack of vacuum-sealed cuts ready for pickup, 1200x1200
• Cooked: composite plate showing chop, ground taco, leg slice, 1600x1200
• Lifestyle: cooler loaded with share at pickup, 1600x1200

Product Schema