While spring lamb is traditionally one of the most popular meats for Easter celebrations, one Pembrokeshire farming family is asking home cooks to try the more flavourful option of hogget this year.

Steve and Kara Lewis run Pembrokeshire Lamb and farm 80 acres in Treffgarne near Haverfordwest producing award-winning lamb, hogget and mutton. At this time of year, the couple always recommend hogget for its superior taste and sustainability.

And it’s not just Steve and Kara championing hogget, expert judges at the Great Taste Awards recently named one of Pembrokeshire Lamb’s hogget joints the best overall food product in Wales, awarding it the prestigious ‘Golden Fork’.

Hogget comes from sheep which have been allowed to graze longer than lamb, typically between one and two years.

Kara believes it allows the animal to mature in a more natural and traditional way:

Hogget will come from an animal that’s had at least a whole year grazing on the farm here on the Pembrokeshire grass and herbs. It gets the benefit of all that extra time on the grass, roaming naturally and, aside from making sure they’re healthy, minimal intervention from us.

“There’s definitely a flavour benefit – hogget has a greater depth and intensity of flavour than spring lamb which, given the time of year, won’t have had much time to graze yet. We also hang our hogget for up to two weeks, letting it develop and mature. It’s deliciously rich, but not overpowering – I always tell people if they like lamb, they’ll love hogget as the next step up in terms of flavour,” she said.

With backgrounds in agricultural science and animal welfare, Steve and Kara are deeply committed to farming in a way that respects the land and the sheep. This knowledge and experience means they’re able to farm in a low intervention way, breeding healthy sheep and using pedigree stock to create the best meat in the most natural way possible.

On the land, they’ve been restoring hedge banks, setting aside woodland for nature and planting new native trees. They don’t plough so the soil is undisturbed and leave fields to be grazed later in the year to encourage and protect wildlife.

Steve added:

We believe our hogget is also a more sustainable option this early in the year as it has the full benefit of all that extra time grazing naturally. They’re not being intensively fattened up on concentrated feeds, some of which are shipped half-way round the world, just to turn them round quickly, with all the environmental impact from growing and transporting animal food.

“And if we can’t convince you to try hogget, try to buy your lamb from as close to the source as possible. When you buy direct from the farm you get to know the farmer, you know what you’re buying and how it’s been reared and cared for.”

Pembrokeshire Lamb sells direct from the farm to customers using sustainable packaging and temperature-controlled delivery via www.pembrokeshirelamb.co.uk.