In Beauregard Parish and at the market, Louisiana Lamb is looking good.

When Frank Boggs strides out to meet us in the driveway of his Beauregard Parish farm, he is already apologizing. “I’m sorry for the way the place looks,” he remarks, indicating a large tree lying fallen in an adjacent pasture. His handshake, while firm, betrays a mild tremor—telltale sign of the Parkinson’s Disease that has recently begun to afflict the sixty-year-old Boggs, and nowadays prevents him from setting about the big tree with his chainsaw. His concern is a measure of the meticulousness Boggs brings to his operation—he raises several hundred head of Katahdin sheep on 180 acres between Oberlin and DeRidder. But he needn’t worry. To the first-time visitor his green rolling pastures interspersed with ponds and stands of trees, and dotted with flocks of grazing sheep, look to be a pretty good approximation of the pastoral ideal.

If the sight of a flock of grazing sheep strikes you as an incongruity in a Louisiana landscape, it is. So far as he is aware, Boggs is the only farmer in Louisiana running a commercial lamb operation for the meat market. “Generally, sheep are not particularly well suited to warm climates,” he allows, although he points out that the Katahdin breed he raises is a hair (as opposed to wool) sheep that does far better in that regard. But then again, there are a number of advantages to raising sheep here, too. “In Louisiana, there are five thousand farmers trying to sell beef; there’s only one trying to sell lamb,” he points out.

Even accounting for the fact that most Americans consume vastly more beef than they do lamb (average consumption of lamb per capita is about eight tenths of a pound annually, versus fifty to sixty pounds of beef), that still leaves Boggs with plenty of takers for his products. Between the Baton Rouge and the Lake Charles farmer’s markets, which he attends on alternate weekends, Boggs sells all the lamb he can raise to patrons with a taste for racks, legs, shoulder roasts, minced lamburgers, and lamb mignon—his best-seller.

Local lamb aficionados have reasons to like what Boggs does, too. His animals are raised year-round on grass, in open pastures, and are never administered hormones or antibiotics of any kind. Boggs Farms cannot claim the label “organic,” since the relatively low fertility of soils in Beauregard Parish mean his pastures require intermittent fertilization. Oral medications are also sometimes required to control parasites that are a fact of life in Louisiana’s hot climate. Neither of these practices is acceptable for operations aiming for the USDA’s organic certification. “I don’t see how you can do organic lamb in Louisiana,” says Boggs. “The only way would be to raise them on the back porch.”

He prefers the label “ecologically sound,” and goes to considerable effort to see that he farms in a sustainable fashion that is good for livestock and landscape alike. The animals do better on open pasture. Grass-fed lamb is leaner, less fatty and more flavorsome then the grain-fed alternative (which is what is commonly available in supermarket meat sections). A natural, forage-based diet also maximizes levels of Omega-3 fatty acids in the meat. According to the American Heart Association Omega-3 acids benefit heart health, both in healthy people and those at risk of cardiovascular disease.

At the Red Stick and Lake Charles farmer’s markets, Boggs has cultivated a faithful clientele of lamb lovers, who keep coming back in search of the lamb racks, shanks, legs, ground lamburger, and crown shoulder roast cuts that he offers. His most popular is dubbed “lamb mignon.” Minced from various cuts, the lamb is seasoned with rosemary, garlic and salt, formed into a mignon-sized cut, and wrapped in bacon; whereupon it grills, sautés, broils and then eats very much as a filet mignon would, for $12.50 a pound.

Boggs, a one-time chemical engineer who gave up that career to return to his family’s farming roots, is the first to acknowledge that, in a region where many people grew up never eating lamb, it can be a hard sell to folks not already familiar with it. “About half the people who buy from me go on to become regular customers,” he says; “and the other half are never seen again.” But if you’ve already got a taste for lamb, it’s hard to argue with this lean, locally raised, naturally grown alternative. You’ll find Boggs Farms at the Red Stick Farmer’s Market the first and third Saturdays of each month; and at the Lake Charles market on the second Saturday.

There, you can also sign up to receive Boggs’ regular “Lamb Newsletter,” in which he offers recipes and information on happenings at the farm.

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