KULA -- It's midmorning, and Haleakala Ranch's small-livestock manager, Michael Abreu, is shifting his unusual herd - Maui lamb - from the field to paddock using a high-pitched whistle and Ben, his whip-smart kelpie border collie.
Along with the customary cow moos or goat bleats, the ranch founded in 1888 has gotten into the baa business over the past year or so.
Including dry aging for tenderizing and light freezing to make cutting the yearling Dorper lamb carcasses safer, Maui's newest livestock takes just seven days to go from mountainside pastures to the plates of local home cooks. Prestigious Maui chefs, such as Peter Merriman, also champion Maui Cattle Co. Haleakala Ranch Lamb for its cut-with-a-spoon tenderness and mild, yet rich gamy flavor.
"It's really great lamb, some of the best flavor in the world and much leaner because it's grass fed," Merriman said. "Of course, it has a lower carbon footprint and keeps open pastureland, and you can go up and see the source. But really we eat it because it's tasty. That's what's really exciting about it."
Maui Cattle Co. Haleakala Ranch Lamb is part of the seven-year-old conglomerate of the Valley Isle's six ranches. However, only the brand's eponymous ranch is tending to two herds of about 350 breeding ewes, or female sheep, and their offspring, which are now as young as 2 weeks. Gregarious but vigilant Great Pyrenees dogs watch over the herds, protecting against wild pigs, deer and other canines.
Alex Franco, Maui Cattle Co. and Kaupo Ranch manager, said the ranches hope to someday have a herd close to 10 times the current size and compete with lamb from traditional sources, such as Colorado and New Zealand. So far, only a handful of Upcountry and Kula markets carry Maui lamb - as well as some restaurants.
"Before tourism took a dive, we couldn't keep up with the demand," Franco said. "Now we're trying to get the message out to locals: 'It doesn't come from the Mainland. It's grown right here. It's those herd of lamb you see while driving up Haleakala Highway.' "
However, the initial idea to introduce lamb to Maui was more environmentally pragmatic than financial or epicurean, Franco said.
Rather than spraying expensive herbicides to eradicate the nefarious invasive species fireweed from Upcountry pastures, the ranchers discovered that sheep and lamb eat the low-lying yellow flowered weed.
Meanwhile, cattle and goats, which are better suited for brush control, tend to ignore the plant that chokes out more nourishing pasture grasses and is toxic to cows and horses.
And it's working, although slowly, said Greg Friel, livestock manager at Haleakala Ranch, which has 30,000 acres of grazing land and 2,000 head of beef cattle. The sheep and lamb are clearing out the fireweed, which arrived about a dozen years ago, he said. And eventually, they hope that all their livestock will survive exclusively on natural grass, Friel said.
"It makes much more sense than using the Band-Aid of the herbicides," he said.
Those involved in Maui Cattle Co. can't seem to say enough good things about Merriman, who helped lead a movement for the past 25 years to bring Upcountry's fresh bounty into restaurant kitchens.
"It wasn't altruism at first. We wanted the freshest ingredients possible, especially produce, which often just looked awful when it came off the boats," said Merriman, who somehow maintains the energy and enthusiasm of youth despite decades in the business and just recently opened his newest restaurant, Merriman's Kapalua.
Merriman also will be preparing Maui lamb dishes at the Maui County Ag Festival on Saturday at the Maui Tropical Plantation. Maui Cattle Co. is an event sponsor.
He said Maui lamb, which is fed mostly grass along with some sugar cane tops and barley, is low in fat and high in good nutrients, such as omega 3 and linoleic fatty acids as well as vitamins E and A.
However, because of the existing lack of volume, there isn't a plethora of the most desirable cuts, even for the restaurants - which also only get a half carcass twice a week with which to work.
That's left Merriman and his sous chef Martin Woods to get creative and come up with lamb recipes for shanks, brazed and broiled ribs or herb marinades for sous vide (vacuum-sealed bag cooking) or apricot-stuffed shoulder seared on a solid top.
"Compared to the other lamb you can get here, Maui lamb has more flavor, but is not overpowering," Woods said.
Merriman said the Maui Cattle Co. Haleakala Ranch Lamb is one of his top sellers. He recently cooked up pan-fried chops with a red wine reduction sauce and shallots. The remainder of the
dish consists of fresh local green beans, red peppers, kalamata olives under pureed parsley and a side of fried polenta sticks.
Maui lamb are unique because they only receive a vaccination at birth, but no antibiotics, growth stimulants or other chemicals, Abreu said.
"A lot of people can't break that cycle," Friel said. "People used to think set-ups like ours were on the lunatic fringe, but I think we're seeing the entire industry shift back to the practices of our grandfathers."
One of the challenges lamb must overcome to become popular with local cooks is that the protein remains a mystery to many people who've never tried it, Abreu said. The ranch needs to get the housewives or whoever does the family cooking on board, he said.
Of course, many people also are uneasy with or strictly opposed to the practice of slaughtering any juvenile animal.
DeCoite A Packing House in Makawao, Maui's only U.S. Department of Agriculture-licensed slaughterhouse, puts down the animals when they reach 15 months and 100 pounds, by using a hydraulic powered mechanism, called a captive bolt pistol, that fires a pin into the animal's skull and then retracts it. (Think of the instrument used by the villain in the film "No Country for Old Men.")
Friel said the animals feel nothing but a thud and then crumple instantly to the ground, dead.
"They had a good life, and then they have one day that's a little off," Friel said.
The carcass is dressed at DeCoite's and then taken to Maui Cattle Co.'s new processing facility at the former Maui Land & Pineapple cannery in Kahului, where only three or four lambs are processed each week. There, five meat cutters and two packers use band saws to break down the animals and then bag the cuts for delivery by sales manager Bobby Schultz.
For now, only Pukalani Superette, Longs Pukalani and Morihara's in Kula receive lamb deliveries on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Premium cuts, such as lamb chops, cost $4.99 a pound, Franco said. An entire half carcass goes for $105.
"Hopefully, we can expand soon to other stores," Schultz said. "If we didn't do what we do for Maui Cattle Co., there wouldn't be any paniolos (cowboys) for the next generation. . . . We say we do things here one pound at a time."
In the meantime, though, Franco said that the lamb venture is breaking even.
Franco also said he sees lamb, goats and especially grass-
fed Angus beef as part of the larger sustainability picture for Hawaii. The meat tends to range 10 percent to 40 percent above Mainland prices, depending on the cut, because of the group's ranching practices and the higher costs of doing business on Maui, Franco said.
The state's main industries are faltering: tourism and development. So agriculture has an opportunity to reclaim its seat of honor at the state's economic table, he said.
Maui Cattle Co. is about diversifying Hawaii's assets, lessening its dependence on shipping and outside markets and preserving the islands' green spaces, Franco said. Currently, about 75 percent of Maui's cattle still must be sent to the Mainland, where the commodity is beholden to the ups and downs of its marketplace.
"Only with continued education do we believe we can survive as an industry," Franco said. "We need to stay away from the Mainland industry trends and do what works here. Lamb is part of that solution."
Chris Hamilton can be reached at chamilton@mauinews.com.
