About Sepe Farm

Welcome to Sepe Farm of Sandy Hook, Connecticut (and Granby too!  More on that later).  Our small farm, managed by Pete and Carol Sepe, specializes in American lamb that is pastured and grain fed in a natural, stress free environment on our farm. Lambs are raised without feeding hormones, additives, or antibiotics.  We are all about promoting sustainable agricultural “best practices” and protecting our environment.  Daughters, Hilary and Erin, and son-in-law, Jonathan are valuable contributors to the farm’s production.  We are supporters of the Connecticut Farm-to-Chef Program, through which we have developed quality relationships about our farm, what we produce, and how we produce it.

Stress-free Environment

Our lambs are raised in a stress free environment.  They are free to wander and graze and are not crowded.  When it is necessary to handle our lambs they are friendly and docile.

We are always on the alert for the stressful signs of predators (coyote, domestic dogs) and parasites (external and internal). Our neighbors and our town want us to raise sheep here and are very helpful about alerting us to potential free-roaming predators. Our fences are secure but not impenetrable. We do our own parasite control through regular eyelid inspection for possible signs of anemia and through our own fecal analysis. Fecal samples are collected and microscopically analyzed for various internal parasites. Our veterinarian is in the loop and consulted as needed.

Attention to Detail

Attention to the details that affect flock health is what makes our sheep farm so successful.  Chefs want to know how our lamb is produced and what makes our lamb taste so good. Diets for all sheep groups are balanced to optimize growth though a lamb’s various stages of development.  Lamb production takes a lot of attention to detail and a lot of patience. This is slow food, and we employ practices that are compatible with a low-stress environment. All sheep are inspected twice a day. Lambs are weighed weekly to insure optimum average daily gain.

High-Quality Products

The type of lamb we raise must meet the quality standards of our high end chef customers.  They have educated us about what they want.  Number one, they want flavor.  Number two, they want a meaty, muscular carcass.  

Pastures on the farm consist of native grasses and are mowed twice during the growing season to maintain their palatability for sheep. Young, tender grasses are more palatable and higher in protein than mature, tough, grasses. Sheep are rotated on a regular basis so as to not over-graze and to reduce the parasite load.  Our pasture rotation practice is key to the natural control of internal parasites. We do not use feed additives in the feed to control parasites.  

Beyond pasture rotation, individual sheep are treated, as necessary, to further control parasites.  Sheep are treated individually at shearing time for external parasites (ticks and lice).