But, it's not cheap. Rack of lamb, rib chops or loin chops are around $11 per pound; ground lamb, boneless stew meat, ribs and shoulder steaks are between $3-$4.25 per pound; and a leg of lamb is $6.50 per pound. In comparison, generic rack of lamb at local supermarkets is in the neighborhood of $7.99 per pound, and the other generic cuts are $1 to $2 less per pound.

For ancient civilizations, sheep were valuable animals, according to "Cooking A to Z," by the California Culinary Academy. Their wool provided clothing; their meat and milk, a source of food. They were rugged animals that could survive extreme conditions. The importance of sheep is evident in their role in many early religions. Lamb was the traditional sacrificial offering, and you'll find roast lamb in celebrations for the Christian Easter, the Jewish Passover and the Muslim New Year. It's still one of the most-used meats in Greece, North Africa and the Middle East.

But lamb fell out of favor with most Americans because for many years it was raised primarily for wool. By the time the sheep were slaughtered, the meat was tough with a strong, gamy flavor. Gillmor said people from the World War II-era may remember being turned off by the tough mutton they had to eat, since the government pushed wool production for the war effort.

"I think people today still have a stigma about lamb, as being muttony and gamy," said Bambara's Barker.

But today's lamb is different, according to the California Culinary Academy. It's slaughtered an an earlier age — usually from six to nine months — so it's more mild-flavored and tender. (If the lamb is older than 24 months, it's called "mutton.")

Several generations of James Gillmor's family raised sheep. But James and his wife, Linda, faced the economic facts: Many farmers and ranchers, or their wives, had to hold second jobs to make ends meet. Most of the lamb was being shipped off to the West or East coasts, and the Gillmors wanted more of their product to stay in Utah.

So they came up with a plan to raise a high-end, "natural" lamb without using antibiotics or growth hormones. The lambs would be fed an all-vegetarian diet — no animal by-products are in the feed. The meat would have a brand name, in the same way that Tommy Hilfiger or Ben & Jerry's means something to consumers.

The sheep are raised around the Delta area in the winter and pastured in Morgan Valley during the summer, so they chose the name "because it's such as gorgeous valley, and 'Morgan Valley Lamb' just rolled off the tongue when we repeated it a few times," said Linda Gillmor.