What is Lamb Champs? Celebrating South African Farmers, Food, and Culture

What is Lamb Champs?

Lamb Champs is an annual South African competition and food-and-entertainment celebration dedicated to showcasing the top lamb producers from across South Africa. It is organised by the Southern African Agri Initiative (Saai) to bring together family farmers to compete for the title of producer of the tastiest and highest-quality lamb.

Lamb Champs serves as a platform for these farmers to share their stories, connect with consumers, and get exposure to new markets. It is a celebration of tradition, quality, and the dedication of South African family farmers.

These family farmers enter their lamb into the competition, and it is then judged by experts on aspects such as taste, texture, and presentation. The regional winners from Pretoria, Bloemfontein, and Boland then compete for the national title.

Lamb Champs is, however, far more than just a farming competition. The event is designed to be an entertaining family day out, and features:

Lamb cooked on the spit
Tastings
Live music
Food stalls and vendors
Farmer meet-and-greets and competitions
The famed skaapkop-eating competition
Family activities
Rugby screenings at some events

There is also a Lamb Champs TV show called ‘Lamb Champs: Die Kuns van Skaapboerdery’ which is a documentary series that follows the competition while also exploring the lives of South African farmers and looking, in particular, at traditions, technology, livestock theft, and sustainability.

How did Lamb Champs Develop?

Having started as a small lamb-tasting competition in 2022, Lamb Champs has evolved into a much bigger platform, focusing on agriculture, consumer, entertainment, and media.

It Started with a Saai Mission

Lamb Champs was the brainchild of Saai to help fulfil its mission of keeping family farmers on their farms by assisting them with marketing, technology, competition, and access to markets.

Lamb was seen as especially important because sheep farming remained comparatively connected to family farms and generational farming traditions, and Lamb Champs was therefore conceived not only as a food competition, but as a means of celebrating family farmers and connecting consumers with the people and stories behind the produce they see on the shelves.

The First Lamb Champs

The very first Lamb Champs was held at the Harlequins Rugby Club in Pretoria in 2022. The public event saw 50 farmers entering their lambs for 10 judges to evaluate and determine the best and tastiest lamb. The event attracted approximately 2 000 people.

Year Two

In 2023, Lamb Champs expanded considerably, showcasing 100 lambs on the spit, a goat meat competition, and an attendance figure that stood close to 5 000 people. While Lamb Champs was becoming an event in its own right, the focus of the competition remained on finding meat of exceptional quality and rewarding the farmers who produce it.

The Expanding Model

2024 saw the introduction of regional events, moving Lamb Champs away from a single Pretoria event into a much wider competition including the Free State and Karoo, which was deliberately connected to the consumer market.

A significant development in the growth of Lamb Champs was the partnership with Pick n Pay. As the main sponsor, it enabled consumers to purchase meat products fro participating Lamb Champs farmers in its stores.

Adding Television to the Mix

It was also in 2024 that the partnership led to the production of a television series entitled Lamb Champs: Dit Hart en Siel van Skaapboerdery. The series followed the participating family farmers, exploring their lives, farming methods, challenges, and successes.

Lamb Champs made its debut on the small screen on kykNET in 2025, moving from being just an event, to functioning as a content and storytelling platform.

A National Competition

In 2025, Lamb Champs transformed into a national competition, with the season consisting of multiple regional qualifying competitions in places such as the Northern Cape, Parys, Pretoria, the Free State and the Karoo.

Farmers competed regionally, with the winners taking part in the final at Nampo Alfa in Bothaville.

By this time, Lamb Champs was effectively a national platform for farmers, consumers, and the agricultural industry.

2026 and Beyond

True to form, the Lamb Champs brand has continued to expand in 2026. The most interesting development has been the addition of the Lamb Champs Invitational on 31 October, which will see South African farmers taking on Namibia in an international head-to-head lamb tasting competition.

As a result, Lamb Champs is growing from a proudly South African event into being an international platform for family farmers, premium lambs, food culture, and agricultural excellence.

Why Are Farmers Central to the Event?

Lamb Champs is more than just a competition. It was created especially to celebrate, support, and make visible South Africa’s family farmers.

Created for Family Farmers

Established by Saai, Lamb Champs was created in line with its core mission of keeping family farmers on their farms. Saai supports farmers with issues like market access, financing, technology, marketing, succession, and competitiveness. Farmers aren’t mere participants in the event – they’re the reason the event exists.

The Link Between the Lamb and the Consumer

The biggest objective of Lamb Champs is to close the gap between what consumers buy, and where it comes from – the farmer is that link. The event deliberately put the famer in front of the consumers so that they can meet them, hear their stories, and understand the work that goes into the produce.

The Farmer’s Platform

The competition puts the farmer’s skill and quality of production on display as farmers bring their lambs to be independently judged on factors such as appearance, tenderness, texture, juiciness, and overall eating experience. It’s a platform for farmers to showcase their produce, connect with consumers, and gain access to new markets.

Tradition and Heritage

This is a big part of the Lamb Champs narrative. Saai explicitly positions sheep farming as something that remains closely connected to family, generations, tradition, and heritage. Lamb Champs isn’t merely a culinary competition; it’s about the families and traditions behind the product.

The Person Who Produces the Lamb

Without the farmer, Lamb Champs would be no different from a generic food festival. That is why the food, competition, entertainment, and experience are all built around celebrating the story of the farmer.

How the Competition Works

Lamb Champs is essentially a blind taste test where farmers compete to show that their lamb delivers the best overall eating experience. Throughout the development of the event, the core judging principle has remained meat quality.

Here’s how it works:

Farmers enter their lamb: There is no entry fee; farmers simply provide the carcass, and then Lamb Champs handles the competition process.
The tasting prep: The lambs are prepared and cooked on spit braais at the event. The public also tastes the same lamb that the judges are sampling.
Independent judges’ evaluation: Independent expert judges evaluate the meat based on a defined set of criteria, including appearance, aroma, tenderness, texture, juiciness, mouthfeel, and overall eating experience.
More than just ‘which lamb tastes best’: The judges are essentially looking to find how good the lamb is as a complete eating experience.
Strongest entries progress: Regional winners progress to the national competition. In 2025, qualifying events were held in Kimberly, Pretoria, Parys, and the Boland, and the regional winners progressed to the national final at Nampo.
What 2026 holds: Lamb Champs 2026 now features an International Invitational. The South African farmers will face off against ten Namibian farmers. Individual matchups contribute to the overall final result.

Food and Tasting Experience

For guests, Lamb Champs is designed to be like South Africa’s ultimate braai and culinary festival. The competition takes place in front of you, but the experience revolves around tasting exceptional lamb, seeing the farmers who produce it, and spending the day eating, drinking, and enjoying live entertainment.

The tasting experience

The highlight is the spit-roasted lamb. Dozens of lambs from competing farmers are cooked throughout the day, allowing visitors to sample the same premium lamb that will be assessed in the competition.

What guests can taste:

Spit-roasted lamb from competing farmers
Regional lamb styles and flavours
Premium cuts prepared by expert braai teams
South African sides and artisan food

Meeting the farmers is part of the meal

At Lamb Champs, the producers are the stars. Guests can chat to the farmers whose lamb they are tasting, to find out more about their farming methods, family history, and the story behind their lamb.

Unique Lamb Champs Experiences

Lamb Champs prides itself on unique experiences you won’t find elsewhere. These include:

Skaapkop Challenge: a sheep’s-head eating competition where 50 contestants compete to eat a cooked sheep’s head and drink a 500ml beer in under 15 minutes.
Live braai demonstrations: Where spectators can watch expert teams prepare the food over open fires.
Lamb box auctions: Guests can bid on premium lamb from the competing farmers.
Regional showcases: Food from different farming regions can be sampled in one place.

Music and Entertainment

The music and entertainment you’ll find at Lamb Champs is much broader than just a few bands performing – the event has been designed to be a full-day South African festival experience.

Live music is a major drawcard for guests as big-name South African artists form part of the core attractions. The music is distinctly South African, performed by artists who fit the social and Afrikaans heritage character of the event.

The entertainment extends beyond just music. Guests can expect a strong live-event and spectator-sport element, too. For example, at the 2026 Pretoria event, guests could experience: