Interesting tidbit re: market lambs

[juliepoudrier]

This came as a small notice in the ATTRA (National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service) e-mail newsletter I recieved and I thought it was interesting enough to share. We probably already knew this....

 

Report Explores Nontraditional Lamb Markets

There is a growing sentiment that the nontraditional lamb market is siphoning off an increasing portion of the commercial slaughter-lamb market away from traditional retail and foodservice sectors. This research was motivated, in part, by the discovery that there is a large statistical difference between the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)-published lamb crop (plus losses) and USDA federally-inspected slaughter numbers. The report Nontraditional Lamb Market in the United States: Characteristics and Marketing Strategies proposes to define, quantify and predict the growth of the nontraditional lamb market in the United States.

 

J.

[Debbie Meier]

There is an article in the March issue of Sheep Industry News that just arrived here today "Quantifying the Non-traditional Lamb Market in the United States", page 10

 

ETA: http://sheepindustrynews.org/?page=site/te...amp;archive_id=

 

Deb

[Mark Billadeau]

IOWs the markets that the american lamb board has been focusing upon (i.e. food service/restaurants) have contracted while the markets they have been ignoring (home cooked meals) have not and are expected to increase without their help (increasing ethnic population)

[juliepoudrier]

^^Exactly. I wonder if the ALB will take notice?

 

J.

[Mark Billadeau]

Direct marketing equals 48 percent of federally inspected lamb and yearling slaughter in 2008 of

2.3 million head.

 

Full Report Page vi

 

First off, if the possible 1 million undocumented lambs were directed into a more traditional, commercial marketing channel,......

If it ain't broke don't fix it.

[DeltaBluez Tess]

I pre-sold ALL of my lambs this year. My neighbor is from Pakistan and wants to buy up to 300 lambs. He doesn't dicker on price and finishes the lambs out. I am his shepherd to his flock and I get all the free sheep time in exchange. he pays for food, supplies, shearing (no $$ out of my pocket) etc but I do the flock work (shots, moving from field, daily care) Plus if I need help with a tractor he does it free as part of the deal.

 

I still hold back 10 lambs a yr to my long term buyers but all the rest go to him. Makes life a lot easier for me

 

Diane

[Mark Billadeau]

Gary Williams, Ph.D., professor of agricultural economics for Texas A&M University, followed up on Shiflett’s findings pointing out possible marketing strategies this information presents.

 

First off, if the possible 1 million undocumented lambs were directed into a more traditional, commercial marketing channel, it could present the opportunity for increased competition from packers, a reduced cost of production and an increase in value-added product.

So how has that worked out for the beef industry?

 

The hearings are welcome news to Bill Heffernan, a retired rural sociologist from the University of Missouri who has been tracking growing concentration in agriculture for 20 years.

 

When he began studying the issue 22 years ago, Heffernan said the greatest consolidation was in the beef industry, where four firms controlled more than 50 percent of the market.

 

When he took his last survey in 2007, the top four meatpackers processed 84 percent of all U.S. beef.

 

Source: Federal regulators launch probe of big agriculture

How will redirecting lamb to the "traditional, commercial marketing channel" help with competition and price?

[Tea]

In my opinion they are missing part of the equation.

 

People want control over their food by buying it local, sustainible, predator friendly, and Organic........I prefer to call it chemical free.

 

I had a buyer contact me about this and this is the top price per pound.

 

$4.25 to $5.00 for organic, local, sustainible, PF, lamb

 

 

My lamb was a big hit. The Chef is from Germany and he told me he had been cooking lamb for a long time. What he remarked was that it was lean and dark. It was the best he had tasted!

 

This I attribute to the ammount of walking my sheep get and their type of forage.

(And luck and Grandpa, and alot of dogs and miles.)

 

There were ALOT of folks at the Seattle farmer- chef thingie..... People are very concerned about their food.

 

The other thing that was interesting; I went east of the mountains this year. And some of the ranches I went to were really having trouble. Stocking rates, drought, and the fact that they had to ship to the midwest is taking its toll.

 

I gave them the ideas I am using to make a profit.

(I hope the good ones.)

 

Most of the high end resturants I know will work with folks that are less than 300 miles from them.

 

So it is another outlet for the big ranches to survive.

-----------------------------------------------

 

Next is the wool market!

 

Forget dang polar fleece made of oil!!!!!!

[dracina]

Julie, Diane, Mark, Tea-

 

I like to read the livestock management section, even though I am a still just a pet owner.

If you do not mind a question: what exactly is the non-traditional lamb market, and what is the traditional market?

 

Karrin

[juliepoudrier]

Karrin,

The way I understand it, the traditional market is the same as it would be for cattle. Sheep go from feedlot/farm/auction --> slaughterhouse --> packer --> middleman --> grocery store or large food production companies. The typical factory farm type scenario.

 

Non-traditional = sold off the farm on the hoof, sold off the farm but processed before being picked up, sold off the farm directly to the local butcher who then markets to local grocery stores or individuals. When ASI mentions ethnic markets, this is where most of the sales off the farm go. Around here, it is fairly common for members of the hispanic or muslim communities to stop by the farm (sometimes just because they saw sheep in the pasture) and purchase an animal live to eat at a family celebration or similar. Muslims usually come by right around specific Muslim holidays (like the festival of the sacrifice--Eid al Adha) and have more specific reuirements for the animals they buy (generally intact males). Because animals purchased directly off the farm don't go through standard production channels, they are uncounted in the statistics of commercial production.

 

So the difference is that the non-traditional sellers and buyers are bypassing a huge segment of the food service industry, namely middlemen, packers, slaughterhouses, transporters, etc., and so those folks are not making money off the 1 million lambs going to nontraditional markets.

 

I'm sure others might be able to explain it better.

 

J.

[ShoresDog]

When I was a kid we roasted a whole lamb on a spit at our annual neighborhood picnic -- and this was a lily white suburb of Detroit. When did this start being an ethnic thing only? I wonder why we forgot how delicious roasted lamb is, and I hope the "local food" movement brings local lamb back into favor and helps the small farmers.

[juliepoudrier]

Jan,

I don't know the answer to your question (though if I had to guess, it would have started when people started leaving the small family farm and started buying prepackaged meats in stores), but while I do have "lily white" customers as well, I generally have to market to them, and they usually buy lamb already processed. Hispanic and Muslim customers just seem to show up, and those are the folks that want to buy it on the hoof and take it home as is (a practice that requires the least amount of effort from me).

 

That's not to say that there aren't other types of buyers out there, but ethnic buyers seem more inclined to seek us out, at least around here (that is, I don't have to take my processed products to the local farmer's markets to sell them).

 

I don't see the average suburbanite ever going out (generally) and buying the whole animal to slaughter and cook themselves, but the slow food movement certainly is helping local and small farms. (Heck, I raise my own but so far have been too squeamish--and lacking all the proper tools--to do the butchering here; that will change soon enough when I start processing my own chickens, though.)

 

J.

[Debbie Meier]

When I was reading the report I came to the conclusion that for the purpose of the report they were considering any US raised lamb that was consumed that did not get USDA inspected to be considered as going into the Non-Traditional Market. I'm also making the assumption that all lamb that is marketed in the Traditional market is USDA inspected/approved/licenced, so the neighborhood lamb on a spit may very well have been secured via a traditional means, much like the lamb that we served at our 4-H banquet of the spit, whole carcus from the same custom packer that you could also order your lamb cut and wrapped, in our case that custom packer also packed to sell wholesale which eventually made it to the grocery stores and restaurants.

 

Deb

[juliepoudrier]

Yeah Debbie, that's what worries me--the the government will somehow have to insert itself between producers and the folks who just want to buy an animal and take it home to butcher. They'll couch it in health and safety concerns, but what it will mean is that the small farmer will lose his/her biggest source of customers because it will become illegal to sell meat on the hoof (that's my paranoid, tin foil hat supposition anyway).

 

J.

[Debbie Meier]

Yeah Debbie, that's what worries me--the the government will somehow have to insert itself between producers and the folks who just want to buy an animal and take it home to butcher. They'll couch it in health and safety concerns, but what it will mean is that the small farmer will lose his/her biggest source of customers because it will become illegal to sell meat on the hoof (that's my paranoid, tin foil hat supposition anyway).

 

J.

 

Actually I don't think your totally paranoid. I suspect that they will try to find ways to encourage lockers to process product for the other markets, right now it's not economically feasible.

 

In a round about way they already have us a bit, we can't legally sell off the farm by the lb and we can't sell meat that we have processed even by the locker to other parties. I can sell you a lamb but has to be by the head, not the lb.

[juliepoudrier]

Well the way around the head vs. pound thing is that I just figure what price per pound I'd like to net and then sell the sheep for whatever amount that comes to. Of course that's all estimates, but if I have a 100 lb sheep that I know will hang around 50 lbs then I will charge a price that's equitable for 50 pounds of meat still on the hoof. If I charge $125 for that sheep, it's the rough equivalent of getting $2.50/lb hanging weight.

 

CSAs and the like do sell meat off the farm around here, preprocessed and by the pound (e.g., I can go to my former neighbor's farm, go into the freezer and choose the cuts of meat I'd like to buy). Not all of the butchers I have used in the past are USDA inspected (the halal butcher I use is), but as long as the meat doesn't cross state lines, a state-inspected processer is acceptable.

 

J.

[Debbie Meier]

As I understand it, state inspected processor is fine as long as we buy directly from him, but we can not sell meat to others that he processed for us. Big red and white lable on it, "Not for Resale" . Now, I'm not sure about the meat that he sells, I've purchased whole pork loins from him, they came from a USDA plant, he purchased it and sold it to me, much like the grocery store. Same with when he sells ribeyes and such, he purchases the whole loin from TNT (USDA Plant that also supplies the grocery stores in the next big town), ages it and then resells it packaged and aged. I don't know if he sells any meat to the public that he actually butchered, you can purchase a quarter or half from the person taking the hog or cow to the locker and pay the processing, but the custom locker only charges you the processing. The locker in town is only approved for cattle and hogs.

[NorthfieldNick]

It would be interesting to know if USDA-inspection is the criteria they're using for traditional vs non-traditional markets. My lamb is all USDA -inspected, but it's butchered right here in the nation's first (and no longer only. Yay!) inspected mobile slaughter unit. It's cut & packed in an inspected facility. I sell very little lamb to a local grocery store and local restaurants. Most of it goes to custom-cut customers. For those folks, the lamb does not have to be inspected- I'd have to charge them for the live animal, then separate out the processing/cut/wrap fee. I do the inspection, though, because I've had customers decide after the fact they don't want the lamb, and then I can sell individual cuts, etc out of my freezer. Sometimes, our meat co-op offers a discount if you don't need inspection- USDA inspectors are NOT cheap!

 

Our unit is approved for cows, hogs, sheep, and goats. (I have no idea if, say, you farm-raised deer. We could probably get labeling for that, too. No birds, though).

[Maralynn]

Yeah Debbie, that's what worries me--the the government will somehow have to insert itself between producers and the folks who just want to buy an animal and take it home to butcher. They'll couch it in health and safety concerns, but what it will mean is that the small farmer will lose his/her biggest source of customers because it will become illegal to sell meat on the hoof (that's my paranoid, tin foil hat supposition anyway).

 

J.

 

I would think the only way they could do that would be through some sort of animal cruelty law. You're just selling the animal, they're deciding what to do with the animal. I don't think they'll touch that one though. I could see hunters and lobby groups getting up in arms over any thing that could threaten a persons right to harvest their own meat.

 

But all the government regulation on food is astounding and a bit over the top IMO. My brother is working on starting up a farm based bakery. His goal is to use locally produced fruit in baked goods (pies, turnovers, cakes, muffins, etc) and sell those at farmers markets. Before he can have his kitchen inspected for state approval (which you need to sell anything here), he needs to have labels approved with all ingredients/nutrition information. He's been working on getting his labels approved since Thanksgiving...

 

It's kind of frustrating. Everyone wants to preserve farmland and they love the idea of local food. But to preserve farmland, farming needs to be profitable. And you have to jump through hoops to sell anything other than fruit and veggies.

[DeltaBluez Tess]

I sell live lamb on the hoof. Most of my buyers are Middle Eastern.

 

I also sell to yuppies. The butcher come out and kills/processes their lamb.

 

I do not sell to stores. I do not sell packaged meats.

 

I alos eat my lamb. It is very tender. If we go out and eat lamb, we often compare it to our lambs...ours is usually better. Of course, we are pretty spoiled.

 

Diane

[Mark Billadeau]

As I understand it, state inspected processor is fine as long as we buy directly from him, but we can not sell meat to others that he processed for us.

I wonder if you can sell cuts of meats to others who live within your state. For inter-state sales I believe the meat must be USDA inspected. We use a custom procssor that is USDA inspected. There are hundreds of examples of farms selling cuts of meats on-line, which means these are custom processors out there that meet the requirements for selling cuts of meats off the farm.

 

Currently we sell live lambs to customers (by the head) and then take the lambs to our processor. As we expand out flock we will be exploring other markets for our increased lamb crop. We recently recieved this email.

 

Hi,

 

My name is ___________ and I work for Hell Point Seafood in downtown Annapolis, MD. Our Chefs are looking to showcase local products on our menu in the long-term but especially in the up coming summer months. They asked me to contact local farms and see what they might have available and if you would have anything that you could email over or fax over about your products. Also, do you go to local farmers markets?

 

They aren't looking for specific products but more of what is fresh, available and plentiful. The best way to contact us would be via the kitchen's email address, which is ____________. We look forward to hearing from you soon. Thanks so much and have a great day!

 

Cheers,

 

Our email address was found on an MD Ag website for advertising farm products. Our county ha a virtual farmers market where farms can advertise.

[Smokjbc]

Nothing much to add except I'm so jealous of those who have the mobile slaughter unit! The only thing that has kept my last freezer lamb from being replaced is the PITA of doing it myself. I have a butcher that will process it, but the "deed" is something I have to do. And he's an awfully cute little black and white wether (don't worry, he isn't a pet or named or anything!) although the fact he has enough wool that I'd probably have to shear him this year is an incentive to do it before May. We've set a date for next week, have an experienced friend to help out (I've only done it once, also with her help), but I'm still having problems with wanting to put it off.

 

I sell most of my lambs very young, mostly to Hispanics, occasionally to a Greek. The best part of that is guessing which vehicle will arrive to take the lambs home. I've had a brand-new Lincoln Navigator, a 70's decked out van, and a taxi cab arrive for lamb pick up so far.

[Debbie Meier]

Mark,

 

I did some surfing around checking out state laws, licensing as such. The locker that we use is licensed as a Custom processor, they are can only process for customer direct and the packaging has to carry a manditory label stateing that it is not for resale. According to the documents that I read there are different levels of licensing, some will allow sale some don't, but it appears that those that are licensed to sell can only do so within state lines, the meat has to be labeled in a particular way. Looks like there are also guidelines where they can secure USDA inspected meat and sell it.

 

This is an interesting question and answer deal from the state of Oregon, taps into some of the USDA regulations: http://smallfarms.oregonstate.edu/sites/de.../TRFAQsmeat.pdf

 

I have not found anything simular written here in Iowa, but each lamb/goat producers website I visit states that they can only sell live on the hoof and they can take it to the locker for you but they can not sell processed meat/cuts due to state regulations.

 

Deb

[Mark Billadeau]

Deb,

 

This gives info for small scale poultry producers in IA.

 

Iowa Poultry Slaughter, Processing, and Sales Guidelines for Small-scale Producers

 

look at: Official Inspected Slaughter versus Exempt Slaughter

 

 

Mark

[Debbie Meier]

It would be interesting to know if USDA-inspection is the criteria they're using for traditional vs non-traditional markets.

 

Ben, I just went back through the article from the Sheep Industry News (linked posted above), here is where they define traditional vs. non-traditional:

 

Based on the results from the packer portion of the survey, the volume of lamb channeled into the non-traditional market – ethnic and custom slaughter – by top packers is estimated at nearly 11,000 head per week, which is 25 percent of the average weekly federally inspected slaughter. And the ‘natural’ product line is estimated at 3,100 head per week.