Hello!
My name is Christine Gelley. I'm an
Agriculture & Natural Resources Extension
Educator
in Noble County, Ohio and I'm with my
colleague, Brady Campbell, today.
Brady...
Hey guys, Brady Campbell here. I'm
the Program Coordinator of the OSU Sheep
Team.
I'm also a PhD candidate within the
Department of Animal Sciences here at
The Ohio State University.
We're happy to be here with you for this
virtual presentation as part of the
Small Farms Tent. Today, Brady and I will
be talking with you about
how to get your flock started from the
ground up.
So, you want to become a shepherd? It's
really important to make
sure you familiarize yourself with the
basics of animal selection,
market demands, nutrition, and health
before you actually bring your flock
home.
Throughout today's presentation, we're
going to focus on the first part
of that. Specifically, animal selection
and market demands.
And then, we have additional resources on
nutrition and health
that we will share with you.
In today's presentation,  we will give you a general overview
of the seasonality of American lamb
products,
what current market demands are for lamb
in the United States,
different sheep breeds to consider
depending on what type
of production system you're looking into,
we'll also cover some of the aspects of
traditional
and non-traditional markets.
We also have two additional webinars
available for you to watch
on demand at your convenience. One
specifically focusing on the basics of
sheep nutrition
and the other on health and wellness of
your flock. We encourage you to check out
those webinars
when we're finished with this
presentation.
As Christine noted in the outline, we'll
first talk about seasonality here and
seasonality, it's just nature of the
beast.
And with sheep and our small ruminant
enterprises we know that they're short
day breeders, meaning they're not going
to be coming into a fertile estrus and
until
our time or period of time, our day
length,
becomes shorter. So of course, you know
now, as you guys are watching this here
at FSR,
this is really when our animals are
going to be coming into a
a really fertile estrus and being able
to conceive
these lambs, these offspring. In front
of you here, is a nice source from
USDA and what it really illustrates here
is both born and slaughter rates of our
U.S.
lambs in the U.S. lamb industry. And as
you can see,
majority of our lambs in our industry
here are being born anywhere from
January to May
and of course that is the direct result
of those individuals being
bred, or those females being bred, in the
fall and winter months.
But as you can see, on the other hand, we
can see that
our slaughter rates are all consistent
throughout the year. So, this really
demonstrates that there's multiple
facets to consider in our lamb industry
in order to maintain a
consistent slaughter rate.
Some of these lambs that are being
slaughtered during June, July, and August,
as you can see in the highlighted box
here,
these could be lambs that were born
early in the year, perhaps in January.
Some lambs that were high growth rate
lambs and really packed on the pounds.
On the other hand, it could also be those
lambs that were potentially born
last year, maybe out on the western range
flocks and put into a feed
lot and grown very slowly. They could
have been backgrounded out on pasture as
well.
But, where those lambs are originating
from, we do a really good job of keeping
that consistent slaughter demand
at a constant rate. Now that we have a
better understanding of the seasonality
of lamb produced here in the U.S.,
as well as the carcasses that are being
received at these slaughter facilities
during specific times,
we need to really break this down into
two different slaughter categories.
One of which being our traditional
slaughter. Now, traditional slaughter is
going to be those lambs that are
finished or fattened at about 140 to 145
pounds
average live weight. Again different than
those values that we just saw previously,
because those were carcass weights that
we saw.
In this figure here, you can see that
those heavy lambs are certainly demanded
during that summer time period. Again
that
reflects that figure that we just
previously saw. On the other hand,
our other category of lambs are going to
be our lambs that are in the
non-traditional markets.
In contrast, our non-traditional lambs
are our lambs that are slaughtered at a
much lighter weight.
As you can see here in the figure
provided, these lambs are lambs that are
harvested
at an average live weight of 68
pounds. So, much lighter than our finished
lambs and these lambs certainly have
a role in our market today as well. As
you can see this figure
here, it shows us our volume versus our price.
Volume is going to be our data that is
outlined in the red line,
with our price being our black. You can
see, as
the demand of lamb decreases, especially
there in December, as well as, the first
of the year in January,
as we have a low volume our prices
certainly increase. But then as our
market becomes saturated again here
about May-
June, especially with those lambs being
born in
January and February, we can certainly
see that our prices start to decrease as
well.
So, some of the questions that we need to
ask here is, when
is lamb ultimately being desired and
what trend does this follow?
Taking a look further at some of our
typical lamb markets now, this
information here
is slightly dated, coming from Mount Hope
facility up here in Mount Hope, Ohio.
This information is from 2019, but
I think it does a really nice job of
painting a really nice picture for you
guys to kind of understand
what some of the general market trends
are. So, as we start here with our first
piece here,
on April 10th of 2019,
you can see that taking a
look at those lambs that are 35-40 pound
all the way down
to our choice lambs of 60 or 40-60
pounds,
you can see that they're really maxing
out at $3.50 and even some of our heavier
lambs at 2.75 cents
per pound. Compare that to the figure
on the right.
Those values are from lambs sold on
December 4th, 2019.
You can see there's definitely an
increase in price and for those animals
per pound, themselves.
Again, lambs at 40-60 pounds, some of our prime roaster lambs,
are selling for well over $4 a pound.
And as we transitioned down into some of
our heavier lambs during that winter
time period, 60-80
and 80-100 pounds, still, producers
having the ability to make
a really nice profit, a really nice
return, on those animals at over $3
a pound on those choice lambs
and then even down to our hundred pound
lambs at $2.30. So,
really having a good understanding of
what drives some of these markets. So,
some of the things that we need to
consider here is, I've
specifically selected these two time
periods based upon some of our
specific holidays that we're going to be
seeing.
April again is going to be associated
with our Easter holiday
and with December being associated with
our Christmas holiday. So, those are some
of
our biggest driving factors especially
here in the U.S.
in terms of lamb consumption. So, knowing
some of that criteria ahead of time,
again with Easter especially, it's a
holiday that's going to move back and
forth guys, so we need to be cautious of
when we're going to be marketing those
lambs.
Christmas on the other hand, is always
set in stone. So, we know when that date's
going to be coming. But, again we need to
be under the understanding that we need
to get these lambs marketed
and when we market them we need to be
marketing them I'd say two to three
weeks prior to the holiday
in order to ensure ourselves a nice
price.
Again, I just want to provide some
additional information. This is from
another sale barn. This one comes from us
from New Holland, Pennsylvania.
A big sale barn that that pushes a
lot of sheep
through on a weekly basis. As you can see
here, these are different categories
of lamb and the top one here where our
red bar is, we've got slaughter lambs
that are wooled and shorn.
And these are lambs that are classified
as choice and prime here. The one thing that
I wanted to point out is, as you guys
start to consider what type of sheep you
want to be raising,
a lot of people are conflicted between
the wool and the hair breeds.
There's certainly a lot of benefits and
there's some challenges associated with
both breed
types and categories of these sheep. But
here as you can see,
these lambs specifically are weighing
about on average 100 pounds live weight
and as you can see here those that were
categorized as hair sheep
consistently brought ten dollars less
per hundred weight
in this specific weight category. But,
as we transition to this second
piece of data here, at the bottom you
can see that when we compare again
those lighter lambs, they're about
45 pound
live weight. Again, comparing those wool
sheep to those hair sheep
again, we can see that those wool sheep
are still bringing a higher premium
when we compare them to our our hair
lambs as well.
But, as we continue taking a look at our
information here, we hit a sweet spot
with those hair sheep guys.
About that 50-60 pound range live
weight, we see
this transition where these hair sheep
actually bring
more premium or a higher premium as
compared to our wool sheep.
Here at this 60 pound average weight,
hair sheep we're actually bringing ten
dollars
more per hundred weight when we compare
them to our wooled lambs. So,
as we consider our different breeds of
sheep that we're going to be raising,
we also need to know when the market
demands them at what specific
weight range as well.
A nice piece coming again from New
Holland, PA,
some information that I really wanted to
provide because it really speaks
volumes, themselves. Now, this is
published online here
in the ethnic market for lamb and goat,
you know The Sheep Site. Here
April 7th of 2017, has a little bit of
age to it, but it still
speaks volumes and words here.
Tim Baumret he's a sheep and goat manager
there at New Holland, PA at the auction
barns,
and he noted that 99 pound lambs were
worth the same price
as 140 pound lamb. So there's some
benefits and challenges associated with
that.
The benefits are certainly going to go
to the producers where they can
obviously sell a lamb that's 40 pound
lighter
and get the same amount of money per
head as compared to those lambs that
were 40 pounds heavier. That means you're
saving on time in the feed lot,
saving money in terms of feed costs, and
you don't have that
cost or that issue
range that something could happen, right?
So,
why do we see this premium and price
differential? Certainly that lightweight
lamb,
those lambs are going to have a high
lean to fat ratio, we know that fat is
going to be wasted in our lamb industry.
We're going to be throwing away all that
that trim. So, it makes sense to be
selling those lambs at a high peak,
really blooming,
lush lambs. And then also, some of the
price differential comes from all
unaltered lambs or unblemished lambs.
We'll talk about that here in a bit.
So, what could be some concerns with this?
Certainly, we could overflood our market
with some of these lighter weight lambs
going to our non traditional markets
and it doesn't allow us to have a large
group of lambs to be feeding out to be
finished that are needed for some of our
heavier weight lambs.
But, the one thing that we do need to
consider is that here, in the east
especially- Ohio, Pennsylvania,
we need to know who our biggest
consumers really are.
And some of those are going to be some
of those folks related to these
religious categories that you see on
your screen here.
Certainly the Islam faith, the Muslim
faith,
some of our Western Roman faith as well,
a lot of folks in Christianity certainly
consume lamb
and readily do so. So an example here
that I'll give you is going to be our
Western
Roman Easter. Again we talked previously,
that Easter is going to
change throughout the years, but we also
need to understand that this Easter here
is certainly different than Easter that we
would be celebrating here
in the United States. We've got a
nice calendar provided here for you guys
and you can see
that the dates are
based upon year. As we transition down
through this slide here,
Ramadan the month of fasting, certainly
a huge practice that is done with the
the Islam faith
and thinking about this holiday
specifically guys,
in the month of fasting these guys
aren't going to be eating a lot
during this time period. Actually during
the periods that
has daylight, they're not going to be
eating. That's the period that they're
going to be fasting.
So thinking about that, their consumption
of our small ruminant products are going
to be decreasing. So,
if you're interested in trying to hit
some of these specific markets,
you got to know what these holidays
represent and what they mean.
So especially here with Ramadan, they're
not going to be eating a lot of protein
during that.
But on the other hand, the time point
in which Ramadan
ends, here's the next highlighted bar, 
this is their time of feast,
right ? So, here they're going to be
wanting some of those small
lambs that are going into those
non-ethnic or non-traditional
channels. They're wanting a lamb that
they can consume during these
celebratory events and be
able to consume all that lamb at once
with their family and friends.
So you know, in thinking of what way we
want to go, I think some of the first
questions that you guys need to consider
as you think about
raising sheep and getting into the sheep
industry, is really what is the market
demanding?
We've already shown you a seasonality,
we've taken a look at
when specific weights of lambs and types
of lambs are being demanded.
But, we also need to consider things like
on the live side, right?
People are wanting genetics, they're
wanting breeding stock, they're wanting a
live weight, right?
From the carcass standpoint, we're
looking for flavor.
People are interested in how these
animals are raised, how they're fed, and
how they're cared for.
And then, thinking about both of those in
combination, we certainly want a quality
animal that's consistent in our industry.
One of the most common questions that we receive here at Extension from producers
and those that are interested in raising
small ruminants themselves is,
what breed of sheep should we be
selecting for?
Well, it really depends upon the demands
and the needs of your market,
as well as, those sheep that you'd like
to raise yourselves.
So, we can think about this in two
ways. Are you going to be
an individual that is raising ewes that
then are going to be producing
F1 livestock or animals to be
produced into
a terminal animal themselves,
going through the slaughter chains?
Are you an individual that is going to
be raising purebred seed stock?
Or someone in between? But when we think about it, we can break it down into
two categories here, thinking about both
maternal and terminal breeds.
Our maternal breeds, those are our breeds
that are really focused on milk
production and mothering ability. In general, these
are going to be our white face breeds. So
some examples here on the screen as you
can see, are going to be our Dorset,
Cheviot, Border Leister, East Friesian.
East Friesian is actually a dairy type
of breed so, heavy milking ability.
The first three breeds that we've noted
here, the Dorset, Cheviot, and Border
Leisterer, those are all breeds of sheep
that are known to have a high mothering
ability and lambs that have a lot of vigor
to them.
The Finn sheep are Finnish Landrace. That's actually a
sheep comes from Finland and they're
known for their high rate of prolificacy.
So, multiple births or litters being born
out of those females.
Some composite breeds are going to be
our Polypay and our Targhee. Those are
animals that were produced here in the
U.S.
out in western sheep production. They
are noted for
their ability, in terms of
maternal instincts, being able to produce
milk and also being able to produce a
really fine clip or a nice quality clip
of fleece, themselves.
And then on the hair side of things, we
may consider using our Katahdins.
On the other side, we take a look at our
terminal breeds. These animals are noted
for their muscling and their carcass
credibility.
We can think about these in a multiple
ways. We can have white face terminal
sires, black face terminal sires, and even
hair type terminal sires.
On a white face side of things, even
though the Dorset is considered a
maternal breed, they're also considered a
dual purpose breed, where they can add
some
added value in terms of muscle to these
animals. Another breed would be our
Texels, as well, as wieght base.
For our black face sheep that you can
see, something as your Suffolk your
Hampshire, your Shropshire.
As we transition down to those hair
sheep, we also note that the Dorper,
both the black-headed and the
white-headed Dorpers, are also
acceptable breeds used for terminal
breeds. Now these are just examples guys.
We've certainly seen people
that have used maternal breeds as
terminal sires. We've seen people that
have used terminal breeds as maternal
side. You can use a combination of
any any of these that are listed here
and there's certainly a plethora of
other sheep breeds that could also be
utilized
in your specific management system. These are just simply examples that we wanted
to provide.
Thinking about the demands here,
specifically in the eastern U.S., we need to understand what is our market
demanding? I think we did a really good
job of that
as we transitioned through those slides
earlier. Thinking about the eastern U.S.
market, we're looking for some of our
early
maturing breeds. In terms of our
non-traditional markets or ethnic
markets, those folks are looking for
lambs that
on average are 60 pounds to 100 pounds
live weight.
We want to ensure that those breeds are
finished or have a lot of muscle
to them at that stage of growth. We're
also taking a look at feeder lambs again,
thinking about those ethnic markets.
Land availability, certainly land
availability is much
lower here in the east as we compare it
to the west.
Crops certainly take up a lot of our
space here, so we're using
uncroppable ground here to be raising
some of our livestock.
Then also, when we think about the
wool side of things, especially wool
products, whether that be from our fine
wool sheep, all the way up to our spool
sheep, we see a lot of variety of
different wool breeds here in the
eastern U.S. as well. As we transition
west of the Mississippi River, we can
take a look at the western U.S. sheep
production
side of things these. They are going to be
utilizing later maturing lambs. Those
lambs are going to be lambs that are out
on the western range land
perhaps some of the governmental ground
they're going to raise all summer, and
then they're going to come into the fall
in the winter,
and then eventually be finished either
on pasture. Or they're going to be
put back into the feed lot and then sold
to
be harvested at that more mature weight
of about 140
150 pounds live weight. These again, are
going to be where our large finished,
our large frame finish lambs, are going
to be coming from. Then when we think
about in terms of commercial wool
production,
that's where a lot of our fine wool
crosses are going to be and that's where
that will
be produced. Although you may have a good
understanding of the seasonality of the
sheep industry, as well as what type of
sheep you want to be raising,
the biggest hurdle that we need to
get across is, how we're going to be
marketing these animals and how are you
going to be getting your product out
there to the consumers that have interest?
Here on this slide, I know it's a
little bit busy, but we can take a look
at a multitude of ways.
Having an online presence is certainly a
big deal
in today's market. Thinking about using
free online services, where you can
advertise your breeding animals, your
animals that you have on offer, in terms
of
again breeding, that may be for wool
production,
maybe for meat production, or even lambs
that you don't have room for. Use that
to your advantage. Thinking about
Facebook, it's huge guys
and you can use that to your advantage.
It may be just updating people on your
farm.
We certainly like it when people are
using our products and sharing their experiences with them.
your product can be grown, and
sourced, and bought,
and served locally within your own
community.
You can also take a look at different
breed directories.
A lot of those associations have their
membership listed online and if you're
interested in a specific breed of sheep,
you can certainly get a hold of those
folks utilizing their directory.
But as opposed to all these, by far, the
most important piece
of our marketing schematic here would be
certainly word of mouth.
That's where a lot of your
information is going to be spread from,
person to person. You know, just be a good
good shepherd a good steward of the land.
Treat people the way that you want to be
treated and continue to share your story.
That good word of mouth will
certainly pay dividends in the end.
Aside from advertisement, there's also a
few other tips in marketing that we'd
like to share with you guys.
First of which, we've already talked
about selling those animals prior to
the specific holidays of interest. Again,
you guys can flip back through this
presentation at your leisure and take a
look at that calendar itself.
Make sure if you're specifically
highlighting a specific religion or
holiday itself with your lamb that
you're producing
make sure that you have that lamb
available prior to that holiday,
you get a premium price out of your
animals. As you take these animals to the
livestock sale, make sure that you lot
and mark them
in different weight categories, or by the
breed, or however you want to
categorize those animals as you run them
to the sale barn.
Leaving animals unaltered or
unblemished, a lot of these ethnic
religious practices like to see these
animals that are unprocessed. So,
keeping those tails
on those lambs and keeping those rams
intact, will actually bring you a premium
during some of those specific time
periods.
One that should make sense to all of us
is certainly keeping your animals clean.That just makes them more presentable to
the buyer at the time
of sale. And then also if you're able to do so,
uncomfortable in doing so, and you have
those connections,
if you're able to offer deals and
services on farm, feel free to do so.
Speaking of offering things on farm, this
is one of the tasks that we've been
trying to do through OSUExtension.
Something that's been successful for us
in hosting educational programs,
is hosting those programs on-farm
featuring a local producer.
Inviting them out to see how they do
things and at the same time
letting them enjoy some of their
products.
So you can see in some of the photos on
this slide, this gentleman's name
is Mr. Rubel, and we had an event at his
farm.
His son, Eric, sells a lot of freezer lamb
and it was a great evening. People from
all over came to learn about
how they produce lamb and as part of
dinner we
had a feast with their products.
So ,along with all of those marketing
tips that Brady's previously given
to you, don't forget about your
interactions with people from
just, day-to-day activities. Market your
own product
through the things that you would
normally do. Through things like
fellowship with
other groups of people. Of course, we've
had some limitations here in 2020,
but under normal circumstances, don't
hesitate to take
your product to the potluck dinner or
serve it at a holiday.
The more that you can introduce what you
do and what you raise
to the people around, you the more you'll
expand your network, and the more that
word of mouth
is going to help you. When lamb comes up
in a conversation,
your friend or your relative might chime
in and say, "You know,
my friend raises lamb, and this is what I
learned from them,
and we ate it at their house, and it was
so good. You should try it."
Once it gets to that, you should try
it phase,
we have some amazing resources available
from the American Lamb Board.
They're available online anytime for
people to reference.
Including recipes, how to process
cuts of meat, and how to order
promotional materials for your farm.
Whether you market through traditional
means, like the auction barn
or you sell straight from a freezer to a
consumer,
having materials on hand that help
explain what you do
and how, that come from an
industry representative, can be really
helpful
in creating a sense of validity in the
market.
As well as, a sense of trust. Some other
things that you can do are get out there
in the community,
showcase what you have. We like to do
booths
at the fair and interact with people of
all ages and
different demographics to introduce lamb
to them, people that may have never tried
it before.
And of course, share your experiences on
social media,
because it has proven to be very
impactful,
especially with the younger generations.
They're craving
new flavors, and new experiences, and
they're eager to feed
their adventurous side.
Some additional tips though, when you're
marketing, especially
if you're considering marketing meats
off of your farm,
are to make sure that you are compliant
with local
regulations. There are reasons why these
regulations are in place
and it's to keep the consumers safe and
also,
to keep you safe as a producer and
marketer of your products.
So before you get into that selling
freezer lamb
endeavor, check your regulations that are
in place
for your state. The Ohio Department of
Agriculture
and your local or county health
department will have specific
regulations
on how to sell fresh or frozen meats
from your farm.
Plan ahead with your local processors on
when you're going to bring animals to
market, how,
and what your process is for payment.
Schedule your slaughter dates well ahead
of time.
Right now, here in the fall of 2020, wait
lists are
often 12 months in advance of the
slaughter date.
And when we're dealing with a product
like lamb, the animal you intend to
slaughter may not even be born yet.
So, keep that in mind as you're
developing your marketing strategy,
how many animals you anticipate to have
ready at a certain time,
and get those processing dates booked as
soon as possible.
You can always cancel if something comes up and you can't keep your appointment,
but it's very hard to sneak in last
minute.
Whatever you choose to market,
if you're selling it off of your farm
you have to make sure that it is labeled
appropriately. In order to sell
meats there needs to be an inspection
label on each package of meat. So,
whatever unit it is that you're selling
the meat in,
each package needs to be labeled with an
inspection seal
that certifies that the product was
produced under safe conditions.
Be aware of state lines as well. Ohio
borders multiple states
and it could happen that the person who
buys your product off your farm
lives across a state line. If they come
to your farm and they pick it up,
that's legal sale, because you're within
your state
where your product is inspected, in the
case that you've
had your lamb processed at a state
inspected facility.
In order to sell meats across state
lines,
you need to have your animals processed
at a federally inspected
facility. So, if you market your meats
at a farmer's market that happens to be
across the border,
you would need to have your meats
inspected at a federal
inspected location, or have it
labeled for the state in which you are
selling the product.
There's so much more to learn about
sheep production as you're getting
started.
We have some other resources available
to you
including the basics of sheep nutrition
and
helpful tips for making sure that your
flock is healthy
and growing well. Those webinars can be
accessed with the information
on the screen. Be sure to check those out
to get a well-rounded background
before bringing your flock home. If you
have additional questions for Brady or I,
our contact information is on the screen.
We are ready and willing to field your
questions.
If we don't know the answer, we will
certainly get in contact with someone
that does.
Those that are interested in learning
more than what was presented today, as
well as those webinars that christine
previously provided,
there's certainly a wealth of knowledge
that can be learned about sheep
production,
and that information can be found at our
website at sheep.osu.edu.
We hope to see you there. Thanks for
watching our webinar today
and enjoy the rest of virtual Farm
Science Review.
