Red Barn Family Farm Lamb

[rumrocks]

Good for you, selling quality food to people is always rewarding and another iron in the fire is good insurance.

[Sheepwheat]

Congratulations, good to see your outside of the box thinking being rewarded. I'd much rather read your success stories than all of the whining that typically goes on about how terrible farming is.

So what is the market for cull sheep? Is the meat good for anything?

Yeah we have our culls made into sausage. Works out really good. We have plans for several more products in the near future. Different buyers have different needs.

[Sheepwheat]

I am in Regina. They used to carry Terry’s at Ukrainian Coop here but not anymore. You should contact UK Coop, prolly good market opportunity. I remember the really old days of the open pit at Sports days around Kamsack. Long skewers of shishliki on a thick slice of homemade bread. Will Never Forget It. Hot as the hubs of hell out there but never too hot for the shishliki🥵

We dropped off samples at the Ukrainian coop and I thought they were gunna bite, but I think our price was too high. They had some ugly looking shish (sorry, true), there that was pretty cheap. It takes time to find and define ones market. Tried a Ukrainian store in Saskatoon too, but he balked at our price.

[Sheepwheat]

Thanks for all the encouragement everyone. It means a lot, I was not expecting it. Thanks again.

[AllisWD45]

Terry, in Canora made awesome shishliki. We really miss not being able to get them anymore. I look forward to trying yours on-line.

Ya gone on to bigger and better things the last few years. Less skill needed at what he does now lol

[AC man]

Thanks for all the encouragement everyone. It means a lot, I was not expecting it. Thanks again.

Congratulations on your success! You and your family should be proud of yourselves. Not everyone is jealous of someone trying to better themselves and that is why you received comments of encouragement.

[woodland]

Congrats and good luck. We dabbled in the same with beef after BSE and gave up after a bit. Came to the realization it was easier to deal with more cows than the public. Although not as profitable it was less stressful.

Good on you for making it work.

[sumdumguy]

My mother said they use older ewe, not lamb. I wish I lived closer, we could experiment until we nailed it. If you come to Regina, bring ewe meat and lamb. While my mother is still alive, we can get the recipe just right. I think I hava 3-phase locker plant for sale - cheap.

[jamesb]

That's great. As a lamb eater has been almost impossible to buy Canadian lamb in most stores. The reality of most prairie sheep producers having to ship lambs east for processing where we already have demand here is sad. It would be sure nice to develop prairie processing that could fill the demand instead of the small processors that are not high volume. If you find a seller in Regina , let us know.

[Sheepwheat]

That's great. As a lamb eater has been almost impossible to buy Canadian lamb in most stores. The reality of most prairie sheep producers having to ship lambs east for processing where we already have demand here is sad. It would be sure nice to develop prairie processing that could fill the demand instead of the small processors that are not high volume. If you find a seller in Regina , let us know.

Because Canada imports 60% of the lamb we consume, this isn’t going to change fast. And as long as guys frown on sheep and stick with cows, this problem will continue.

One of the stated goals of our farm, is to become known as Saskatchewan’s premier supplier of lamb.

We deliver often to Regina. We have a lot of private whole and half lamb buyers down there, as well as select cut consumers. Just no retailers or restaurants as of yet.

[Sheepwheat]

Congrats and good luck. We dabbled in the same with beef after BSE and gave up after a bit. Came to the realization it was easier to deal with more cows than the public. Although not as profitable it was less stressful.

Good on you for making it work.

It is so hard with beef, because beef is everywhere, accessible, and cheap. Lamb is a niche just by being lamb, which makes it a whole lot easier to tap into a market where people simply struggle to find any!

[oldjim]

Good to hear you're making progress with the marketing. Have you talked to Federated Co-op yet? They seem to be at the forefront in promotion of locally-grown food, both in their stores and in their advertising.