Big Chops

[rodb]

Read with interest in the Western Producer that we have two many heavy lambs for the Cdn market. It said that these were traditionally sent to the US because they like a bigger lamb chop. Has anyone ever taught out of the box and offered the Cdn market a lamb chop that was more the size of a pork chop?

It might be a way to sell these heavy lambs before they become mutton.

[cakadu]

That is a good question Rod. Re-educating is often an expensive and lengthy thing to do. I have never really heard of any of the provincial organizations doing something like this and I certainly don't think that the Canadian Sheep Federation is there.

People think of lamb chops as something "small" so I don't know how easy it would be to shift the attitudes of lamb eaters or potential new lamb eaters.

I would think that one of the problems would be that seeing a bigger chop would imply that the lamb was not a lamb anymore i.e. mutton.

Also, I don't know if many of the breeds have a bigger chop or whether there is more trim on it. That might be something interesting to find out - how big are the chops?

I know in our case - raising Barbados Black Belly, which are a small to medium breed, the loin is surprisingly big given their smaller size and the chops will rack up (forgive the pun) against the bigger breeds any day.

What do other sheep breeders see?

[WoolyBear]

We bought some chops a few years ago before we got our own sheep. The package was brown paper, which is in my opinion the ONLY way to freeze meat. Weighing in at about 800 grams we were figuring on about 12 or more chops. There were 4 and they seemed to be almost as big as pork chops............ and were they ever good! We asked the butcher, and he seemed to think that his supplier had a suffolk/dorset/hamp flock.

The wife just finished reading the Western Producer (FEB 26, pg 13)and there is an interesting article in there where a comment is made about the "Loonie Size chops" that the Canadian market demands, while the Americans call for the larger chops, and they are willing to take lambs up to 190 lbs LW so long as they are less than a year old and not tasting like mutton.

[cakadu]

Woolybear, would that be loin chops or shoulder chops that were that big?

I can't imagine the economics of getting a lamb up to 190 lbs in less than a year. I would think that it would have to be fed an awful lot as I'm not sure grass would have enough to get the kind of ADG that would be required. Some breeds might be able to do it, although I am not sure what the fat content would be.

I couldn't imagine what kind of taste it would have either, although I'd be willing to try it.

[WoolyBear]

My better half and of course the better cook.......... says that they were the loin chops.

We have some Suffolk (mother) x Dorset ram lambs on the ground now. The larger ones that we have weighed were in the 65 lbs when they were weaned at 60 days. We need to get them all weighed again before they get too big. The big'uns were singles remember, but the twins would have been 50 each. Their creep feed is simple......... we will start them on a pellet ration ( 1 bag/12hd) and when its gone thats it. All the time too they are getting a little barley and a very good quality alfalfa hay mix free choice. They seem to enjoy the mineral that we are using this year. As far as getting them up to 190 lbs in a year........ why bother. I think once the border opens up, the Yanks will be very happy just to have some good Canuck lamb on the table again.

What really is annoying us is the shortage of lamb in the stores...... IGA, Co-ops and Safeways don't have lamb, and if there is any, its generally NZ. Now one Co-op we have seen have some in had it priced for a 800 gm package of lamb chops from Quebec has been on sale one week for 7.99, then the next week back up to $16.99, and then $17.99 the week after with a dollar off coupon. Not only do the producers need to be able to provide a year round supply of Canadian Lamb, we also need to have groceries provide consistant pricing. Pretty tough to get a repeat buyer when the price more than doubles the week after a sale.

[woolpuller]

The only way to make progress in larger lamb chops is to scan the lambs around 100 days for selection of fat and loin. The only people I am aware that does this is the WSSRA, the OSSRA, and a few Dorset people in Ontario

[cakadu]

Woolpuller - what are WSSRA and OSSRA?

There aren't many people set up to do scans that I'm aware of out here in the West, but then again I haven't really looked for them either.

You do bring up a good point, however, and that is that we should be doing a whole lot more in terms of research when it comes to our lamb. The only way we are going to be able to differentiate it and possibly even brand it is to know and understand it.

[redhen]

I have absolutely no experience with sheep, but I know one thing: I've never seen Alberta lamb in a grocery store. It's always from NZ.

I'm going to follow this discussion, because I believe that the future of farming will rest on the smaller livestock who have a better gain ratio than cattle.

Cakadu, isn't this exactly where heritage livestock could shine?

- a curious hen

[cakadu]

I couldn't agree more red hen and that is precisely why we raise the breed of sheep that we do. It fits into our farm diversification plan very nicely, they are easily managed and make a very mild tasting, lean cut of lamb. Our customers really appreciate our efforts and we feel that is what is most important.

[pandiana]

Let me preface this post by saying that I am a small scale sheep producer targetting private sales and would in no way consider myself an expert.

We have pretty much a heinz type ewe bred up from a commercial herd of Cheviot, with Finn and Romonoff thrown in. We have gone from Cheviot to Dorset with Katadin on ewe lambs. However our latest ram is Charolais/Ile de France. We sold all lambs last year because we received a premium so don't know what kind of chops he would produce but juding from the way these guys grew and their conformation, I would expect very good results. We have noticed a slight drop in multiples, i.e. less triplets and quads that we were beginning to dread with our original crosses. Mature ewes seem to drop twins with most ewe lambs having singles. These are the largest lambs born here todate with averages of 13-14 lbs on mature ewes but are born pretty easy. Born in April, we grassed this herd until October without supplement and sold at 115 lbs average. This ram is the thickest topped and deepest quartered ram I have seen in my limited experience.

[woolpuller]

Hi cakadu:
WSSRP is Western Suffolk Sire Reference Program operating in Alberta.
OSSRA is Ontario Suffolk Sire Reference Association that operates centrally in Ontario but accepts members from USA and Canada.
Sorry to be slow returning to your questions.

[Busterflatts]

As meat sheep producer, one of our most major concerns are the magic fifty pound carcass that everyone seems to be convinced is what the Canadian public is demanding in the way of processed lamb. From the verbal surveys I have done, most people I have encountered who have ever ordered lamb chops in a restraunt will never do so again because they are so dissapointed with the puny little bits of meat they are served in the way of a lamb chops. Those bitty chunks of meat are what make lamb so hard to sell to the general public. I have asked around a lot why only a fifty pound carcass and have been told directly by the packers after 100-110 pounds live weight, regular wool lambs tend to go to fat rather than meat, nessesitating butchering them before this happens. Our solid solution to the problem was to breed with Dorper rams exclusively. we do quite a bit of farm gating and take all our in-the-box lamb up to 140 pounds a least with only the perfect fat covering on every carcass. Makes selling frozen lamb in a box a cinch as the customer sees they are getting their money's worth.

[cakadu]

It is good to hear of your success in terms of direct marketing lamb. You seem to have found the right combination of producing what your customers will pay you for.

With some of the breeds, I know that it is a matter of cost in terms of putting that extra weight on. If the current philosophy is to have a market lamb in 120 days, then with some breeds, to go beyond that costs too much and takes more time to put that extra weight on.

The other side of that is many lamb customers out there see bigger chops as an older animal i.e. mutton and that can sometimes really hurts sales as well. It takes a lot of effort and resources to change people's ideas of what is "normal" and this would be no different.

Our markets prefer the lighter learner carcass and that is who we sell to.

I would suspect that just like with cattle farming, some sheep producers do not know their actual costs of production and what they sometimes charge for the meat does not pencil out in the end. It sounds like you've done your homework and are making things work for you instead of the other way around.

It takes a lot of effort, time and resources to direct market, but we've found it to be worth it in the long run as we are in charge of the product from beginning to end. Not everyone has the inclination or the time to do that and the extra costs of doing the marketing have to be pencilled in as well.

Bottom line is that it depends on who you are selling to, what they want and if you can provide it at a price that leaves the shepherd with some money after all is said and done. If you are getting the perfect amount of fat cover for the customers you are selling to, then that is good news indeed. People feel they've got their moneys worth if you provide them with a quality product consistently that meets whatever needs they have.

[Busterflatts]

In my opinion you are absolutely right in evrything you have written. The whole crux of the sheep business is to make money. Yes, there are some who have not pencilled out the true cost of production.
Just to give some indiction of what we are trying to put together, we tested about 250 lambs a couple years ago, all inclusive, the good and the bad and averaged 110 lbs. at 100 days with a .9 lb average again right across the board. We sold quite a number to Canada West rail grade. They carcassed out at 68% and averaged 6lbs more cutable meat per cascass than an average lamb at 110 lbs. These were high percentage Dorper cross lambs. We instructed to bring our lambs in at about 95-100 lbs so that our Dorper cross lambs would fit in with the other lambs killed.
That all being said, with the drought and hoppers the last few years, we have not "made any money" as we have had to pay a way to much for feed. We have had to feed year around for the last two years as a result of the hoppers eating all the pasture. We consider ourselves to be in a crisis management situation and are simply trying to ride out the drought and BSE all the while trying to preserve our investment.
And, yes again, not everyone want a big lamb and we are only to happy to put out one of the smaller lambs on demand and send it off to the butchers.
In order to be cost effective, we have not been able to pencil any profit into light lambs, the return is just to small.

[cakadu]

That's a fairly respectable gain. What were you feeding in order to achieve gains like that?