What do we need to do to increase the demand for American Lamb?
A key to answering this question is understanding how consumers (in this I include butchers and food stores who resell it) perceive lamb.
In brief:
|
•
|
What do they like most about it?
|
|
•
|
What do they dislike about it?
|
|
•
|
How does it compare to imported lamb (other than cost)?
|
The core answers:
|
1.
|
The most important attribute is eating satisfaction.
|
|
2.
|
The most important negative is its high cost/lb to buy—compared to other meats and compared to imported lamb.
|
How do I know this?
Because I studied the National Lamb Quality Audit. It was funded by the American Lamb Board and released this spring. It’s an excellent piece of work. Here is the link: Lamb Quality Audit, 2015.
It’s 120 pages. That's a lot. I suggest you read:
|
•
|
The initial executive summary and introduction (pages 2-6)
|
|
•
|
The discussion and conclusions (pages 57-59)
|
|
•
|
Appendices E-K (pages 78-119)
|
I found the comments in the appendices from the respondents (about the strengths, weaknesses, threats, image of US lamb, image of imported lamb, etc) riveting.
They are similar to reading product reviews on an e-commerce site (like those on Premier or Amazon). While they disagree with one another at times, the consensus perceptions are clear.
For more about lamb quality, check out these links:
The core question—
Will the US sheep industry use this audit and make, over time, the necessary changes to increase eating satisfaction and reduce our cost/lb?
As we all know, one can “lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink”. This audit leads us to the “water”. If we don’t “drink” (i.e make the changes needed), the decline in the commercial segment of the US sheep industry will continue.
As I’ve noted in prior newsletters, the other sectors (show, hobby, yarn farming, farm-to-table) of the US sheep industry are less at risk. But those segments also need to put themselves on a continuous improvement track in both carcass quality and eating satisfaction.
Best wishes to all...
Stan Potratz
|
