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'Building Better Lambs' Initiative

 
 
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 High value, premium lamb markets across Canada offer growth opportunities for the sheep industry. Premium lamb markets need a quality product for every sale. Every lamb that misses the quality target costs the entire lamb supply chain.

‘Building Better Lambs’ projects focus on improving the quality, consistency and supply of premium lamb. Improving lamb quality involves the entire lamb supply chain through continued improvements in grading, innovative processing, practical traceability systems, improved genetic selection and production efficiencies. ‘Building Better Lambs’ is part of the Alberta Sheep Industry Growth Strategy and supported by an alliance of industry stakeholders.

Opportunities for expansion
Canadian consumer trends already indicate that lamb consumption will be over 1.3 kg / capita by 2010. That translates into 60,000 more lambs per year or approximately a nine per cent increase in marketed production per year.

The lamb industry is in a geat position to expand:
  • Increasing per capita consumption (57 % increase - to 1.1 kg from .7 kg in 2003)
  • Only half the lamb consumed in Canada is produced in Canada.
  • Federal plus provincial lamb kill in Alberta – 67,500 lambs (2005)
  • Estimated returns to Alberta producers - $15.7 million
  • Estimated retail value of Alberta lamb - $33 million
  • Value of lamb industry to Canada - $103 million (CSF source)
'Building Better Lambs' projects

Sunterra Premium Pricing Grid Project
Since October 2004 premiums have been paid for quality lambs. Incentives to top producers will assist in stabilizing and increasing premium lamb production. It also drew attention to the need for improvements in carcasses through genetic selection.

Lakeland Carcass Sire Project
Initiated in response to market demand for better carcass lambs and the need for concrete selection data for the sires of those lambs.

The project compares carcass and growth traits of the five most commonly used terminal sire breeds in Canada.

  
 
 
 
For more information about the content of this document, contact Susan Hosford.
This document is maintained by Tracy Hagedorn.
This information published to the web on January 31, 2006.
Last Reviewed/Revised on June 1, 2009.