Marketing

USDA Market News to Add Mt. Hope Auction in Ohio

American Sheep Industry Association

Working in partnership with The Ohio State University, USDA Market News will begin providing coverage of the Mt. Hope Auction, Mt. Hope, Ohio, with the first published report scheduled to be released in mid-October.

The Mt. Hope sheep and goat auction is the third largest sheep and goat market in the nation, behind the markets in San Angelo, Texas, and New Holland, Pennsylvania. It is also one of the primary markets attracting a large volume of buyers interested in purchasing small ruminates for ethnic slaughter, predominately Halal, meat prepared as prescribed by Muslim law.

The addition of this market will increase the auction volume of sheep and goats reported by USDA in the U.S. from 30% to 35%, increasing price discovery and improving market transparency for the U.S. sheep industry. This will be the first USDA Market News livestock auction report for Ohio, made possible through a recently enacted Federal-State partnership with The Ohio State University that has provided the opportunity to facilitate price discovery for this highly followed sheep market in the Eastern corn-belt.

Direct Marketing Lamb: Selling Direct to Consumer

Jaelyn Whaley, South Dakota State University Extension Sheep Field Specialist
(Previously published online with South Dakota State University Extension: March 04, 2024)

(Image Source: South Dakota State University Extension – Courtesy of the U.S. Department of Agriculture)

Before diving into direct marketing lamb products, it is important to understand available marketing channels. Direct marketing falls into the non-traditional market of the lamb industry as opposed to the traditional (commodity) market. The non-traditional market is broken further into two market channels: 1) direct to consumers (in essence, farmers markets, on farm sales, online) and 2) the ethnic market. Each market has its own preferences and seasonal fluctuations but can be profitable. This article will focus solely on the direct-to-consumer portion (referred to in this article as “D2C”) of the non-traditional market.

Opportunities
The growing interest in food chain transparency has fostered the growth of direct marketing meat to consumers. This form of marketing includes farmers markets, on-farm sales, and online marketplaces. Purchasing local products provides a social connection and level of trust that conventional grocery stores often lack. In 2020, U.S. producers sold Continue reading Direct Marketing Lamb: Selling Direct to Consumer →

Direct Marketing Lamb: Estimating Finish Weights

Jaelyn Whaley, South Dakota State University Extension Sheep Field Specialist
(Previously published online with South Dakota State University Extension: February 09, 2024)

Determining when lambs should be harvested is critical for optimal quality and consumer satisfaction. For optimal quality, lambs should be harvested between 6 and 12 months of age with 0.25 inches of back fat (external fat over the 12th and 13th rib; USDA, 1992). With the end in mind, the ideal finish weight should be determined prior to putting lambs on feed.

Calculating Ideal Finishing Weights
To start, mature parental weights can be used to predict ideal finishing weight of offspring. Held (1999) discussed an equation originally developed by Bradford and others (UC Davis) on utilizing mature dam and sire weights to predict lamb weights corresponding with a yield grade 2 carcass. This equation takes the average weight of the parents and multiplies that value by 64 percent to predict the ideal finish weight of an individual lamb (Held, 1999). Using this equation, if a 170-pound Rambouillet ewe is bred to a 250-pound Rambouillet ram, the optimal slaughter weight of their offspring should be approximately 134 pounds (see Figure 1). Utilizing this simple equation based on ewe and ram weights can aid in estimating individual, optimal slaughter weights.

Continue reading Direct Marketing Lamb: Estimating Finish Weights →

Direct Marketing Lamb: Selling to the Ethnic Market

Jaelyn Whaley, South Dakota State University Extension Sheep Field Specialist
(Previously published online with South Dakota State University Extension: March 04, 2024)

(Image Source: U.S. Department of Agriculture)

The non-traditional market of the American lamb industry can be broken into two market channels: 1) direct to consumers (in essence, farmers markets, on-farm sales, online) and 2) the ethnic market. Each market has its own preferences and seasonal fluctuations but can be profitable. This article will focus solely on the ethnic market portion of the non-traditional market. In the United States, our ethnic market has focused on Middle Eastern, Greek, and Hispanic cultures, but has seen growth in consumption from Asian, Caribbean Island, and African ethnic groups.

When to Sell
Ethnic consumers typically purchase lamb around the time of their holiday seasons (see Appendix A). The ethnic market is unique in that the dates of Continue reading Direct Marketing Lamb: Selling to the Ethnic Market →

The Best Time to Market Sheep and Goats

Anthony Carver, University of Tennessee Extension Agent, Grainger County
(Previously published online with the University of Tennessee Extension Institute of Agriculture)

Any producer of any product always wants the best price they can get. Sheep and goat producers are the exact same way. To really understand the demand and supply economics of sheep and goats, one must first understand the large groups purchasing them.

The main purchasers for sheep and goats are ethnic groups. The purchasers recognize different holidays and feast days than most producers. This is the most important factor to understand in marketing sheep and goats.

Just like all holidays, the demand for certain foods go up. An example would be Continue reading The Best Time to Market Sheep and Goats →