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American lamb sales up 25%

A member of the American Lamb Board says U.S. lamb sales are up 25% and more producers are needed to meet the demand.

Peter Camino, a lamb producer in Wyoming, says the increase started with the pandemic when high end restaurants and cruise ships were closed.

“So, they started pushing them into the local grocery stores, food chains. That’s when the American Lamb Board stepped in and we started promoting lamb through the grocery stores.”

He says lamb burger sales are up 40% and there’s just not enough supply of American lamb, that’s why more producers are needed.

“The price of lambs, and wool, now – it’s very feasible to get into the sheep business. People are wanting to know the conversion rate from cows to sheep.”

Camino tells Brownfield the pandemic also slowed the import of foreign lamb but with the value of the dollar and the price of lambs…

“You can bet those guys are going to be coming back wanting to get more lamb into the United States.”

Brownfield interviewed Camino at the 2021 National Association of Farm Broadcasting convention’s Trade Talk.