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FRANKFORT, Ky. – Governor Ernie Fletcher, in cooperation with Commissioner of Agriculture Richie Farmer, has proclaimed May "Spring Lamb Month."
“Kentucky’s sheep industry is on the rebound after years of decline,” Commissioner Farmer said. “Demand for Kentucky lamb is outpacing supply. Lamb has a great deal of untapped potential for farmers looking for an alternative to tobacco.”
Lamb took center stage on May 7 at the 131st running of the Kentucky Derby, where Gil Logan, executive chef at Churchill Downs, will serve many Kentucky Proud foods to visitors from around the world.
Logan sought Kentucky Proud lambs because he prefers the superior taste and freshness of locally raised livestock.
“The critters here just taste better,” Logan said. “I’ve done a lot of research on food. The native American Indians had it right – they never lived here; they hunted here. Animals here eat the native grasses – the bluegrass, the clover, the tender alfalfa shoots – and it makes their meat taste better.”
Logan requested 1,500 Kentucky Proud lambs for Churchill’s spring meet. Despite efforts by leaders in the Kentucky Sheep and Wool Producers Association and the assistance of the KDA's marketing staff, producers across the state were able to provide only 200 lambs for Logan.
A second batch of lambs will be assembled in mid-May to be distributed to Kentucky Proud retailers such as Doll’s Market in Louisville.
“We’re a livestock state, be it beef cattle, horses, hogs, goats – we do all that very well,” said Warren Beeler, assistant director of the Kentucky Department of Agriculture's Division of Value-Added Animal and Aquaculture Production. “We want to drum up a little interest and get more people in the sheep business. There’s money to be made in Kentucky with sheep. There is demand out there.”
Roger Thacker agreed. The native of England has been raising young lambs, mostly for export, for 21 years on his farm near Versailles.
“You’ve got to have a good product, but the market is there,” he said. “It’s growing. It’s still not flooded.”
Beeler said lamb meat is slowly becoming more popular in the United States. “Americans are consuming a pound to a pound and a half per year per person,” he said.
Thacker said his lambs not only taste good; they’re good for you. “It’s a lighter meat,” he said. “When you eat it, you don’t get that heavy feeling, like ‘Oh, I’ve gotta take a nap.’ It’s very nutritious, and it’s lower in cholesterol than most meats.”
Tess Caudill, the KDA’s goat and sheep marketing specialist who started the successful graded goat sales in Kentucky, said sheep are being marketed through the same channels.
“If there’s money to be made in goats, there’s money to be made in sheep,” Beeler said. “The same people that buy goats buy sheep. And it’s a bigger animal – you can sell a few more pounds than you can with goats, but it takes a little more feed.”
Thacker pointed to the results of a survey in January that listed Kentucky having 1,800 sheep producers with 32,000 head. “Kentucky is one of three states whose sheep numbers have increased rapidly,” Thacker said, noting the state’s herd grew by 8,000-10,000 head last year. “Kentucky is now listed among the leading sheep-producing states.”
Thacker pointed out that Kentucky was a sheep-herding mecca a half-century ago, boasting 1 million head in 1954. But an epidemic of foot rot – a highly contagious, flesh-eating bacterial infection – and predators, mainly stray dogs, caused the herd to shrink as low as 12,000 before rebounding recently.
“Those two things can be handled now,” Thacker said. “There are vaccines for foot root and electric fences (to keep out dogs).”
Beeler said sheep producers also use guard dogs, llamas, and donkeys to protect their flocks.
Raising sheep is an attractive alternative for Kentucky farmers looking to diversify with livestock, according to Beeler. Four to five ewes, or female sheep, can replace one cow, he said, and the animals are natural foragers that turn grass into money.
“It’s not hard to get involved,” Beeler said. “We can locate the ewe lambs for you. Like goats, it doesn’t cost an arm and a leg to get in. A ewe sells anywhere from $100-200. We located 100 ewes in Texas for a producer, and he paid about $160 apiece.”
Sheep also can be sheared to produce wool. Because it is a product subsidized by the federal government, the price of graded wool has risen to $1 per pound.
For more information about sheep production, contact Beeler or Caudill at (502) 564-4983.
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