Expanding Profits for Vermont Sheep Production through Intensive Pasture Management

This report describes efforts that took place over the year to gather information and ideas about the best way to craft a participatory research project. The research committee wanted to focus on a project that would result in practical and useful information for a range of producers throughout Vermont and the region. The committee concentrated its information gathering in the following areas:

• an in-depth investigation of the market potential of grass-finished lamb;

  gathering of input from sheep producers throughout Vermont regarding their information needs, especially pertaining to managing pastures more effectively and pasture-raised lamb production issues/problems; and

  an initial collection of data from several of the sheep producers in Vermont who currently are experimenting on their own with finishing lamb on pasture.

The committee surmised that it would be helpful to gather the baseline data if the larger grant were to be funded (which it subsequently was). In addition, a supplemental grant (in addition to the SARE planning grant) was obtained by this committee from the American Sheep Industry Association to establish trials for the Standardized Performance Analysis (SPA) program. SPA is a computerized data collection program designed specifically for sheep producers.

Market Potential of Grass-finished Lamb.
As a member of the research team, Roger Clapp, animal marketing specialist with the Vermont Department of Agriculture lead the research activities regarding the market potential for grass-finished lamb. The Vermont Dept. of Agriculture, in collaboration with the Vermont Lamb Promotion Board and the Center for Sustainable Agriculture, mailed out a marketing survey to 240 sheep operations in May 1994. Of these, 115 returned the completed surveys and another 15 were added through follow-up calls. The results showed a diversified flock spread throughout the state on small farms averaging 31 ewes on 41 acres. The most popular breeds are Dorset, Romney, and Suffolk in that order with several marking "other" than the 13 breeds listed. Most operations are marketing finished lambs in the fall and winter, however the number of baby or hothouse lambs marketed primarily in the spring or summer amounts to about two thirds of the finished lamb market. Relatively few lambs are marketed as feeders and less as breeding stock.

In terms of developing a sustainable market for a grass-based sheep industry, we have identified four volume markets for further study. Both Yankee Shepherd Co-op and Hirsel Ultra Lamb have developed a market for relatively lean, yield grade 2 carcasses. Hirsel is just completing a covered feedlot and would like to buy in 70-80 lb. feeders off grass for $75-95/cwt. Yankee prefers to buy finished lambs but has not had great luck with grass-fed lambs meeting their specs. Processors Jeff Nichols and Bill Yates both have ethnic markets in southern New England and will pay somewhere around $55-60/cwt for grass-fed lambs, quality seems to be less of an issue. Producers Dave McDonough, the Stowe-based Green Mountain Shephards and others have established a market for those who will pay top dollar for a completely natural grass-fed lamb. At present, marketing has not developed beyond the freezer trade and farmers' market approaches. This is an area where more work needs to be done.

Several of the marketing structures are in place for an expanded grass-based sheep industry in Vermont and neighboring states. With the supply of Western lamb declining with the demise of the wool incentive, lamb prices have been climbing and are expected to stay high in the foreseeable future. The new opportunities have attracted some new producers to the industry, including a commercial sheep raiser just back from Florida where he marketed to the ethnic market. A Vermont dairy farmer with previous sheep experience, has recently switched his dairy herd to rotational grazing and would like to add a ewe flock for additional soil health, reduced parasite load and more volume of sales from the same land base. In short, there is considerable reason for optimism that the grass-based sheep industry will continue to expand in Vermont if adequate technical and financial support structures are put in place.

Gathering Input from Vermont Sheep Producers.
Over the course of the year from the time we received the planning grant until we formulated the full proposal, members of the team met with other producers and attended meetings of sheep producers to seek input on this project. The main question was - what were the producers' primary production and marketing information needs in order to utilize the pasture resource to its fullest potential?

Research team members attended meetings of the Vermont Lamb Promotion Board, the Vermont Sheep Breeders Association, and the Rutland Area Lamb Producers. At each meeting, a presentation about the general nature of the project was given, followed by discussion and a request for input and involvement. A Vermont Sheep Summit was held in Berlin, Vt with about 40 producers attending, during which more discussion about the project took place.

The research team, which added three more producers during the year, met three times to process the input gathered at the larger meetings and to discuss potential designs for the project. At a meeting in December 1994, we came up with a list of priority areas that producers thought were most important to study. These included specific information needs regarding (1) pasture management, (2) animal management and genetics, (3) record keeping and other management techniques, and (4) marketing. The team decided that the expanded research/demonstration project proposal would explore these four areas in the following ways.

Initial Data Collection. During the fall of 1994 and the following winter, Extension professors Chet Parsons and Rick Wackernagel (members of the research team) worked with four producers to help them put their records on the SPA computerized record-keeping system. Data collected on these farms includes precipitation, grazing acres/exposed ewe, lambs born/exposed ewe, lambs weaned/exposed ewe, average fleece weight/ewe, average weaning age, average weaning weight, and lbs weaned/acre. Because supplemental funding for the study was obtained from SARE in April of 1995, we know that this information can be used as baseline data for the case studies we proposed to conduct in the expanded proposal.

The site descriptions of the farms involved in the case studies for the new project are as follows. These producers have all been members of the research team for the past one to two years as well.

During the 1995 grazing season, Professor Parsons and grazing consultant Sarah Flack visited the case study farms several times to gather additional data. For example, lambs were weighed at each farm three times during the pasture season. In addition, soil and forage samples were taken and analyzed from each farm. Pasture species assessments were conducted on all farms. All this information will give baseline data to compare changes in, for example, rates of gain per day, species composition of the pasture, soil quality, etc. Economic data was also collected on the participating farms. This will enable the producers to compare net profitability, especially due to decreases in feed and vet costs, over time as changes are made on the farm.

In addition, pasture walks were held on three of the participating farms (Cope, Flack, McDonough) during the summer of 1995. Approximately 45 people attended these walks to learn from the experiences of the sheep producers. The focus was primarily on pasture management, but there was also considerable discussion on lambing and breeding techniques, animal health, and predator control.