The American Lamb Board (ALB) has released the final video in a five-part series emphasizing lamb quality. The videos are funded in part by Premier 1 Supplies and produced by North Dakota State University. Travis Hoffman, Ph.D., North Dakota State University (NDSU) and University of Minnesota Extension sheep specialist, spearheaded the project.
“Retail Meat Yield" is the topic of the final video, which follows the theme for the series of “Beginning with the End in Mind." The purpose of the series is to help the U.S. lamb industry provide a consistently high-quality product for the dinner plate of American lamb consumers.
"By emphasizing lean meat growth in US sheep, we can make lambs with more muscle and less fat and improved yield and value, which increases our commercial lamb industry competitiveness with imported lamb and other animal protein sources," says Peter Camino, ALB chair from Buffalo, Wyo. "As progressive sheep producers it is in our best interest to produce a protein product that consistently meets our [consumers'] expectations and delights their taste buds."
Trim, muscular lambs harvested at the appropriate time return value for the entire U.S. sheep and lamb industry. In “Retail Meat Yield,” producers learn about important strategies for improving the industry's supply chain lean meat yield. Awareness of retail meat yield and factors that impact dressing percent and lamb fabrication cutout provide an assurance of expectations for producers who market lambs and for consumers who purchase American lamb in grocery stores or restaurants.
Age, breed type, size and body composition all play a part in grading and carcass cutability. The video series considers the wide variety of production systems used by American lamb producers, as each strives to work with their own specific production factors.
“Retail Meat Yield” is available at LambResourceCenter.com or on ALB's YouTube channel.
More information about ALB and the American Lamb Checkoff is available at LambResourceCenter.com.
Source: American Lamb Board
