Alberta lamb producer chairs the newly formed National Sheep Network
Demand for lamb continues to grow — and the sheep sector continues to struggle to meet it.
In fact, if more fresh Canadian lamb was available, demand would be growing even faster, says the managing director of the North American Lamb Company, the biggest player in the sector.
“With a bit of marketing and new products, we could expand the Canadian consumption quite a bit,” said Gary Alexander. “It’s just a scarce product on our shelves that people don’t even think about buying it. There could be quite a large surge in demand if we could market it as a consumer product.” The company was formed in 2018 through the merger of Alberta’s SunGold Specialty Meats (and its lamb feedlot near Iron Springs) and Manitoba-based Canada Sheep and Lamb Farms, a subsidiary of a New Zealand lamb producer and processor.