Producers seeking to tap the growing ethnic market for lamb have been encouraged to cater to their customers’ particular preferences.
Mamoon Rashid, a sheep and goat business development specialist with Manitoba Agriculture, says these preferences may vary widely from one community to the next and from one time of year to another.
Also, because festive seasons of various cultures are often based on calendar years that are of different lengths, the times of year when certain products are in highest demand may vary.
“If that’s where the market is heading, and that’s your consumer, then you should produce the product that the consumer wants and when they want it,” said Rashid, who added that changing production practices, lambing times and feeding strategies could boost prices for producers.
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For example, during the Muslim festival of Eid ul-Adha, or festival of sacrifice, which commemorates Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son Ishmael to Allah, a yearling or “one-tooth” lamb is preferred.
This year, the holiday falls on Dec. 8, but in 2009 it will be Nov. 28 because of the shorter lunar calendar.
However, large market lambs or goats may also be used because some of the extra meat must be shared with extended family or the needy.
Because it symbolizes a family’s religious commitment, the animals must be blemish-free, which for some Muslims could mean no broken horns, injuries or lameness, while others interpret this to mean uncastrated.
“Some sects within the Muslim community would prefer intact males, while others would say, ‘we are OK with it being castrated,’ ” Rashid said.
“Some would say they want it with the tail still on, which is generally not the practice in Canada outside of Quebec.”
Many sheep producers believe castrating ram lambs and slaughtering them at younger ages is the best way to avoid a “woolly” taste in the meat.
However, Rashid said raising lambs on mainly grass is the main reason for stronger flavours, which is why products from New Zealand and Australia tend to have stronger flavour. Lambs finished on grain tend to have a lighter taste, he added.
Some people of North African origin prefer lamb with a stronger flavour, Rashid said, but most Muslim communities do not.
“The customers out there, for the most part, do not prefer the lamb sitting on the shelf (in the big supermarkets), because the Australian and New Zealand lamb has a stronger taste,” he said.
“It’s not liked very much. The reason they take it is because it is more available and cheaper in price. But if they could find a better Manitoba product at a cheaper price, they would buy it.”
