OLDS, Alta. – The Northumberland Marketing Co-operative began in 1982 with a farmer making a few calls to lamb buyers from his kitchen.
It has grown into a 25 member co-operative that sells about half the lambs in Nova Scotia.
There are about 12,000 ewes with about the same number of market lambs for sale each year. Many come from hobby farms or older farms that traditionally keep sheep.
Prices and lamb quality were variable in the early 1980s.
“We realized from the beginning the situation we were in resulted from people waiting for somebody else to sell their lamb,” said Jeff Moore at a lamb marketing seminar in Olds, Alta.
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“Producer involvement is the best way to get a better price for lambs.”
Before the co-operative, people relied on freezer sales in Truro, N.S., or sent lambs to auction where they were picked up by Ontario and Quebec buyers.
The goal was to get the Toronto price less the trucking costs.
Realizing that wasn’t good enough, a handful of people got together to provide fresh Nova Scotia lamb to a local grocery chain. They made their first deliveries in an old ice cream truck.
Package and market
The group bought an abattoir and now provides cut lamb, vacuum-packed parts and shelf-ready items.
The co-op tries to pay farmers within seven to 10 days. At first, payment was often delayed while waiting for the store to pay.
The co-operative has built up enough equity through patronage allocations so it is on firmer financial ground. The allocations are considered a loan from the producer who sold it lambs during the year.
The co-op buys lambs from 65 producers who don’t have to be co-op members.
The average dressed weight is 45 pounds. It pays full price for anything under 50 pounds dressed. Stores don’t want anything over 48 pounds so discounts apply to heavier weight lambs.
The big ones are broken apart and sold as cuts.
The average price per pound in 1998 was $2.75 compared to lambs sold by auction at $2.45.
The co-op developed its own grading system where a number one is retail lamb while twos and threes are marked down for being too fat.
Since the co-operative started, better genetics have helped the lambs increase in size without laying on fat.
The provincial flock is a mix of Suffolk, North Country Cheviots, Dorsets, Arcotts and Texels.
