NISKU, Alta. — Alberta’s largest lamb processing plant will continue to import lambs from the United States until Canadian producers can fill the demand, said the head of a processing plant.
“We want Alberta lambs. We buy as many Alberta lambs as we can get our hands on and we always have,” said Dwayne Beaton, chief executive officer of Canada Gold, the parent company of the Innisfail lamb processing plant, SunGold Specialty Meats.
Until producers can supply the lambs processed at the facility year round, the packing plant will buy American lambs, Beaton told a group of Alberta Lamb Producers during a marketing workshop.
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“The reason I mentioned we buy U.S. lambs is because we have a hole that needs to be filled and I am sitting in front of a bunch of lamb producers who have an opportunity to help fill that void. I want to work with you and figure out how we can do this together,” said Beaton.
“We have to hold our nose and buy them. When we get U.S. lambs, it’s not about trying to put it to you guys and I don’t know why you think that,” said Beaton, responding to an accusation from lamb producer Dave Twitchell that Canada Gold buys lambs wherever they are cheapest.
“Don’t sit here and tell us you are only buying U.S. lambs because they are not (available) in Alberta. In a lot of cases you are buying U.S. lambs because they are cheaper. I know you are doing that. If (Canada Gold chair) Rick Paskal can buy a lamb in states for 50 cents a pound and $1 in Alberta, then he’ll buy them in the U.S. for 50 cents,” said Twitchell, an Alberta lamb producer and buyer.
“If you go down to the states and buy lambs for 50 cents, that’s business, don’t sit there and tell me it’s all about we want to be good to you and everything else,” said Twitchell.
In 2011, SunGold Specialty Meats became a subsidiary of Canada Gold Beef. The lamb processing plant, established in 1974, has gone through a number of owners since it was established. A recent $3 million investment has transformed the plant from a multi species plant to one specializing in sheep and goat processing.
Four years ago, the plant processed 50,000 sheep a year. In 2013, the plant processed 75,000 and their goal is to process 100,000 sheep a year, said Beaton.
“In five years we’re looking at doubling our capacity,” said Beaton.
But some of those lambs processed at the plant are being imported from the U.S. Alberta has about 200,000 sheep and lambs on farm, about 18 percent of Canada’s total sheep production.
As of July, there was about 90,000 market lambs on Alberta farms, down 2,000 from the same time a year earlier and down 32,000 since 2004.
“I want to stop importing lambs when we have ample supply in Canada. That’s part of building a sustainable industry. There are risks associated with trying to build a business that relies on lambs produced in a different country,” said Beaton.
“We will buy every Alberta lamb that is available to us, but the price will reflect a worldwide market and a global economy. SunGold does not control the price of lamb.”
Tony Legault, an Alberta Lamb Producer director, said producers need to remember the SunGold plant kills 70 percent of the lambs in the province as well as U.S. lambs.
“If in order to keep the price down to their retail customer they may have to buy something cheaper, that’s a business decision they’re entitled to make,” said Legault of Nanton.
The decision to buy U.S. lambs by SunGold and other feedlot owners affects packaging, said SunGold general manager Miles Kilner.
Without complete traceability from birth to slaughter, the plant can’t add Canadian to its lamb label.
