INNISFAIL, Alta. – Sunterra Meats is offering a new grid pricing system to motivate lamb producers to improve the quality of their product.
The program, to be launched this week, offers producers a premium for meeting higher meat quality specifications when they sell lamb on the rail, rather than on a live weight basis.
“We are going to do our utmost to encourage people to sell lambs on a rail basis with this new premium pricing system,” said Miles Kliner, general manager of the Sunterra Meats lamb plant at Innisfail.
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The live weight price is based on an average lamb weighing 110-115 pounds with no tail or testicles, a clean pelt, proper degree of fat cover and properly shrunk. Significantly larger or smaller lambs are discounted.
The new system starts with a base price along with a combination of formulas using muscle scoring and weight to calculate the price per pound for carcass weight. Above average lambs are paid a premium; lambs of lesser quality receive a lower payment.
The formula includes grade rule, or GR. This is the measurement of the tissue depth of the lamb over the 12th and 13th rib, 11 centimetres from the backbone. Optimum GR is five to 12 millimetres.
Muscle scores will be assigned using measures from the shoulder, leg and back. Scores range from one for extremely poor muscle development to five for extremely good. About 75 percent of lambs now score three and 12 percent score four. Sunterra wants about 20 percent of lambs scoring four.
The acceptable weight for a carcass is 45-60 lb. Carcasses above or below that weight are discounted.
To make the new grid system work, the company plans to use fewer graders to achieve more consistent assessments. It is also considering bringing in an outside auditor to assess the grading process for accuracy and consistency.
Also, producers will get more reports on how their animals performed, as well as overall averages from all participants for comparison purposes.
Sunterra is still accepting live weight lambs and producers will receive a report on how they might have been paid if they sold on the rail.
The company may also offer contracts to ensure a steady supply of lamb because domestic supplies are limited at certain times of the year.
