The U.S. Sheep industry isn’t so much in decline as it is bottomed out and belly up.
There are fewer sheep in America today than there were 200 years ago and one tenth the number of sheep seen at the apex during the 1940s. The wool and mutton industry is not so much in decline as bottomed out, and prospects for a resurgence are slim. Americans don’t eat much mutton and don’t like wool anymore and what little we consume of both is easily provided by better quality and cheaper imports from Australia and New Zealand. Other than Dairy, the sheep industry is the only animal product that has an extensive history of government support (read: welfare) and there is little to show for it.
The American sheep industry is distinguished neither by quality nor quantity nor price nor innovation nor tradition. If you believe the romantic story that the Border Collie’s fate in this country is chained to working on sheep ranches and farms, and that Border Collies and their shepherds–styled after a bucolic vision of 17th century Britain–are an integral part of what little of that industry is left, then how can the breed survive going forward when its raison d’être is on life-support?
- Over the past 200 years, the U.S. sheep population has come full circle: from 7 million head in the early 1800s, sheep numbers peaked at 56 million head in 1945, then declined to less than 7 million head in 2003. As of January 1, 2013 there are 5.34 million head of sheep in the U.S.
- The countries with the most sheep (in millions) are: China (138), India (74), Australia (73), Iran (49), Nigeria (38), United Kingdom (31), New Zealand (31), Pakistan (28).
- In 1800, there were 5.3 million people in the United States meaning there were more than 1.3 sheep for every person. Today there are over 316 million humans in the USA making for almost 60 people for every sheep. The sheep to human ratio has declined to just better than 1/80th what it was.
- The rapid decline since WWII can be seen across the board in the gross U.S. production of sheep meat and wool, sheep industry revenues, and number of sheep farms. Domestic wool use has dropped from an average of 650 million clean pounds per year following the war, to 55 million pounds during the 1970s to less than 22 million pounds during the 2000s.
- The wool industry has suffered from increased use of synthetic fibers, which are less expensive than wool and more attractive to consumers when blended with natural fibers. The depressed wool market appears to be a direct cause of the liquidation of the U.S. sheep industry. Wool demand and wool prices have sunk so low for the past few decades that the cost of adding value to wool (shearing, cleaning, storing) sometimes exceeds the value of producing the wool.
- Other than dairy, sheep is the only animal product that is directly supported by government programs. Wool price support (read: incentive checks a.k.a industry welfare) and other policy programs have long been a part of the sheep industry. Wool price support programs date back to 1938. Productivity gains in wool production have been negligible and the use of wool has dropped significantly. Real prices for wool have trended downward, declining at a much faster rate since the mid-1990s.
- Despite government support for wool, prices have been unable to sustain the sheep industry and lamb prices have been unable to support industry recovery.
- Lamb consumption is very low compared to other meats. U.S. per capita consumption dropped from 4.5 pounds per capita (retail weight) in the early 1960s to around 1.1 pounds per year over the past two decades. More than 2 in 3 people don’t consume lamb at all. Americans eat about 60 times the pork and 90-100 times more beef and chicken each year.
- In two national cross-sectional surveys reported by the National Research Council, conducted in 1977 and 1985, 1.3 percent of U.S. women and 1.9 percent of men ate lamb. While per capita consumption of other major meats has grown or held steady since then, total lamb and mutton consumption has generally declined since 1975.
- Attempts to promote U.S. lamb have failed. The U.S. sheep industry focuses on high-value cuts for the domestic market (typically older, relatively well established immigrants living in urban areas) and has neither capitalized on market segmentation nor developed export markets. Much of the lower-value meat is rendered or goes into pet food. What little is exported is mainly to Mexico.
- Lamb consumers prefer high-value cuts such as legs and loins, while producers (farmers), or processors, and retailers struggle to sell the remaining cuts. U.S. sheep growers are less inclined to produce when the returns from the whole carcass are based primarily on a few desirable cuts.
- Lamb as a staple seems more typical of Middle Eastern, African, Latin American, and Caribbean consumers. Consumption has remained constant within these groups. The typical lamb consumer is an older, relatively well-established ethnic minority who lives in a metropolitan area like New York, Boston, or Philadelphia in the Northeast or San Francisco or Los Angeles on the West coast, and who prefers to eat only certain lamb cuts. In contrast, beef, pork, and poultry buyers tend to be geographically dispersed, younger, less ethnically oriented, and accepting of a wider variety of meat cuts.
- Lamb slaughter is highly concentrated. While there are about 500 federally inspected slaughter operations that process at least one sheep in a year, only 6 plants account for 80% of the lamb kill and 4 plants process 67%. Colorado processes more sheep and lambs than any other state, almost 40 percent. This consolidation has allowed slaughter houses to demand a greater cut, further squeezing producers.
- States with the most sheep: Texas (700k), California (570k), Colorado (435k), Wyoming (375k), and Utah (295k).
- States with the most sheep operations: Texas (8.7k), Arizona (5k), California (4.1k), Pennsylvania (3.8k), Iowa (3.5k).
- The real wholesale price for lamb is half what it was in 1978 and real prices received by farmers for lamb and wool are even lower as the long term trend in farm-to-wholesale price spread has producers earning a smaller share of declining revenues.
- While the lamb meat industry has registered productivity gains (by focusing on meat breeds), domestic supply has fallen because the decline in inventory far outpaces increases in output per animal.
- Disease and predator losses raise costs and erode farm profitability.
While it’s pretty clear that sheep-as-industry in the U.S. is reeling and at risk of extinction, there’s some hope to be had with the growing backyard barnyard fad pushing growth in the sheep-as-hobby sector.
Sheep are ideal for operations with a small acreage. Most operations in the United States raise fewer than 100 head. Growth of the industry will rely on these smaller operations growing and continuing to introduce more people to the industry while at the same time tapping into local niche markets for lamb and mutton, wool, and dairy products.
Hobby sheep seem to be at the nexus of several major trends which have made the backyard barnyard lifestyle much more popular in the last few years. Aging and increasingly childless yuppies are on board with the organic, sustainable, locavore, back to nature, farmers’ market culture which is a reaction against urbanization and globalization.
Gardening is the largest hobby in America and hobby farms are a natural outgrowth of that effort and style mavens like Martha Stewart have heavily promoted farming as a hobby as an evolution of their long-time gardening promotion.
Self-sufficiency hobbies are becoming more popular with ties to Mormon food canning (they also gave us the Scrapbooking trend), doomsday prepping, and living off the grid. Historical re-enactment hobbies are also gaining popularity with recent revival trends in knitting and other needle arts and the associated promotion of natural fibers; soap making; beading; and domestic cheese, wine, and beer making.
The growth areas for hobby sheep farms in the U.S. overlap with a high degree of correlation with the google trend map for “backyard chickens,” mostly in the North East and West Coast.
“Backyard Chickens” Google trend map
This is a major shift in thinking about the sheep industry in America and now that the large scale production side has eroded so much revealing the the extant hobby and small time farmer segment, the future of the industry remains uncertain.
The decline in U.S. sheep operations calls into question the viability of the industry, which is beset by shrinking revenues and low rates of returns.
The sheep industry, like the rest of the livestock industry, is dominated by a few large operations with a majority of the animals. However, the proportion of small farmers with sheep operations is on the rise. In 1974, 77 percent of all farms owned fewer than 100 head of sheep. By 1997, 85 percent of all farms owned fewer than 100 head of sheep. This phenomenon is typical of other livestock sectors, especially beef, where a large percentage of farm operators are small farmers. The relatively low investment costs and the ability of sheep to thrive on marginal lands make sheep farming ideal for beginning and small part-time producers. Most large operations which own 80 percent of the sheep, are in Western and Plains States, while small farm flock operations are mostly in the Midwestern States and the Southern and Eastern States.
Although small producers (fewer than 100 head) make up most of the operations, they own less than 17 percent of all sheep. Since 1974, just above 55 percent of all sheep have consistently been located on farms with 1,000 head or more. Larger farms likely benefit from economies of size and are thereby more likely to be profitable than smaller producers.
More than two-thirds of U.S. sheep production are produced in the Southern Plains, Mountain, and Pacific regions. The number of farms and the number of animals on farms in all regions (except New England) have declined significantly since 1975. Still, several States have registered slight gains in recent years, mainly due to the preponderance of small hobby-type farms and the ease with which sheep can be integrated into these types of operations.
The new appreciation of the hobby side of the market resulted in a greater desire to quantify that segment and during the 2007 Census of Agriculture the number of sheep operations in the U.S. was revised upwards when the accounting method was altered to include more hobbyists who previously flew under the radar of the USDA. Sadly, the downward trend of operators leaving the business has continued in the years since.
The number of sheep operations in the United States on December 31, 2010 was 81,000 according to the Farms, Land in Farms, and Livestock Operations report published in February 2011. Graph 1 shows the number of sheep operations in the United States over the past quarter century. A break in the data series for sheep operations is shown between 2006 and 2007, indicating a change in methodology for measuring the number of farm operations including livestock operations. The 2007 Census of Agriculture estimated a greater number of farms in the lowest value of sales categories. This was due to extensive list building efforts and changes in methodology that allowed NASS to capture more of the small farms with less than $10,000 in value of agricultural sales. Additionally, 2007 was a year of relatively high commodity prices. As the value of farm commodities increased, more very small operations were able to meet the $1,000 value of sales threshold to qualify as a farm.
Despite the growing popularity of historical re-enactment hobbies, it is 2013 and not 1750. Many more Border Collies live in America than on the border between England and Scotland or all of the UK. So too do many times more Border Collies chase Frisbees here than work sheep on any sort of farm, let alone a profitable venture of any size.
The unstoppable march of time has already claimed what was once the most ubiquitous and popular breed in America, the farm collie, and left it in tatters with small pockets of disparate fanciers scattered around the country with little hope of a resurgence. We moved to the city and left Old Shep behind.
Is that the same fate that awaits the Border Collie? Will they become obsolete along with the culture that created them?
Sources:
USDA Trends In the U.S. Sheep Industry. K.G. Jones, 2004
USDA-NASS Livestock Slaughter 2005 Summary. 2006
USDA Slaughter and Processing Options and Issues for Locally Sourced Meat. Johnson, Marti, and Gwin, 2012.
USDA Overview of the United States Sheep and Goat Industry. 2011
USDA-NASS Farms, Land in Farms and Livestock Operations 2012 Summary. 2013
USDA-NASS Sheep and Goats. 2013
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Great article Chris! My dad is Greek so I was raised on lamb and you know I raise sheep now. I will share this on Facebook! 🙂
The odd thing is that I’m actually one of those people who eats a lot of sheep and goat despite having no ethnic family ties to it. One of my oldest and best friends is Greek and I’ve always enjoyed their cuisine–there are several Greek restaurant dynasties in Denver and a large Greek community so you can get really good Greek food. We also have a large Middle Eastern population that makes for some excellent ethnic restaurants (some with Al Qaeda ties too!). And of course we have a huge Mexican population and most Tuesdays I go for authentic street tacos and get the Birria which is goat at the place I go to but I’ve had it as lamb as well.
“Aging and increasingly childless yuppies are on board with the organic, sustainable, locavore, back to nature, farmers’ market culture which is a reaction against urbanization and globalization.”
You hit the nail on the head here, and I fully admit to being one of those childless -well, not yuppies but just one of those chicks who hasn’t bred – who romanticizes the notion of living off my own small farm. Its’ hard, sweaty work, but I’m not unfamiliar with the rural life. My grandparents grew their own food and hunted, and there were farms all around them. Watching the bureaucracy of the USDA in action ( USDA is my employer), also bolsters my empathy for the small farmer.
Plus I don’t care for monopolies. Whether I’m fooling myself or not by thinking this way, I prefer to support the small farmers whenever I can, as they do provide fruits, veggies, eggs, and meat products that have a different taste, as well as more variety, than I can get in a supermarket. The tomatoes from the local guys are richer tasting, deeper red, and the peaches are juicy and sweet whereas the supermarket ones always come to us tough and…gritty? Certainly tasteless by comparison.
The eggs in the supermarkets really do have pale, tasteless yolks compared to when I pick eggs up from a house by my mom where a man leaves his chickens free to roam, in the sun. Whether it’s his ability to control what they eat ( grass or just marigolds in the feed), or to choose a different breed, the end result is superior.
As to the sheep industry bottoming out, I don’t deny it, and yes, the little guy is key. But as you notice that Middle Eastern cultures eat it, just wait! A lot of us in NYC ( you think YOU have a large MA population…), are expecting the mutton demand to rise, as well as goat!
Islam is a hot topic but however one feels about it, this is a huge religion and growing. The followers aren’t going anywhere anytime soon. The younger generation will adapt in large part to modern western beefaholic society, but it’s not that quick of a switch. In the early stages, some kids move on, but others “sheepishly” follow in the family footsteps. And as strict Islam is all about subservience and religion mostly succeeds because of early childhood brainwashing anwyay, it may take several generations before a truly western generation of Islamists emerges. Many are already westernized from long ago, granted, such as the Persians fleeing the extremeist takeover in Iran; but many are not.
And all that being said, with the current state, comes the foods of their culture in demand.
Carribbean cultures and others prefer goat as well as lamb too. One of the Greek butchers in Astoria told me the price for both lambs and goat kids has risen dramatically; not because of low demand, but because of increase.
Why does the American sheep industry NOT change it’s grading system?
It’s hard to make money on 110lbs live weight lamb.
And…….Who wants to pay a high price for a lamb chop, that is tiny? 1/2 the size of a pork chop & 3 X’s the price.
Premium pricing for larger LEAN carcass (130lbs live weight), improves roi.
Why does the US lamb and wool producers, not create an export group? Find a market, produce it, freeze it & ship when needed.
A single desk buy/sell group for export or domestic sales. Why not? What does the industry have to loose?
Most Americans that eat lamb, eat imported lamb. It’s cost competitive and always available.
There is a growing international immigrant community in the USA now, that eats lamb. Why don’t they go after them? There are more people IN the USA now then in 1965, that already have an established culture, positive to consuming lamb & even mutton.
Wool is a great product. It resist burning Too. US armed forces are mandated to use US wool.
Why not go after the airline industry? You know? Airline seats covered in wool, instead of polyester that does smoke & burn.
I’d love to know the answers the above.
Sheep reproduce lambs and wool at 12-14 months of age. They are great for grazing marginal land. Are more efficient then cattle.
Cattle producers can grow their market. Why can’t sheep producer’s?
Its NOT the product (lamb & wool) / (though larger lean carcass’s are part of the answer).
Its not American “culture”. American’s have embraced eating raw fish (sushi). They drink water from the tap, as long as it’s IN a plastic bottle.
But the US lamb producers can’t get yuppies to eat a lamb chop?
“Hamburger” from beef should be illegal (unless it’s single cut), contain’s all kinds of “fillers”. Can’t Lamb find a way to blend in less desirable lamb cuts INTO something? Hotdogs? Dog Food?
My dog food say’s it has Lamb in it. I bet it’s mutton.
The Aussie’s and New Zeland are producing finer merino type wool AND now products like SMART WOOL. The US producers can’t see the merit in that?
I could go on, yada yada .
Sounds to me like very, very complacent industry? Do massive direct and indirect government farm subsidies make it too easy to cash in on other farm crop’s?
I’d be very interested to know your opinion on the above.
Sincerely,
a sheep herder 🙂
But you know that the only valid “work” for Border Collies isn’t actual ranch work anyway. It’s sheepdog trials.
Bingo. That’s one of the inevitable conclusions of the reality here in the USA. While they pretend that there is some magic connection between the trialists and industry, that’s just not the case. I’ll write more on this later, but trialists import shepherds from the UK to teach them sheep trial skills. There are several examples of this. Ranchers import shepherds from South America to tend their sheep flocks and they don’t really use dogs. Heck, I searched almost every USDA document on the sheep industry and I couldn’t find one reference to dogs at all.
I was searching for the UK breeder of the dam of a local Border Collie–the dog is so white, I cannot believe dam is not a cryptic merle, so I was trying to find out what color her sire and dam were–and found the breeder, yes, but not word ONE about his breeding program. Instead he runs a bed and breakfast that includes herding instruction.
I think an answer to the question in your last paragraph is (obviously): border collies won’t become obsolete as long as they adapt to a more urban/suburban lifestyle. Which they are. Quite well. Speaking as one who currently has two suburban BC’s, one of whom was ranch bred and destined to be a working cow dog until she lost a leg. She wouldn’t be the best family pet for everyone, but she seems to be having a good life without sheep or cows.
cyborgsuzy recently posted..Plants are amazing
That’s pretty much the argument I make in my Third Estate post.
http://www.border-wars.com/2007/09/third-estate-of-border-collie.html
Beyond the rhetorical, however, is that this is just further support that the “working” elitism is based on a lot of myths and ground that is not as solid as it’s being portrayed when you actually give it a good look. Why is Donald McCaig writing about show dogs when the sheep industry is comatose and has a DNR? I don’t think he sold all his sheep because a barbie collie won a show ribbon, I’d suspect it’s because it’s not a profitable business and not worth the effort at his age.
If I were to guess, I’d say the romanticism comes from a notion that somehow something unique will be lost if the BC is expected to adapt in any way. Adaptation means change. How often have I read people ask things like: What IS a BC and if the BC changes, is it a BC anymore or is it something else?
However the BC came into being as the brilliant dog it is, it travelled a unique path to get here. Certain dogs filled a bill, certain dogs changed hands, certain dogs were bred, and out of necessity a smart, agile, quick thinking animal emerged unlike just about any other ( only a handful of other dogs might compare, like kelpies and related, sharp, collie or herding breeds).
However it happened, we have now revealed the dog to the world at a greater scale than ever before and as a result, we are more ubiquitously CONSCIOUS of what we have. As soon as a larger population is conscious of such a thing, and tries to hard to preserve it, with a different method, can the same qualities ever truly be repeated, preserved, etc? Will the BC still be as brilliant as before. It’s the work it was meant to do that made it what it was. Without that work, will any of the aims of the future still make the dog with the qualities many hold so dear, and that could be lost?
That, I think, is what holds people to the old ways. As you say, perhaps the point is moot, but I felt the need to express. 🙂
And I will be interested to read your comparisons of real work vs trialing.
Worry not the BC shows no signs of disappearing in the rest of the sheep producing world. If (sniff, sniff) it becomes just another house pet (and why not, have you ever seen them round up kids ?) then I’m sure there will be many abroad to ‘sell you a pup’ should it be needed to regenerate the stock in the US.
And I love lamb way more than beef. Dad and I buy and slaughter about one a year from a friend of his who keeps one of those small hobby herds of less than 100 you were discussing. Dad’s mom is Yugoslavian, but I think he picked up his love of the meat from being a back-to-the-land hippy in the ’70’s. Not sure, I’ll have to ask. Mom and my sister don’t care for it, so he really only passed that on to me.
I don’t think lamb could ever surpass beef on my ranking. Prime Rib is just too delicious.
Wait until you get old and (maybe) start loosing your teeth. Beef is tough. I had lamb at a friends house sometimes when I was a kid, but my parents never made lamb. I have had leg of lamb in restaurants, and I love it.
But that scrapie scare over in Britain rather put me off. What ever happened about scrapie, any vaccine yet, any test for it?
Suzy, which part of Yugoslavia does your Oma hail from? I’m Gottscheerish on my father’s side. The old Gottschee is no more, now called Kocevje, in southern Slovenia.
They never served lamb or mutton, but we did have our share of venison.
My Irish mother on the other hand, loved a good leg of lamb and would have bought it more often if chicken weren’t less expensive. Personally I love lamb.
I should say my mom LOVES lamb, not “loved.” She’s still with us, thankfully! Whoops. SORRY MA! 🙂
This explains why lamb chops are $12 per pound, which also explains why we don’t eat them much or at all.
I’m one of the 2/3 of Americans who doesn’t eat lamb – never have. The trend of hobby farms is interesting, though – three people in a six-block radius of me have chickens. You aren’t allowed roosters in the city, but up to a certain number of hens is ok (I think 3 or 5). I grow tomatoes and cucumbers on my fire escape.
It’s a fulfilling hobby – you feel like you’re getting back something that was lost generations ago. Or maybe it’s just that the smell of fresh dirt is so alluring in May.
To answer whether a border collie would thrive on a farm, you first have to define what is a border collie. The shepherd dog closest to its roots is the English Shepherd, or farm collie – a generalist, not a specialist. The old-fashioned collies hunt, retrieve, kill vermin, and were excellent guardians. It isn’t a populous breed, but it doesn’t need to be. There are people breeding working English Shepherds, and people breeding crosses of ES and Collie, or ES and local working dog varieties (like the Old Time Farm Shepherd). The offspring may be registered by the AWFA, American Working Farmcollie Association. It’s the rare organization that accepts dogs based on ability, not purity.
The farm collie community is small but concerned about things like temperament, intelligence, health, instinct, and the value of a dog doing a dog’s work. The hobby farm – with its small size and variety of livestock (instead of specialization) is the farm collie’s natural habitat. Many border collies are too “intense” for small farm work, but there are probably some well-balanced individuals out there who would make good farm dogs.
I have a real admiration for what the OTFS folks are doing. And not only does the dog match the needs of the hobby farm, but when you think about it, the effort is as much about hanging onto or going back to the “old” as is the trend of hobby farming by the aging yuppie.
The OTFS folks care about genetic vigor, health, variety and quality, and capabilty of doing work that requires intelligence and a certain level of canine
“judgement”. In similar fashion, preserving heirloom produce and livestock is about preserving foods that have certain good qualities of nutrition and genetic variety. Chris’ blog about the inbred banana could be a posterchild for part of what inspires the small farm preservation movement.
Speaking of declining employment ….the St John’s water dog went extinct, at least in part due to changes in fishing technology (the dog used to retrieve fish that escaped the hook. The barbed hook became widespread. the dog was out of a job). But the land race lives on in at least four retriever breeds (Goldie, Chessie, flat coat, and Labbies), which now play leading roles in retrieving, tracking, sniffing, and assistance dog work.
I sense that herding dogs are surviving … But not thriving. It’s unfortunate that the current dog world drives them to either show or herding competition, and doesn’t leave a lot of room for trying new roles, and outcrossing to suit new roles. I have known more kelpies than borders. But from what I have seen, both are admirable in their intelligence and athleticism. Agility and frisbee competition are pretty narrow niches. I hope these lovely dogs find a way to adapt to changing times.
You’ll never believe what Scottie Westfall has found in regards to the St. John’s Water Dog.
Urban dog sports might be rather narrow if you consider them as islands, but I don’t think that the breeding culture that is growing around dog sport will ever be like it is around trials. Dog sports in general, are a pretty broad market, sort of the same market that made Goldens so popular in so many homes that don’t even hunt. I think dog sports appeal to the growing childless urbanites who instead of taking toddlers to pee-wee football or tee ball or gymnastics take their dogs to parks for competitions.
The popularity of doodles shows that the new dog ownership paradigm is not beholden to pedigree if you can claim an advantage to adapting to modern concerns. So there’s a market there for balanced, evolved, dogs that are tailored to a different pattern.
Sounds like the U.S. needs to get a campaign like Australia’s “Eat Lamb on Australia Day” ads.
Well I have to say that the facts you lay out are pretty dismal. We must be an anomaly. We cant produce enough chemical free, grass finished lamb to satisfy demand. We are somewhat different- and our sheep are different- and we are not a hobby farm- running hundreds of animals on 700 acres. A lot of our neighboring farms have gotten out of sheep because of predators and intense managment costs of WOOL sheep….but our Katahdin hair sheep, combined with Maremma guarian dogs, change the game for us. The meat is better- superior to New Zealand lamb according to our customers. Their is no wool to shear, no tails need docking, being parasite resistant- we RARELY ever worm one of them. They put all their nutririton into growing sweet, savory, tender meat. 20% of a wool sheep’s energy goes into the wool. The lanolin also creates off flavors in wool sheep. Seriously- we started running a flock as a compliment to our grass finished beef business- and now its the most profitable part of our farm. So maybe you should re-title your article- American Industrialized Traditional Commodity Lamb is Belly up- because the alternative holistically raised, grass finished lamb market is pretty good. And thats straight from the front lines…..Thanks, Chuck Riven Rock Farm
Chuck recently posted..Photo(s) added:
Chuck recently posted..Photo(s) added:
Hooray! Your lamb sounds delicious. I bet it’s extremely expensive too.
It is true you do get lamb in very top end restaurants. But it’s nowhere a mainstream staple meat in America never seen it in a chain restaurant or even your average international hotel.
There is the whole lamb fraud thing going on in the UK which caught the media’s attention year ago or so.
Plenty of local lamb on the farms but farmers are finding it more and more difficult to make a living from it as they can’t get good prices for it. The price keeps dropping. The reason is that super markets sell it for extortionate prices along with imported lamb. They add huge premiums on the stuff while producers get nothing. Only the rich can afford it. As a result less farmers are willing to run sheep.
Super markets do this. They create artificial prices to create “luxury” products unfortunately the consumer and the farmers suffer. So you get branded products like “Welsh lamb” only fillet, rack and chops that cost the same as organic free-range “pedigree” Angus. How they play with our food and wallets its unbelievable.
No worries as they say to get a good deal you do need to go to the halal corner butcheries found across Europe and the UK. There you can find sterling cuts, neck end, shoulder (best of all) , best end, mutton, heart and bone for the dogs everything and reasonably priced. They will even throw in a few free shanks, the things you need to go to Harrods to find, silver foil capping the ends priced like gold.
Whose ever heard of lamb fillet *77^54##! Outrageous sad little strip of nothing, you cant even cook it properly. To even attempt to brown it means it’s overcooked. Utter nonsense!
I wonder I do that wild turkey is not high on the menu at certain times of the year in America. Very odd all that shooting and no eating.
I’ve never understood why Americans don’t eat much lamb. I’ve travelled there many times and mostly lamb unless and only rarely its a top top end restaurant doesn’t appear on most menus even. I was beginning to think its just not eaten there at all.
There are sizeable populations of people in the States from European decent, Irish, English, Scottish, Welsh, Greek, Norwegian, Spanish, French, Italian etc etc……..all love lamb as do all the people from Middle Eastern and African areas Jewish, Moroccan, Indian. What’s up?
I know “Asians” often find the flavour too strong which is a bit weird since they will tuck into a civet cat even dog some of them no problem. However even here a lot do eat lamb, Nprthern Thailand, Vietnam to the Tibetan plateau it’s enjoyed.
I was watching a programme other night an American travelling around the word trying restaurants of note, a foody. When he tried some lamb dish he said “even I can eat this it’s not so gamey with the mint yogurt topping….” A foody!
No idea what he meant. Lamb isn’t gamey at all. Mutton can be a bit aromatic, the flavour depending on where it comes from but very much positively so. The very best has eaten lots of herbs or salt marsh in it’s pasture. But lamb is very mild any kind of lamb.
Is it because Americans are so used to the pale blander by comparison corn fed feedlot animal? The taste of grass/herb fed animals is now considered gamey?
Us meat lovers call that flavour we like it in our beef too and pork. Personally I don’t like the taste of corn fed beef far preferring grass fed preferably prairie type veld than lush green dairy pasture and well hung.
I happen to like game as well also well hung so maybe Im just biased on this one.
But but but oh what of mutton cassoulet, mousakka, korma, shepherds pie, kebabs, spicy fruity tagine, koftas, Irish stew, lamb shanks in red wine, rogan josh, roast leg, souvlaki, Lancashire hot pot, Scotch broth, merguez, capuzzelle, barbaccoa umissable in the flavours of the Mediterranean, middle East, British Isles , France, Morocco everywhere?
Don’t know how a Western nation can do without lamb honestly it’s a staple (:
What is indeed up with that?
The only regular source of lamb I can find on a menu here in Colorado is at Greek restaurants or at the Middle Eastern specialty restaurants. At the Greek places, Gyros are very popular, but those are often a mixed-meat with beef. Besides Gyros, it’s really only the leg of lamb that you’ll find on menus when you do find it or other lamb cuts in a lamb kabob. Denver just so happens to have a decent sized Greek and Middle Eastern community and a few highly successful Greek restaurateurs. Not really typical of most of the country.
A note on immigrant populations. Most of them didn’t particularly bring their food choices to America in an unadulterated way. American Chinese food bears only a slight resemblance to actual Chinese food. From what I understand many staple “Chinese” dishes were really fusion food developed in San Francisco by immigrants interacting with other immigrants. Same can really be said for certain elements of Italian food, et al, as well. Our concept of Pizza has little more than inspiration in Italy and is very much a product of immigrant innovation HERE on American soil. Quintessential Jewish food, for example, is actually immigrant deli food that takes a lot of influence from Germany and other European deli traditions and has little to do with food from Israel. Pastrami on Rye with Sauerkraut was not served at the last supper.
Lamb is gamey to an American palate and actual game meats are rarely eaten except by hunters. There’s actually been a sad trend here over feeding more and more of our beef on corn instead of grass and for castrating any male cows and this has lead to meat that is very mild in flavor (I know, it’s rather sad when just feeding it grass can give the meat a noticeably more potent flavor). Americans then resort to re-flavoring beef with all sorts of sauces and marinades. But in general we do not eat boar, we don’t really eat very much meat of any sort that still has any sort of testicles. While there’s a healthy hunting sport culture everyone I know who hunts gives their meat away for free because they hunt more than they consume. None of this meat finds its way into the grocery store. I don’t suspect that the trend toward corn-fed has anything to do with American eaters, rather price. I can’t think of anyone who is a foodie or serious meat eater who prefers corn fed to grass fed.
Heck, it’s even hard to find duck in the grocery store. And our taste for Chicken and Turkey has gone the same flavorless route as beef. Roasted and BBQd meats are a favorite and a large part of the food culture which is really an effort to put flavor back into meats that don’t have a lot on their own. Smoke and sugar and spice making up for lack of underlying flavor.
When I was in Spain a few years back it was rather remarkable how different the steak tasted. Same with the fish, although I eat so little fish here it wasn’t really a fair comparison. But even then Salmon is about the most flavorful fish you’ll find widely available and newer tasteless fish like Tilapia are growing in popularity.
I will say that the worse Fish and Chips I’ve ever eaten was on British soil though, in Gibraltar. We have some amazing batter and deep fry places here that use nice big juicy fish with crisp and light batters that are like tempura. Mmmm. The plate I had in Gibraltar at an English pub was dreadful. Perhaps fish and chips is another food that we have made our own in America and which isn’t actually as wonderful in English pubs in England as we imagine.
Oh that all about explains it but for one thing America and most Western countries today are not static territories mired in the past. People are arriving to live in America everyday from all over the world. Where once curry for example was just a British institution and Indian staple it is now relished almost everywhere including America?
Food especialy is one of those things that find a great deal of change continous change. Food is “hot” there are more programmes about it probably than any other subject. It’s the age of the celebrity chef like no other…..fads come and come and come linger and go mainstream a continous stream of delights and novelty. “We” seem to crave ever more novelty, taste sensation and and and.
But not lamb or game?
Admitadly mutton is mostly only eaten in rural areas, long cooking slow food.
I have never been into a mainstream American supermarket I will someday but are you telling me if I do I couldn’t even find a “ready meal” lamb curry or duck? If thats true its bloody remarkable in this day and age.
Fish and chips has an interesting history in the UK. It was invented by migrant Jews. As so often is the case people take themselves off to a new country for whatever reason and find when they arrive they have limited ways to earn a living for whatever reason (usualy discrimination, language, lack of trust) so set up a corner shops or reataurants catering to their own initialy or in this case a clever way to cater to everyone. Their foods mostly eventualy find acceptance and go mainstream. Not lamb.
The Fish and chip cudgel was passed onto Greek immigrants who for the longest time found their country an economic waste land and barring a rather short interlude it continues to be. The Jews having moved on to more established ways of earning a living. Inbetween the British themselves have of course also flirted with fish&chip shops but now days pubs have moved onto Thai ” local heritage” and even Indian, Italian anything basicaly thats in trend.
I also like tempura style fish&chips the best, also after I discoverd Japanese crumbs I’ve never gone back either. Crispy light and crunchy outside moist and sweet inside and fish is best cooked like this, fast. I would love wild salmon we dont get that here where I live now just imported farmed.
Its true though you dont see vast flocks of sheep from the roadside in America like you do in Australia, South Africa or Mongolia just for example. Or those pituresque land ornaments you see in England and Wales. The Scottish and Irish seem to take sheep more seriously where they can be seen everywhere almost feral.
One of lifes little mysteries almost solved.
Dogs love lamb and mutton. They go crasy for it and I find it’s far better for them than beef. In fact my JRT don’t love beef but wolf down lamb no questions, as do I any bit of it its all delicious.
Hmm no spell check there…..just shot off!
Oh that all about explains it but for one thing America and most Western countries today are not static territories mired in the past. People are arriving to live in America everyday from all over the world. Where once curry for example was just a British institution and Indian staple it is now relished almost everywhere including America?
Food especially is one of those things that find a great deal of change continuous change. Food is “hot” there are more programmes about it probably than any other subject. It’s the age of the celebrity chef like no other…..fads come and come and come linger and go mainstream a continuous stream of delights and novelty. “We” seem to crave ever more novelty, taste sensation and and and.
But not lamb or game?
Admittedly mutton is mostly only eaten in rural areas, long cooking slow food.
I have never been into a mainstream American supermarket I will someday but are you telling me if I do I couldn’t even find a “ready meal” lamb curry or duck? If thats true its bloody remarkable in this day and age.
Fish and chips has an interesting history in the UK. It was invented by migrant Jews. As so often is the case people take themselves off to a new country for whatever reason and find when they arrive they have limited ways to earn a living for whatever reason (usually discrimination, language, lack of trust) so set up a corner shops or restaurants catering to their own initially or in this case a clever way to cater to everyone. Their foods mostly eventually find acceptance and go mainstream. Not lamb.
The Fish and chip cudgel was passed onto Greek immigrants who for the longest time found their country an economic waste land and barring a rather short interlude it continues to be. The Jews having moved on to more established ways of earning a living. In between the British themselves have of course also flirted with fish&chip shops but now days pubs have moved onto Thai ” local heritage” and even Indian, Italian anything basically thats in trend.
I also like tempura style fish&chips the best, also after I discovered Japanese crumbs I’ve never gone back either. Crispy light and crunchy outside moist and sweet inside and fish is best cooked like this, fast. I would love wild salmon we dont get that here where I live now just imported farmed.
Its true though you dont see vast flocks of sheep from the roadside in America like you do in Australia, South Africa or Mongolia just for example. Or those picturesque land ornaments you see in England and Wales. The Scottish and Irish seem to take sheep more seriously where they can be seen everywhere almost feral.
One of life’s little mysteries almost solved.
Dogs love lamb and mutton. They go crazy for it and I find it’s far better for them than beef. In fact my JRT don’t love beef but wolf down lamb no questions, as do I any bit of it its all delicious.
I note your claim that there are more Border Collies in the US than in the UK. This may be true, I don’t know. Based on what data do you make this claim?
I base this claim on the registration numbers of the American (ABCA, AK) and UK (ISDS, KC) registries. The ABCA claims 20,000 Border Collies registered per year; the AKC 2,200; the ISDS 5 to 6,000; and the KC 2,200.
http://www.border-wars.com/2008/12/border-collie-war-abca-vs-akc.html
The ISDS redesigned their webpage, so the link I used to establish 5-6k is dead, but here is a cache of that page:
http://web.archive.org/web/20130904062457/http://www.isds.org.uk/society/dog_registration/recognition_abca_cbca.html
Fair enough!
I recently heard a news story on NPR about the lamb meat industry in the USA, and how those in this meat industry are trying to recruit more people into becoming sheep farmers because of the increased demand. I was very excited to hear this, as I am one of those people who wants to start one of those “hobby” farms, mainly centered around sheep, chickens and growing vegetables and herbs, with the hope of supplying the local restaurant trade, as well as the farmer’s markets. My favorite local chain of grocery stores sells an American line of lamb, “Shepherd’s Pride,” which I believe is out of Idaho. It is outrageously expensive! But, I think the current trend in the uptick of lamb consumption is the growing Middle-Eastern ethnic population, and the “foodie” trend fueled by the Food Network.
However, even with this trend, I really do not believe it has any impact on the border collie population at all. I believe that the border collie will continue to survive because there are so many people who love them for what they are, an amazing, intelligent, athletic herding dog, and are willing to drive for hours, giving up whole weekends, just to go work sheep on someone else’s farm. They will also survive because they are the most popular breed, and most successful, in agility and flyball. These dogs are just too loved and too popular for any possible diminishment of this breed.
I hadn`t made the connection, but looking back I realise that I did find meat in the US very bland. When I kept sheep, I used to keep back one or two older ones for myself, as the taste is much more pronounced. I know people who prefer ram meat. In supermarkets there is a lot of lamb, and venison and duck are also easy to get. In fact I can buy any game I like as well, though I might have to send away for some of it (such as wild boar).
Not as many sheep here as before the foot and mouth epidemic, but they are still about, and I think the number is increasing. And they are worked with dogs, but for these dogs the only criterion is how well they do the job…not beauty, nor how well they perform the finer points at trials. Lots of border collies here, but not for show – that type looks very different.
For the record, I prefer mutton to beef, and venison to both of them.