Merino chasing own lamb brand

Merino NZ Incorporated wants its own meat brand and this sits well with Tom Rowley who was elected chairman at the AGM held in Queenstown in June reports The Straight Furrow. How the organisation will achieve its goal is not entirely clear but Mr Rowley believes the concept is valid and the idea which has been talked about for years and discarded by meat companies who were unable to help with the idea, is now being explored in earnest at Merino meetings. With only a small percentage of the Merino clip destined for the "˜superspinners' high end suiting wool and the rest ending up in top-making, there was plenty of scope to improve returns by developing a niche meat market. Should the idea proceed it would result in stud breeders having to change tack from concentrating solely on wool breeds to a more dual purpose animal. "I think we are all becoming aware there has been too much emphasis on wool and not enough on the meat side," Mr Rowely said. At recent field days he attended the focus was on producing a dual purpose Merino with good fertility, and the ability to grow quicker and achieve heavier weights. Merino lambs are usually fattened between winter and spring and average 16kg to 17 kg (dressed) although some top farmers he knew had sent two lots away before June, which dressed out at 18kg.A number of high country farmers have irrigation on their lowlands which had increased their feed options and would enable them to take advantage of any signals for a change in direction. Given Merino wool is already an accepted name, marketing meat on the coat tails of the brand would assist with marketing. Grower investment would probably be required to help fund the new venture in whatever format is decided. Mr Rowley said obviously the concept would have to be put to marketers to see what they thought and from that point, depending on their feedback, growers could have the confidence to take the proposal further. There was already a South Island farmer successfully marketing and selling his own brand of Merino lamb to restaurants.Collaboration with Australia in marketing and supply of a Merino branded lamb would also have merit Mr Rowly said. "It's not bad to just fatten Merino lambs for the generic meat market, but by making it a more specific meat it could generate the premiums."