Such buyers are likely to do the butchering themselves. Slaughter can be done on the farm or at a local freezer-locker plant. Many freezer plants or slaughterhouses will have a butcher available for processing after slaughter. An ASI publication, Marketing Out of the Mainstream , explains many aspects of direct and niche marketing of lamb and wool. An entrepreneur can increase earnings by improving flock quality.
Higher quality means production of faster growing lambs and more lambs per ewe, for example.
Entrepreneurs who want to buy ewes or rams on the basis of NSIP data may do so if the producer from whom they buy keeps NSIP records. He suggests cheese making, noting that U.S. consumers buy as much as 45 million pounds of imported sheep-milk cheese annually. Sheep cheeses include Roquefort from France, Feta from Greece, Ricotta and Pecorino from Italy, and Manchego from Spain. He found that either can make a profit. Dr. Boylan will provide lists of publications on sheep milking and cheese manufacturing, equipment, and sources of supply.