2. Gerald te Velde
Twin Creeks Farm
Direct Marketing Tips
January 2015

3. Direct Marketing Lamb
 questions to ask
 grass fed lamb
 direct marketing lamb
 past and future

4. Questions to ask
 Where do I start?
 Do I enjoy working with sheep?
 What about people?

5. Questions to ask
 Is there demand for lamb?
 Demand for grass fed lamb?
 Why grass fed?

6. Questions to ask
 What are the costs?
 Where/how can I sell lamb?
 Do we market only lamb?

7. Questions to ask
 What about processing?
 Do I/How do I advertise?
 How do I determine prices?

8. Grass fed/grass only lamb
 Jan-Feb lambing and May-
June lambing
 rotationally grazed (ie.
MiG, mob)
 lambs are finished on
pasture or hay

9. Marketing Lamb Direct to Consumers
 processing of lamb
 pricing, advertising, & promotion
 distributing lamb to consumers
 lamb along side other products

10.  inspected abattoir
 how many/how often?
 paper wrapped & frozen
 vac packed & fresh
 also ¼’s, ½’s and whole
Lamb Processing

11.  figure your costs
 production, processing
& distribution
 check the competition
 price by carcass weight
 pricing by the cut
Pricing

12.  word of mouth
 business/farm logo
 brochures, etc
 signs & banners
 internet -website, etc
 other advertising
Advertising & Promotion

13.  Farm Market Store
 Farmers’ Markets
 Delivery locations
 Home delivery
 Meat CSA
 Restaurants
Distribution to Consumers

14. Lamb and other farm products
 grass fed beef
 25 shorthorn/black angus cows

15. Lamb and other farm products
 pastured pork
 10 berkshire/tamworth sows

16. Lamb and other farm products
 Free range turkeys

17. Lamb and other farm products
 Pastured chickens

18. Lamb and other farm products
 ducks

19. Lamb and other farm products
 goats

20. Lamb and other farm products
 rabbits

21. Lamb and other farm products
 5 acres of vegetables

22. Looking Back
 started with milking sheep in 1998
 marketed lambs through sales barns
 began marketing direct in 2005
 farmers’ market and ‘farm gate’ sales

23. Currently
 direct marketing approx. 80 lambs
 4 farmers’ markets, farm store,
delivery locations in Toronto
 building new website

24.  focus on improving our lamb
 the possibility of hair sheep
 market 120+ lambs/year
Plans for the future

25.  increase farm store sales
 more farmers’ markets?
 expand meat csa/buyers club
 look closely restaurants/wholesale
Plans for the future