Sainsbury’s signs key Border Blackface lamb deal

A MAJOR contract between supermarket giant Sainsbury’s and the Border Blackface Association will see some 2,000 Blackie lambs per week being bought by the retailer this winter.

This will be the fourth year the contract has been won and the lambs will go on the shelves under Sainsbury’s premium Taste the Difference range.

Alice Swift, an agriculture technologist with Sainsbury’s, said: “Border Blackface is an important part of our Taste the Difference lamb range ensuring that we offer customers ‘best in season’ lamb 52 weeks of the year. We want to encourage farmers to finish their Blackface lamb for this market in order to utilise the premium and promote the breed.”

The supermarket indicated that they would be looking for lambs in the 14-21kg weight range.

Billy Renwick, president of Blackface Sheep Breeders’ Association, welcomed the deal, saying the partnership between Sainsbury’s and the association had been a great boost for Blackface lamb producers and that it was now an important part of the association’s marketing calendar.

The lambs will be bought and processed by Dunbia whose fieldsmen will provide advice to producers to ensure the lambs are within the required specifications.