Brad Boner
Mountain States Lamb
Friday, December 4, 2009
Mountain States Lamb sprang from a little group of discontented sheep ranchers at the 1999 Wyoming Ram Sale and grew into a cooperative with members in 11 western states. Five of the co-op's 140 member ranching families live in Montana and 61 live in the founding state of Wyoming. The co-op's mission, as stated on their website, is "To provide premium quality, value added lamb products in response to our consumer's demands while enhancing sustained profitability for member family farms and ranches in the Rocky Mountain region."
Brad Boner, Mountain States Lamb Vice Chairman, delineated the co-op's operation system. Members buy either class A or class B shares, the latter of which does not gain the member voting rights. Members' lambs are evaluated on a grid system with premiums offered for lambs within the target weight class. The grid system was devised to address consumer concern over product consistency. The cooperative receives funding from member dues and a one dollar per head kill fee.
Boner described the promise of quality that comes with buying a Cadillac and explained that the co-op wants to create that same degree of report with their lambs. "Do we have to do things different, think outside the box?" asked Boner, "Absolutely." But Boner's message was one of confidence and faith in the model the cooperative has formed.
The co-op processes approximately 1.7 million lambs per year. Currently, 130 different products are available for sale and the diversity grows annually. To learn more about their line of products, find out how to buy shares, or just look into the co-op, visit their website, http://www.mslamb.com/.
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