A new merger is looking to make Canada's sheep industry more sustainable.

The North American Lamb Company is made up of a handful of existing companies, including a lamb processing plant in Innisfail called SunGold Specialty Meats, a lamb feedlot in Iron Springs called the Canada Gold Lamb lot, and a large breeding flock in Manitoba called Canada Sheep and Lamb Farms.

The North American Lamb Company will control everything in lamb production and marketing for the group including genetics, breeding, finishing, processing and sales.

President and CEO of the North American Lamb Company, Gary Alexander, says the merger is designed to create an integrated lamb supply chain.

"At our operation in Manitoba, and perhaps in Alberta in the future, we lamb everyday of the year, so we lamb in season and we lamb out of season, so we can produce lambs for finishing and processing 52 weeks of the year, which is really what the customers are demanding, and that's what we're building our whole production system to do."

Alexander says, the breeding flock based in Manitoba has about 35,000 breeding ewes.

He adds, with low numbers in Canada and sheep being seasonal breeders, there's an inconsistent supply for consumers.

"It's just a really inconsistent business, and what's happened is you've really got a facility in Innisfail that's very, very highly under utilized, so probably only about 30 per cent of it's capacity."

SunGold in Innisfail is Canada's largest federal lamb processing plant.

He says, the newly formed company will create a consistent and reliable supply of lamb for consumers.

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