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Lamb: A Northern New Mexico Tradition
By Patricia West-Barker
The Santa Fe New Mexican, November 28, 2001

Ranching is hard work--and the people who stay on their land and make a go of it are both a rugged and a disappearing breed. To survive, farmers and ranchers with small flocks need to find markets for both the wool and the meat from their animals.

Molly Manzanares and her husband, Antonio, have been working to preserve traditions and stimulate economic development in Northern New Mexico for years. Antonio was one of the founders of Ganados del Valle and Molly, a master weaver, was a founding member of Tierra Wools. Together, they succeeded in having Shepherd's Lamb, their family business, certified organic--the first lamb suppliers in New Mexico to do so.

"The reason we decided to get certified organic was that we were rasing the sheep that way, anyway," Molly Manzanares said. "We do have to keep more records and we have to pay a fee to the New Mexico Organic Commodity Commission and they do come and inspect the ranch--but we haven't changed a whole lot of practices because that's the traditional way that we've always raised the sheep.

"We never have used hormones and had just limited antibiotic use. And now, if we do use antibiotics, we separate that animal from the rest of the herd so it doesn't get sold as organic. When we feed we have to buy organically-certified feed. We don't feed a whole lot except in the spring when we have some lambs at home."

The Manzanares buy most of their hay from a certified organic grower in Colorado's San Luis Valley, and their organic corn comes from Kansas. But the only time they feed their sheep and lambs is in the spring. "The rest of the time," Molly Manzanares says, "they are grass fed, they graze. It's what makes them taste so good, especially this time of year after they've come off the mountain."

Because they do everything from raising the lambs to selling the wool and marketing the meat themselves, Shepherd's Lamb takes all the Manzanares' time and involves the whole family; their children--Agustin, 19, Lara, 17, Raquel, 15 and Luisa, 14--are an important part of their operation.

According to Molly Manzanares, the work is "nonstop. We're nomads. In the spring we lamb out in Tres Piedres, then we drive the sheep overland about 30 to 40 miles to the Carson National Forest above Canjilon Lakes, and that's where they stay all summer. And then we drive them home, which is probably 20 miles--they stay there not that long and then we ship them off to the winter pasture."

Molly told me that even though Shepherd's Lamb is a lot of work, she is satisfied with the outcome. "I think what we're about is kind of personal. We have a kind of personal relationship with our customers and we really try hard to provide a really high quality product.

"It's (also) been a great life for our family. One of our kids is getiting ready to go off to school. She wants to go to school but she says, 'I think I want to come back here.' She says, 'I like our life, even though it's hard.'"

Zenitram Industries

To maintain their organic certification, the Manzanares have to have their lamb processed at an organically-certified, state-licensed facility. The plant they use is Zenitram Industries in El Rito--the only certified organic plant in New Mexico--operated by Donaldo Martinez. (Zenitram is Martinez spelled backwards.)

Martinez, a third-generation rancher, has also been selling his own locally-raised beef and lamb for about 11 years.

He does not claim that his lamb is organic--"I think it's probably a lot better than organic," he says--mainly because he buys a lot of feed. "Potatoes, that's what we feed both our cattle and our lambs. The potatoes that we receive are not certified organic so we cannot call our products organic, but ours is a clean, safe, product. We won't let an animal die but, if antibiotics have been used, those animals are separated out and sent to sale barns, auction. We don't sell that meat."

Even though Zenitram is one of the few small plants that's surviving the pressure from the giant meat-packing plants in the United States, Martinez is concerned about the future of both his own business and that of our small farmers and ranchers.

"Our great government" Martinez says, "hasn't stopped or put a higher tariff on import lamb from New Zealand and Australia, so some 90-odd percent of the lamb that's being consumed in the United States is foreign lamb--from Australia, New Zealand and Canada. And the market on live lamb has collapsed again this year; it's the lowest we've seen in many, many years. It doesn't justify the farmer or the rancher to continue to raise lambs.

"We have a lot of obstacles to hurdle because of government regulations. (Zenitram is) state-inspected--there are 29 states that are state-inspect (meat processing plants) in the United States--and, of course, there are USDA-inspected plants. The USDA-inspected plants can send their meat across the state line but our state-inspected plants cannot. We cannot ship to retail stores. We can send to individuals for home consumption. That has also tied our hands to expansion.

"We've talked with U.S. politicians on this matter and they say 'yes' and they haven't done anything--mainly because (independent, state-inspected processors are) less than 2 percent in the agriculture business in the United States and our vote does not matter to them.

"Three of our producers in New Mexico have gone out of business because of this soft lamb market. (Foreign lamb) can come in here, but ours can't go out."

Antother major obstacle facing both Martinez and the Manzanares are the buying practices of chain supermarkets.

"Larger chain stores tend not to buy locally," Martinez explains. "They prefer large suppliers who can supply all of their stores--which sends many of them to Australian or New Zealand suppliers. This may make life easier for corporate management but it doesn't support local farmers or ranchers who can often provide a product as good, or better, at a very competitive price. We've tried to sell them local lambs and they stick their noses in the air and turn in another direction. Some local restaurants buy from the Manzanares, but most buy through larger meat distributors--out of town, out of state, probably out of the country.

"I just hope that politicians realize what they are doing to our heritage, our culture, our business--and change the policies for imported products and the policies about the interstate shipment of state-inspected meat."