Santa Catarina state intends to add lamb to its animal protein production leadership

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – In southern Brazil’s landscape, with its araucaria pines, prairies, and a more marked temperate zone, sheep will always be there for the picture. But the reality is not quite like that any longer, at least in Santa Catarina. There is a shortage of sheep to satisfy the traditional appetite for ovine meat such as mutton and lamb.

The state, already the country leader in swine and poultry production, now intends to increase sheep-raising and cease being the largest importer of this protein source from neighboring countries and other states.

The Santa Catarina State Agriculture Federation (FAESC), in a program developed by SENAR (National Rural Training Service), is training sheep growers, particularly of the Texel, Dorper, and Santa Inês breeds – the latter being responsible for popularizing this type of breeding in Brazil and which has led the Northeast region to a significant share in the national herd.

The promotion of the production chain, according to the organization’s president José Zeferino Pedroso, currently reaches 300 producers, associated with the municipal rural unions, and aims to use the industrial structure of the state’s meatpacking plants.

The programs in Technical and Managerial Assistance (ATeG) cover all stages for more robust development of the Santa Catarina sheep-raising, from genetic enhancement to nutrition, from health to administrative management.