The Sheep Farmers Inc. of the Barbados Agricultural Society (BAS) is embarking on a new project to import a breed of sheep that can be crossed with the local Blackbelly variety.This announcement was made on Wednesday during a press conference at the BAS headquarters, the Grotto, St Michael.President of the association Maurice Grant said that the indigenous animal was not profitable to farmers and cross breeding the sheep with another one would help improve the genetics and create a superior breed that was bigger and more muscular.“The Blackbelly sheep is not a very profitable animal for a farmer. While we pride ourselves in the quality of the meat, it really does not make a great deal of sense to the farmer . . . The reason for that is very simple,” he said. “If you kill a Blackbelly sheep . . .it’s the two hind legs that provide you with your leg chops. Beyond that if you are lucky you may get shoulder chops. Outside of that there is nothing else.“The backs are not broad enough for you to get lamb chops out of the back. In Barbados, the lamb rack of the Blackbelly sheep is not meaty so it is sold mostly as a soup meat as opposed to the very expensive lamb rack that you will see elsewhere.“So basically when you kill a Blackbelly sheep there is not a lot that you will get out of the meat. And if you price the back legs too high to try to offset that, it probably just wouldn’t sell.”
