Lamb Prices Hurt Sheep Farmers

Via Big Picture Agriculture, we have this:

A year ago, the price of lambs intended for slaughter was soaring to record levels. This year, sheep producers are struggling through the combined forces of volatile prices and a harsh drought.
Utah Woolgrowers Association officials said they are unaware of any ranchers who have actually gone bankrupt.
But Doug Livingston, a retired sheep rancher who now works as a sheep broker, has been trying to help one eastern Utah rancher sell his herd and get out of the business, but he says there are no buyers.
"I'm in my 60s and this is the worst year I've ever seen," Livingston told the Deseret News for a story Monday (http://bit.ly/ZxaHsC). "I think there's a lot of ranchers, sheepmen, who would give it up if they could."
The price for lamb "on the hoof" is about half to a third of what it was a year ago, according to Sanpete County rancher Phil Allred, a fifth-generation sheep producer.
"It does threaten the future of it," he said. "For me, myself, I'm old enough that if I didn't have three sons working with me, I wouldn't be here."
Some ranchers have blamed U.S. slaughterhouses for artificially manipulating prices. They claim that prices in grocery stores stayed high, while prices paid to ranchers took a nosedive.
Eight U.S. senators who represent North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming and Montana have called on Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to investigate.
Mike Harper, who runs one of the biggest lamb feeding operations in the West, said he believes it's wrong to blame meat packers, who have had too much inventory as well, and that there's no conspiracy.

Last year, the price for lamb was at a record high.  That is a rough roller coaster to ride.  I've just never been tempted to order lamb at a restaurant.