BOISE, Idaho — Sheep ranching in Idaho is part of the fabric of the state. A high-level example, Gov. Brad Little’s Scottish born grandfather, Andy Little, came to Idaho in 1884 to work with sheep, he eventually earned the title “the Idaho Sheep King.”
Sheep ranching attracted talented immigrants to Idaho from the Basque country in the early 1900s, sheep actually stared to outnumber people in the area because of the success.
Fast forward to 2023, these days Idaho sheep ranchers feel they are on the ropes.
“We don't get a handle on this. We're done in time and not that much time,” said rancher Henry Etcheverry.
Etcheverry is a sheep rancher out of Rupert, Idaho. Simply put, ranchers like Etcheverry continue to battle heavy imports of lamb from places like Australia and New Zealand. He explained, import lamb outfits are seeing benefits from currency exchange rates as well as fewer guidelines that Americans must follow by law, making American prices more expensive.
“We understand what the situation is. We don't produce enough to meet the needs of the country. However, we need to be able to sustain our operations with a superior, a better product. And that's all,” Etcheverry said.
Longtime Idaho rancher Frank Shirts agrees.
“It's not just us that we can walk away with. We do love this industry and we'd like to. And they do the country a lot of good. This is my range right here,” Shirts said.
Shirts has dedicated his life to the industry, you might recognize his work. He and his team bring sheep across Highway 55 every spring. He points to the market share of lamb as an indicator of issues.
“What 73% to 77% right now is foreign lamb and they you take more and more and these range outfits. They're gone. They're gone and they're not going to come back,” Shirts said.
Ranchers around the country are now pushing for a petition published by Protect American Lamb, a project under the auspices of the R-CALF USA Sheep Committee, it calls on US trade adviser Katherine Tai to consider changes to the industry to support American operations. That includes legislation or regulation ideas for tariffs and Tariff Rate Quotas, a way ranchers believe can even the playing field.
“It's not going to change within a year, but I think they could get some legislation or something due to not necessarily legislation, but some kind of regulation to offset the influx of so many imports, so many tons of lamb,” Etcheverry said.
Ranchers are pointing to this graph published by R-CALF, it shows the decline of sheep inventory as well as the number of operations. All, steadily falling since 1992. Ranchers tell me the playing field of domestic vs import is simply unfair in this field.
“We're the guys that pay the taxes and property taxes and pay taxes on our income and whatnot, you know, and those guys, like I said, they came in here duty free, but that's the way we do it,” Etcheverry said.
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