Sheep Dairying: Commercialization Opportunity for Rural Regeneration

This Phase I SBIR project will investigate fundamental economic issues associated with sheep dairying. The proposed feasibility study contemplates three areas of research: (a) market research to determine consumer attitudes toward sheep's milk products and the prices thereof; (b) economic research to evaluate the derivative price justifiable for raw sheep's milk in a competitive marketplace; and (c) social research to test two hypotheses; one, that milk producer groups can be structured to functionally benefit both sellers and buyers; and two, that product-specific micro-creameries are conceptually the most valid format for incubating sheep's milk manufacturing businesses in the commerical sector. Results will provide: (1) an understanding of consumer preferences, buying patterns and price elasticity for sheep's milk products; (2) an economic model for pricing fluid sheep's milk; (3) a hypothetical format for a milk producer's group; and (4) data sufficient to evaluate, in Phase II, the hypothetical throughput and hence the revenues of micro-creameries, given research-supported price assumptions for raw milk, finished product, and anticipated consumer buying patterns.