TASMANIAN prime lamb producers have been advised to invest in a good set of scales, if they wish to tap the growing Middle Eastern market.
Producers at a pasture field day at Cressy were told the market was growing strongly, but required smaller animals.
Tasmanian Quality Meats quality assurance manager Chris Cocker said heavy lambs were not selling there, or into emerging Asian markets.
"Dubai, UAE, want the top of the end lamb, really sappy spring lamb, they don't want size," Mr Cocker said.
"They love them around 16 kilograms maximum; if you go to Qatar or Jordan, they want more of the merino type, leggier and the same weight range but 10-18kg is the cut off point.
"They just seem to have a mindset that anything more than 18-20kg is old, tough and you shouldn't eat it - and it's hard to break that mindset."
New markets in Vietnam and Indonesia were also taking lighter carcasses.
"I know it's not what the Tasmanian farmer wants to hear, but it's what the customer wants."
He urged graziers to "get a set of scales and know your customer."
There was also a role for improved pasture, particularly after a poppy crop came off, as it boosted growth rates and made it easier to get lambs up to the right specifications.
"After the autumn irrigation and the poppy crop, put some fast growing grasses in, and you can get them up quickly and put that bloom back on the lambs," he said.
"The tradition is you try to get it to 22kg and if you can push them a bit further to 26, you can put them into the export market, but the thing is be careful.
"If they turn to be fat score five there is going to be a penalty on the grid."
Tasmanian Quality Meats was currently upgrading its chillers, rails, and by-product plant, to increase throughput, he said.
From seven to eight thousand lambs a week, the company was now processing 11-12,000 and there was scope for more.
