Down a long dirt road to the Laramie Research and Extension Center a few miles west of the city, a small flock of sheep grazed diligently to the hum of mosquitos.
University of Wyoming (UW) Extension Sheep Specialist Whit Stewart climbed out of the car. His very presence drew the herd toward him.
He runs a project called Wyoming Premium Lamb, where high-quality meat is developed and sold to local restaurants. It’s an extension of the university’s Lamb-A-Year program, where lambs are donated from local ranchers for research and retail.
Most lambs in the program used to be shipped out of state, where Stewart said their value was added elsewhere. This new project is meant to keep their story tied to Wyoming.
For Stewart, the program’s vision echoes his own roots in agriculture. Growing up on a small farm near Buffalo, NY, Stewart said everything his family produced was sold directly to consumers at a farmer’s market or a restaurant in the inner-city.
“What we’re trying to do is tell the story of the lambs who come from Wyoming ranches. The lambs are fed in a way that enhances the flavor, where the animal welfare is next to none, and we get this premium product that you know where it comes from,” Stewart said.
Many of the lambs were raised on the ranch in Laramie. It’s part of the university's land-grant mission, which has promoted agricultural education across the country since the late 19th century. UW owns around 9,000 acres of rangeland. The sheep also produce wool, which helps keep Wyoming as one of the top wool producing states in the nation.
Local ranchers donated most of these fluffy sheep through the Lamb-A-Year program. In 2024, 126 of them came from Wyoming ranches. Stewart wanted their research to add value back into the goods they produce. This kind of grassroots organization allowed them to provide context to the story of lamb in Wyoming.
“It’s important that you do some of these value-added strategies to try to do things differently,” Stewart said. “Rather than fighting for scraps on the large scale commodity market, there is opportunity for us to tell a more compelling story, and to back it up with quality.”
After they’re raised, the lambs are sent to the UW Meat Laboratory where they’re slaughtered and packaged.
Cheyenne Schisler, the laboratory manager, walked over cold floors and through swinging doors, between the butchering and processing rooms. They make everything from hot dogs to rib chops. She emphasized the importance of student involvement in the production process.
“On my first day on the job, I got knives, bibs and a hardhat,” Schisler said. “It’s one of my favorite parts about this specific program, because there are a lot of programs out there that don’t have that same exposure. By the time students stop working here, they are all able to use the equipment and do every part of the process.”
The meat freezers looked a little like something out of “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre,” with massive carcasses on metal hooks. This was where students gain hands-on experience learning about food safety, processing, judging the meat and distributing it to buyers. They specifically help with the 21-day dry-aging process, which Schisler said is one of the unique aspects of the type of lamb the facility produces.
She then showed various cuts of the meat the lab processed, like rib chops, volcano shanks and American style roasts. Stewart’s undergraduate research assistant, Hadley Paisley, was preparing to distribute some of these cuts to nearby vendors. She said she was born a “cattle girl” on a Wyoming ranch where she was rarely exposed to lamb. Working at the laboratory taught her how many producers rely on marketing lamb to get by.
“I’ve gotten to look at the regionality of lamb producers,” Paisley said. “A lot of direct-to-consumer marketing. It’s also cool to see how far lamb as a protein has come. It’s made leaps and bounds, and the market shows that.”
Bledar Bisha, head of the Animal Science Department at UW, helps run the Premium Lamb program. He said that this type of interdisciplinary research is good for everybody involved.
“We are investing in our agriculture and our producers, but we’re also investing in people,” Bisha said. “We’re developing a new generation of scientists and workforce that will improve economic outcomes in the state. We are able to compete in different markets, which goes a long way to foster community vitality.”
The UW College of Agriculture, Life Sciences, and Natural Resources was granted almost $38 million in research dollars last year, which was used to fund projects that reached nearly 127,000 people across the state. Some of that funding is used to help Premium Lamb tell a story about business, sustainability and community.
The lamb finishes its journey at Altitude Chophouse and Brewery in downtown Laramie, where value is added at the local level.
Juan Bañuelos is the kitchen manager there. He walked past sizzling pots and pans filled with lamb used in specialty dishes. Altitude has been working with the program for almost five months.
“We’re hearing a lot of good stuff from the guests,” Bañuelos said.
Stewart’s team wanted to understand how this type of premium meat sells in the real world. So Altitude gave customers two choices at differing price points: a classic burger and a high-end lamb chop. They wanted to find out how these cuts sell when consumers have options and know the story behind how the meat got there.
“One of the things that Whit is trying to prove is that there is a market out there for this product. We’re definitely seeing the people who are coming in who are buying and enjoying the lamb. That’s the benefit for everybody,” said Stewart.
Altitude has worked as an experiment for the program. Giving customers the option to eat local lamb has opted them into sustainable animal production that helps all parties. So far, it’s working.
“We’re trying to understand how dry-aging gives the lamb a unique flavor profile, and how giving consumers the choice of a premium product affects their purchasing power,” Stewart said. “What if there was a premium product that honors what gets produced in the state of Wyoming? That’s what we’re after.”
Stewart said he hopes to partner with more local businesses in the future and expand the market for individuals to purchase, too. Through this, he hopes to help consumers understand the importance of the food they’re eating, celebrate how it got on their plate and remind them how one small creature can make a lot of change.
