IMF

When it comes to lambs, IMF is what you are looking for.  IMF stands for intra muscular fat, which is what makes cooked lamb juicy.  It is measured as the fat percentage in the loin muscle of a lamb and visible as marbling.  Lamb producers are now being paid a bonus according to the percentage of IMF they have in their product.  It seems that no one quite knows how to get a better IMF.  Nutrition comes into it but grazing lambs and feedlot lambs can both get good results.  Genetics is important but breed doesn’t matter.  Somewhere down the track the meat processors will acquire the technology in the form of spectral imagery devices that will allow for swift and routine measurement of IMF along the processing chain.  Then I imagine the customer will be looking at packaged lamb with its IMF well displayed so that we can be impressed — and pay more.