SAN ANGELO, TX — The City of San Angelo announced on Tuesday the decision to lease the former Ranchers Lamb plant to Double J Meat during a City Council meeting.
According to the city, Jay and Jo Hasbrouck and family of Ault, Colorado, and Double J Meat Packing/Double J Lamb Feeders have leased the former Ranchers Lamb of Texas plant located on City Farm Road in San Angelo.
The plant will be renamed “Double J Lamb, Inc. – Texas” and will open as soon as possible to begin processing market-ready lambs from Colorado, the western range, and parts of Texas.
The Hasbrouck family will begin processing not only lamb but hair sheep and goats, as well.
“We want to support the [sheep and goat] growers in Texas,” Jay Hasbrouck said.
The Hasbrouck’s son, Jeff, manages Double J Lamb Feeders in Ault and their daughter, Kelli Crider, operates Double J Meat Packing in Pierce, Colorado, where they process 150 cattle and buffalo a day.
The move to San Angelo will put the former Ranchers Lamb facility back in service after being closed since 2005. Past money that was owed to the City from the former company will also be reimbursed to the City of San Angelo as a result of the lease. The plant is in good condition and is being transformed back to its finest state-of-the-art condition for full operation.
“The San Angelo Chamber of Commerce welcomes the Double J Meat Packing company to our community,” said Walter Koenig, President, and CEO of the San Angelo Chamber of Commerce. “The reestablishment of this processing plant will drive growth in this critical sector and will provide lasting benefits to our local economy for decades to come.”
This significant move will help the members of the Mountain States Lamb Cooperative find a place to process their lambs. The San Angelo plant was designed to process 1,800 head per day and will employ an initial workforce of 80 to 100 employees.
Double J Lamb, Inc. – Texas expects to process approximately 200,000 head of lambs per year at the San Angelo facility.
Many lambs from the western range will be shipped to San Angelo. The Hasbroucks are committed to helping design efficient ways for these large volumes of lambs to be processed by those ranchers feeding livestock in Colorado and other western states.
In addition, this plant reopening will invigorate the sheep and goat industry in Texas, especially in the Concho Valley and the historically strong sheep and goat industrial base of the San Angelo area.
“San Angelo has always had a strong solid economy based on agriculture,” Mayor Brenda Gunter said. “We believe this lease will support the city’s long history of having a sheep and mohair business. At one time, San Angelo was the inland sheep and mohair capitol. We believe this is an important step in continuing to support the industry.”
The revitalization of the sheep and goat processing industry in the Concho Valley will elevate the industry back to its original place in the agricultural sector. This will play a role in invigorating the wool and hair fiber sector, as well as the lamb and goat ranching sectors.
These actions will help the American lamb industry realign domestic and foreign markets with United States and Texas-sourced lamb. The global lamb industry is currently dominated by China, Australia, New Zealand, and Turkey. Domestically, Texas has the most sheep and lambs in the United States, followed by California and Colorado. The U.S. has 5.21 million head of sheep and lambs – approximately 25% of which are in Texas and California.
“The Economic Development Division of the San Angelo Chamber of Commerce continues to recruit new businesses to our community that bring us more jobs and new capital investment,” Chamber of Commerce Board Chair Clifton Jones said. “As Board Chair, I am proud of the excellent work that Vice President Michael Looney is doing in this regard for our city. We are excited to welcome the Hasbrouck family to San Angelo and extend our best wishes for much success to Double J Lamb, Inc. – Texas.”
A press conference with City officials and representatives from Double J will be held on Friday, September 4, at 4 p.m. at the site, 1146 City Farm Road, San Angelo.
