For Immediate Release
Contact: R-CALF USA CEO Bill Bullard
Phone: 406-252-2516; r-calfusa@r-calfusa.com
WASHINGTON, Oct. 16, 2026 – Nevada rancher Michael Bardsley testified before the U.S. International Trade Commission on behalf of R-CALF USA, describing how competition from imported lamb has contributed to lost buyers, devastating price swings and the disappearance of family sheep operations.
Bardsley, representing John Espil Sheep Company and serving on R-CALF USA’s Sheep Committee, testified at the injury hearing in the Commission’s lamb meat investigation, No. TA-201-80. His testimony reinforced R-CALF USA’s October 8 prehearing brief, which argues that increased lamb imports are a substantial cause of serious injury to the domestic industry.
“Our family desperately wants to continue producing American lamb and contributing to our community,” Bardsley said.
His family raises sheep and cattle in Nevada and northern California, continuing a sheep-ranching tradition that began in 1903. Bardsley described how that longstanding operation lost dependable marketing opportunities during the dramatic reversal in lamb prices in 2022.
In 2020, the operation received a feeder-lamb offer of $1.20 per pound. In 2021, shipping disruptions tightened supplies and the offer increased to $2.60 per pound for a similar lamb crop. The following year, Bardsley said, feeders who had purchased lambs at near-record prices faced heavy import pressure and devastating losses. One longtime buyer stopped buying lambs entirely. Others could no longer offer to purchase the family’s lambs.
An established relationship with a family-run feeder allowed the operation to sell half its lamb crop that fall.
“For the lambs we did sell, we received less than half the price per pound we received the previous year,” Bardsley said.
That experience illustrates a central argument in R-CALF USA’s brief: competition from imported meat reaches ranchers through the loss of domestic meat sales and the resulting reduction in livestock purchases. When packers lose sales, their demand for slaughter-ready lambs can decline, reducing feeders’ purchases of the next crop from ranchers.
The brief cites an August 2026 grower and feeder survey in which 53 of 111 respondents reported that buyers referenced imported lamb or import prices when reducing bids, prices or purchase volumes. Responding feeders and combined feeder-growers reported a 45.4% decline in annual lamb marketings between 2021 and 2025. The survey describes participating operations and is not a statistically representative national sample.
According to USDA data cited in the brief, lamb imports measured in carcass-weight equivalents increased 14.3% between 2021 and 2025 and rose another 5% in January–July 2026 compared with the same months a year earlier. Meanwhile, the U.S. breeding-sheep inventory declined from 3.66 million head in January 2025 to 3.61 million in January 2026.
Bardsley described witnessing the loss of breeding operations firsthand. In 2024, his family traveled to Montana to purchase young ewes from a century-old ranch in Garfield County. The young couple operating the ranch told him that an inconsistent, declining lamb market had driven them to sell their remaining sheep, despite diversifying into cattle and hay.
The consequences extend to rural workers and businesses. Three generations of Bardsley’s family work alongside approximately 15 sheepherders. The operation’s annual sheep expenses exceed $1 million, supporting grocery stores, veterinarians, equipment dealers, trucking companies, shearing crews and other businesses.
R-CALF USA’s brief acknowledges recent improvements in lamb prices, selected retail sales and processor profitability. It argues that those gains coexist with a smaller breeding flock and weakened marketing relationships, and urges the Commission to consider the growers and feeders whose animals sustain domestic lamb production.
R-CALF USA requests an affirmative determination of present serious injury, or alternatively threatened serious injury, allowing consideration of relief and measures to help domestic producers rebuild.
“Based on our experience and R-CALF USA’s prehearing brief, I respectfully ask the Commission to save America’s family ranches,” Bardsley said.
The Commission’s injury determination is due by November 13, 2026, according to its investigation schedule.
Pictured left to right: Michael Bardsley, R-CALF USA Region XI Director Brent Espil and R-CALF USA CEO Bill Bullard.
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Ranchers Cattlemen Action Legal Fund United Stockgrowers of America (R-CALF USA) is the largest producer-only lobbying and trade association representing U.S. cattle and sheep producers. It is a national, nonprofit organization dedicated to ensuring the continued profitability and viability of the U.S. cattle and sheep industries. Visit www.r-calfusa.com or call 406-252-2516 for more information.