Hybu Cig Cymru – Meat Promotion Wales (HCC) has hailed the success of the first ‘Llamb’s Day’ on August 1; an event to celebrate the peak season for buying high-quality PGI Welsh Lamb.
The inaugural event was held to kick-off HCC’s summer and autumn marketing campaign for Welsh Lamb, building on historic Celtic traditions of the August 1 date being the first harvest festival.
‘Llamb’s Day’ was also promoted to emphasise the seasonality of this most iconic of Welsh agricultural produce.
Research undertaken by HCC showed that consumers were keen to buy food in season, but were unclear that Welsh Lamb is most widely-available in shops from late-summer through to Christmas.
Special tasting events were held at the National Eisteddfod, a whole lamb was roasted at the home of celebrity farmer Gareth Wyn Jones, and HCC’s summer supermarket tour kicked off in Carmarthen.
On twitter, the #Llambsday hashtag and its Welsh-language equivalent #Calanoen proved popular on August 1, with over 1600 tweets posted.
Farming unions the NFU and FUW took part in August 1 events as well as sharing information online, as did members of the Young Farmers Club and National Sheep Association.
Over 5000 people took part in online competitions around the event. Consumers were encouraged to submit their own Llamb’s Day recipes, with suggestions of lamb and vegetable gratin, roast lamb with redcurrant jelly, and lamb curry with spinach and potatoes being among the winners who each received a Welsh Lamb recipe book.
"I’m pleased with the inaugural ‘Llamb’s Day’ events,” said Prys Morgan, HCC’s Head of Operations.
"The engagement among online consumers was very good, and importantly it was a useful way to kick-off our renewed Welsh Lamb marketing campaign in the UK market and emphasise the key message of the seasonality of the product.
"I’d like to thank everyone who is helping our efforts to promote Welsh Lamb this year; we worked with everyone in the supply chain," added Prys.
"HCC will now look to see how we can build on this innovation most effectively for future years."
