WESTMINSTER, COLO. — Niman Ranch is launching its first value-added lamb products with gyros and merguez lamb sausage.

“We’re excited to add these two unique items to Niman Ranch’s outstanding selection of prepared products,” said Cody Hiemke, Niman Ranch’s lamb program manager and a lamb rancher himself. 

Hiemke said that feedback from everyone who has sampled the gyros and sausage has been exceedingly positive.

Tapping into US consumers’ craving for global spices, the gyros and merguez sausage offer flavorful but not spicy hot protein options. The gyros are a blend of Niman Ranch lamb, beef and spices, including seasoned pepper, oregano, marjoram and thyme. The merguez sausage, stuffed in natural lamb casings, has a North African flavor profile with a custom blend of three different paprikas, harissa and cumin.

The new lamb offerings, designed to be sold from the frozen specialty case, are currently available at select specialty grocers across the country.

The debut of these two new products strategically aligns with the 30-year anniversary of the company’s lamb program.

Niman Ranch first partnered with McCormack Ranch in Northern California to kickstart its lamb program. Since 1993, Niman Ranch has worked with over two dozen select family ranchers in California, the Pacific Northwest, Utah and Idaho.

Like its beef and pork programs, the lamb program relies on independent family ranchers to produce sustainably raised lamb with no added hormones or antibiotics.