Industry collaborates to see Love Lamb Week take centre stage from 1-7 September in its 10th year

A decade on from the launch of Love Lamb Week, Quality Meat Scotland (QMS) is leading this year’s campaign with support from Hybu Cig Cymru – Meat Promotion Wales (HCC) in Wales, AHDB in England, and LMC in Northern Ireland alongside other key stakeholders.

Emma Heath, Director of Marketing for QMS said: “We are delighted to be working collaboratively with the other levy boards and the wider stakeholder group, including the National Sheep Association (NSA) and National Farmers’ Union (NFU). It’s a great opportunity to celebrate lamb and the farmers and climate we have in the UK which makes it the perfect place to rear lamb.”

Love Lamb Week was launched a decade ago by Cumbrian sheep farmer Rachel Lumley to encourage lamb consumption during peak season. The National Sheep Association (NSA) has been involved with the campaign since its inception and over recent years has worked with Exmoor sheep farmer Rosie Bloor in her role as Love Lamb Ambassador. Rosie regularly posts social content on the Love Lamb Week platforms - @LoveLambWeek on Facebook and @LoveLambUK on Instagram - to spread the word during the campaign period, including on her own Instagram account @farming_with_rosie.

Commenting on HCC’s involvement in Love Lamb Week, Pip Gill, Brand Engagement Lead at HCC said, “We are looking forward to championing Welsh Lamb during this year’s Love Lamb Week as the campaign celebrates its tenth year. Love Lamb Week is an important grass-roots initiative and falls within our annual Welsh Lamb consumer campaign whereby we promote Welsh Lamb whilst it is at its peak availability. Our ‘Experts in their Field’ campaign puts Welsh farmers and their stories at the heart of our marketing during Love Lamb Week and beyond.

NSA Communications Manager Katie James added: “As we reflect on ten years of championing lamb production and UK sheep farming, we know the campaign’s real success is driven by farmers themselves sharing their personal stories, highlighting their commitment to sustainable farming, and showcasing the delicious, nutritious product they work so hard to produce. At the same time they are working to preserve and enhance the UK’s landscapes, ensuring public access, biodiversity and helping support their local communities.

“This week, we are encouraging sheep farmers from across the UK to be active on social media, using their own voices to connect with consumers. These authentic stories resonate with the public, helping them better understand where their food comes from and inspiring them to choose lamb and mutton more often. Love Lamb Week is about more than just promotion – it’s about building pride, awareness, and lasting support for our sector.”

A Love Lamb Week campaign toolkit will be widely shared to help spread the campaign’s messages, providing stakeholders with Make it Lamb logos and social media assets to use on their own platforms and share with their networks for use too. The assets include delicious recipes, information about farmers, landscapes and climate in relation to lamb production, plus additional information for use by butchers.

Each levy board will be highlighting Love Lamb Week through their own individual activity:

• Welsh levy body HCC will run a paid media campaign called ‘Experts in their field’, including TV, digital, out of home, social media, YouTube, advertising and storytelling , including working with Sky with Ad Smart work and retailers. Its website will feature new recipes, and it will send a dedicated ‘Make it Lamb’ consumer newsletter, showcasing farmer stories and the new recipes. Its Welsh Lamb ambassador, Jonathan ‘Fox’ Davies will also be involved, while influencer @girlcooksboybakes will release new recipe content.

• In Scotland, QMS will have a Scotch Lamb focus on its social media channels (industry and consumer) in the lead up to and during Love Lamb Week, plus a series of video assets shared on the channels. Consumer PR efforts will be based on gaining column inches for Scotch Lamb, with influencer activity on the Make it Scotch channels. It will also be working with key brand partners across social channels to share positive messaging about Scotch Lamb and delicious Scotch Lamb recipes.

• In England, AHDB has created social media content to raise awareness of the ‘Make it Lamb’ message, including a paid campaign on Facebook and Instagram, short videos featuring farmers, and eye-catching graphics hosted on the Simply Beef and Lamb and AHDB websites. An advert will also appear in iNews, with free resources, including stickers, farmgate banners and recipe leaflets available to order from the AHDB website. Retail activity will also be supported through stickers on lamb products in supermarkets, while children’s activity sheets and resources for teachers will help children and families get involved.

• In Northern Ireland, LMC will launch its Farm in a Box resource for Key Stage one pupils in collaboration with Ulster Wool and will run a consumer sampling event at Belfast City Hall in collaboration with Ulster Farmers Union and meat processors. It will also launch three Northern Ireland sheep farmer testimonials, have social media activity on its corporate and consumer accounts and have a Love Lamb Week landing page on its consumer-facing website, as well as a radio partnership for the week.

The week’s activities will be supported by the NFU. NFU livestock board chair David Barton said: “Love Lamb Week is a great chance to celebrate the vital role sheep play in shaping our iconic landscapes, from the hills in the uplands to the rolling lowlands. Our new Uplands Vision shows how sheep grazing supports biodiversity, reduces wildfire risk, maintains natural character and delivers nutritious food for the country. It also outlines how farmers, government and environmental groups can work together to protect food production in these areas.’’

Red Tractor is also backing Love Lamb Week. Jemma Holden, its Dairy, Beef and Lamb Technical Manager, who is also a sheep farmer herself, said: “We’re proud to support Love Lamb Week, a celebration of the dedication, care, and high standards our British lamb farmers uphold every day. We always encourage consumers to look for lamb with the Red Tractor logo to support British farmers committed to upholding high standards.’’