[The Chicken Lady]

This year I reared my first sheep. I took advice from local farmers when to slaughter them. I was told that they were a slow growing breed. When I took them, the slaughterman commented that they were hoggets and the butcher said that their bones were very hard and perhaps could have been done slightly earlier. I must however say that this is the best lamb any of my family have tasted. I now have some Ryelands that I intend to breed from. The woman I had the ewes from said not to leave the lambs too long as they become fatty. I'm sure she said 20 weeks  They surley will not be big enough in that time and what life is that 20 weeks  I had thought of buying some lambs for fattening as I did with my first two but now I'm not sure what to do  I would welcome advice and comments on this. 

[Rosemary]

There are lots of folk better qualified than I to help you but I'll add my tuppence worth anyway.

As far as I can ascertain, a lamb is a lamb until 31st December in the year it was born - it then becomes a hogget - basically a big, heavy lamb How many terms for sheep does there need to be? Lambs in the UK are generally 5-6 months old at slaughter, so 20 weeks might be about right.

The time to kill a lamb depends on a combination of weight and fat cover - but fat cover is more important; it's better to kill a light lamb with the right fat cover than wait for it to get heavier, since much of the additional weight will be fat, which is waste. In the UK, commercial lamb carcasses are usually about 16-20kg, which is about half the liveweight. The killing out % is between 50% for a lamb and 40% for a hogget. A good carcass will have some fat but not too much and the way to determine the fat cover is to feel at for the vertebrae at the tailhead - the top of the spine will be well rounded but you will still be able to feel the bones with pressure; the side bones of the spine will be well covered and you'll have to press quite hard to feel them.

So, when to slaughter will depend on the breed, sex and feeding of the lamb - single lambs will usually be ready before twins or triplets; the meat breeds like Suffolks will be ready before the primitive breeds like Shetlands. Some folk let the primitive breed run on to 12 -18 months before slaughter to get a decent sized carcass (these breeds don't lay down backfat in the same was as modern breeds do).

We were given a formula for calculating the weight of a pig, using a bit of string - I wonder if there is a similar method for sheep, if you don't have a weigh crate...

Hope this helps - and I hope I remember it all for next year.

[hexhammeasure]

The way the abattoirs tell a lamb from a hogget is to look at the mouth; a hogget will have two big teeth. In effect a hogget is approximately a year old. Mutton will have 4 or more big teeth or a ‘broken mouth’ i.e.  Starting to lose the big teeth. Hoggets and mutton also cost more to have butchered

We don’t butcher our sheep (suffolks) as lambs in the general sense, usually we will start sending to slaughter around September from a December lambing: December from a February lambing; however, we wean in June and the lambs get very little in cake during the year. This means that they don’t overfeed and lay down much fat. We continue to draw off fit hoggetts as demand requires until we run out of sheep. This year we have just 5 ewe hoggs left to last till next month (we keep approx 10 ewe lambs to replenish the flock and 12 tup lambs to sell as breeding rams) you do need to be extra vigilant to be sure your lambs don’t lose condition and top up any 'poor doers' with extra rations which generally means separating them. Luckily we have plenty of space

 Sheep can be eaten at any age so if you keep them longer you won't be losing much if anything you gain more meat ( we regularly get 27-35Kg carcases back and they are still in demand)


As an aside abattoirs prefer to butcher castrated rams because they skin easier!
Something I found out last month talking to our ‘local’ abattoir 


 

[The Chicken Lady]

Thanks for that information. I will see how I get on with the Ryelands. Rosemary I would be interested in you pig and string method of calculation as I have two pigs that I am rearing and think may be ready for slaughter around September. However at the moment I feel that this is a bit hit and miss as I have no one locally to give me hands on advice. 

[Rosemary]

I'll put the "pig and string" stuff in the pig section - I'm just going to look for it.

That woudl be a good name for a pub "The Pig and String"

[chickens]

Hexhammeasure when you get 27 to 35kilos back from your lambs can you tell me what do you feed them and at what age do you send them off please and what breed are they?  Ours are dorset poll crosses.

Thanks
Nicki

[Hardfeather]

I ran a wee flock of Shetland ewes some years ago, and I tried quite a few breeds of tup over them..........Suffolk, Bleu du Maine, Rouge de L'ouest........all borrowed. 

They did their lambs very well, regardless of the tup used, but the best lambs I sold out of them were Border Leicester crosses.

The market buyer came to look at a commercial flock next door, and I asked him if he wanted mine too.

He said they were just what he was needing, at 18 kg to 22 kg (at that time they were going abroad, I think). They were a nice long carcase, well filled, but not over fat. Slower growing than Suffolk crosses, but they didn't lay down much fat...........and they were less expensive to feed.

I ran a few on to eighteen months of age and still got fair money for them at market.

[hexhammeasure]

we breed pure suffolks. No longer registered as it cost too much. basically we lamb from december through to february ewes are feb 1.5lb cake and a good handful of fodder beet eachuntil march when the grass starts to grow. lambs are weaned from early june to end of june depending on the june hay cut. we start to draw lambs  to demand from late october until we run out of lambs. we will feed any over wintered lambs on  a good handful of fodder beet with a basic ration of say 1/4lb of cake for the smaller group

I agree traditional breed ewes not covered with heavy terminal sires will grow slower and leaner and aren't as greedy as suffolk or other terminal crosses but local demand is for heavier less lean lamb

[chickens]

Thanks for your reply, sorry to be thick but what is cake? 
And would fodder beet be the same as mangels?
Nicki

[hexhammeasure]

Cake would be high protien supplements often called sheep pencils or sheep nuts. Basically a mix of mineral and vitamin suplemmented with sugar beet and other vegetable by products which are then compressed into a pencil shaped 'cake'

and fodder beet is a large root like a mangel or sugar beet. Not sure if it is the same I only know it as fodder beet.