[waterbuffalofarmer]

I always keep back an old ewe I won't put to the tup again and let her run with the ewe lambs after they're split from the ram lambs.  She'll automatically become the head of the new little flock and, since she's a bucket trained Southdown, immediately respond to my call or the sight of a bucket and the youngsters learn from her. I also always put down a handful or so of feed when I call them, until they're thoroughly trained.

Can I ask ( if you don't mind) why she is left empty? Is it because she would have to train her own lambs, or is it because you don't want to breed from her?

[Womble]

Well that was a bit of a nightmare!  I forgot to put the propstand down on the trailer, so whilst they all filed in there quite the thing, it then tipped up and they ran straight back out again...... and then refused to go in a second time  .

They then spent the whole journey bouncing about and probably getting bruised (should probably have taken two trips instead of transporting the ewes along with the tup lambs  . Then of course when I got to the other end, they wouldn't come out of the trailer, which was a bit embarrassing!

Still, it's done now, and the next time I see them, they'll be chops. Definitely the right decision, but I'm still going to miss them  .

[SallyintNorth]

Well done, Womble.  No-one could say you didn't try.  And they'll taste wonderful 

[Womble]

Reporting back as promised:

• The ewes had to be halved at the abbatoir, and the spinal cord removed due to their age. This cost us £20 a head. They hung in the cold store for a week, then the butcher charged us £22 a head for butchery and freezing.
• We had one of the ewes cut as joints (not tried any yet), and the other two entirely minced. The jointed ewe weighed 14kg (for comparison, one of this year's Manx cross Shetland tup lambs who went at the same time (managed to miss him with the rubber band!) weighed 12kg jointed). The others yielded 11kg of mince each.
• So, for the minced ones, only taking into account slaughter and butchery costs,  that's (20+22)/11 = £3.80 per kg vs Tesco's current price of £6.67 per kg. I'm not making any judgement on this - just for interest.
• The mince looks far fattier than I'd expected from looking at the carcasses, and we drained about 20% fat off it during cooking. Perhaps the Manxes carried more fat internally, or maybe the butcher put the trimmings of the Z's into the mince. We'll use it ourselves, but I'd be embarrassed to ask top whack for it if we were selling.

And the verdict?  It tastes like mince!!  Ever so slightly chewier than supermarket mince, but the flavour isn't greatly different. Still, all's well that ends tastily! 

P.S. Alice, the remaining tame one still has footrot and has now lost almost all of one hoof, which we're treating as best we can (she's separated from the rest to avoid cross infection). This is causing her to limp a little bit, whereas it would have completely floored a Zwartbles. Are primitives less prone to foot rot, or can they just cope with it better due to their lower weight and better agility? - Discuss! 

[SallyintNorth]

I'm glad you've got some good meat for your troubles.  You paid a lot for kill and cut, though - when we get ours done, we book them in at the abattoir for our butcher; he pays the abattoir and charges us for both kill and cut.  Last time it was £24 for an adult Shetland ewe.

The ewe meat is generally more fatty, yes, and needs longer slower cooking - but should be absolutely delicious.  Discerning customers with good taste buds should be very happy to buy it off you!  If it's very fatty, I often cook, cool, skim, reheat - so cook today to eat tomorrow.  The dogs love the skimmings;) 

Poor Alice.  I hope she makes a full recovery.  I had some neighbour's sheep come and bring loads of footy germs onto the land where my fleece sheep are ; the limpies have been through the flock one by one.  Most of them have gone lame for two to three days, then recovered.  I generally do let them try to shake it off themselves, so they develop immunity; I only treat if they are struggling to overcome it.   So far I haven't needed to intervene at all.

[Womble]

Hi Sally, Yes I knew that was a bit steep from having read other threads, but went with it this time because I knew the quality would be good. Thanks for your comment though, and I'll investigate other alternatives for next time  .

[SophieYorkshire]

Been following this with keen interest Womble - we have some Herdwicks that I thought were going to follow the same foot steps as yours to the abattoir! Well they were if I could catch the blighters!

Then this weekend I managed to bring them all in together in less than 15 minutes - they must have heard me!  Decided to tup them, and give them another chance... but will be bearing in mind your food feedback for if/when they start misbehaving again!

Out of interest - what did you make with the mince?

[clydesdaleclopper]

Hi Sally, Yes I knew that was a bit steep from having read other threads, but went with it this time because I knew the quality would be good. Thanks for your comment though, and I'll investigate other alternatives for next time  .

Maybe it's a Scottish thing but we pay £25 for slaughter for splitters and £25 for butchery. I always read with envy when I see what you southerners pay

[SallyintNorth]

Hi Sally, Yes I knew that was a bit steep from having read other threads, but went with it this time because I knew the quality would be good. Thanks for your comment though, and I'll investigate other alternatives for next time  .

Maybe it's a Scottish thing but we pay £25 for slaughter for splitters and £25 for butchery. I always read with envy when I see what you southerners pay

Amazing.  The abattoir we're using is less than 15 miles from the Scottish Border   Probably about 10 as the crow flies.