Keeping lambs for meat

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Hannah

Joined: 24 Feb 2005
Posts: 277
Location: Pembrokeshire

Posted: Mon Aug 21, 06 2:32 pm Post subject: Keeping lambs for meat

Being a complete newbie to sheep I wondered if you could help me. I would like to keep a couple of lambs for meat, but would like to know more and the costs involved, like ...

How long do you keep the lambs before slaughter?
How much does it cost to feed them for this time and what do they eat (apart from grass)?
How much meat do you actually get i.e. we are 2 adults, if we ate lamb 1/2 times a week how long would it last us? How many chest freezers would it fill?
How much would two lambs cost?
Depending on how long you keep them, what are the chances of having to trim feet or deal with maggots etc?

Many thanks and any other help gratefully received too.

Hannah

tahir

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45674
Location: Essex

Posted: Mon Aug 21, 06 2:37 pm Post subject:
I'd be interested too. I'm not interested in rearing them, just buying some in and fattening up over summer. It's a 3 acre field that I'll probably fence with electrics. I've been told that I could keep up to 20 in there depending how long I keep them for.

Rob R

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 31902
Location: York

Posted: Mon Aug 21, 06 3:19 pm Post subject: Re: Keeping lambs for meat

How long do you keep the lambs before slaughter?
How much does it cost to feed them for this time and what do they eat (apart from grass)?

Up to you really, a lamb can be finished by four months of age, but requires intensive creep feeding. The other extreme is a two year old hogget fed only grass (and maybe some hay in the winter)

How much meat do you actually get i.e. we are 2 adults, if we ate lamb 1/2 times a week how long would it last us? How many chest freezers would it fill?

Again, depends on breed, how long you keep them, etc. But a side of lamb/hogg can be from 8kg to 15kg (or even more/less, just over half what it weighs alive). And depending how you have it butchered, a 10kg side of lamb may take up one or two drawers of a standard upright freezer.

How much would two lambs cost?

Depending what weight you buy at, but about �1/kg (liveweight) at the moment.

Depending on how long you keep them, what are the chances of having to trim feet or deal with maggots etc?

Between May & September is the main fly season & you always have to be vigilant. There are preventative chemicals & organic alternatives you can apply to reduce the risk of strike. These need reapplying at certain intervals depending upon weather conditions & the potency of the product in question. Feet need trimming up every few months, again depending on weather etc., but usually you do them when you gather for other purposes.

tahir

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45674
Location: Essex

Posted: Mon Aug 21, 06 3:25 pm Post subject: Re: Keeping lambs for meat

Rob R wrote:

Depending on how long you keep them, what are the chances of having to trim feet or deal with maggots etc?

Between May & September is the main fly season & you always have to be vigilant. There are preventative chemicals & organic alternatives you can apply to reduce the risk of strike. These need reapplying at certain intervals depending upon weather conditions & the potency of the product in question. Feet need trimming up every few months, again depending on weather etc., but usually you do them when you gather for other purposes.

I was hoping you'd say "well if you're only keeping them from say Apr-Oct you shouldn't have to worry about it"

judith

Joined: 16 Dec 2004
Posts: 22789
Location: Montgomeryshire

Posted: Mon Aug 21, 06 3:34 pm Post subject: Re: Keeping lambs for meat

tahir wrote:

I was hoping you'd say "well if you're only keeping them from say Apr-Oct you shouldn't have to worry about it"

Unless you are looking to bottle feed orphan lambs, isn't April rather early to be buying?
Store lambs are hard to come by in these parts - everyone sells them as fat and ready for the butcher. Might be different over on your side of the country though.

tahir

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45674
Location: Essex

Posted: Mon Aug 21, 06 3:36 pm Post subject: Re: Keeping lambs for meat

judith wrote:

Unless you are looking to bottle feed orphan lambs, isn't April rather early to be buying?

I don't know. Do you think I have any idea at all on this????

Rob R

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 31902
Location: York

Posted: Mon Aug 21, 06 3:39 pm Post subject:
You could buy Christmas born lambs that haven't made the grade for the Easter market around April, not something I would recommend though. Some less intensive breeders aim for Christmas lambing too, but for 'seasonal' lamb, you are right Judith.

Rob R

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 31902
Location: York

Posted: Mon Aug 21, 06 3:43 pm Post subject: Re: Keeping lambs for meat

tahir wrote:

I was hoping you'd say "well if you're only keeping them from say Apr-Oct you shouldn't have to worry about it"

There's never a time like that where livestock are concerned, that's why people pay folk like me to tear our hair out.

tahir

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45674
Location: Essex

Posted: Mon Aug 21, 06 3:48 pm Post subject: Re: Keeping lambs for meat

Rob R wrote:

There's never a time like that where livestock are concerned, that's why people pay folk like me to tear our hair out.

Bugger, I'm already going bald.

sally_in_wales
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 06 Mar 2005
Posts: 20809
Location: sunny wales

Posted: Mon Aug 21, 06 3:50 pm Post subject: Re: Keeping lambs for meat

tahir wrote:

Rob R wrote:

There's never a time like that where livestock are concerned, that's why people pay folk like me to tear our hair out.

Bugger, I'm already going bald.

I make very fetching hairpieces, I could do you some plaits

tahir

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45674
Location: Essex

Posted: Mon Aug 21, 06 3:52 pm Post subject: Re: Keeping lambs for meat

sally_in_wales wrote:

I make very fetching hairpieces, I could do you some plaits

In that case why not?

judith

Joined: 16 Dec 2004
Posts: 22789
Location: Montgomeryshire

Posted: Mon Aug 21, 06 3:53 pm Post subject: Re: Keeping lambs for meat

sally_in_wales wrote:

I make very fetching hairpieces, I could do you some plaits

When he gets his sheep, he can make his own

Rob R

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 31902
Location: York

Posted: Mon Aug 21, 06 3:55 pm Post subject: Re: Keeping lambs for meat

tahir wrote:

Rob R wrote:

There's never a time like that where livestock are concerned, that's why people pay folk like me to tear our hair out.

Bugger, I'm already going bald.

It looks like it from the avatar

tahir

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45674
Location: Essex

Posted: Mon Aug 21, 06 3:58 pm Post subject: Re: Keeping lambs for meat

Rob R wrote:

It looks like it from the avatar

Happens to us all young Rob

gil
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 08 Jun 2005
Posts: 18415

Posted: Mon Aug 21, 06 3:59 pm Post subject:

When to buy lambs depends on where you are (south-north), and when lambing happens. Plenty of store lambs around here and in hill areas.

Two possibilities occur to me (RobR, just say if I'm talking carp on the 2nd one) :

1. Because so many hill farmers (at least in Scotland) went organic, but lowland farmers did not, there has been, and I think still is, a surplus of organic store lambs. They would otherwise get sold on and conventionally fattened and sold as non-organic.

2. Cross-breeds that are bred as upland breeding stock, rather than for eating (such as Scotch Mules) : it's the ewe lambs that are wanted as mothers, not the wether (castrated male) lambs. So surplus male lambs, which are not considered 'easy' to fatten, and hence not much use, might be available cheaply. Just how hard is it to fatten them, what are they like as eating, and does it matter if they don't fill out ? : surely that's just a lean, light lamb, which might be fine. Also surplus purebred male hill lambs that don't make the grade as breeding tups, and may not fatten easily.

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