[manian]

hi
how much should i be charging for my lambs??
for meat
Mandie

[shearling]

Hi sorry no idea either! I suspect it depends on where you are and what you have. I was going to ask too. I~ have 3 eight year old portlands and 2 or 3 portland ram lambs (this years) for the chop also would like to know what to ask and how to ask it?

[GeorgieB82]

What we do is check the local market reports to find what live lambs are going for per kg on average and make that the base price so if the lamb was 30kg live and the market price was £2.00 per kg the lamb would be worth £60 plus slaughter costs.

We do it like that because if people baulk at the price I'll take them to market and sell them live, either way i'm getting the market value.

It does all depend on what your customers are happy to pay.

It gets a bit messy if you start selling it as joints as one part is more expensive per kg than another.

Hope this helps

[manian]

thanks for that
i was thinking about £100 for a lamb so should be about right
Mx

[SallyintNorth]

Blimey I'm getting a lorry and bringing all ours down your way!

Our last batch (last week) averaged £75 per head.  These are Charollais crosses, all but two were the weights and conformation required for the supermarkets.  (In this case Morrisons.)  Our first two lambs of the year, of this same breeding but two of the very best examples, and rather heavier than the supermarkets want, topped our local mart at £127.50 per head.  Since then the ppk has dropped by 20%.

I don't know what the marts and market are like down your way, but here you'd get a lot more for your rare breeds selling meat directly at farmers' markets or by the quarter or half a lamb than you would in the ring.  The bulk of the buyers who go to the marts are buying for export and supermarkets so there is competition for that kind of animal.  There'll probably only be one or two buyers wanting less commercial animals, so less competition and therefore a lower price.

[Collie26]

I agree with sally, selling rare breed at mart is practically useless up north county durham, because you go up against big commerical lambs like charoilias,  mules, cheviots, texels beltexs who will almost certainly be prefered at a mart unless its a rare breed mart?
/market.

So in all sell local friends family farmers markets up here people arent always willing to pay that bit extra for rare breed meat

[GeorgieB82]

If they are rare breeds I think my basis for pricing goes out of the window. I don't do rare breeds, my flock is made up of the unwanted and unloved from the mart, brought home and given a new lease of life. None of my flock (apart from my rams) cost me more than £25 original outlay!#

We don't see many rare breeds through our local marts, I think the closest we get are a couple of Balwens or Badger-Faces (of which I have one of each).

[manian]

mine aren't commercial either
they are all cade lambs (is that how you spell it?? )
got them free from a farmer friend and they are a mixture......
plan to sell to friends / family....... luckily i work in the health service so have a large pool of collegues, that want to know where there meat has come from......

[jaykay]

We also look at the top end of the supermarket prices and charge that per kilo. We sell meat directly to friends and colleagues, no less than half-a-lamb at a time. People seem happy to pay that sort of rate, for what they say is way better meat. Suits us all. I suppose it works out at about £80 per half (we breed Rough Fells - large hill sheep). There's butchering to factor into that, as we send the lambs to the local abattoir and they come back vacuum packed and labelled, which is how townies like them 

[lachlanandmarcus]

I only sell the odd half and only to friends/family, so it's mates rates just to cover costs etc but for our wee scrawny Shetlands I charge them £40 a half for lamb or £45 for hoggett. If I was selling to the public it would be more.

edited to add that covers the meat, slaughter and butchery. Not too much profit but it does mean my half is 'free' :-)

[raygezer]

Interesting topic I live in Brittany i had three lambs to go for meat kept 1 and a half for my freezer sold half to a neighbour and the butcher bought the other,butcher paid 6.50 euros a kilo it weighed in at 23.40 kilos ,neighbour paid 8euros a kilo didn't want to sell to Joe public but OH had other plans.just had own lamb chops the taste was better than super markets so i think I should of kept others for freezer.

[Cobra]

Prices in the South West are the highest they have ever been. £80 - £100 common place at the moment

[Daisys Mum]

I have just sold 4 shetland hoggets butchered at £80 each. I am planning on changing to a faster growing breed as this lot cost a fortune due to having to feed lots of hay during the winter. I think I would rather get them away as lambs, the problem is I don't know what breed to go for.Any suggestions would be welcomed 

[GeorgieB82]

I have just sold 4 shetland hoggets butchered at £80 each. I am planning on changing to a faster growing breed as this lot cost a fortune due to having to feed lots of hay during the winter. I think I would rather get them away as lambs, the problem is I don't know what breed to go for.Any suggestions would be welcomed 

Our White Welsh Mountains and Beulah Speckled Faces are ready to go now after being born in Mid March, which I think is a quick turnaround and the lambs have only eaten grass, no concentrates or forage.

[jaykay]

We send our Rough Fells in October, having been born in April. Grass only. But a cross or meat breed would grow faster.