The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: smee2012 on December 14, 2012, 08:43:49 pm
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Just got our four boys back from the butchers and I have to say that we are a little disappointed!
I'm not sure what the average half-lamb box/bag normally holds but I was expecting something in the region of about 10-12kgs for our Zwartbles lambs.
The total amount we got back (which I think includes the kidneys, heart and liver we asked to have back) was:
Dave: 16.4kgs
Bo/Luke: 14.6kgs
Luke/Bo: 14.6kgs
Tim: 11.8kgs
There's not a lot of fat to be seen either - although I know that Zwartbles are a lean breed. They were April lambs but they were also entire and I think they lost quite a bit of condition over the last month or so, despite being fed 1lb of cake each, per day, during that time.
Next year we are going to have castrated lambs, born a month or so earlier, and perhaps get them slaughtered a bit earlier in the year. Any other tips for a bigger payload at slaughter-time? Our ewe lambs are huge, despite not having had much cake at all!
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Ram lambs, Were they near ewes mating time,hormones, loss of condition,away to late, bad year for good grass. Should be better next year fingers crossed
:fc:
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Ram lambs will finish quicker when entire - but if you have to keep them over winter, wont go framey if you castrate.
So, next year if you want a quick finish, don't castrate - but thus year will have paid people who did.
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You got just about as much butchered meat back from your 4 Zwartbles lambs as I did from my 4 Castlemilk Moorits 2-year-old wethers. The Castlemilks were very fit, but even so I would have expected you to get more from your Zwartbles - the Zwartbles is a much larger sheep, and should have more muscle (better conformation as far as the meat industry is concerned) than the Castlemilks.
If you get a chance next year, go to one of the big sheep shows (North Sheep, South Sheep, etc) where Eblex have a stand and get yourself a demo and hands-on go at assessing lambs' condition.
Generally liveweight to deadweight is around 40-50% - a well-caked Texel at the higher end of that, a grass-reared hill lamb at the lower. There'll be more losses in the butchering, especially if you have any of the bones taken out, of course. And more losses if the lamb is fat, as the butcher will trim as much fat as possible.
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The weights above are half-lambs I think.
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My Shetland ram lambs (entire and 7 months old) came back 38lbs and 29lbs. Very lean and I was pleased with them. They had a couple of hanfuls of coarse mix daily to keep them tame and a bit of hay which they largely ignored and grass.
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My suffolk entire lambs have been impossible to finish this year so I will be overwintering them for a spring carcass, the wethers are just under being fat and go tomorrow
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Our 6 were lambed late March and killed beginning of October this year. All from commercial stock, we had 3 suffolk x and 3 that we weren't too sure what they were, but they all killed out very well. I think the lightest was 10.9kg and the heaviest was 13.4kg per half lamb. They were out on good grass though and were fed every day (we stopped creep feeding July time but they were out with 6 heifers and joined in at feeding time so had some calf cake/corn too!).
I guess half of your problem was that they are natives, maybe it would have been better to keep them on over winter and slaughter in feb/march, but hindsight is a wonderful thing.
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Our Zwartbles lambs from March went away beginning of November and came back jointed and ready at between 20kgs and 24kgs. All only on grass. We have also kept some back to go end of March which will be a little heavier and be tastier.
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iffy you crossed them with texel you would get a better product .I have 50 of them and i will cross them with texel .But i don't send eney to slaughter .
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The weights above are half-lambs I think.
No, that was the size of each lamb that I quoted.
As someone said - hindsight is a wonderful thing! This is our first year of sheep and we didn't realise that ram lambs lost condition at this time of year. Hopefully we'll do better next year, having had the benefit of TAS for a whole year!
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Ram lambs do tend to grow frame first then pack on the meat. Feeling the tail head for coverage of the bones can be a good indicator of condition if you don't have scales. Pasture quality has been low on protein this year.