The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: FarmerJase on May 16, 2013, 12:33:32 pm
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Afternoon All,
We've got a small flock of Dorset sheep that produced 8 healthy lambs this year (late January) - 3 ewes and 5 rams. We will be keeping two of the ram lambs for meat, but will want to sell the other three. I've had a local farmer (who lent me their Dad a pure bred Dorset Ram) and he thinks there pretty good. So, with a Dorset Sheep sale just down the road from us in Llandovery at the end of June, do you think 5 month old lambs are too young to sell or should i be waiting later on until the Autumn?
Cheers
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Speak to the auctioneers , but if you havn't fed them really really well they may look small compared to the regular sellers lambs
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I dont think they are too young as long as they are weaned and stablised on creep and cake. If they are going on to be kept as registered pure breeds then they will be fine at that age and thats certainly the age that I buy in new lambs. If youe are selling them as store lambs then again thats roughly the age that people would expect to buy them in for finishing.
If you are wanting to sell the ram lambs as registered tups then I agree with shep that they may look small by comparison with what is on offer and some people do prefer breeding rambs to be developed enough for them to see what they are getting. Some one may offer less for yours but then thats in part because they have the cost of feed, meds and finishing them so its all reletive I suppose.
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Cheers for the advice guys. :)
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Hi Guys,
So thought I'd provide an update on the two ram lambs I might be sending to the Dorset sale in Llandovery at the end of the month. As its our first time at rearing sheep from lambing, do you think they are ok for 4 months of age? (The photo obviously shows one of my ewes as well!)