The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: clydesdaleclopper on October 22, 2014, 06:43:47 pm
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I have just got my carcasses back and they were graded R5. These were last years lambs, all wethers and have had nothing but grass to eat (plus some hay in the winter).
Should I stop feeding hay over the winter?
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What breed? Most wethers, unless a primitive breed like the Soay, would have finished growing some menths ago and a summer on good grazing would've seen the calories converted to a fat layer in preparation for winter survival.
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Our butcher, who's just got our lambs said they were fat but not overly so (for a change) but he said with the good summer, a lot of lambs are fat - even the commercial breeds like Texels and Texel crosses.
All adds flavour ;)
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Wow R5 is fat! what breed were they?
If a smallish breed then often its better to take the lambs at smaller overall weights to prevent them from putting on too much fat after they have stopped/slowed growing
some breeds like shetlands or pure maternal breeds or even charollais will stay lean really well and others like beltex or texel or hampshire down can become over fat if let to grow on to big weights
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Does it matter, clydesdaleclopper? You'll have more waste at the butcher and if you had been feeding bagged feed, then you should probably stop that in future (but you haven't), so what's the big deal? It matters to farmers who are selling to butchers / dealers as the carcase classification affects the price but does it matter to you?
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Love fat on my lamb going in the freezer, its yummy!!!!!
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They are Gotland x Shetland so I really wasn't expecting them to be quite that lardy :o
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I have taken mine to Shotts today, again three of last year's wether lambs, Shetland x Gotland and also two pure Shetland wethers (coloured ones). The crosses were were big boys! Also no hard feed, just hay over the winter and grass all summer... so although I won't get a grade as such I will be able to compare... I have a feeling they will be on the fat side... (their hearts were covered in fat... :o)
There isn't much you can do, if there is no grass over winter you have to feed hay! It has been a good summer, and I have decided not to flush my ewes - they all have a good covering and some still have their lambs with them.