The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: Nelson International on April 07, 2018, 10:30:59 pm
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I'm looking to send some of last year's lambs (now hoggs?) to slaughter in the nearish future, but I've been told that welsh mountain sheep can be a bit on the scrawny side (one of the reasons we're sending them as hoggs not as lambs) so I was wondering whether there's anything I could be doing now to make the most of them? I'm mostly used to pigs, which seem much more straightforward than sheep.
It's going to be for personal use, and we're mostly interested in roasting joints, and making stews or mince, and they're out in the fields but have had a bit of daily cake over the winter, in case any of that makes a difference.
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Yes they’re hoggs now, the meat is hogget not lamb.
If you can spare some grass for them, they’ll reward you for a bit more time on good grass. When I was on a farm with Swaledales and Texels, we used to eat “two summers”” Swaledale wether ourselves. It’s awesome, not fatty or stringy; cooks like lamb just with real flavour.
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We occasionally eat one of our Badger Face hoggets. The meat isn't as flavoursome as Southdown but makes for very good stews and casseroles. They'd probably benefit from a month or so on good grass, although it's unlikely to get growing until early May.
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You don't say what their condition score is at the moment ?
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Good question. I've not really gathered them in to inspect them in a while, and I have to confess I'm not the best condition scorer in the world. One of them is a ewe we bought last year when we got started, but she's never filled out the way her sisters have, so we don't think she'll be good to breed from. She's pretty slight.
But I think I'll get them in the pen, especially as it sounds like giving them a little more time on the new grass when it comes would be a good idea. I can give them a mineral drench and condition score them now as a baseline to see if they fill out.
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Depends what sort of welsh mountain sheep you have. :) They definitely don't grow over winter (say between Oct and April), so you have to get them away before then, or as now, wait a bit longer for them to flesh out on the new grass. Can you weigh them? Where abouts in the country are you?
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They're Nelsons (South Welsh Mountain), and we're on a hillside near Nelson ;) It definitely sounds like we need to give them a bit longer, rather than sending them off nowish.
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I do the same every year and keep a few back until the middle / end of may, they have a good covering on them with very little fat. Same breed as yours from just over the mountain. To me much better than the autumn lamb and a lot bigger.