The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: Bumblebear on August 30, 2012, 02:51:15 pm
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Hi all, we bought our 2 lambs a month or so ago, they were born end of March and we were wondering when we should be sending them off. We don't have scales and I don't think there is a pig weight tape equivilent so do I just go by age/condition?
I am going to try to condition score them in a bit (my first time so I hope it's obvious!) but they still seem to get through the smallest gap!
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They need to weigh a decent amount 35kg minimum i would say.
you should be able to get hold of the tail and at the base and feel a decent girth of meat :o the tail base like on cattle puts on fat nicley so you should be able to feel that at the tail. then put your hand on the wing rib and you should be able to feel the meat on the bone. the bone should be covered by a nice layer than makes the end of the wing rib blunt. what you dont want is to feel sharp bones.
very difficult to right this down in a way you can understand... sorry!
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Where abouts in the country are you?
It's not so much about size as the level of "finish". You could have a 50kg lamb that is not ready to slaughter if very lean.
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We're in Norfolk.....
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We're in Norfolk.....
Too far for me to come then. The best way to judge finish is to feel the tail and the loin, if you can easily feel bones then more finishing is required.
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It was really thoughtful of you anyway - and much appreciated. Thanks for your responses everyone but I'm still a tad unsure...I think it's one of those things that you have to feel a good one and a bad one to know for sure. I'll let my butcher friend come and have a squeeze.
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First time for us with lambs, we were told to get to 40kg and send them in.
Bathroom scales and a piece of flat wood to stand on.....sheep weighed. Anybody watching from a distance must have wondered what the hell was going on though!
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The magic weight thing doesn't always work Zac we had lambs earlier this season which at their weight and just by eye the auctioneer and others of experience were convinced would top the market........not so......they were a little lean.....great conformation but lean nonetheless...we're learning to feel..... :-[
and no......that wasn't a cue for rude comments ;)
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The magic weight thing doesn't always work Zac we had lambs earlier this season which at their weight and just by eye the auctioneer and others of experience were convinced would top the market........not so......they were a little lean.....great conformation but lean nonetheless...we're learning to feel..... :-[
and no......that wasn't a cue for rude comments ;)
Please don't go by weight and looks alone, handling the lambs is essential!
I sort lambs for our local weekly auction and see dissapointed faces every week when the lambs didn't sell as well as the vendors expected. (Might I add that some of these are farmers that have been selling lambs for years and still can't judge them right!)
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we're not !! like i said learning to feel.....as advised on here some time ago :thumbsup:
They looked cracking and to be honest we have never come out of the market badly....it's all a learning process the time to stop would be when you stop learning ;D ;D
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As then grass isnt growing much now should I be feeding hay too roam I too impatient?? They have a scoop of ewe nuts between them just to keep them bucket tame, too.
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THIS LINK MIGHT HELP (http://www.google.co.uk/images?q=condition+scoring+a+lamb&rls=com.microsoft%3Aen-gb%3AIE-Address&oe=UTF-8&rlz=1I7GGLL_en&redir_esc=&hl=en&sa=X&oi=image_result_group)