The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: Coximus on November 30, 2015, 11:29:29 am
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I've got 7 intact ram lambs, left over from those that were saved with a view to selecting the best for breeding, They are all of good weight now and ready to go, however as its season still, is it ok for them to be sent off? Or do I have to wait until after new year?
Ideally Id like to send them in now and get the chopped as I have customers wanting Heb hogget and im running low on finished animals - I could sell all 7 in a week at the moment.
Do I need to keep them seperate from others for a week or 3?
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My April-born ram lambs will be going in early January. They're run separately from females of all ages after weaning. Never had a problem with ram taint.
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We sent ours away intact mid October - they weren't in sight, sound, scent of any females and they were fine.
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I keep all mine entire as they grow quicker.
I sent some into the fatstock market last week and they fetched the same price as the females. I don't separate male and female lambs after weaning and have never had a problem with the males smelling ram like.
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How do you get them to killing weight as lambs Coximus? Ours wouldn't be worth sending yet.
But yes, as lambs they will have no taint. We usually send ours at 16 months which is early Aug so nowhere near breeding season, and they make a dead weight of somewhere between 15 and 22 kgs, grass fed. There is no taint then either. The only rammy smell we've had with Hebs was from one 7 yo tup, and he was inedible, even cooked in curry :P
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Disappointingly sent one ram to slaughter ( 2 yo) in the July and there was ram taint. he had never been anywhere near a ewe ( they are kept on a different site) I wondered if July was perhaps too late ( typically see signs of a rise in hormones in August here.
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We sent several last week .... LOVELY :excited:
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We sent several last week .... LOVELY :excited:
I had half of one of Backinwellies lambs last week Eaten a couple of chops so far and they are very good :thumbsup:
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these are all 1/4 or 1/8 texel, although the 1/8 and 1/4 texels hebs are selected on growth rate and frame, so tend to grow well and the ones that grew at a more heb pace are not bred from or kept.
Not a breeding strategy I am persuing in future, and will finsih with these as the ewes are culled - it works well but the problem with lambing and strike are not worth the extra effort.