[cambee]

Just interested in what you more experienced sheep keepers do. After their lambs are weaned we are going to have to cull 2 of our 6 breeding coloured Ryeland ewes this year (aged 3 and 6) as both prolapsed for the second year running and the older girl in particular had a very difficult birth of triplets, one breech and was very ill for 2 days afterwards costing us what I anticipate will be a lamb’s worth of vets fees and medicines.  My question is, how do you cull? The obvious would be to send away to the butcher for mutton but tbh I haven’t really got a market for it and having 8 out of 12 ram lambs this year means I’ll have enough meat to sell. I can’t face sending them to market in case they end up going to a rotten end. Should I just pay for the slaughterman to come and do the deed here? The wannabe farmer in me says that’s a waste but I feel it’s the least stressful way for the ewes. How do you deal with this?

[twizzel]

Mine go to market but they are run commercially. If you don’t want to send to market the hunt or knackerman would be the best option.

[Fleecewife]

When we have older ewes which need to go, we round them up into a hurdle pen, and get the knackerman to come with his humane bolt gun thingy. Our men are very nice and don't stress the animals before the deed. Having them destroyed at home, without the stress of going through a mart, is worth the (small) cost to me.  In fact with ewes that young, we would not waste the meat, but once their hardships and the AntiBs have worked their way out of their system we would send them to the abattoir  and use the mutton ourselves.  They would make brilliant sausages, without the preservatives which cause health problems to people. I agree that if you send them to market you don't know how they will be treated afterwards, and that would not sit well with me.

[SallyintNorth]

Agree with Fleecwife.  Plus, we find mutton burgers are absolutely delicious - and if you have the facilities to store and sell in packs of ten or twenty, maybe along with sausages and perhaps packs of diced and minced similarly, you would recoup your expenses and more. 

Finding a local pie maker who would appreciate mutton is another option.  And if you have a local kebab shop which isn’t a chain, it might be worth asking if they would buy them, picking them up from the butcher or direct from the abattoir.

[Womble]

We had three ewes with mastitis a couple of years ago and were really worried that we wouldn't be able to sell the meat. However, we were wrong. Most people were willing to try a bit and then came back for more. Other people remembered mutton from their childhoods but had been unable to source any, and we've had several people now enquire about it specially.


Just a word to the wise - make sure the butcher labels it clearly as mutton. Ours came back marked as lamb, and though I explained it to everybody, people's memories aren't great and I did have a couple of complaints that some of that year's lamb had been tough.

[PipKelpy]

I know how you feel but at the end of day for me, it's down to cost. I sent 2 ewes, 11 year old and 5 year old through the cull section of the market yesterday but I had also taken spring lambs as well. They were both homebred so I know what kind of life they've had. With regards to the meat, where I live, not everyone wants to pay for the meat and I can't afford to give it away. I did some hoggets for meat several years ago as lots of people asked. So I forked out and had 8 killed and butchered (proper abbatoir) worked out the costs and sold each carcass by the pound so some could have heavy others light. Everyone was informed before hand that the costs would vary between £80 and £110. All smiled and said fine! On the day of delivery, 3 changed their mind and 1 decided that despite his being heaviest he wanted to pay less. Fortunately, 1 of the other customers turned around and nabbed the box off him and said she liked her meat had his box as well as hers. She did actually come back for several years for another hogget whenever I had any done. Now lamb wise, I only have done for myself, pigs are done for myself, sister and cousin, the same with beef. I do understand that not everyone has a big freezer but I can't sell in dribs and drabs. I have also had an old ewe sent off for meat and it was some of the toughest rubbish i have ever had to eat. It was like chewing leather. Stewing made no difference!! Fortunately she was a Manx so there wasn't tonnes of it, but it put me off for life!!

[bj_cardiff]

I keep my sheep in as much of a commercial way as possible, they don't make much profit but they do make some and if I can recoup £50 on a ewe that's come to the end of its time, then I have to do so. £50 is quite a bit of feed for the other sheep!

I sell all of my lambs and Culls to a local commercial buyer. Its hard when its an older ewe that has been a favourite or a friendly Ram though..

[oor wullie]

At around 3 they are at their peak age for tasty meat, much better than lamb and before they get too old.  I'd eat them myself, sending them to the knacker man seems a bit like pouring 1st growth Bordeaux down the sink!

[macgro7]

I have also had an old ewe sent off for meat and it was some of the toughest rubbish i have ever had to eat. It was like chewing leather. Stewing made no difference!! Fortunately she was a Manx so there wasn't tonnes of it, but it put me off for life!!

You should have minced her into sausages or burgers!

[pharnorth]

I had the same issue a couple of years back. I sent 3 ewes aged around 4 to the abbatoir. Because of the reputation (old tough etc) and lack of familiarity I sold it to my usual lamb customers (neighbours not commercial) well under the lamb price. The universal feedback was that it was very very tasty. So I didnt have a market for it, now I do! 

[cambee]

Thanks all. It’s always so helpful getting people’s views and expertise on this forum. The one thing I hadn’t thought of was sausages/mince/burgers. We sold our lambs last year as half lambs so I thought I would have to do the same with mutton and that I’d struggle finding a market. We were contemplating investing in a big freezer to sell joints etc from this year so sausages and burgers would work too. So if you send a sheep for sausages how does it work? Does the butcher mince and sausage the whole sheep or just the good bits? And presumably it puts the price of the kill and cut up?

[SallyintNorth]

Our butcher charges per head for slaughter plus per kilo for butchering and per kilo for making sausages or burgers.  So you can ask what your butcher will charge and work out what you’d need to sell at to make any money, and see if you think it worth it.

Or, as oor wullie says, put the mutton in your own freezer and sell all the lamb .  I’m with oor wullie on that! 

I’ll tell one other story.  We’re all different, but this was my experience. When I was farming up north, I wanted to be doing my best for my sheep, but also doing it properly, making commercial decisions and not being sentimental. I had a favourite ewe, Judith, and when she couldn’t be bred any more I put her in with a batch of ex-BH’s cull ewes for the mart. I went to the mart with them, and visited them in their pen to make sure they were all ok.  Judith was clearly relieved to see me, and visibly relaxed when she saw I was there.  I was glad for her I had been able to reduce her anxiety, but the memory of the feeling of betrayal that came over me will be with me forever.  I sent one more favourite to the mart but didn’t have the guts to go with her, and felt equally bad that I hadn’t been able to give her the moral support she deserved.  So now, being on a small scale and having the luxury of making this choice, my old girls go with me to the abattoir for our own use, or it’s the hunt, vet or knacker man to the premises for them.  No more unknown destinations.  If I’ve learned one thing in my varied life, it’s that feeling good about yourself is the most precious thing you have.  Some things are really not about the money.  But again, we are all different and I don’t in any way suggest that others should make this same choice.  Only that each of us should, if we possibly can, make the choice that feels right for us.

[Fleecewife]

Cambee, when we have had sausages and burgers made, I take along the flavourings I want them to add.  For example, Herbes de Provence, black pepper, there's a spicy chilli mix Lakeland do which is scrummy, North African spices with minced apricot, whatever I think might be tasty.  Not mint though, which tastes of nothing when in a sausage, I find.  My butcher is very long suffering  .  I write out exact instructions, and if we're not sure of amounts, then we go with trial and error.
Sheep sausages are very different to pork, but most people love them, after tasting a few. Minced mutton is wonderful in a home made soup or stew based on home cooked beans such as Haricots.


I have used the whole carcass for sausages and burgers, but slow roast mutton is so good that I tend to keep the gigots whole. Otherwise whatever you specify goes in. You need to discuss with your butcher how much of the fat you want included.  Our Hebrideans are very lean, so the sausages are a bit hard, but I expect your Ryelands will carry a bit more fat.

[SallyintNorth]

The last lot of lamb sausages (mutton I think, but could have been hogget) we had were just seasoned and were utterly divine   Our sheep are ultra tasty though - Zwartbles and xes, Shetland x, Castlemilk Moorit x and Manx x, all very strongly flavoured meats. 

The other folks here love the mint ones!  But I’m with FW, I don’t usually find them that good.  But then, I’m a bit “why sully great meat with flavourings” anyway, and tend to only use sauces, mustards etc when the meat isn’t top quality in terms of taste.

[macgro7]

Try Polish style sausages next time - just meat (no bread or any other fillers), lots of garlic, salt and pepper.
You stuff the sausages, put them in hot water for a while, and then normally smoke (but you can also barbecue or boil).

Completely diferent then the British bangers!