[Smitch]

Hello,

I will soon be taking on 5 Heb lambs to fatten & have a couple of questions:

1)Where to source hay? Where should I be looking to find hay for sale at this time of year? And any advice on how to budget for how much I will require for them to see them through until the grass comes away again?

2)Transport to slaughter - I don’t have a trailer myself at present, are there any businesses out there that will provide transport for such a small number or am I best asking a friend to help?

Many thanks

[SallyintNorth]

Your local agri store may sell hay, and / or will have a noticeboard with private ads on it.

And there will probably be a local smallholders group on Facebook, with a marketplace.

If all else fails, go ask a local livestock farmer if s/he has some and can spare you a bit.  If they don't feed hay themselves, they'll know who you could ask.  (And being known to your local farmers is always good .)

Without knowing where you are, how much and what sort of land you've got, it's impossible to guess when you'll have grass, but even the most inhospitable places usually have grass growing by the end of April.

Rule of thumb for feeding housed sheep is one small bale per 20 sheep per day.  Halve that for teenies, and reduce again if they're outside on grass.  (Halve for obviously usable grass, reduce by less if the grass is bare.)

So 5 Heb hoggs (they're not lambs after 31st Dec, they're hoggs - assuming they were born last year) on bare ground would likely need approx 1 small bale a week for up to 8 weeks.  If you can get big round bales more easily and you have somewhere you can feed it without it getting spoiled or too much wasted, one big round bale would probably do it.

[chrismahon]

When we took our first lambs to slaughter we hired a large van. Just covered the floor with cardboard and hay and cleaned it thoroughly before returning it. They were only going 10 minutes up the road, so no ventilation issues.


We didn't need hay. They arrived in April when the grass was growing but supplemented their diet with pellets which we're later rattled in a bucket to call them over to the gate and ultimately into the van.

[SallyintNorth]

As to transport, there's probably a local farmer who will do small loads as a favour or for a consideration, or can take yours along with their own, again your local smallholder FB group would help point you in the right direction, or ask your local farmer for suggestions.

Our local butcher has a chap (who is both a farmer and one of the butchers) will pick up small loads for a modest fee, which gets added to the butchery bill.  If you are having the slaughterhouse do the butchering, the slaughterhouse may be able to suggest someone.

[SallyintNorth]

When we took our first lambs to slaughter we hired a large van. Just covered the floor with cardboard and hay and cleaned it thoroughly before returning it. They were only going 10 minutes up the road, so no ventilation issues.

This option is unlikely to work in UK, there are usually (or might be if it's a small operation) inspectors at the abattoir who will reject any unloading that does not comply with regulations - which includes a ramp with a specified range of allowable slope, and explicitly excludes jumping out of a van.  (Yes, even for sheep which happily jump much bigger walls left to their own devices... ask me how I know...  )

[Fleecewife]

Buying hay one small bale at a time is the expensive way, especially were you to get it from a pet shop. So if you have a shed where you can store say 10 small bales that will be a small cost improvement. You really need fresh hay every year so for only 5 sheep you will miss out on economy of scale, even buying 10 bales at once.
The first time we had to buy in hay, we went to a roup (farm closing down sale) where people were getting anything from one to 500 bales of the most wonderful hay.


For transport, if this is more than a one-off, you really should get your own transport. Not a big posh new trailer but you could pick up a small one second hand (maybe at that roup!)  Familiarise yourself with the regulations re transport and tagging before you buy anything.  Having to pay someone else for everything you do such as transport will wipe out any potential profit you might make, and will also take away any timing choices.
Assuming these hoggs will be sold at 16 months, you may need to shear them, or get them shorn - more expense so something worth learning yourself.  However, if shearing is timed just right, or you send them before they need shorn, it might be possible to get the skins back for tanning and selling on.  Investigate that too 

[Richmond]

We don't have access to a trailer anymore (used to borrow the neighbours till it became unroadworthy) but we now have an arrangement with our butcher who collects our animals and takes them to the abattoir. It may be that your chosen butcher will offer a similar service.

[docsal]

Hi
We do 4-5 Hebs at a time. They are lovely animals!
We are Aberdeenshire and have a rarely used trailer we could loan/hire/trade….

[Possum]

If you are in the West Country, Boulter Mead do trailer hire.

[Penninehillbilly]

Check with the abattoir, we've take a few in our Berlingo, nobody commented. (yet ).
Back of van is just about level with loading bay, we can back right up.

[SallyintNorth]

Check with the abattoir, we've take a few in our Berlingo, nobody commented. (yet ).
Back of van is just about level with loading bay, we can back right up.

Nice one!