[MarvinH]

Trying to understand livestock markets - visited stratford a few times.

It appears from reading market reports  that cull ewes  generally are selling for over £100 - -- more than what lambs are fetching.  Why is this? Is it just the ammount of meat on them as I would have thought lambs to fetch more. Who would be buying these ewes and what do they do with them?

What - if any, is the difference between lambs & hoggets that are  to feed up and slaughter to ones that would be suitable breeding stock?

Finished sheep - store sheep ; differences please.

What is the current £value for 1xgns

thanks

[robert waddell]

it is normally pedigree animals that are sold in guineas   one   Guinea is twenty one shillings   or 105 pence in new money
texel or beltex ewes or similar will get the most Shetlands and soay will get the least as not much on them

[Fleecewife]

So do cull ewes go into the famous Scottish Mutton Pie? 

[deepinthewoods]

they go in kebabs, halal slaughter.

[shep53]

So do cull ewes go into the famous Scottish Mutton Pie? 
[/quote  Sadly no ,most scotch pies are beef ,for mutton you need a butcher or baker who make their own.Most ewes are for export/kebabs/ethnic community .                                                                                                JS- market reports only give the few highest prices, better to look at the market averages probably nearer £75-£80, small hill/old ewes maybe £40-£50 .  No difference between lambs and hoggs for killing or breeding ,only sex , breed type eg most but not all suffolk/texel/charolais lambs go for killing , nearly all female mules /llyens go for breeding.   Store  sheep are too small/young/lean to killright away and need better grass /crops/ concentrates to fatten , finished are ready to kill                                                                              

[Bionic]

We went to suss out a sheep market yesterday.  I couldn't make out what was happening half the time but it seems the fat lambs were going for around £85 and the cull ewes about £65.
Sally

[Mallows Flock]

Different times of the year = different prices.
During the Ramadan period prices soar ready for end of Ramadan and their mass feasting after. Then prices drop.  My wether commerical sold for £98 at end of April. As Ramadan was over prices dropped to £83 for same quality/weight sheep.  Summer prices always lower as farmers tend to lamb early so plentiful supplies of lamb so not worth as much. Demand is huge towards xmas so price soars again and stays high into January. It's all about supply and dmeand.
Dont sell Primitives at commercial markets. A pen of Shetlands went for £32 per life at Frome a few weeks back and they had about 9 lambs at foot which are included in the price of the ewes. i.e the total of 19 lives went for a mere £320!!! (10 ewes were paid for - 9 lambs were essentially free!!!)
A guinea is £1.05. traditionally £1 went to the farmer and 5pence to the Auctioneer although most commercial markets talk in pounds... I think high quality sheep auctions use guineas and they tend to be sold singly rather than as per pen but this varies from market to market! Frome and Petherton use pounds in the bidding.
The best prices for lambs are when the lambs are 40kg or more. Under that tends to get much lower prices... hence commercial breeds do well here....gain the weight quicker and easier.
I know many people who buy cull ewes to use as breeders and they live long healthy lives and rear lambs very well.
Hope this helps
lisa

[MarvinH]

Fantastic answers received already - thanks

[Mallows Flock]

We went to suss out a sheep market yesterday.  I couldn't make out what was happening half the time but it seems the fat lambs were going for around £85 and the cull ewes about £65.
Sally

Bionic... as long as I keep concentration on the Auctioneer i can understand it pretty well...it's when i take my eyes and ears off him for a few seconds that I lose the thread of it! LOL

[Dougal]

Ewes are making more money than lambs because there is more useable meat on a growe than on a lamb. Very little mutton goes into the famous kebab due to he high prices, that that does make it to the kebab is the worst of the rubbish and the old tups! Most of the meat in a kebab when sheep prices is high tends to be veal of all things!
Store lambs tend to be lighter lambs that will need to be kept for a period in order for them to develop or fatten before slaughter. They can also be lambs that are being sold because the farmer thinks he will get similar trade in the stores as he would in the fat but in the stores there is no MLC levie (£2 some a head!).
Roughly speaking lambs until the first of january then hoggs there after. With breeding stock on the east coast of scotland we refer to breeding ewe lambs as hoggs from january through to shearing. At shearing they become gimmers and stay as such until they go to the ram for the second time (gimmers -> in lamb gimmers -> gimmers with lamb at foot -> sookit gimmers -> two crop ewes!)
All really easy... clear as mud

[Mallows Flock]

JS - if you are considering selling to the markets, you need to have a little think about how you feel about live exporting abroad as much, much lamb and mutton/hoggett is being transported abroad.  When i first sold at market I was pretty naive and just thought he was going to be bought  by a local butcher. In my case, my wether got lucky and was bought as a grass grazer but most were bought for live export.

[MarvinH]

Mallows s & p  - not selling looking at buying. Ive got meat orders that I cant meet. Also 'possibly' looking for breeding ewes  so as not to have the same problem next year!