[Klb]

Hello, 
I'm new to this site and to sheep keeping. I have two soay ram lambs that I would like for the table born spring this year, but I am very unsure as when best to send these guys to the butchers. With the research I have done, rams need to be done sooner rather than later, but being an ' older ' breed I have been told to leave them for 18 month? This was also from the breeder, but worried this is a lil to long for a full male.
 Any advice would be greatful.
There is no contact/ or in sight any ewes ( ppl say hormones play part in taste) though have been caught mounting the pigs!!, fence now higher so sheep can not enter pig pen.
Thanks again.

[woollyval]

No problem, Never had problem eating primitives at any age, next summer they will taste lovely 

[Fleecewife]

We usually send them off in August at 16 months, but with Soays we sometimes keep them for an extra year so they go at 28 months.  It is of course better to castrate them, but it can be very difficult to do it properly within the stated 7 days of birth so you could end up with a rigg anyway.  There is more meat on a mature Soay than you might imagine and it's very tasty - very different to baby commercial lamb, different to Shetland, different even to Hebridean.  People talk of 'gamey' but to me that is a negative description, but Soay meat is close grained, darker than young lamb and almost fat free.
 
The question of tup taint is often discussed but I think in the end it's a personal thing - some people are sensitive to it and some are not.  Try sending off the ones you have next August and see what you think of them on the table.  If they do have any taint then they make great curry, which disguises it.  If your butcher is not used to cutting Soays he may want to discuss with you just how you want it done.  Chops will be tiny, even valentine chops, so you may prefer rib roasts or some other way of dealing with that bit.  Gigot and shoulder are a reasonable size though.
We 'visit' the carcases once the butcher has them hanging.  This gives us an idea of how well finished they are, we can help the butcher to decide just how to go about cutting them, and we learn plenty from the butcher about meat and about how to grow our sheep.

[Mallows Flock]

My Shetland Ram went in at 14 months...absolutely sublime.... the butcher said I caught it just at the right time... see what he looks like at 14 and 16 months... native and primitives are slower-growing/maturing breeds so can be eaten later.

[Klb]

Thank you for your replys, I haven't thought about visiting the carcasses but that is actually a good idea for us (me& hubby) so we will have a better idea on what would be best.
I believe they are still entire as they were a lil slippery to catch, so Verdict is I will leave and keep close eye on them 13-18 mths.

[Fleecewife]

Soay can be slippery to catch whether they're entire or not         From a distance you can tell by horn size - a wether would have horns pretty similar to a ewe, whereas entire males have more impressive horns.  You can also tell from the back of course - entire males will have a woolly 'purse', not to be confused with a ewe's udder    However, if the castration has gone wrong, which can happen so easily with a Soay, then you might hav e a rigg ie a male with no 'purse' but one or two testicles inside his body - he may still be fertile and would still have the males hormones.   If your Soay are wild then a pair of binoculars are useful