[Bumblebear]

Thanks SITN, I was worried about how long to keep them for and how to feed them over the winter.  Would we just feed them hay/nuts?  We will try again with another couple next year (but we'll have 2 pigs and 2 lambs to get through so that may last us quite a while yet!).  I would quite like to try something rarer and smaller now but easy to keep.

[SallyintNorth]

Overwinter commercial-type store lambs on hay and 1/2lb 16% feed (suitable for males if there are any wethers in the group) per head per day, yes.  Provide shelter from the worst of the weather, of course.  Watch feet if they spend a lot of time on the same ground - try to keep the ground clean, move things around, use lime, etc.

But if they're as good as ready for slaughter in Oct/Nov then you made the right choice 

Primitives will typically need two summers to be ready for slaughter, so if you got some next summer you'd keep them around 12 months.  They would also winter better and grow away more strongly come the spring if they get a little cake and some hay.  I give mine 1lb cake between 3, plus a bit of hay.

I feed hay at a rate of 1 small bale between 60 primitives or 40 commercials per day.  If they're clearing up every wisp, I up it a bit.  If they are leaving some, I decrease it a bit.  Hay is best fed in two feeds, if you can.

If we get another freeze/snow, they'll eat - and need - quite a bit more, up to twice the above, while the ground is frozen and/or covered.

[jaykay]

Hmmm, adds up the cost of cake and hay overwinter for tup lambs too small to send to the butchers now,  and decides Shetlands are going to be expensive things to keep 

[SallyintNorth]

Hmmm, adds up the cost of cake and hay overwinter for tup lambs too small to send to the butchers now,  and decides Shetlands are going to be expensive things to keep 

Here's how I do the sum.

If hay is fed for 3 months, that's 90 days, so 1.5 bales per lamb, if feeding at my 'primitives rate' of 1/60th bale per head per day.  A bale is £4 this year?

Cake at 1/3lb per day per head from Nov thru March (150 days) is 50lbs or one sack.  £7-ish?  Or a bit cheaper if you've a local farmer buying in bulk delivered who'll bag you up some.

So maybe £13 per lamb to overwinter, plus any extra required for the really bad weather, and any straw for bedding if bad enough to house them, and meds for fluking, vaccinating and so on.

Absolutely no question, 1lb of primitive hogget costs quite a bit more to produce than 1lb of commercial lamb slaughtered in its first year. 

I'm smelling the leg of Castemilk Moorit wether roasting in the oven as I write  - and am not unhappy that it's cost me twice as much to produce as a commercial lamb would have done.

Ironically, we started with the rare breeds because BH said I couldn't have any of our own white lambs for the freezer as they were worth too much to sell!   

[jaykay]

Hard to separate it all out but I think my sums would be:

Feeding hay for 6 months, 2 bales a week for the 8 tup lambs, so 52 bales at £3.50 each = £182.
Cake at roughly £8 per bag, again, feeding for 8 months, a bag would last just the tup lambs two weeks I think, so 35 bags at £8 = £280.

So each lamb has cost £58 to get him to butchers weight. Each lamb costs £25 to butcher. £83 before any medicines etc.. Say £90
If they grow well I will get maybe 12 kgs meat, for which I can charge £10 per kilo = £120.

Ok, so I'm not making a huge profit but they're not actually costing me money, which is what it felt like.
That was worth doing then 

[SallyintNorth]

I think I can save you £140, or nearly £18 per sheep - if a bag lasts your 8 two weeks, then surely that's 17.3 bags for 8 months?

I know it's your first winter with store Shetlands so you're wise to err on the side of caution. I think and hope, though, that your costs should be quite a bit less than £70/head.

But so long as you can recoup, as you say, that's good going.

Oh, and the Castlemilk legs were tremendous.     

[jaykay]

Oh yes, I did a bag a week.
Well, I suppose it gives me that reserve.

[kumquat]

Wow... i didn't realise that they needed so much feed over winter.
Hay given adlib given the ground conditions, especially if we have a snowy winter, but i (naively) thought that they wouldn't need cake for so long? (just for the worst of winter months, 2-3 months)
Don't mind the cost as want to keep the girls in best of health
Very interesting    looking forward to my first sheepy winter

[SallyintNorth]

jaykay's spot is pretty wild and exposed, and she's erring on the side of caution.

When we moved up to the moorland farm we were told to cake the lambs, just 1/2lb /head /day for commercial type lambs (primitives would need less, I'm feeding mine 1/3lb /head /day), from end Oct through until the spring grass was growing properly.  5 months tops.

Primitives would manage on less but would take longer to reach full size. 

We could do with some views from people with years and years of experience of overwintering primitives - maybe we should start a new topic...?

[twizzel]

Well just collected mine and whilst I was a bit miffed they didnt save the bones (poor communication but hey ho), we got back two boxes one marked 15.5kg and one 17kg.  Is this about right/too light?  Should we have waited a winter?

Guess what we're having for dinner tonight

Ours were slightly heavier, between 20kg and 26.5kg but not fatty at all. We were very pleased with them but glad we killed them when we did and didn't wait any longer. The slaughterman said they killed out very heavy, we couldn't believe it when one ewe lamb was 26kg deadweight! All of the joints and chops were very large, v yummy