[Brucklay]

Is this pricing throughout the UK or in certain areas? I seem to pay and get "the going rate" privately for the few stock I sell - maybe different at this time of year in different parts of the country

[ZaktheLad]

It's a strange world when people are prepared to pay £25 for an orphan/cade lamb but a welsh x ewe in lamb to faced blue Leicester goes for £40 at the same market.  Must just be the worry of SBD, but there again, a cade lamb is as likely to drop dead within a couple of days.  Both purchases have a high risk.   At the same market, quality ewes were in demand selling at £173 for a ewe with twins - not too bad a price considering the downturn in prices.   Also, a lot does depend on the condition and state of the ewes sold - I have seen some pitiful examples at my local market, some so thin that they were eating the wool off of each others backs.   Would have to say though, that if I took some in-lamb ewes to market and they reached £40, I would tell the auctioneer that I would take them back home!   

[ZaktheLad]

Im hoping to pick up a few in lamb ewes . Unfortunately this may be an opportunity for me to build a small flock. It may be a risk i know 

It's a buyers market if you are prepared to take the risk.

[colliewoman]

I feel sorry for the farmers. If the ewes are in lamb you cannot slaughter, and if there is nowhere for them to go, what is the poor bloke going to do? I have no wish to offend anyone, but feel frustrated as i am surrounded by pony paddocks, and have no way to rent more land.

I think you have summed it up yourself there.


If you keep 00's head of sheep and rely on sending a good proportion to market, then you will always be at the mercy of the mart.
I, and most small flock keepers like myself don't HAVE to send any away as such. I will fill my freezer and that of my friends and family with the boys. But what of the 2 in lamb ewes I have surplus at the moment?
I will sell them for £50 a head, and if they don't go at that price then they can stay here. I can sell them later or they can be mutton after rearing their lambs. No problem. Why should I sell them for peanuts if I don't have to?
Just because the bloke up the way runs more sheep than he can keep all year round finds himself stuck between a rock and a hard place doesn't mean we have to join him, cos trust me when the market recovers and commercials go for big money again I bet my flock he won't be giving a damn about little old me and my hobby sheep then


Likewise no offence meant

[SteveHants]

I feel sorry for the farmers. If the ewes are in lamb you cannot slaughter, and if there is nowhere for them to go, what is the poor bloke going to do? I have no wish to offend anyone, but feel frustrated as i am surrounded by pony paddocks, and have no way to rent more land.

I think you have summed it up yourself there.


If you keep 00's head of sheep and rely on sending a good proportion to market, then you will always be at the mercy of the mart.

Or you can be seriously looking into sending them away deadweight. Seems like quite a good option for some.


Or you can be looking to add value...farmers markets etc.


The going rate is the going rate, such is farming.

[benkt]

Its a totally different game that we are in. The £40 ewes are the "tesco horse/beefburgers" of the sheepy world. If you run a rare breed flock then I really hope you're not going to try to compete with Tesco on the price you sell your meat at. Good, local, traceable rare-breed meat can be sold for a much higher price so it seems natural to me that the breeding stock command a higher price too.

[SteveHants]

Its a totally different game that we are in. The £40 ewes are the "tesco horse/beefburgers" of the sheepy world. If you run a rare breed flock then I really hope you're not going to try to compete with Tesco on the price you sell your meat at. Good, local, traceable rare-breed meat can be sold for a much higher price so it seems natural to me that the breeding stock command a higher price too.

Good, commercial in-lamb ewes are good stock. Often, rare-breed sheep command a much lower price than commercials, as it goes - it just depends whats trendy at the moment. Shetlands are good sheep, but a ewe wouldnt make much more than £40. I doubt good local rare breed meat can be sold at much (and I sell it) more than supermarkets are asking, because the price of lamb to the consumer hasn't changed, it is still bloody expensive.

[thenovice]

A friend of mine sold some "rare" breeds at the local market last year. Older ewes, but no-one wanted them. £10 each! Farmers dont have the luxury of saying il just wait until the fields are not flooded anymore, il just keep on feeding them. 

[SteveHants]

I've seen hebs going for £8/head at Salisbury and a pen of mixed littler sheep (maybe soays?) going for £4 - ewe lambs, born this year.


They had been entered for sale by what sounded like organisations funded through visitors etc and I guess just wanted rid and didnt care what they got as tourist season was over.

[colliewoman]

I think you are right Steve, I keep shetland crosses and though I make a wee bit back selling meat to family. I couldn't compete with the big boys. But that is just it... I don't want to 
If I wanted to produce a lamb 'crop' that earned me my keep in a commercial setting would I have the sheep I keep now? Never!
But going back to my 2 spare ewes a minute..
They are Ideal hobby sheep. They lamb easily, they are very pretty to look at, they have wonderful fleeces for spinners etc and the skins tan up like a dream. They are extra tasty and in convenient sized packages.
Most of these things are of no importance to you probably, but to me I would rather have the good fleeces and colours rather than say a finished beast at 16 weeks.


So my crossbred primitives are worth £50 a head to me, and if someone wants one of them (and there are a fair number that do for the same reasons, spinners etc) they will pay it. If they don't want to pay it they don't get the sheep. Simple!


To me the meat is almost the by product of my flock, to commercial shepherds it is their life blood.
It's almost like comparing apples and rocks!
 


I am looking forward to running a few commercial type lambs this year, for the experience more than anything. But also because I have a lady who has already asked for 3 whole big lambs for her freezer. What she is after, my little girls couldn't ever produce. But when the same lady wants to pay £60 for unusual sheepskins, I wouldn't be looking at a commercial breed for those.


We all want different things from our flocks, and if someone has something you want badly enough you pays your money

[thenovice]

P.s its the winter, not spring. And people are trying to save money on their food budget. Not everyone can spend 6 quid on 2 lamb chops, because they are local, and come from the local "trendy deli/farm shop 

[SteveHants]

I think you are right Steve, I keep shetland crosses and though I make a wee bit back selling meat to family. I couldn't compete with the big boys. But that is just it... I don't want to 
If I wanted to produce a lamb 'crop' that earned me my keep in a commercial setting would I have the sheep I keep now? Never!
But going back to my 2 spare ewes a minute..
They are Ideal hobby sheep. They lamb easily, they are very pretty to look at, they have wonderful fleeces for spinners etc and the skins tan up like a dream. They are extra tasty and in convenient sized packages.
Most of these things are of no importance to you probably, but to me I would rather have the good fleeces and colours rather than say a finished beast at 16 weeks.


So my crossbred primitives are worth £50 a head to me, and if someone wants one of them (and there are a fair number that do for the same reasons, spinners etc) they will pay it. If they don't want to pay it they don't get the sheep. Simple!


To me the meat is almost the by product of my flock, to commercial shepherds it is their life blood.
It's almost like comparing apples and rocks!
 


I am looking forward to running a few commercial type lambs this year, for the experience more than anything. But also because I have a lady who has already asked for 3 whole big lambs for her freezer. What she is after, my little girls couldn't ever produce. But when the same lady wants to pay £60 for unusual sheepskins, I wouldn't be looking at a commercial breed for those.


We all want different things from our flocks, and if someone has something you want badly enough you pays your money

Actually - I'm quite interested in using shetland crosses in a commercial sense. I know someone that puts Shetlands to a wilts horn - all the 1st crosses shed. They look awful apparently - small, bony looking sheep, but have wide hips, dont need doing for strike as they shed and are pretty resistant to worms. Get some very rough (well fenced) grazing for cheap or no money, put those crosses to the Beltex and raise a 150% lamb crop with virtually no effort. Jobs a good'un.

[SteveHants]

P.s its the winter, not spring. And people are trying to save money on their food budget. Not everyone can spend 6 quid on 2 lamb chops, because they are local, and come from the local "trendy deli/farm shop 

Well, exactly - the price to the consumer in the supermarket hasn't dropped, its just that the high prices 2011 meant they started buying NZ but charging the same money.


Lamb is pretty damn expensive, and even your 'commercial' lamb is pretty ununterfered with and wont command the same niche money as chicken or pork.

[colliewoman]

Actually - I'm quite interested in using shetland crosses in a commercial sense. I know someone that puts Shetlands to a wilts horn - all the 1st crosses shed. They look awful apparently - small, bony looking sheep, but have wide hips, dont need doing for strike as they shed and are pretty resistant to worms. Get some very rough (well fenced) grazing for cheap or no money, put those crosses to the Beltex and raise a 150% lamb crop with virtually no effort. Jobs a good'un.

 
I should have said my crosses were castlemilks x shetlands and that THEY would be of no use to someone such as yourself.
But then having said that my 50% Castlemilk x shetlands shed there fleece entirely.. I wonder what their daughters would be like if crossed to a Wilts....

[Marches Farmer]

Some of the pedigree sheep societies have "upset" prices for sheep sold at their official auctions.  These are prices below which the auctioneer will not accept a bid.  The sheep offered will be registered, pedigree and have passed a veterinary inspection on arrival at the market.  This both encourages farmers to bring their good stock to the sale, knowing they won't get rubbish prices, and provides an assurance for the buyers.  You pays your money and you takes your choice .....