[zarzar]

we sent our first lambs of near begining of year and nan wont eat anything we raised not even our chicken eggs lol(what she doesnt realise now is in tend to put it into the box/bags from the supermarket she doesnt know any diffrent untill you ask her what our lamb or eggs tasted like  ) we name a few of ours but generally only the friendly ones and the pedigreed ones, at mine we got laurel and hardy and number 7(she came with 7 sprayed on her and tag no 7) were all bottle lambs, then rosy our portland x shearling ewe.

[twizzel]

Sorry Twizzel    - I wasn't meaning to get at anyone.  I just climb on my soapbox sometimes 
 
 
When I reread what I wrote:  <<Not eating your own meat seems the oddest thing to me.  What's the point in raising meat animals on a tiny scale if they are not at least in part for your own consumption?>>  it could be read as me getting at you personally, but I promise I meant the 'you' as 'one' not 'twizzle' 

That's ok I know what you meant it astounds me when I hear of people not eating the meat from the animals they have reared- OH's sister won't eat any of her lamb that she rears (albeit not very well... it's very fatty). The main reason we have our lambs is as I said to fill our freezer, and any excess we then sell.

[Ray Baxter]

Having just got back from my first ever trip to the abbatoir, I do understand the sentiment of your message. Warrior was a fine ram!! Tomorrow I will collect him and take him to the butchers. The guy at the abbatoir could see that I was feeling a little emotional (soft I know). He had a lovely manner and went out of his way to reassure me that the sheep would not be distressed. He even offered to show me around. I declined, but the offer was appreciated.

Ray

[ZaktheLad]

I will be vastly in the minority here when I say that I do not eat any of my home-produced lamb.  I eat very little meat, mainly only chicken and so I do not have my small flock of sheep  to produce meat for my own consumption.   It was never my intention when I started out with my 2 ewe lambs to ever eat them or their offspring – I had them purely because I like sheep, enjoy looking after them and love watching the lambs born, grow and thrive.   The vast majority of my lambs go to other smallholders who are looking for ewe flock replacements and I have also been very lucky in that there are buyers out there looking for cross-breed ram lambs to cover their ewes.  I put a lot of time and effort in to finding good homes for as many of the lambs as possible and any that are left unsold or just not up to the breeding standard either go for slaughter to friends/family or to the local auction centre as one batch, or in their special sales.  I believe that I do as much as I can to try and give my lambs a longer life than the average 5 months in a good home.   Whilst others might find this laughable, it is as important to me as filling their freezer is to others.     Most of my lambs  are sold privately.    A  large proportion of people who have purchased from me in the past have kept in touch and let me know how their lambs are doing and many lambs have had long-term homes.  So, there is certainly other reasons to have sheep other than to eat them yourself at the end of the day, and to be honest, even if I did eat lamb, I don’t think I could stomach eating  one of my own, but as Sally mentions, we are all individuals. 

[Raine]

 
This is our first year sending anything to the slaughter!  Our pigs got named straight away, but the lambs haven't really lent themselves to any.


One of the weaned lambs I picked up this month is looking like they will be called muffin (cause her ears remind me of a mule), and may avoid the pot along with one other.

[LandieMan]

I care about by sheep. I give them names, some normal James (number 007) or wonky horn. They are all individuals and are only here for a short time. Care for them, be nice to them, then enjoy them one Sunday.

[bazzais]

We have a Ms Bond too 007 - first lot of electronic tags

Still trying to get over the hurdle of caring and eating.

[Ray Baxter]

Today, we collected 'Warrior' from the abbatoir. To be honest, I'm still trying to get my head around the eating thing, but so pleased that we have committed to the process and have taken responsibility for the meat that we consume. He was 18 months years old, had mated and had a great life. His dry weight is 40Kg - a lot of meat!! We will have to use every bit. Tonight we had liver and onions - mmm.

[twizzel]

Well, yesterday Moses and his 2 texel buddies came back from the abbatoir. The meat was exceptional! They were large carcasses- between 22kg and 26kg (!!) but very lean... the butcher showed me the 1/2 bucket of fat he trimmed off between the 3 carcasses. He said although way too big for butchers lambs which I already knew, they were absolutely fantastic lambs. The livers were clean too (they should be, I'm meticulous about keeping up to date with worming). Sounds daft but I was really proud and even though Moses has gone, he is much appreciated and I am certain not a scrap will go to waste.
8 down... 8 to go! 

[SallyintNorth]

That's some achievement, twiz - well done 

I don't know why your butcher says they were too large for butcher's lambs - ours wants them at around 24-26kg deadweight.  The supermarkets want them at no more than 21kgs, but generally butchers like a little more meat to sell

[twizzel]

Either either it doesn't matter, they were private kill and all went to friends and family. They were big lambs though... I couldn't believe the size and how lean they were. I was a tiny bit jealous I hadn't put my name on the list for some out of this batch!