[sybilandmable]

Hello, I am wondering if someone my be able to help me, having had a few lambs slaughtered and butchered I have decided to keep half back and sell on in pieces. My query is what would I charge on average per LB or Kilo?

Thank you for reading, it my job today weighing and hopefully pricing some very yummy looking lamb!!

[ScotsGirl]

I charge £5-6 per kilo but some charge a flat rate per lamb. Anything from £50-90 for half up to £190 for a whole lamb!

[ZaktheLad]

£190 

[Womble]

Just because I was curious, a quick google of some farm shop websites gave prices from £45 to £80 for a half lamb box, and £135 to £170 for a whole butchered lamb.
 
For example from here at £170:
 

Our Whole Lamb Box is FREE DELIVERY and contains:
2 x Leg of Lamb on the bone (approx 1kg per joint)
2  x Shoulder of Lamb on the bone (approx 1kg per joint)
Legs and Shoulders can be cut in half to create 8 joints or left whole. Please specify below.
2 x Whole Loins butchered to include the following cuts (on average):
16 x Cutlets (packs of 4, approx 115g per cutlet)
16 x Loin Chops (packs of 4, approx 115g per chop)
4 x Chump steaks with optional minted glaze (approx 170g per chop)
8 x Minted Lamb Burgers (approx 115g per burger)

Note no mince or cubes though, which other sellers seem to provide instead of some of the other cuts.
 
Personally, I've just received the invoice for our fencing and sheep pen, so I'm going to have to sell for at least £500 per lamb for the forseeable future in order to break even! 

[Young Ed]

as for the other replies, WOW! if you can charge anywhere upto £190 for a lamb butchered and boxed then go for it and congratulations! 

i work on £120 roughly per whole boxed and butchered with basic cuts lamb so if someone wants a half lamb i would charge about £60 or maybe £65 considering i still have to deal with and sort all the cuts out
Cheers Ed

[twizzel]

I sell 1/2 lamb for £70, basic cuts- leg into half or 3, shoulder into half or 3, chops, breast, neck slices, offal if required. Might increase next year to £75 but no more than that.

[Porterlauren]

The more I search the internet and look at pricing, the more confused, and slightly jealous I get.

I live in a really rural area, rather than on a cities edge, or in a commuter belt area.

I do a dozen or so pigs each year, and get £90 a half pig or £180 a whole.

The going rate for lambs is around £45 a half and £90 a whole.

Having seen people charging things like £170 for a lamb and £300 for a pig, I just don't get it, who the hell pays that, and how can you find lots of folk to sell to, surely they must soon enough, look elsewhere and find the product at a much better price?

The only answer i can think, is that its folk in the country selling to real city slickers, with bags of cash, and no connection to the country, who will translate from restaurant prices.

[SallyintNorth]

I guess a lot will depend on the type of lamb.  Our muscley commercials are fetching £90 - £100 deadweight at the moment, so to sell butchered and boxed I'd have to charge at least £130 per whole lamb to equal that.  But non-commercials, and less muscley types, would be fetching less deadweight so can be sold boxed for a bit less.

However, personally, I'd rather be eating two seasons moorland Swale than a 4-month old Texel, and would happily pay the same for a whole or half of a much 'poorer' carcase to get that depth of flavour

[ScotsGirl]

I was shocked at £190 but acquaintances of mine, with bags of cash, have a flock of a Wiltshire Horn and I can only presume to other cash rich people. I think£5/kg is fair and I usually cap at £120 per whole lamb. My lambs are about 7 months old, Suffolk X and usually weigh 20-25kg. Meat is fantastic and not too much fat.


This will be the first time I kill my BWM so not sure if I will have to keep longer to get a decent weight.


As for pigs, if you cost it out - feed, piglet, slaughter - you need to sell around £8/kg of £300 to cover your cost and a bit over for unforeseen costs. Unless of course you choose a breed which is fit to kill by 5 months. Our OSB usually need to go to 6-7 months.

[Porterlauren]

If it costs you £300 to rear a pig to slaughter. . . . you're doing it wrong!

Mine go for £180 a carcass, it'll probably go up to £200 a carcass, but even at £180, I cover my costs and make a few quid, not mega money, but enough to make it worth it. 

[sc12011]

I think that one reason for the variation in price is the variation in weight of the lamb. You might be able to find a half lamb for 45, but how much did it weigh?


If you own a large breed of sheep, you will need sell a half for a lot more to achieve the same price per kilo, so I don't think it's a case of ripping off rich people.


One of my lambs was 35kg deadweight at 6/7months. I would have wanted a lot more than 45 if I'd have sold it 

[suziequeue]

A friend of mine was telling me that cull ewe prices are very variable at the moment but it struck me that Ramadam started last week so there may be less demand for doner kebab lamb at the moment.


I will be interested to see what happens to the price next month

[SallyintNorth]

A friend of mine was telling me that cull ewe prices are very variable at the moment but it struck me that Ramadam started last week so there may be less demand for doner kebab lamb at the moment.

Au contraire.  Sheep meat is the one thing they do eat during Ramadan, so demand usually goes up.  As I understand it, they fast during daylight hours, then feast, on lamb and mutton amongst, presumeablly, other things, after dusk.

[suziequeue]

Yes - except that at this time of year there's only about six hours in which to get all that eating done……..

[ScotsGirl]

I worked out it costs me around £200 per pig excluding cost for sausages and gammon if I had it. This is made up of feed, piglet and slaughter cost but doesn't include any extras like bread, wormer or equipment. It's impossible to do it cheaper unless you are breeding yourself but even then the cost of the sow's keep will make you run at a loss.