[acresswell]

Can I (legally / sensibly) put a lamb (or two) in the back of a Land rover 110 station wagon to get it / them to the abbatoir?  The side-facing seats have been removed and we've got a dog guard. I can easily knock up some plywood to protect the windows.



We don't have sheep yet, but it's definitely part of my long-term plans to have a small rare-breed flock. Only stumbling blocks are likely to be financial and emotional... my wife's only ever kept animals as pets and is afraid she'll get too attached to them.  We'd therefore like to do a little trial by buying 3-4 store lambs to fatten up and see if she/the kids can cope with them going to the abbatoir.  As this is only a trial (potentially never to be repeated), I don't want to invest in a trailer yet... the journey would be about 6 miles / last about 15 minutes.


If this isn't a sensible option, what else could I do?

[Bionic]

Lots of people transport a couple of lambs like this when buying/selling but going to the abattoir may be different. Some have specific rules like trailer gates. You could ring your local abattoir and see what they say.
Sending them off is never easy but if you get them in specifically for that purpose I find it isn't quite as bad. Always keep the long term goal in mind. People say that you shouldn't name them as it makes it more difficult. I don't know if thats true but I always name all of mine. 

[devonlady]

My abattoir will accept animals in a Landrover. They have a back door height bit of the unloading place so the sheep don't have to jump.

[hafod]

I *think* that you are supposed to have a ramp with gates down the sides to stop them jumping off but I guess it depends how strict your abbatoir is. Some trailer hire companies rent trailers by the day/half day. Maybe I'm heartless but I don't have a problem sending ours off knowing that they've had a nice life. A visit to the livestock market always shows this isn't always the case for animals destined for our tables.

[shygirl]

it takes time to get used to sending beasties away. even if the first time is heart-breaking, try again.
try and get a small trailer, they are easy to sell again.

[Marches Farmer]

I suggest buying wether lambs, which you won't be tempted to breed from, and calling them Lamb Chop and Mince.

[MarvinH]

I was told-
If you havent got ramps you dont need to worry about its angle! so if you dont have ramps you dont need gates. They arent allowed to jump out.

[Bramblecot]

Drive over to the local abattoir in your vehicle, check out the set-up, and talk it over with the staff.  If you don't like what you see/hear, go elsewhere.  Our place could not be more helpful even when we have made mistakes.

[EP90]

I have a Defender and wouldn’t want to lift my fatted lambs into or want them to jump out of a Defender tail gate, it’s too high off the ground.  For the odd lamb to abattoir I use a general purpose 8 x 4 trailer with metal sheep hurdles bolted together to form a ‘pen’, and a hinged (bailer twine) end hurdle.  Once trip is over its 10 minutes to dismantle and put hurdles/trailer to normal use.  Borrow/hire a trailer.

[Big Benny Shep]

I've bought, sold loads and taken stock to the abbatoir in my landy, never had a problem.

[hughesy]

There's a bloke who turns up regularly to the abattoir we use with a couple of lambs in the back of his freelander, and sometimes a porker or two. How he gets them in there is anyone's guess! The abattoir staff don't care and the FSA vet turns a blind eye as he's been doing it for years. I suspect that it is probably illegal though.

[devonlady]

we lift our lambs in, wouldn't like to lift a porker in though   Acresswell, you could ask a neighbouring farmer to take them in for you.

[Womble]

Another option might be a commercial mover. A bit overkill for a few stores, and will knacker the economics of it all, but it would prove the concept before spending any capital.  Are there really no smallholders or horse owners near you who might be able to lend or hire something suitable?  Our wee trailer has been lent to four people on here already.

Another angle is that we bought a 7 ft livestock trailer, but also got high mesh sides for it. I end up using it most weeks for something or other, even though I've only needed the sheep setup on it for myself  half a dozen times now. You might find that  you can justify the purchase of a livestock trailer given other use that you'll put the trailer to?

[Possum]

I have seen lambs arriving at the abattoir in the back of a transit van. They were a small breed and so relatively easy to lift out. Most lambs don't seem to want to come out of a trailer or vehicle once they are in it so little risk of them jumping out.

[Badger Nadgers]

A practical concern for those who have to use the same vehicle for non-farming things is whether you want sheep pee/muck in your vehicle and whether it can be effectively cleaned out. 

I do see sheep being trasported in very odd things such as transits boarded out with ply - I can't imagine they're easy to clean out, the wood will perish at the joints, and the poor little beggars must slide around all over the place (or fly if you did an emergency stop).

Eau de Ewe, or Eau de Tup in Season are two of the more persistent parfums...