[Jon Feather]

Really appreciate all the input form you lovely people.  I was talking to someone in the next village last night whos wife keeps registered Shetlands.  She is a spinner and knitter too.  Will be making arrangement to go see them.  They may have some to sell.  They also know someone a few miles over who also keeps them.    I just hope they don't want to much for them :shrug:.

Is it impolite to ask, roughly, how much I should be paying for registered and unregistered Shetlands?

[SallyintNorth]

You can buy nice registered Shetland gimmers at Carlisle Rare Breeds Sale in September for £40 - £120 (last year's prices.)  You can spend more but that would get you nice sheep.

Not all Shetlands have really nice fleece, and quite a lot of Shetlands have fleece that has a 'break' (a weakness)

Feel free to PM me about the breeder you've found - she's likely a member of Eden Valley Guild, like me

[Jon Feather]

Thank you for that guide price Sally.  Appreciate that it is last yrs.

I've just been speaking to the farmer who has kindly put 23 Herdwicks on our field to help get the grass down.  He pays about £40 for them, brings them on and pays £15 to have them killed and jointed.  Then recons on a sale price of about £85 when he sells them on for the freezer.  There isn't much in it is there.

I'm hoping that I will be able to get a premium price for the meat through a local high end butcher and maybe though some of the hotels in Lakes.

[SallyintNorth]

That's very cheap for kill and cut - I pay £22.

I've just been speaking to the farmer who has kindly put 23 Herdwicks on our field to help get the grass down.  He pays about £40 for them, brings them on and pays £15 to have them killed and jointed.  Then recons on a sale price of about £85 when he sells them on for the freezer.  There isn't much in it is there.

Not to mention haulage, meds, occasional losses, shearing...

I'm hoping that I will be able to get a premium price for the meat through a local high end butcher and maybe though some of the hotels in Lakes.

I wish you luck .

[Anke]

If you are selling meat from Shetland sheep, you cannot call it Shetand lamb/mutton, as this is a term protected and only to be used for Shetland sheep (and their meat) raised on the actual Shetland Isles. One of these geographically protected by the EU things....

There is not much money in small-scale sheep production, not wool nor meat I am afraid...

[Jon Feather]

Thanks Sally and Anke.  I'm not really expecting it to be easy or massively profitable, and good point about the restriction on selling as Shetland too. 
If I can manage my land by keeping the grass down in a sustainable way, with interesting animals, have a interesting hobby and make a bit of profit I'll be happy.  I just like to go in with my eyes open which is why I value the opinions and guidance of you guys so much.  I reckon you have saved me about 5 years of expensive mistake so far and I haven't even bought any stock yet.

On a side note, the sun is shining and I have just put the 4/5 week old chicks outside on grass for the day.  Now there is something I do know something about.

[SallyintNorth]

I'm afraid that small breeding flocks of primitive sheep are not easy to make a profit out of.   Putting the ewes to a commercial tup for reasonable fat lambs is probably the only way, really. 

Looking at the premium meat angle...

Not many people know this, but Swaledale hogget (reared on moorland grass and no cake) is absolutely delicious.  Lean, sweet, succulent - and from a second summer sheep, it cooks just like lamb, doesn't need long slow cooking, which some hogget really does.  Having a seasonal crop that sells to restaurants in a tourist area is no bad thing

Swaley boys are very cheap to buy in.

Not a rare breed, of course.

(Not many people know this either, but the Swale is a double-coated breed; the layers are easy to separate, and the inner layer is quite soft.  But it's a bit of a niche thing -  I don't think you'd necessarily find it easy to sell your fleeces.  If you could be bothered to separate the fibres yourself, however, you'd sell the softer inner fibre, I think.)

Another great (and individual-tasting) meat is Castlemilk Moorit.  It has a flavour all its own.  In terms of a rare breed that's local, this might be your best bet - they originate from the Castlemilk estate near Dumfries.  And it was the near loss of this breed in the 70s that inspired Adam's dad and got the whole RBST thing going.

Castlemilk Moorit boys are also cheap to buy in...

And if you could get your boys from a flock that has great fleece, you'd have a fleece crop too.

I do wonder, though, whether any outlets in the Lakes are going to be interested in any breed-specific sheep meat other than Herdwick? 

[SallyintNorth]

Just wondering... you're right by the sea, you say... Would the lamb/hogget tast salty, do you think?  If so, and you can brand it Salt Marsh or Salt Something, that might help

[Jon Feather]

Just wondering... you're right by the sea, you say... Would the lamb/hogget tast salty, do you think?  If so, and you can brand it Salt Marsh or Salt Something, that might help

Thanks for all that Sally.
Re salt and taste: I don't know because I don't eat meat (vegi for 34 yrs) but we are always being told that our eggs taste different (much better) and tastier than other free range eggs.  I have to agree with them too, they are much richer.  I put this down to very wide herbage they are pecking at on our land.  They get a scratch feed of corn every night too.

[SallyintNorth]

Whatever sheep you choose, your meat will taste lovely, I'm sure 

Swales would do well

[Old Shep]

Holker Hall market saltmarsh lamb - that maybe not too far from you? Their flocks are right on the estuary below the tide line.


I'm going to buck the trend and say if you want meat lambs get a few nice texels or texel crosses, very tame friendly sheep, no horns and if reared on grass (without loads of concentrates) lovely lamb.  We've sold lamb to people who have kept primitives and they are coming back for more!

[Jon Feather]

Thanks for that Old Shep,
Holker is right on the estuary but a very different landscape to us.  The estuary and tidal sands are thick with marsh grasses were as we at on grass land above the tide line.  We couldn't class ours as "salt march lamb".

[Blackbird]

Just a thought about temporarily sub-dividing your field - we use electric sheep netting to subdivide one of ours to keep the sheep separate from the horses. This works fine, but you can't do this with a horned breed of sheep in case they get horns trapped in the netting. We have a tiny flock of 7 - 3x Shetland ewes, a Heb cross wether, 2x Grey Faced Dartmoor wethers and their elderly mum. Shetland and Heb fleece spins and felts lovely - GFDs - forget about the fleece except for rugs!

[harmony]

I think it is always good to think about the end product, what you will do with it and maybe more importantly what will you do with it if plan a doesn't work.


Talk to the hoteliers now to see if they are interested in your lamb. Don't forget you will only have a limited supply. If you go down the primitive route and local hotels don't want it or your friends what are you likely to get back at a local market. Beware that people often say they will have something but then when you have it don't want it.


Where will you go for slaughtering and cutting up? All takes time.  A journey to drop off and another to pickup.


Except that it may take more than the first year to establish a market.


Don't not do it, just go into it with your eyes open!