[mcd]

I've always been curious but never truly understood what happens to cull ewes. Do they go for further grazing or straight to slaughter from market? Are there specific abattoirs for them because my local ones are very reluctant to take them. I am intrigued by the journey my cull ewes may undertake if I take them to the market?

[Marches Farmer]

Could go straight to the abattoir, could be grazed on spare land for a few weeks until the price picks up, if cast from the mountains and good in teeth, feet and udder. could be bought for a few crops more lambs on softer lowlands.

[twizzel]

The cull ewe trade reflects heavily on religious festivals (Ramadan etc) so I guess this is where the majority of meat ends up. I sent my first couple of culls off a few weeks ago didn't get told who bought them... but my ewes aren't pets so if they don't earn their keep they have to go and everywhere I have read said to sell cull ewes live rather than direct to abattoir.

[SallyintNorth]

I don't know what your local market is, but up north both our local marts had vibrant cull ewe sales throughout the year.

Ex-BH picked up a few snippets of info over the years.

One buyer told him there were 3000 doner kebabs on a good Texel ewe.

At one time there were headage payments in Ireland which made it worth their while to buy our cull ewes and ship them across.  I always suspected that there might also be, shall we say, less regulated abattoirs over there, or further on if they were sold on again. hence was always very reticent to send any of my own ewes that route - and am still haunted about those I did. 

[mcd]

That is what I am grappling with as well. Although my ewes aren't pets I have treated them with care and respect and it is a shame if that cannot be carried on right through to the end for them.

[twizzel]

The other option is to sell deadweight direct to slaughter if your local abattoir will take them? Or private kill them and put in your freezer. We have 1 ewe that's still got lambs on her who will go in our freezer this summer as not suitable to breed from again. Just depends the scale and numbers of cull ewes you have.

[pharnorth]

I was hoping to do a couple this year as mutton. Anyone had experience of this good or bad?

[waterbuffalofarmer]

I was hoping to do a couple this year as mutton. Anyone had experience of this good or bad?

We had 2 ewes slaughtered, one barren ewe and the other couldn't breed again due to ringwomb. Both made fantastic mutton, ages were between 5-7 years old. The meat was fantastic! Eating a half leg of mutton tonight. These were pure Lleyn though, so I guess it could vary with each breed...

[Red Merle]

Cast Ewes would go probably into easier ground and maybe bred for another one or two years. These would all be healthy breeders though.

If it's a cull ewe with bad bags or health issues then straight to the killing house and butchered most likely. So it's usually a meat producer buys them through the ring.

If you stay to watch them sell you'll see who buys them.

[SallyintNorth]

I was hoping to do a couple this year as mutton. Anyone had experience of this good or bad?

Owd NC Mule and owd Swale both make delicious mutton.  Owd Mule quite fatty, and the fat is bright orange!  So be prepared to let gravy juices settle in a separator jug and pour the fat off, and even then to tip the bright orange runny fat off the plates when you dish up.  But the flavour is awesome.

Long slow roasting, pot roasting is best, to let the older sinews break down.   Mince or diced for a lasagne or whatever also needs longer slower cooking than lamb mince, but will reward the extra care and time with huge depth of flavour.  Not suitable for barbecued kebabs or afelia though, due not being cooked long and slow.

[Black Sheep]

One buyer told him there were 3000 doner kebabs on a good Texel ewe.

Given the number of doners I've eaten in my younger years I'm sure I'd be better not thinking about this, but ...

Say average mature texel ewe weighs 90kg live. Even if by some scary reclamation process they get 65% as useable stuff for kebabs (best not to think about that either!) that means only 20g per kebab. Not sure I want to know what the rest of it is made up of... 

[waterbuffalofarmer]

One buyer told him there were 3000 doner kebabs on a good Texel ewe.

Given the number of doners I've eaten in my younger years I'm sure I'd be better not thinking about this, but ...

Say average mature texel ewe weighs 90kg live. Even if by some scary reclamation process they get 65% as useable stuff for kebabs (best not to think about that either!) that means only 20g per kebab. Not sure I want to know what the rest of it is made up of... 

I could tell you... The rest is made up of fat, muscle and gristle. There have been a lot of food programs about this. Apparently the average amount of fat in a doner kebab is really scary. http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/programmes/b08vgg22 They did a feature on it exploring how much fat was in it. Apparently its twice the amount that any adult should be having on a daily basis (daily basis as in daily intake of fat). BBC did a healthier version of it containing about a quarter of the amount they use commercially...

[macgro7]

One buyer told him there were 3000 doner kebabs on a good Texel ewe.

Given the number of doners I've eaten in my younger years I'm sure I'd be better not thinking about this, but ...

Say average mature texel ewe weighs 90kg live. Even if by some scary reclamation process they get 65% as useable stuff for kebabs (best not to think about that either!) that means only 20g per kebab. Not sure I want to know what the rest of it is made up of... 

Horse, donkey, turkey - the whole farm yard!
My mate works in the lab that discovered the horse meat case lol

[bj_cardiff]

I sell my cull ewes to a local livestock buyer, their sent to slaughter the same day as I take them. I feel awful about sending ewes to cull. Particularly the older ewes that have produced good lambs over the years.

But.. I ask myself why their culls, usually its down to no teeth, so if they had twins and the grass was too short for her they'd be poor and would really drag her down.. I did keep a couple of favorite ewes back one year (one had prolapsed) and the ram broke down 2 fences to get with them when she was in season, so they were culled pretty quickly.

[mowhaugh]

There's also a bit of a terminology thing going on here. To me, a cast ewe is one of any age that is not suitable for breeding, although likely to be older. A sheep which is needing softer going than my hill to breed again is a draft ewe, these would be sold privately or through the ring at a breeding sale and are highly sought after, the price that is paid for them, they aren't going to be killed but are going to have another one, two or more crops of lambs. Then in between are the broken mouthed ewes - correct of the udders and fit, but missing teeth, so worth taking a chance on for breeding is you've got the right type of set up for feeding them.