[raygezer]

Hi could anyone tell me the best weight for a lamb to go to slaughter ,my french sheep farmer keeps telling me they are ready to me they seem to small many thanx

[andywalt]

what breed are they? and how old are they?

[daddymatty82]

breed weight age? pics? feel the back bone that is a tell tell sign if there ready or not also how much meat you want back kg wise? you will get half the liveweight .

[Fleecewife]

If the farmer keeps the same breed then he is likely to be experienced in judging when that breed is ready for slaughter. Ask him to show you how he judges and what criteria he uses. In some areas of the continent they prefer a lighter lamb so your breed may or may not be able to grow a little larger without running to fat.  Once you send them off, visit the butcher and ask him to show you over the carcases before he chops them up - this is what I have done for the past several years and have learned a lot about raising sheep for meat.  Then, once you are eating your animals, judge for yourself if they were slaughtered at the right age.  It's all a learning curve.

[Madcow]

our french butcher says we leave our lambs to long before slaughter, they are tete rouge (?) charolais cross and we do the deed at about 6 months, they are not fatty and make mighty fine legs ! but he says they are too big they prefer them at about 3 months ? just depends and breed and taste I guess 

[SallyintNorth]

our french butcher says we leave our lambs to long before slaughter, they are tete rouge (?) charolais cross and we do the deed at about 6 months, they are not fatty and make mighty fine legs ! but he says they are too big they prefer them at about 3 months ? just depends and breed and taste I guess 

Wiki says "The Rouge de l'Ouest (also known as Tête rouge du Maine)" so I guess that's the mother.

We have a charollais tup and his lambs do fatten very quickly - we just sold the first two spring lambs yesterday, they averaged 48kg (too big!  we kept them too long!) and they were 12 and 14 weeks old.

I've mentioned before that the meat from the charollais is exceptionally lean, sweet and succulent.  In my experience this is particularly true when they are butchered at 3-4 months but you still get that sweet succulence when they get a bit older.  So if they are for yourselves I'd say you are probably doing the right thing, keeping them a bit longer and getting more meat.  You'll only lose a tiny bit of taste and have a lot more in your freezer!

[wellies]

I have been wondering about slaughter age too... does anyone know at what age a Ryeland lamb would normally be ready to be slaughtered. I think they are a slow growing breed??

[lill]

instead of going by age why not consider weight,  lambs are approx 40kilos when slaughtered,

[daddymatty82]

instead of going by age why not consider weight,  lambs are approx 40kilos when slaughtered,

depending on breed of course but  exactly what you said. don't go by age as such go by how much meat you want remember you will get approx half the live weight in dead weight back to you . so if you want 20kg of meat back send off at 40kg-45kg.