[Glentarki]

Thanks for all your replys and info its made interesting reading especially where runaway tups are concerned ...Hope it doesn't break the bank S/ Paul .

Can any of you experienced Shetland Sheep folk share your experience with producing Lamb for the freezer......Just a rough guide of how long you keep your pure bred Shetland lambs until slaughter and what you thought of the finished product

Cheers
Dave

[egglady]

Dave, will share our story when we meet up rather than here...not a 'secret' just savesme typing it!!

[shetlandpaul]

we lamb late april. lambs slaughtered late october/november. but if you wait until the year after you will get a bigger carcase but then you have to feed them over winter.

[Anke]

I keep most of the (castrated) pure shtld males until their second autumn, but also sell the larger lambs at the "light lambs sale" in early December at my local market. It depends on how they go and how many there are. Prices for that are usually in line with the larger breeds, and at that sale you don't look too much out of place amongst all the sfflk/txl giant lambs.... Bigger crosses go as lamb to the sales in late Nov (if we are not snowed in...)

Will try and sell some female hoggs (last year's ewe lambs) at Carlisle this year, for breeding.

Our 18 month old pure shtld ones kill out at about 20kgs, with good sized joints. Has the advantage that we can butcher ourselves for our own consumption (saves money!), and they don't get worse if you leave them for a few months longer....

[Glentarki]

Sorry late getting back to this post I was never a good tree surgeon and managed to take our BT phone line down hence no internet until late this afternoon ………..Really appreciate the reply’s with your experiences  and methods of producing and finishing Shetlands….I did read on the Shetland Sheep Society as you mentioned S/Paul that lambs make a acceptable carcass all be it smaller joints coming off grass in October…..I must say I like the sound of that and being for our own use happy for smaller joints.

Anke thanks for your very informative reply all taken on board ……You mentioned that you did your own butchering at home was that the slaughtering bit too, or have I got my wires crossed I often do ?…..The reason why I ask is we used to get a regular supply of Lamb from our last neighbour in return for his animals grazing our land….We witnessed from start to finish the entire process and always impressed at how stress free it was for the sheep………..I’m unsure about the law and home slaughter with sheep as this was a good few years ago, hence my questioning…..Sorry for the questions just curious and totally green to all this.

Laura I will give you a call tomorrow I didn’t note your number down before I destroyed the internet connection !!

Cheers

Dave

[humphreymctush]

I use a Suffolk on my coloured shetlands, I chose a long lean ram with a not too big head. It is a good idea to scan. This way you can make sure the singles dont get too big to be born and also give extra feed to the twin baring ewes so that the twin lambs are not born too small. The suffolk shetland lambs are quite a uniform product and a nice bunch of them can get a good price. As mentioned I always use a shetland ram on the gimmers. I keep most of the ewe lambs as replacements and grow the wethers on (with no concentrates)until they are 2or3 years old and eat them myself. The eating quality far exceeds what you can buy in the shops. I need to get a new shetland ram every 2 years but this is fun because I choose a different colour each time and wait and see what colour lambs I get.

[Anke]

We use the local abattoir (20 mins down the road) for the sheep and any male/castrated goats. We then keep them in their coldstore for up to a week (usually works out at 5 days and is free), then bring the carcass home (another advantage of Shetlands not being too large) in the back of the Skoda estate, and cut up on the dining table. We do not sell any of our mutton/goat meat. We normally leave the legs on the bone, take chops (sometimes), and cut shoulders and anything else up into cubes/chunks (for stews, curries) and mince any leftovers (shep's pie - my children's favourite dinner). I also always (because I can an dits mine!), go back for the pluck on the day of slaughter, the liver and heart get eaten by us the lungs and kidneys by the dog.

If you want to sell meat it would have to be taken from abattoir in refrigerated van to a licensed butcher, who then cuts up and in theory your customers would have to collect from him directly (so as to make sure it stays refrigerated until the point your customers pick it up. When we used to do that we always collected form butcher, then took straight to customer in cool bags. But we have decided that it is too difficult and expensive to do it that way, now I sell the occasional live lamb, deliver to abattoir and customer arranges with his/her own butcher to transport/cut up etc. I would charge for the live lamb and transport to abattoir.

I think that I would like to do it all at home, however the abattoir charges 17.50 per sheep/goat, and that seems to me good value in terms of my time/mess/need for gun/what to do with head/spinal cord etc. But it only works as long as we have abttoir at Galashiels. Problem is they don't like to "sell" you back your skins.

[shetlandpaul]

if your thinking of doing home kill then don't post about it. your asking for stick from animal health ect.

[lachlanandmarcus]

We normally keep our shetlands until we are hungry! normally 15-18 months. But some went at 9 months in January and were fine, just a bit less meat but then less feed too! None of the 18 month old ones were in any way tough and the ram lamb at 9 months wasnt ram-y tasting. We lamb mid April outdoors in exposed hill in Aberdeenshire. Normally we castrate the boys.

We dont sell any, we use it for christmas presents for friends and family and eat the rest ourselves. The taste is amazing. Not strong, but tastes of lamb lamb lamb, unlike supermarket tasteless stuff.

Butchery at home is worthwhile for money saving but the kill process, provided it is a good abbatoir, is for me best left to a professional and isnt expensive. Im not confident enough to do it myself.

[Glentarki]

Thanks all for your responses so interesting to here how you go about the butchery bit and when you do it…….. I must say its great to hear the versatility of slaughtering Shetlands at varied ages and still getting a quality tasting meat. Were really looking forward to getting our sheep shortly but don’t worry I wont be running around the paddocks with a gun …The home slaughtering  bit was me just being curious could never entertain doing the deed too much of I wimp

Big Thanks you lot
Dave

[Glentarki]

Just a wee update...........We have managed to find a good Shetland breeder thanks to contacts here on Tas........... Next month our 4 girls arrive all last years lambs and a mixture of colours were dead excited and sooo looking forward to having them here.

Just wanted to say to everyone that posted advice, big thanks

Dave

[Andrew]

Hope you enjoy them and look forward to hearing how you get on with them.

[Glentarki]

Cheers Andrew..... no doubt once the girls arrive I will be back asking all sorts

Dave

[egglady]

when you are ready for the tup, remember we have some real cuties this year LOL

[Padge]

  How exciting for you.......let's see how long it is before you're totally hooked and your flock is expanding faster than you dare imagine

Good Luck