spin cycle
Member
- Location
- north norfolk
oh god why did i reply...i've got to fess up now
....i only lamb 'mishaps' teg wise....which this year is nil
but last year was 40 norfolk hurdlers.....a subtle blend of wilt..exlana..beltex/texel
what are pet lambs worth?
- Thread starter paul&mandy
- Start date
oh god why did i reply...i've got to fess up now
....i only lamb 'mishaps' teg wise....which this year is nil but last year was 40 norfolk hurdlers.....a subtle blend of wilt..exlana..beltex/texel
- Location
- Montgomeryshire
Why not use a decent tup, selected for the ewe lamb job, then ration them very tight in a paddock next to the farm?
Mine are with my single bearing ewes on a sniff of old pp, the only concentrates they’d see would be if there was a problem and they had to come into a pen.
A 4kg lamb by a Beltex/Roussin/Exlana is fine by me, albeit slower finishing than a Charollais.
I wonder what a primitive cross pet lamb is worth?
- Location
- West Country
puntabrava
Member
- Location
- Wiltshire
- Location
- Fife
You're not wrong!that’s probably where you’d get your £50 if they come out a nice pretty colour
A number of capable shepherds used to use a Shetland or a BFL on hoggs, for easy lambing.
But there has been a massive switch to the Beltex. They lamb fine as twins, but single lambs can still pose lambing difficulties, despite efforts to restrict nutrition in late pregnancy.
And of course, Beltex cross lambs are streets ahead of the rest when it comes to selling live at fat markets. I can't really compare them to Charollais crosses, because in Scotland and the North of England, Charollais tups have almost disappeared.
- Location
- Montgomeryshire
You're of course right, almost all of my Charollais cross lambs disappeared 4-5 months ago.
The Beltex crosses are just getting near the same weights now, suiting the current daft trade of course.
CopperBeech
Member
- Location
- A Welsh man lost in England
ironically I just sold some 28 kilo crap dregs of store lamb remains for more than those Charley xs did 5 months ago
odd year.farmerm
Member
- Location
- Shropshire
well at £44/ 20kg milk powder its probably worth paying someone a few quid to take them away
- Location
- Montgomeryshire
well at £44/ 20kg milk powder its probably worth paying someone a few quid to take them away
I’m paying £40/20kg for Bonanza Shine, and taking the view that it’s worth rearing them well when prices are good (even allowing for a considerable drop from current levels).
I reckon they cost around £50 to rear to finished on ad-lib pellets, or around £40 if they are weaned to grass only by 30kg and turned in to the rest of the mob. I would hope that will leave a margin worth the effort this year.
farmerm
Member
- Location
- Shropshire
I dont think you are too wrong. I'm just glad I dont have to pay my wife and daughter hourly to mix and feed the few we have. Its the age old problem with farming though... what looks like a good idea now often looks less rosy by the time the are ready to sell and when something looks like a poor idea now, you can be sure to be kicking yourself later for not having move of it to sell!
- Location
- Montgomeryshire
I’d certainly view it differently if there wasn’t an automatic machine sat there feeding them 24/7...
farmerm
Member
- Location
- Shropshire
And it @Cowabunga doomsday prediction of where lamb price might be in a few months time you might then too
We are in strange times!
Iv got 130 on 2 heatwave machines and wydale mixers, and they take no time at all, But have 3 welsh mountain lambs that will not take to sucking off the feeder and they take more time than the 130!
- Location
- Montgomeryshire
And it @Cowabunga doomsday prediction of where lamb price might be in a few months time you might then too
I share some, but not all, of his pessimism. I can’t see these prices being anything other than temporary I’m afraid.
Don’t tell @gone up the hill , but I know what my minimum price will be at any point in the next 12 months, which certainly gives me confidence in buying the milk powder.
- Location
- Ledbury, Herefordshire
I used to quite literally give mine away on the way back from my grazings to home via a smallholding. If some lived, I'd get some pork/sausages.Oh to be in the affluent south
............we've only just made it to £25 this year
How did they manage to turn lambs into pork!
- Location
- Montgomeryshire
Thankfully not done that number for a good while. Always scary the speed the stack of milk powder goes down then!
I have a tw*t of a lamb that only sucks enough to ’get by’ for some reason, after muddling on with his lean/old mother for ten days.
I’m not too upset to have fitted him with a nice new jacket this morning.
- Location
- N.Lincs
The times they are a changin'
- Location
- N.Lincs
