Store lmb finish sold on a fat day. Why

[Greythundercloudys]

Why do people sell big lean lmbs on a fat day, l see on lanark fat report there complaining about under finished lmbs, there are more deductions on a fat day aswell, surely folk must get disappointed when they hear what they make, very strange.

 

[spin cycle]

Why do people sell big lean lmbs on a fat day, l see on lanark fat report there complaining about under finished lmbs, there are more deductions on a fat day aswell, surely folk must get disappointed when they hear what they make, very strange.

normally drags fat price down to ...i suppose ppl think it ways 40kg if it goes fat i'll get £84,,,,,if i go go store...who knows?,,,,,,,just a guess

 

[Anymulewilldo]

There are people out there who seem too believe that finish is linked too weight. They haven't a clue what a finished lamb feels like and seem too get arsey when you point out their lambs are just good stores.
I wonder if it's a pride thing? If they sell their lambs in the fat it means they have done the job too the end and not sold them half baked for a finisher too make a fortune on?
The annoying thing is there are farmers out there twice my age who do this every year.
On years when the fat is low I've been known to patrol our local auctions buying stores from the fat. Doesn't matter if I upset the fat buyers, all mine head north too be sold. It's amazing how many older farmers mutter when I'm doing it. One complained to the old fella a couple of years ago that I'd bought his lambs. "What does he think he's going too do with those lambs? They are 41kg and fit too kill." Old fella leant into pen and felt them. "If that's the best you can do for gods sake retire and take up tiddlywinks" was his response.

 

[andybk]

There are people out there who seem too believe that finish is linked too weight. They haven't a clue what a finished lamb feels like and seem too get arsey when you point out their lambs are just good stores.
I wonder if it's a pride thing? If they sell their lambs in the fat it means they have done the job too the end and not sold them half baked for a finisher too make a fortune on?
The annoying thing is there are farmers out there twice my age who do this every year.
On years when the fat is low I've been known to patrol our local auctions buying stores from the fat. Doesn't matter if I upset the fat buyers, all mine head north too be sold. It's amazing how many older farmers mutter when I'm doing it. One complained to the old fella a couple of years ago that I'd bought his lambs. "What does he think he's going too do with those lambs? They are 41kg and fit too kill." Old fella leant into pen and felt them. "If that's the best you can do for gods sake retire and take up tiddlywinks" was his response.

yea they havnt a clue what ram to buy either , usually the biggest fattest big boned panter , or one out the culls .

 

[TexelBen]

yea they havnt a clue what ram to buy either , usually the biggest fattest big boned panter , or one out the culls .

I've never understood why people buy tups out of culls, surely they're culls for a reason, or they'd be sold as breeding stock?

 

[Anymulewilldo]

I've never understood why people buy tups out of culls, surely they're culls for a reason, or they'd be sold as breeding stock?

Before we go any further, I bought 2 crossbred shearling tups out of the fat a month ago. Fella had missed ballot for main tup sale or something so saw his arse and sent the pen as culls. But guaranteed fit too work if the buyer wished. I bought 2 for £210 each, big one would have been 450 and smaller one 3-350 at proper sale. Why he didn't just enter them for another sale I'll never know. But he cost himself some money that night for sure!

 

[TexelBen]

Before we go any further, I bought 2 crossbred shearling tups out of the fat a month ago. Fella had missed ballot for main tup sale or something so saw his arse and sent the pen as culls. But guaranteed fit too work if the buyer wished. I bought 2 for £210 each, big one would have been 450 and smaller one 3-350 at proper sale. Why he didn't just enter them for another sale I'll never know. But he cost himself some money that night for sure!

Serves him right, what a bloody daft idea!

Lucky for you tho

 

[Anymulewilldo]

Serves him right, what a bloody daft idea!

Lucky for you tho

I have spent many hours staring at these tups thinking "People don't do stupid things like this, it's too good too be true, there must be something major wrong with them" can't find it yet!! Think they are Rouge x Beltex, nice lads. The big lad will go on cheviot mule ewes and the small one will do nicely on some dry shearlings.

(Just thought I'd better own up too buying tups out of the culls before we started a discussion on why it's a daft idea...)

 

[Wink]

There are people out there who seem too believe that finish is linked too weight. They haven't a clue what a finished lamb feels like and seem too get arsey when you point out their lambs are just good stores.
I wonder if it's a pride thing? If they sell their lambs in the fat it means they have done the job too the end and not sold them half baked for a finisher too make a fortune on?
The annoying thing is there are farmers out there twice my age who do this every year.
On years when the fat is low I've been known to patrol our local auctions buying stores from the fat. Doesn't matter if I upset the fat buyers, all mine head north too be sold. It's amazing how many older farmers mutter when I'm doing it. One complained to the old fella a couple of years ago that I'd bought his lambs. "What does he think he's going too do with those lambs? They are 41kg and fit too kill." Old fella leant into pen and felt them. "If that's the best you can do for gods sake retire and take up tiddlywinks" was his response.

Would think some that only sell live could do with...

- A live to dead meet
- Sending deadweight to get grades back once in a while
- Doing a couple home kills, butchered by the local butcher for feedback on how they cut and so they can see the final product.

I cut a few for various people (mainly smallholders, lovely people, who I'm happy to do business with) and most decisions for when they are "ready" tend to be when they are big (40kg or whatever), convenience, or when they lack space/have more lambs. A better carcass tends to be more luck, so can be more frame and no finish or massively overfat, never putting a hand on the animal to assess its conformation/fat grade. I just try and give them grades to look at, and politely suggest how they were, so that hopefully they can learn too for the following year.

 

[AftonShepherd]

Why do people sell big lean lmbs on a fat day, l see on lanark fat report there complaining about under finished lmbs, there are more deductions on a fat day aswell, surely folk must get disappointed when they hear what they make, very strange.

I think this year (and last) there are a good few folk trying to get as many lambs as possible away in case the price collapses. Unfortunately that means (for some) that weight matters more than finish. Ironically, the less fleshy lambs are what drive the prices down.

 

[Greythundercloudys]

Big lean ish texels will sell no bother in the store ring, 70 odd £ all day long. 36kg lmbs making 74 at Stirling today.

 

[TexelBen]

Big lean ish texels will sell no bother in the store ring, 70 odd £ all day long. 36kg lmbs making 74 at Stirling today.

Hope trade keeps good, I've a lump booked in for a week Wednesday at Skipton

 

[andybk]

bit of a sad state of affairs for an industry , not knowing what your end product should be like , or what rams / ewes to use , dont know wether its the low value over the years or conflicting messages from abattoir buyers , buying for throughput at similar pricing to best inspec lambs . We all have to learn somewhere , i know being hit with a huge discount for overweights when we sold deadweight taught us early , but there is a large chunk of sheep keepers that seem to get away with it for decades , ideally i suppose we would all sell dead , but i know what would happen to the price if we did , along with further excuses to crank the pricing down over time .

 

[Al R]

bit of a sad state of affairs for an industry , not knowing what your end product should be like , or what rams / ewes to use , dont know wether its the low value over the years or conflicting messages from abattoir buyers , buying for throughput at similar pricing to best inspec lambs . We all have to learn somewhere , i know being hit with a huge discount for overweights when we sold deadweight taught us early , but there is a large chunk of sheep keepers that seem to get away with it for decades , ideally i suppose we would all sell dead , but i know what would happen to the price if we did , along with further excuses to crank the pricing down over time .

Supermarkets want 2 and 3L’s, 4L’s and above I actually get deducted on with 1 contract. Butchers/marts want fatter lambs it seems?
the only time I sent lambs to the mart was only because they couldn’t fit on the lorry and they made £21/head less than the lambs that went direct.

 

[Woolless]

Would think some that only sell live could do with...

- A live to dead meet
- Sending deadweight to get grades back once in a while
- Doing a couple home kills, butchered by the local butcher for feedback on how they cut and so they can see the final product.

I cut a few for various people (mainly smallholders, lovely people, who I'm happy to do business with) and most decisions for when they are "ready" tend to be when they are big (40kg or whatever), convenience, or when they lack space/have more lambs. A better carcass tends to be more luck, so can be more frame and no finish or massively overfat, never putting a hand on the animal to assess its conformation/fat grade. I just try and give them grades to look at, and politely suggest how they were, so that hopefully they can learn too for the following year.

Yes, the live to dead events are excellent. AHDB also publish info on selecting stock for slaughter and probably videos now. But of course, according to some on here, they're teaching Granny to suck eggs and taking money for nothing.

 

[gatepost]

Well I'll come out! i have run some lamb selection events for AHDB, very enjoyable, try to keep it light hearted, but hard going at times, wt pays is thrown at you most of the time, and again just pulling on wt alone, and if you sell live obviously there are buyers for everything, but that sometimes gives the wrong impression of the whole trade, It's not about telling anyone that they are wrong, just showing them what the difference is, fat levels etc and what the different markets want.

 

[Anymulewilldo]

Well I'll come out! i have run some lamb selection events for AHDB, very enjoyable, try to keep it light hearted, but hard going at times, wt pays is thrown at you most of the time, and again just pulling on wt alone, and if you sell live obviously their are buyers for everything, but that sometimes gives the wrong impression of the whole trade, It's not about telling anyone that they are wrong, just showing them what the difference is, fat levels etc and what the different markets want.

Ahhh, weight pays. That old chestnut. That's why 55kg+ lambs are worth just about what it cost too feed them...

 

[Wink]

Yes, the live to dead events are excellent. AHDB also publish info on selecting stock for slaughter and probably videos now. But of course, according to some on here, they're teaching Granny to suck eggs and taking money for nothing.

Quite. I did the meat quality event not long ago and thought it was very good and good value. You learn just as much just by talking to others in the industry as they do from you. Great knowledge transfer.

 

[kfpben]

Yes, the live to dead events are excellent AHDB also publish info on selecting stock for slaughter and probably videos now. But of course, according to some on here, they're teaching Granny to suck eggs and taking money for nothing.

I went on a live to dead day a few years ago before I started selling finished lambs for the first time.
It was a very good day however as a live seller it definitely encouraged the selling of under finished lambs. What the slaughterhouse wants for the supermarket isn’t what the live market is after.

 

[Woolless]

I went on a live to dead day a few years ago before I started selling finished lambs for the first time.
It was a very good day however as a live seller it definitely encouraged the selling of under finished lambs. What the slaughterhouse wants for the supermarket isn’t what the live market is after.

But at least it gave you the skills to draw lambs to suit your market.