Weighing lambs

[Nithsdale]

Average National SQQ, say 225p/kg

Lamb weighs at home, say 44kg...worth, say £99

Lamb weighs at mart, say 40kg.

Buyers know how much market scales are 'slow' by (they're buying out there every week, so they know how they kill out), so they know they can pay £99 for your '40kg' lamb.
That makes the price per kg (the price that the mart reports to AHDB) 247.5p/kg.

You don't loose out 'cos you get what it's worth.
The buyers don't loose out 'cos they've only paid what it was worth and the market gets to look above average on the AHDB report which may make more people inclined to send them more lambs.

If you want to know by how much your mart's scales are slow by, weigh yourself on your scales and weigh yourself at the mart.

As said, in posts above, lambs will loose weight if shut up overnight and again in transit ( otherwise you wouldn't have to wash your trailer out).

But if all marts are at it, then the average sqq isn't your 225pkg - unless somewhere vendors are being royally ass raped!

 

[Bury the Trash]

Maybe for stores where you pay a price/animal. However, fat are sold by weight... so that statement is not correct?

That statement is not incorrect.

The buyers know what they are buying , its their job to.

 

[yellowbelly]

But if all marts are at it, then the average sqq isn't your 225pkg - unless somewhere vendors are being royally ass raped!

Marts round here vary in their 'accuracy'.

I always make a point of knowing what I weighed at home and what I weigh on their 'trading standards checked weighbridge'.

Does no harm to let them know that I know either - may help a pen not to get rounded down too much - not as handy for marts that weigh 'em just as they enter the ring though

 

[bobajob]

I remember a few years ago the local auctioneer phoned the day before the sale wondering if I had any lambs to send the next day.
I said yes about 25, he says what weight are they?
And I said are we talking about the weight on my scales or the weight on your scales- and we both just laughed!!!

 

[sherg]

If I'm sending lambs on a Monday I'll weigh them on the Wednesday or Thursday before and put them back on the same field, separating them from the rest of the group and putting them inside or on a different field stresses them out too much

 

[Smokey16]

How do you separate them from the rest if there in the same field

 

[farmerm]

I asked my market about this once and they said the weights they gave out we're just a guide for the buyers

Then they should run all auction as £/head not as pence per kg.. locally they vary

 

[livestock 1]

I’m not keen of barring weighed sheep up overnight for this reason.
Marts also take a bit off in wet weather for wet fleeces.

 

[Jerry]

If I'm sending lambs on a Monday I'll weigh them on the Wednesday or Thursday before and put them back on the same field, separating them from the rest of the group and putting them inside or on a different field stresses them out too much

Yep. Weigh two or three days in advance. Mark them up and back to field.

Get up early on market day, gather and straight onto trailer to market.

An hour early out of bed can earn you a good few pounds with fresh lambs not stressed pre market day.

 

[Smokey16]

Thanks everyone for advice. Iv always farmed cattle but last year I took on some more land and went into sheep farming aswell and still learning and trying to make the best out of my lambs

 

[livestock 1]

Thanks everyone for advice. Iv always farmed cattle but last year I took on some more land and went into sheep farming aswell and still learning and trying to make the best out of my lambs

Please tell us when you get it right

 

[Woolless]

Sending deadweight is different. Our co-op ask us the shut the lambs in before pick up as they can get in one hell of a mess loaded straight out the field if they're travelling for a bit. However, I load straight out of the field when going to the mart.

 

[Razor8]

I’ve seen lamb weights vary up to 4kg from early morning until evening
If lambs were only eating grass at this time of the year & put in the night before it wouldn’t surprise me at all that’s they’d lose 5 or 6 kg.

 

[JD-Kid]

seen it often sheep in night before and run across scales then run across the next am and will be 4-6 kg lighter
depends on how fast feed going thought them and also heat etc
know of a mate killed lambs in 2 diffrent plants one close the other. a good distance away the diffrence in killing weights was quite high
years ago seen a thing out of Canada on transport losses some guys carting a long distance to better paying markets. but once loss taken in to account were better selling closer

 

[Agrivator]

If a mart has regular buyers and regular sellers, the buyers will know the sort of stock from each seller and will be aware of how they kill out. And they will bid accordingly. Exactly the same applies with store stock.

Whether or not the seller gives a bit of luck also influences price - and some buyers in a dead-weight mart who are buying for a number of outlets will often bid an extra £2 or £3 if they now they are going to get a bit of luck. I know it's not fair, but that's the way of the world.

And I think it's fair to say that most buyers know more about stock than most sellers.

 

[Smokey16]

Thanks I think Ino where iv been going wrong. Weve been weighing lambs on a Saturday morning and marking the fat ones then I put them back in field till tuesday evening then we pick then out and bring home and put in shed over night with hay and water then load them up first thing Wednesday more to take to market. Next year il make up pen in field and load them up in field to take to market

 

[rancher]

We starve for three hours before weighing, it's more accurate for selling DW.
There can be 2 -4 kg difference in full and empty weight

 

[Henarar]

I asked my market about this once and they said the weights they gave out we're just a guide for the buyers

That is fair enough if the lambs are sold per life but if they are sold per KG its a load of fecking rubbish

 

[Anymulewilldo]

Only use the scales August - October. After that if it’s fit it goes. Always have them set 3kg under too allow gut fill. We never house lambs the night before unless they are coming off hoppers and I can fill hoppers inside for them too keep them eating. Rest of the time they are drawn either straight into the lorry or bunched up somewhere I can load easy at stupid o’clock in the morning. Since Chelford closed we’ve sold everything £/head through Bentham, Skipton or Longtown depending on the breed of sheep.
I fully agree with the statement the buyers know… I always give luck with our lambs, and have quite a good reputation for finished lambs, not half baked good stores. Even not being FA doesn’t make bugger all difference if the buyers know your lambs will kill out properly.

 

[livestock 1]

Only use the scales August - October. After that if it’s fit it goes. Always have them set 3kg under too allow gut fill. We never house lambs the night before unless they are coming off hoppers and I can fill hoppers inside for them too keep them eating. Rest of the time they are drawn either straight into the lorry or bunched up somewhere I can load easy at stupid o’clock in the morning. Since Chelford closed we’ve sold everything £/head through Bentham, Skipton or Longtown depending on the breed of sheep.
I fully agree with the statement the buyers know… I always give luck with our lambs, and have quite a good reputation for finished lambs, not half baked good stores. Even not being FA doesn’t make bugger all difference if the buyers know your lambs will kill out properly.

Years ago I turned up with a good batch of well fleshed lambs in the fat, a buyer asked what I had in and said he only wanted fa. He then asked where they were penned up and handled them. He bought all 230 of them that day. You have to wonder, it was late October and a lot of lambs were undercooked