What will live weight in Lamb equate to deadweight

garfield89

Member
Livestock Farmer
If you’re selling in boxes, does weight matter?
Good point, but
1) Would be nice to take some cuts from heavier carcass and add to smaller ones to even things out.
2) Getting an estimate lets me be able to give customers that estimate, so they have an idea what to expect
 

garfield89

Member
Livestock Farmer
Are you having them hung before selling? I always do that with the older animals. My clients understand the need to cook different age animals differently and they like the hung meat. I too, would be worried about the fat cover. I'd talk to your butcher about options. I do burgers, sausages and faggots off mine but my heaviest, mature animals wouldn't be more than 60kg liveweight and would be grass fed.
Abattoir I take them to will only hang them for 2 days max, could look for a place that would do it for longer though.
How long do you hand you'res?
Sounds like some great options there with cuts.
Do you send to an off site butcher, separate from abattoir?
 

garfield89

Member
Livestock Farmer
I would completely agree with you, but there is a sensible level of fat. Too much fat on a sheep tends to decrease the amount of meat and puts a lot of customers off.
Better to have more native breeds that have marbling which improves eating quality without losing the quantity of meat.
How is that marbling achieved?
 

GreenerGrass

Member
Location
Wilts
Yes but that is the carcass weight to live weight yield, which is very influenced by gut fill.
What is the sale able meat yield from said carcass?
We get about .69 conversion from deadweight to saleable meat- bone in leg and shoulder, barnsley chops, rack french trim, breast minced. Carcass also hung for a week so not sure how much weight loss there. Always feel a bit disappointed but have a lean breed/primitive breed, I'm not sure how other breeds convert?

Butcher reckoned thats not a bad ratio tho, he gave an example of a more conventional breed he'd just done and I think it was only .71 with similar cut spec.

Our live/dead conversion is closer to 40-43% on grass, only been selling ram lambs so I guess I should take a kilo or two off for the balls which would lift the %
 
Last edited:
Abattoir I take them to will only hang them for 2 days max, could look for a place that would do it for longer though.
How long do you hand you'res?
Sounds like some great options there with cuts.
Do you send to an off site butcher, separate from abattoir?

I organise all the slaughter, chop, bag with a farmer/butcher locally who runs a shop selling her own sheep and beef as well as other local products. I want to be clear I'm not talking big numbers if animals here say 8 max. All my clients get a sheet explaining what cuts they can have then I go through it with them. Usually having to explain sheep only have seven ribs! For a lot if people, they like the idea of buying local meat but aren't joints people - for them we do leg steaks and smaller cuts. One client lives on their own but lives lamb, their half is cut accordingly - ribs bagged singly etc. I encourage people to take offal but if they don't want it others will but every six months or so I gave enough liver and cheaper joints in my freezer that these go over, get thawed and made into (the world's best) faggots. A lit of people will take all their bones and more besides because they are into "stock potting". Taking the bones reduces the disposal charge on the waste. Also call (lamb soup) is popular so towards winter people will take mince and dice sometimes as much as half the half. It sounds complicated but I've got all the customer orders on a spread sheet so once you find their purchasing pattern it's easy to paste across.

Gluten free sausages and burgers are fairly popular. They use a pea rusk so nice texture which people don't always appreciate. NB always have a minimum buy on these - I usually say they are only available if you buy a half.

Another good thing is that the butcher vacuum packs and labels everything (currently investigating vegeplatic). On the label is the price each joint would have cost in the shop. I never think half a lamb looks much for the money but pick up the leg or shoulder joints and check out the shop price and you gave a "bargain".

I also stick in a note telling people how to cook it in the nicest possible way. I'll pm it over to you if you are interested.

Hanging length, I'm guided by the butcher. Generally, I'd say the leaner the sheep the shorter the hang.
 

Muddyroads

Member
NFFN Member
Location
Exeter, Devon
Once you start putting weights on things, even estimated or approximate ones, you start getting into official weights and measures territory. We sell by the quarter with half legs and shoulders, 4-5 chops and approximately 400g mince. Alternatives such as leg steaks can be done on request. New season lamb only hangs for a couple of days but we prefer to sell older lamb, hogget and mutton which will hang for just over a week. Everything is vacuum packed and properly labelled. 1 quarter is approximately a carrier bag size, so will fit in a typical freezer drawer.
 

garfield89

Member
Livestock Farmer
Another good thing is that the butcher vacuum packs and labels everything (currently investigating vegeplatic). On the label is the price each joint would have cost in the shop. I never think half a lamb looks much for the money but pick up the leg or shoulder joints and check out the shop price and you gave a "bargain".

I also stick in a note telling people how to cook it in the nicest possible way. I'll pm it over to you if you are interested.

That list would be great, thank you. You're right, its a bargain compared to supermarket comparisons, at least smaller retail cuts.
 

unlacedgecko

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Fife
Surely it does, as saleable meat is ultimately what we produce?

It is. But British farmers are paid on live weight or dead weight, with EUROP grid. Saleable meat doesn't come into it.

Disjointed supply chains = producers disconnected from the consumer = poorer product. You only have to read some of the comments made on here re eating quality "I'm not paid for it so I don't consider it".
 

Gulli

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Somerset
Surely it does, as saleable meat is ultimately what we produce?
Yes, but I get paid on carcase weight selling direct to consumer or butcher. If I charge for saleable meat then I have to charge more per kilo to make the same profit £7/kg sounds better than £15/kg to most people, regardless of the final total
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

  • 0 %

    Votes: 79 42.0%
  • Up to 25%

    Votes: 66 35.1%
  • 25-50%

    Votes: 30 16.0%
  • 50-75%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 75-100%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 100% I’ve had enough of farming!

    Votes: 7 3.7%

Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

  • 1,291
  • 1
As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
Top