Factories

jt65

http://www.irishexaminer.com/farming/top-quality-spring-lamb-deserves-higher-price-from-factories-icsa-264602.html


"If the factories fail to recognise the added value of spring lamb, then there is a real risk that this system of farming could be lost altogether."

48 booked in for to morrow

think it will be our last year, deffo not worth the hassle

Username John

http://irishlamb.wordpress.com/

Sheep trade stable. Hoggets €6.00 to €6.20/kg. Supplies scarce. Spring lamb €6.40/€6.50/kg offered. Very small numbers.

At this rate, would you be better off to lamb late, hold the hogget over the winter, keep them ticking over and sell heavy hoggets?

EDIT : What will they up to for both hoggets and spring lamb?
I think hoggets are 23kg? Spring lamb used to be up to 20kg I think?

MayoAreMagic

Same old story with the factories. The answer is dont book them in and dont go with them. If they have nothing then their poker-face will soon come down and their prices will come up. The farmers groups are not active enough in this regard. People should be instructed to not sell until they rise to a certain point which has been deemed a fair price. If everyone stuck to it then the factory wouldnt be able to get away with offering these unfair prices.

jt65

Username John wrote: »

http://irishlamb.wordpress.com/

Sheep trade stable. Hoggets €6.00 to €6.20/kg. Supplies scarce. Spring lamb €6.40/€6.50/kg offered. Very small numbers.

At this rate, would you be better off to lamb late, hold the hogget over the winter, keep them ticking over and sell heavy hoggets?

EDIT : What will they up to for both hoggets and spring lamb?
I think hoggets are 23kg? Spring lamb used to be up to 20kg I think?

we run the sheep alongside a dairy herd, so need to lamb early to close up for silage

if we opted out of early would have cut back numbers greatly

this year was much better than last as regards grass growth but it's still a fairly expensive venture,

reckon would need €7/kg

managed to haggle €6.45 + bonus paying to 20.5kg for the load

rancher

Username John wrote: »

http://irishlamb.wordpress.com/

Sheep trade stable. Hoggets €6.00 to €6.20/kg. Supplies scarce. Spring lamb €6.40/€6.50/kg offered. Very small numbers.

At this rate, would you be better off to lamb late, hold the hogget over the winter, keep them ticking over and sell heavy hoggets?

EDIT : What will they up to for both hoggets and spring lamb?
I think hoggets are 23kg? Spring lamb used to be up to 20kg I think?

Plenty of people doing that, seems a good system, no worries about grass quality during june/july any way......the system has merit

sea12

Username John wrote: »

http://irishlamb.wordpress.com/

Sheep trade stable. Hoggets €6.00 to €6.20/kg. Supplies scarce. Spring lamb €6.40/€6.50/kg offered. Very small numbers.

I had a couple of empty ewes and a couple of hoggets left. Rang factory today and was only quoted €5.70 for hoggets. 2.80 for ewes.

Think I will bring them to the mart ]

Lano Lynn

why would the factorys pay for spring lamb when they can buy light fleshy hoggets and sell at premium price.....they are intrested in one thing ....profit!!.....quality traceability etc are only spin for the gullible.

it is a simple case of to little competion in the retail and processing sector,remember last back end when tesco decided that lamb was out of season these r really smart guys that will now stock the shelves with chilled NZ hogget legs:mad:

jt65

Lano Lynn wrote: »

why would the factorys pay for spring lamb when they can buy light fleshy hoggets and sell at premium price.....they are intrested in one thing ....profit!!.....quality traceability etc are only spin for the gullible.

it is a simple case of to little competion in the retail and processing sector,remember last back end when tesco decided that lamb was out of season these r really smart guys that will now stock the shelves with chilled NZ hogget legs:mad:

too true

for the last few years the hogget has undermined the s lamb price

DK man

I have 3 lambs at @ 40kg and another 3 @ 37kg. The rest are low 30 and less.

What would folk here do with the 6 - I'm thinking of getting them out next week even though they are light when they are heavier the price will fall and probably will end up with the same price anyways and less meal eaten!

I have a few cull ewes too so could make up a load.....

Any views welcome - ta

Username John

DK man wrote: »

I have 3 lambs at @ 40kg and another 3 @ 37kg. The rest are low 30 and less.

What would folk here do with the 6 - I'm thinking of getting them out next week even though they are light when they are heavier the price will fall and probably will end up with the same price anyways and less meal eaten!

I have a few cull ewes too so could make up a load.....

Any views welcome - ta

How fit are the 6?

I was in the same boat as you 2 weeks ago, I sent em off.
But they didnt kill out great. Some killed out poor to be honest. But they still averaged over 100euro. So can't complain too much...

DK man

Username John wrote: »

How fit are the 6?

I was in the same boat as you 2 weeks ago, I sent em off.
But they didnt kill out great. Some killed out poor to be honest. But they still averaged over 100euro. So can't complain too much...

They are fairly roundy and bit of muscle - on creep for about 2 months now - would like a little more than €100 each for all the time money and sleepless nights and not going away around Christmas etc... And considering this is peak price time... Am I mad to be doing this - I think I am now that I think about it..

Username John

DK man wrote: »

They are fairly roundy and bit of muscle - on creep for about 2 months now - would like a little more than €100 each for all the time money and sleepless nights and not going away around Christmas etc... And considering this is peak price time... Am I mad to be doing this - I think I am now that I think about it..

Oh, feck, sorry - you're talking about spring lamb...
i was offloading a few hogets I wanted rid of.

That's why I said they made over 100...

If it was spring lamb I would hold on. Of my 16 spring lambs, only 1 is 40, the rest are in the 30s. I won't be sending em off for a good while yet...

jt65

DK man wrote: »

I have 3 lambs at @ 40kg and another 3 @ 37kg. The rest are low 30 and less.

What would folk here do with the 6 - I'm thinking of getting them out next week even though they are light when they are heavier the price will fall and probably will end up with the same price anyways and less meal eaten!

I have a few cull ewes too so could make up a load.....

Any views welcome - ta

depending on breed and level of finish , unless the 37 were continential with good cover I would hold back

we're sending 38 to 43 kgs in the morning

have each lamb weighted and recorded so will know the ko

mostly vendeen and Hampshire down

we gave up Xmas lambing some years ago and opted for mid January on wards

this allows us to get to grass ( closed from late October) almost straight away & find we're getting lambs away from 10 to 12 weeks onwards with less expense

to morrows lambs have been weaned about 5 weeks to allow them the best of the grass & were also on an inexpensive creep

jt65

don't have the kill sheets yet but rang factory

lambs made €126.75 before deductions

also sent 3 old ewes that had single lambs on them until about 5 or 6 weeks ago
these made €75 approx.

sent a old ch ram as well , he seems to have gone missing :eek:

Lano Lynn

http://agrihq.co.nz/article/chinese-demand-boosting-sheep-meat-prices?p=36

DK man

Brought 5 lambs and 2 cull ewes to mart in blayney today
Lambs weighed 202 kgs so just slightly over 40 kgs- they made €124 euros each. Not over the moon but I had €120 in my head as my minimum

Most surprisingly was the 2 cull ewes made €230 or €115 each. They were big and averaged 98 kgs. There was strong demand for cull sheep one buyer getting very excited every time a batch entered the ring.

A neighbour had two lots of lambs and made €134 for a batch which averaged 43kgs and then he made less for a heavier batch!