Hill lambs

foxylock

What do ya do with your hill lambs? Are ya brave enough to try and finish them or do ya run to the mart as quickly as possible? journal has a bit about it this week, looks to be no wriggle room if things get tougher than normal !!

Connemara Farmer

Stores all the way. Too few sheep to be fattening at the moment. Would have to get them hauled also. Stores just handier option for me now.

foxylock

Connemara Farmer wrote: »

Stores all the way. Too few sheep to be fattening at the moment. Would have to get them hauled also. Stores just handier option for me now.

sold early this year, half regret it now. Sold late last year and regretted that too !!!! Oh my head

Connemara Farmer

I sold late last year too, still have this years lambs but they'll be going soon.

foxylock

Connemara Farmer wrote: »

I sold late last year too, still have this years lambs but they'll be going soon.

i considered housing but the possibility of getting roasted turns me away from it

solerina

Sold them all in the mart in 2012, didn't sell even one in the mart in 2013..finished them all for the factory. We decide depending on the year and where the best prices appear to be...still have all our 2014 lambs....will decide in Nov what to do with them but are introducing them to feed at the moment

foxylock

solerina wrote: »

Sold them all in the mart in 2012, didn't sell even one in the mart in 2013..finished them all for the factory. We decide depending on the year and where the best prices appear to be...still have all our 2014 lambs....will decide in Nov what to do with them but are introducing them to feed at the moment

do you finish them indoors, how much feed per lamb to finish?

solerina

foxylock wrote: »

do you finish them indoors, how much feed per lamb to finish?

No, all outdoors. Cost depends on the breed, we find some breeds take a lot of feeding to fatten while others seem to gain weight on way less feeding.

1crosseye

what kinda money would a 45 kg mountain ram lamb make in factory this month or next?
also what weight would they kill out at. sold a few 40kg ram lambs a few wks ago made 50e

foxylock

1crosseye wrote: »

what kinda money would a 45 kg mountain ram lamb make in factory this month or next?
also what weight would they kill out at. sold a few 40kg ram lambs a few wks ago made 50e

never brought hornies to the factory but got over 70 euro for 39kg lads last autumn. Fifty sounds light lad.

solerina

foxylock wrote: »

never brought hornies to the factory but go wet over 70 euro for 39kg lads last autumn. Fifty sounds light lad.

Sold all ours to the factory last year...average weight 42 kg...lowest we got was 85 euro (probably cost about 20 euro to feed)

foxylock

solerina wrote: »

Sold all ours to the factory last year...average weight 42 kg...lowest we got was 85 euro (probably cost about 20 euro to feed)

so would you be better off to take 65 for them at around 35-37kg and spare the grass? Genuine question not trying to insult.

Connemara Farmer

I was reading the Teagasc piece in Pravda earlier, and wondering. I think they said there was a conversion rate of 7kg meal to 1kg meat.

I must be missing something here, maths were never my strong point.

So to get a 30kg live weight lamb to 40kg would require 70kg ration and 8 weeks feeding it at 1.2ish kg per day. How much is ration now, not bought any since Spring, say €9 a bag (guessing). 70kg meal then would cost about €25.20.

If I take my own wether lambs last year I averaged €50 selling at the mart as stores (€43 & €55) for different batches.

What would a 40kg wether kill out at, 17kg?

Coincidentally a producer group man was looking for lambs on Saturday I think base price was €4.55/kg + €0.05c/kg + €3.50/head. So 17kg carcass = €80.

€80 - €25.20 ration cost = €54.80

I'm scratching my head wondering is it worth the extra effort? Like I say I probably have missed something.

Vandy West

Connemara Farmer wrote: »

I was reading the Teagasc piece in Pravda earlier, and wondering. I think they said there was a conversion rate of 7kg meal to 1kg meat.

I must be missing something here, maths were never my strong point.

So to get a 30kg live weight lamb to 40kg would require 70kg ration and 8 weeks feeding it at 1.2ish kg per day. How much is ration now, not bought any since Spring, say €9 a bag (guessing). 70kg meal then would cost about €25.20.

If I take my own wether lambs last year I averaged €50 selling at the mart as stores (€43 & €55) for different batches.

What would a 40kg wether kill out at, 17kg?

Coincidentally a producer group man was looking for lambs on Saturday I think base price was €4.55/kg + €0.05c/kg + €3.50/head. So 17kg carcass = €80.

€80 - €25.20 ration cost = €54.80

I'm scratching my head wondering is it worth the extra effort? Like I say I probably have missed something.

Think the big question is the price of the feed. In the article at the back about finishing lowland lambs they were using 240 ton, so 16.80 for 70 kg vs 25.20. The lowest price I have seen is 320 ton bagged and delivered around here. When you factor in a bit of silage it doesn't seem worth it unless you can get the feed for around the 240 mark.

skoger

Was at a group meeting a few weeks ago and was told it takes 6kgs to put on 1kg (5.5kgs for crossbred lambs). But taking your figures keeping the lambs for another 8 weeks instead of selling now for €50 means you're only getting €4.80/hd for your troubles. I'd say the base price would probably fall over the next couple of months. I'd take them to the mart. If you don't get near the €50 mark then you could try finishing them yourself.

Connemara Farmer

I'll have to play around with those figures again. As I was taking the "average" of two groups of wethers last year. Remembering the lightest one was nearly 30kg, so the ration useage wouldn't have been as severe on "average".

At one of our meetings there was a figure mentioned, basically where the base kg weight was in a lamb to make it worth feeding or send to the mart.

This years lambs have been negatively affected by the weather, shallow farm + drought = poorer lambs so they'll be stores this year.

Birdnuts

Connemara Farmer wrote: »

.

This years lambs have been negatively affected by the weather, shallow farm + drought = poorer lambs so they'll be stores this year.

The mild winter was a godsend in terms of reducing ration use by taking advantage of early grass. Certainly helped me break even given the poor mart trade. Some signs of drought on the higher parts of the commonage here but most of my home farm is wet by nature so not too upset by this dry spell - which looks like comming to a thundering halt in any case before this week is out as Autumn proper appears to be on its way;)

skoger

Connemara Farmer wrote: »

This years lambs have been negatively affected by the weather, shallow farm + drought = poorer lambs so they'll be stores this year.

You'd need to add on a couple of euro for vet, losses etc to your calcs

AnFeirmeoir

i thought the most important point of the ifj article on finishing stores was when to start feeding. ie leave at grass/silage for a while first and start feeding conc so that they are finished in Jan/Feb when price should be higher, not Nov