Tuesday 12 December 2006

Which one to pick?

Today saw the second draw (selecting procedure) of lambs who have been grazing the stubble turnips and forage rape since November1st. Henry has helped the last two times to weigh and grade the lambs to find out which ones are ready. They need to weigh about 45kg when they are alive to then weigh about 21kg when they have been killed. Henry and Todd (our shepherd) feel the amount of muscle and fat that each sheep has on its back, ribs and tail to make sure it will be the correct size and weight for the market! This time we picked out over 200 from the group of 900 lambs but they were not quite heavy enough! We will have to check them all again next week.


The price is low at the moment only about £2.30/kg. This makes a lamb worth about £45/head. This retails over £135 in the super-markets. We have also bought a new set of scales to increase the accuracy of weighing as we do not get paid for any extra weight over 21Kg; that bit goes in for free!

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