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wether sheep


ejano

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even an older wether? With prices up right now you could probably sell anything but who wants to butcher old wethers, cept for dogs?

 

Yes, older wethers and ewes. Even older rams. Just depends on the time of year and who the buyer is. I rarely eat my own lambs because I can sell them for a decent amount. So by default I eat cull ewes. I sell cull ewes (or wethers) to family and friends for eating too. As long as the animal isn't fat, it won't taste muttony. Now if you're sending sheep through a sale vs. on-farm sales, you probably will find a lower demand for wethers, but for on-farm I've never had a problem selling them.

 

I've been wondering about selling my lambs right at weaning this year. I hear the prices between them and fat lambs isn't much different. What's your regional ideas and pricing on that???

I have a buyer for my lambs right at weaning. I'm probably actually getting a little less than if I grew them out and sold them that way, but I'm saving pasture, saving maintenance time and costs (worming, etc.), and so on, so for me it's a better deal to sell at weaning even if I don't get quite as much per pound as I would if I held on to them a while. If I had tons of pasture with lots of good grass on it, then I might choose a different course.

 

J.

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Yes, older wethers and ewes. Even older rams. Just depends on the time of year and who the buyer is. I rarely eat my own lambs because I can sell them for a decent amount. So by default I eat cull ewes. I sell cull ewes (or wethers) to family and friends for eating too. As long as the animal isn't fat, it won't taste muttony.

 

How old would you consider before they would taste muttony? I've always believed what I heard, over a year or so and they'll not taste as good. Probably butchered a 2 year old for myself and didn't notice any difference. I did butcher a ram that was about 4 but he tasted....rammy.

 

Right now I got the same from the sale barn as I would of off the farm. It's a beautiful sale barn. Lamb and sheep sales every thursday. Less hassle too. People come from a long way for the sale and to sell.

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How old would you consider before they would taste muttony? I've always believed what I heard, over a year or so and they'll not taste as good.

I've eaten some really old ewes--6+ years without any issues. Of course, these were mostly karakuls, which are very lean anyway, since they store fat in their tails (also tunis, though, which are less lean). To be honest, I wouldn't know what tasting "muttony" means, because I've never been able to tell the difference (although I definitely can tell a ram, ewwww). One time my neighbor slaughtered a ewe who was old enough to be losing her teeth, at least 10 years. We had her ground just to be safe, but when we compared the ground meat from that ewe with ground meat from a lamb (well, between 1 yr and 2), we couldn't tell the difference.

 

I've always understood that you can reduce the chance of getting a muttony flavor simply by cutting away most of the fat before you cook it. As I said, the sheep I've butchered are extremely lean, so there's no fat to cut away. But that is an option.

 

Because of the whole fat issue, I've often wondered why some buyers want the biggest, fattest sheep I have. I would think they would have the worst flavor, but then different cultures like different things. One problem I have had selling karakuls is the perception of the buyer that they are thin. They are built differently, but I really think that's why you can eat them quite old and still not get a muttony/gamy taste.

 

I've also always understood that different breeds will have a different flavor. It's possible that breeds that have been designed to grow fast would be more likely to taste muttony the older they get, but that's just supposition on my part.

 

There are advantages and disadvantages to on-farm vs. sale barn. One disadvantage to the sale barn, IMO, is that you never know for sure what kind of prices you're going to get. You can look at the prices weeks in advance and time your sale thinking you're going to get the best price only to get them there on an off week and get dismal prices. Recently I sold about half my flock. We looked at sale prices locally and at New Holland and then set our prices for local buyers based on those sale barn prices. The up side for us was that the buyer came to us (did his own hauling), so all we had to do was gather and load and take the check! A disadvantage to selling off the farm is the folks who come and want to buy one sheep and then stick it in the trunk to take it home. I try to avoid those sorts of sales by dealing with local CSAs who are looking to buy lambs/sheep to graze for a while and then butcher for their customers.

 

That's my experience, FWIW.

 

J.

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We had Romney and RomneyxBorder Leicester and a nice Romney ram when we first move to our new place. But there are cockleburs around the edges of our pastures that these sheep loved to get into. ALL our fleeces were ruined and we're down to just 4 wool sheep from 20-30 when we moved.

 

Liz I hope your grazing areas are suitable to keeping your fleeces usable.

 

 

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Last year we checked our fleeces as they came off the sheep. They looked beautiful, lots of luster and good crimp. But every where we plunged our fingers into the fleeces we hit multiple burs.

 

A couple of years ago we had a young (ca. 2 years old) romney ram butchered. We decided that if we didn't like the flavor the dogs could have the meat; we could not tell the difference between the 2 year old ram and a lamb.

 

 

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:lol: :lol: :lol: . Thank you, Mark.

 

That reminds me of one case when a translator was wondering why a football team would name themselves after clergy. I had to explain that more likely they named their team after the bird. The Arizona Cardinals of course :lol::lol:

 

Maja

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On the subject of old sheep: I regularly butcher my old ewes and have them ground. My lamb customers all think the ground from the old ewes is better than that from the lambs! I butcher most of my lambs at 12-18 months old, anyway. I will butcher old rams as well, although the dogs get them if they taste bad. I've found that if I do the rams in the early spring, they don't taste so bad. We mostly do them ourselves & make them into sausage.

 

My sheep are entirely grass-fed, even the bred ewes get no grain, and I think that makes a big difference in them not tasting "muttony".

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We had Romney and RomneyxBorder Leicester and a nice Romney ram when we first move to our new place. But there are cockleburs around the edges of our pastures that these sheep loved to get into. ALL our fleeces were ruined and we're down to just 4 wool sheep from 20-30 when we moved.

 

Liz I hope your grazing areas are suitable to keeping your fleeces usable.

 

A good heads up -- I've been wondering how daring sheep are..

(ETA- I think they'll only get prickers etc. if they seek shade on their own as the meadows are clear but the margins need some work.)

 

The paddock where I first plan to put them is perfectly clear - We're sacrificing part of the hay field. The small meadows are a little more hazardous - no burdock etc. but golden rod and blackberry briars (good for jam!) on part of the slope. We are fighting a war with multiflora rose in the orchard (the stuff is a curse up here!) so everything that isn't mowed for hay gets brushhogged about once a month during the growing season. Making progress but a long way to go....

 

@Kristan -- these little darlings (especially the Shetlands) probably have a home for life. I'll be harder hearted once I get more to sort through.

 

 

ETA

2/3 will remain hay field - 1/3 paddock - it extends below the brow of the hill

nearfield.jpg

 

 

 

 

P9180192.jpg

 

The first meadow -- there is actually about three acres of open space, but note golden rod along the wall going into the second meadow. It's a difficult balance as we need these kinds of things for "food" for pollinators in the orchard. There's a beautiful stand of milkweed, which I understand is poisonous to sheep, but the monarch "bloom" is incredible... so we'll have to fence it off. The second meadow is similar -- about three acres of open space with golden rod and some brush along the stone walls. IF I could trust the sheep to stay within those walls, we could repair the gaps, install some gates and I wouldn't need wire fences as they won't be left down there at night.

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I personally think that the merinos and their kin taste more muttony. I have had dorsets tast a bit muttony- more fat so that idea I think is true.

 

But the- Katahdins, my milk sheep, Icelandics, shetlands, Rue Arcott, Lacune.....all taste similar at least to me. (I crossbreed.)

 

Except the older rams of Icelandic.

 

I had some students turn a flock out in a field that was seeding and ruined my wool. Since this is a BIG part of my income both in clothing and hides...I was freaked out.

 

I have about 60 new sheep- katahdins from a very tough flock of a friend of mine. And it has been interesting to have hair sheep.

 

Their hides are very nice after shedding.

 

I am going to cross breed them back into some of my original flock.

 

One interesting thing is these katahdins don't seem to go for the browse as well. They will eat it. But don't seem as interested in living off it as the flock I have been breeding to browse off local indigenous brush. The dorsets wouldn't browse on brush at all.

 

The Icelandics and their crossbred offspring proved excellent at foraging on browse.

 

Prices are very good here.

 

I have most of my luck selling to the resturants and at the Farmers markets.

 

Where I am getting $8 per pound. However there is the USDA slaughter and cut and wrap fees. Transport. And

the fact that my sheep are smaller.

(My prices have gone down a bit, to be competitive.)

I like reading about what other people are doing. It is very interesting.

 

Luck to us all.

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Tea,

 

In our flock of katahdins there are individuals that seek out browsing more then others. It's not uncommon to look out and see certain individuals and their off spring standing against the fence or on their hind legs to reach leaves.

 

On other last place the flock consistently browsed the multiflora rose allowing us to gain more pasture each year. It was a slow process but noticeable.

 

Mark

 

 

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Tea,

 

In our flock of katahdins there are individuals that seek out browsing more then others. It's not uncommon to look out and see certain individuals and their off spring standing against the fence or on their hind legs to reach leaves.

 

On other last place the flock consistently browsed the multiflora rose allowing us to gain more pasture each year. It was a slow process but noticeable.

 

Mark

 

Katahdins will eat multiflora rose? Maybe I'd better think about acquiring some of those as well! The stuff is pervasive here.

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