Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Lambs

I took 11 feeder lambs in to market. They were BFLx Shetland shorn wethers and ewes. They were 65# on average and I got $0.82 a lb. I thought they were a little bigger, but oh well. Also wish I could have gotten a better price ,but it was only $0.03 a lb lower than top feeder lambs.

2 comments:

  1. I want to try and breed my shetlands to a BFL or BFLX how much bigger are the lambs from this X than shetlands and do you like their fleeces?
    I see on the shetland list that smaller lambs get better prices at the sales. Sounds like altho the prices are low you did very well with your lambs.

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  2. The lambs(ewes and wethers w/ docked tails) that I took to market in Dec. were 65# on average (3- 70# were kept back for direct market)

    I also took some lambs to market in Oct. group #1 were cull Shetland lambs weighing 36# on average-they went for $0.36 a lb; group #2 also Shet. lambs weighing 37# went for $0.22 a lb. ; group #3 were Shet. x BFL lambs weighing 41# they went for $0.77 a lb.

    In our area feeder lambs are around $0.85 a lb and finished (120 # and up) are going for $0.95 a lb. So lighter lambs aren't necessarily more per. lb. Prices were higher in the summer as that is the time of year when not many lambs are brought in.

    The fleeces on the cross are really nice! (I sheared all my lambs that went to market.) The fleeces are crimpy, and some-what lustrous. Not as shiny as a long wool,but brighter than Corriedale.

    You may want to go with the pure-bred BFL as first generation crosses have more hybrid vigor-so I've been told. Also If the ram is a pure bred the ewe lambs will be mules.

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