Whole lamb

kevin37

Hi i am looking to buy a lamb or 2 cut up for the freezer, preferably in Mayo Sligo or Galway areas so i can collect. I have been told that a cut up lamb would cost around €120 which would be good value. I would like to support Irish farmers but we currently buy frozen NZ lamb from Lidl as it costs €11-€12 for a leg as opposed to €23 from the butcher.

I have heard that a Lamb sent to the factory will earn the farmer €70-72 and a butcher should not charge €50 to kill and cut it up.

Why can we not buy our own locally produced lamb/beef directly from a commercial butcher at a reasonable price and fill the freezer a couple of times a year. I am sure that there are alot of others who would also like to do this.

reilig

kevin37 wrote: »

Hi i am looking to buy a lamb or 2 cut up for the freezer, preferably in Mayo Sligo or Galway areas so i can collect. I have been told that a cut up lamb would cost around €120 which would be good value. I would like to support Irish farmers but we currently buy frozen NZ lamb from Lidl as it costs €11-€12 for a leg as opposed to €23 from the butcher.

I have heard that a Lamb sent to the factory will earn the farmer €70-72 and a butcher should not charge €50 to kill and cut it up.

Why can we not buy our own locally produced lamb/beef directly from a commercial butcher at a reasonable price and fill the freezer a couple of times a year. I am sure that there are alot of others who would also like to do this.

In August we brought 20 of our lambs to a slaughter house in Bawnboy in Cavan to get them killed and hung. All of the lambs were over 50kg live weight. We asked some neighbours if the wanted to buy them and they asked their friends if they wanted to buy them. We ended up with takers for all 20 of them at €110 each. The slaughter house charged €25 for the slaughter, hanging them for a week and bagging all of the meat in the required sizes for freezing. All I had to do was deliver them to the buyers. I made €85 per lamb. At the same time if I had brought them to the meat factory, I would have got €70 to €75 per head and would have had to do a lot more driving. I hope to sell a lot more of my lambs this way next year and I have already got neighbours asking about them.

CJhaughey

This is what Farming should be like, local food going to local people, where possible.
This also allows people to avoid the monopolies like Kepak and other big processors that make a huge amount from the farmer and the punter.
A leg of lamb usually retails for 22-34 depending on size consider you get two hind legs and a load of chops and other stuff for your 110 you are way ahead as a consumer.
OP, do you know any hill farmers? if not a quick ask around in a local butchers might get you some names of farmers that might sell to you direct.
I used to buy a whole lamb frozen and portioned for €80 very good value IMO.

kevin37

This is what i am talking about and the IFA should promote the likes of this at a local level.
I met a man at a wedding in England who produced early lamb which went to a large supermarket, they launched a NZ early lamb ofer and he was left with 400 high cost concentrate fed lambs in a saturated market, it nearly broke him, he now sells all his lamb direct to the public at markets and the like, he gets them killed and cuts them up himself in a proper approved cutting area he had installed in a shed.

The problem with getting one lamb killed is that there are high vet supervision costs so really you would need to get somebody who is getting a few killed at the time.

reilig

kevin37 wrote: »

This is what i am talking about and the IFA should promote the likes of this at a local level.
I met a man at a wedding in England who produced early lamb which went to a large supermarket, they launched a NZ early lamb ofer and he was left with 400 high cost concentrate fed lambs in a saturated market, it nearly broke him, he now sells all his lamb direct to the public at markets and the like, he gets them killed and cuts them up himself in a proper approved cutting area he had installed in a shed.

The problem with getting one lamb killed is that there are high vet supervision costs so really you would need to get somebody who is getting a few killed at the time.

This slaughter house in cavan is dep of Ag approved and Vet supervised and he will kill and cut up lamb as well as bag it for the freezer for €25 per lamb. He will also kill a heifer or a bullock for you. We got a bull calf killed last year that had a spinal injury from calving and was not suitable for the mart. It cost us approx €200 for the slaughter, the hanging in the cold store, the cutting into strips, steaks and chops, 15kg of mince and 200 beef burgers. We haven't bought meat from a butcher at home in 30 years. We know what our animals are fed on - the 20 lambs that we slaughtered were fed on 100% milk and grass. Don't think I'd trust buying meat from a butcher or a supermarket when I read about all the hormones that are used in other countries - especially in Brazil.

thetangler

reilig wrote: »

In August we brought 20 of our lambs to a slaughter house in Bawnboy in Cavan to get them killed and hung. All of the lambs were over 50kg live weight. We asked some neighbours if the wanted to buy them and they asked their friends if they wanted to buy them. We ended up with takers for all 20 of them at €110 each. The slaughter house charged €25 for the slaughter, hanging them for a week and bagging all of the meat in the required sizes for freezing. All I had to do was deliver them to the buyers. I made €85 per lamb. At the same time if I had brought them to the meat factory, I would have got €70 to €75 per head and would have had to do a lot more driving. I hope to sell a lot more of my lambs this way next year and I have already got neighbours asking about them.

Hi Reilig
If you are doing this again and have a spare lamb can you let me know.
Thanks

reilig

thetangler wrote: »

Hi Reilig
If you are doing this again and have a spare lamb can you let me know.
Thanks

Its going to be july or august, but I'll let you know. Only have 40 ewes this year - down from 100 in previous years, so we might be able to finish the lambs on grass earlier.

colrow

I know this is probably a bit off topic, we have for sale a pb Kerry Bullock about 400kg, thats a guesstimate, you'll have to arrange your own butcher, or we could arrange that and the butcher to chop it up and you pay him.

If you're interested pm me

The butcher wants about 35 c per lb for the butchering and I think the slaughter and hanging for 3 weeks was about €150, oh and the dead weight was about 225 kgs

frash

I know this is an old thread but I was brought to it after seeing a UK program about buying a whole lamb & freezing it.

Anyway a search for somewhere around Dublin doing this has brought me to this website which is charging €165 for a whole lamb from Wicklow.

Have prices increased that much from 2009 when this thread started as €165 seems dear. The €110 price mentioned above sounds great!

Edit: €150 in Meath on this website

sincere113

Kepak kill for about €6ish. You will need tags & sheep docket at Kepac and you come out with carcase on shoulder. Butcher is approx €20.
so price = €26 + cost of lamb.

frash

sincere113 wrote: »

Kepak kill for about €6ish. You will need tags & sheep docket at Kepac and you come out with carcase on shoulder. Butcher is approx €20.
so price = €26 + cost of lamb.

Thanks for the reply.
Any idea of the cost of a lamb?

lakill Farm

i bought 2 heifer calves on saturday, will fatten over the next 18 - 24 months and get them killed for ourselves.

I am going to try pick up a ewe or two soon and have a few lambs off them. and same with a pig or two.

My advantage is i butchered for 6 years with a butcher who use to kill all his own beef and buy lambs off local farmers. So im use to the cutting up. I am trying to build a shed and tile it for going the cutting up in. Maybe this year

Drag00n79

A mayo group of nine farmers here for anyone interested.
http://www.lambdirect.ie/products.html

sincere113

frash wrote: »

Thanks for the reply.
Any idea of the cost of a lamb?

Good quality Irish lamb at this time of year is very expensive. Plus the price will go off the weight you're looking for. Check out your local press or look up sheep prices on Farmers Journal web site.

sea12

frash wrote: »

I know this is an old thread but I was brought to it after seeing a UK program about buying a whole lamb & freezing it.

Anyway a search for somewhere around Dublin doing this has brought me to this website which is charging €165 for a whole lamb from Wicklow.

Have prices increased that much from 2009 when this thread started as €165 seems dear. The €110 price mentioned above sounds great!

Edit: €150 in Meath on this website

Yes Thank God, Lamb has gone up quite a bit since then. Lamb in the mart at the moment is making around €65-70 over the weight. So a 50kg lamb would make €110-120 in the mart. So killing charges etc would prob add another €20-€30

fodda

Do you need a refridgerated van for transporting the carcase and meat?

sincere113

fodda wrote: »

Do you need a refridgerated van for transporting the carcase and meat?

No but bring a few big bin liners with you. And make sure transport is clean. I'm assuming you will go direct from abattoir to butcher and it's less than a couple of hours between.

fodda

sincere113 wrote: »

No but bring a few big bin liners with you. And make sure transport is clean. I'm assuming you will go direct from abattoir to butcher and it's less than a couple of hours between.

Who has told you this?

I found this online does this apply here? http://www.fsai.ie/legislation/food_legislation/fresh_meat/storage_and_transport.html


Also bin liners? Does it not have to be food grade plastic?

sincere113

fodda wrote: »

Who has told you this?

I found this online does this apply here? http://www.fsai.ie/legislation/food_legislation/fresh_meat/storage_and_transport.html


Also bin liners? Does it not have to be food grade plastic?

I have done this myself on a few occasions - I just used bin liners. You bring your lamb in and then collect it at the far side of the processing rails. It is stamped and ready to collect. The lamb will be warm and still twitching. Throw him on your back and bring it home or to the butcher.

This is for my consumption and not for reselling...

After you collect your carcase you can drag it across the road and through mud they don't care.

fodda

Does your 6.00 euro include gutting and head off (disposal) or have you still to do this yourself?

sincere113

fodda wrote: »

Does your 6.00 euro include gutting and head off (disposal) or have you still to do this yourself?

Comes out like this.

frash

sincere113 wrote: »

Good quality Irish lamb at this time of year is very expensive. Plus the price will go off the weight you're looking for. Check out your local press or look up sheep prices on Farmers Journal web site.

When is the cheapest time of the year to buy lamb?
It would be to freeze for use over a few months so it doesn't have to be this (expensive) time of the year.

Thanks.

sincere113

Hard to predict. As with any commodity when there is volume around its cheaper. However, I would say September would be best bet.

eorna

we always sell a few lambs direct to costumers, the price of lamb is going up so is hard to keep the same price (which we try to do). it has to be an incentive to farmer as well as costumer, the costumer gets something cheaper than would in the butcher/supermarket and farmer has to make more money than selling to factory is a two way system.
Personally i find good bit more work in the lamb boxes (phone calls, coordinating butcher,picking up lambs, organising collection/delivery, more diesel... than dropping lambs at factory and turning around..having said that is nice to know your meat and work is valued and costumers keep coming year after year...

fodda

eorna wrote: »

we always sell a few lambs direct to costumers, the price of lamb is going up so is hard to keep the same price (which we try to do). it has to be an incentive to farmer as well as costumer, the costumer gets something cheaper than would in the butcher/supermarket and farmer has to make more money than selling to factory is a two way system.
Personally i find good bit more work in the lamb boxes (phone calls, coordinating butcher,picking up lambs, organising collection/delivery, more diesel... than dropping lambs at factory and turning around..having said that is nice to know your meat and work is valued and costumers keep coming year after year...

More small/part time farmers should do this even get the appropiate gear (fridge van etc) and sell all your produce door to door deliveries cutting out supermarket and everybody benefits.

frash

fodda wrote: »

More small/part time farmers should do this even get the appropiate gear (fridge van etc) and sell all your produce door to door deliveries cutting out supermarket and everybody benefits.

If anyone knows anyone in North Wicklow doing this will you let me know?
I'm based in South Dublin.