Spring lamb prices

Green farmer

Nekarsulm wrote: »

Sounds fine. Some lads looking 130 on Done Steal.

I know, irritates me when I see those ads

ganmo

Sami23 wrote: »

Would paying 100 euro for 50kg ewe lambs for breeding be about right at the moment ?

Depending on the breeding I'd expect more. But they'd make 95 in the factory so they should be worth 110 or so.
We sold lightish ewe lambs earlier in the season for 100

AnFeirmeoir

paddysdream wrote: »

Complete waste of time ringing the factory direct.You will only be offered the lowest price going.Ring an agent and ask him what he is paying.

So there's no point going to the factory myself unless i'm in a group ?
A lot on the forum here seem to drop lambs to factory themselves. Are ye all in a group / large producers ? Is there anyone here with an average flock approx 100 ewes who go to the factory directly themselves?

Thanks

Username John

AnFeirmeoir wrote: »

So there's no point going to the factory myself unless i'm in a group ?
A lot on the forum here seem to drop lambs to factory themselves. Are ye all in a group / large producers ? Is there anyone here with an average flock approx 100 ewes who go to the factory directly themselves?

Thanks

Only have about 50 ewes - not in a producer group, but I send lambs to the factory through the local mart, they have a collection service. I guess they would be an agent in this case.

The price on offer most of the time seems worse than what people on here comment on, but it suits me to just send em off , no messing with mart, etc.

I added a comment on this before.
See here
It lists ICM Camolin (where my lambs go) as paying 4.30 + 10c - which is more often closer to what I get paid...
But then it also says "4.60 paid" - which I assume is what larger producer groups get paid.

Not sure I answered your question tho...

sea12

AnFeirmeoir wrote: »

So there's no point going to the factory myself unless i'm in a group ?
A lot on the forum here seem to drop lambs to factory themselves. Are ye all in a group / large producers ? Is there anyone here with an average flock approx 100 ewes who go to the factory directly themselves?

Thanks

Yep in producer group but deliver our own lambs. There booked in through the chairman if the group. Worth about .30 per kg extra plus transport allowance

Green farmer

How does one go about joining a group or finding out if a group exists in their area ?

ganmo

Green farmer wrote: »

How does one go about joining a group or finding out if a group exists in their area ?

I don't think theres a requirement to be in the area we're in a Meath one here in dublin.

serfspup

Sami23 wrote: »

Would paying 100 euro for 50kg ewe lambs for breeding be about right at the moment ?

saw excellent suffolk cross ewe lambs selling for 102 eoro today they were at least 55kg and very fit,well able to breed this year.
Ironically it was a butcher buying them,If they killed less than 24kg R4-5 I would be surprised rather hypocritical that the same factory doesn't pay over 22kg?

a very mixed pen of broken mouth horned ewes made 78euro a few minutes earlier?

hard to understand

paddysdream

Username John wrote: »

Only have about 50 ewes - not in a producer group, but I send lambs to the factory through the local mart, they have a collection service. I guess they would be an agent in this case.

The price on offer most of the time seems worse than what people on here comment on, but it suits me to just send em off , no messing with mart, etc.

I added a comment on this before.
See here
It lists ICM Camolin (where my lambs go) as paying 4.30 + 10c - which is more often closer to what I get paid...
But then it also says "4.60 paid" - which I assume is what larger producer groups get paid.

Not sure I answered your question tho...

Not in a producer group here.Send lambs to ICM,Kepak,Kildare and Ballon from time to time.No point in letting them think they can get all your lambs!
Just an individual farmer.Would have prob. more than the average sheep farmer to sell but nothing massive.

Anyways 4.60 was available all last week and yesterday from a few factories.
I rang agents for 2 different factories over the weekend and both were quoting this without pushing.

sea12

Got the cheque today. Average 97.98 happy enough. Try to finish off the last few lambs now.

Willfarman

sea12 wrote: »

Got the cheque today. Average 97.98 happy enough. Try to finish off the last few lambs now.

Is that after stoppages? They were good lambs. What did they average live do you think?

red bull

Anyone sell lambs at Tuam Mart lately, my neighbour has happy reports

sea12

Willfarman wrote: »

Is that after stoppages? They were good lambs. What did they average live do you think?

Yes after stoppages. Average live weight 46kg but they were on a small bit of meal for about a month so kill out was high

rangler1

Our lamb group had a couple days on grading two weeks ago, had a guy over from EBLEX in England, He weighed 20 lambs empty on a farm and had a discussion group forum on it and then brought them to the factory the next day and got them killed also 65 of our members spent a few hrs at the factory talking to the EBLEX guy and a tour of the factory.
The 20 lambs were off grass only, but they killed out 49.5% of their empty weight.
We sent 27 the following week, weighed them full and then weighed them after 15hrs fast....average loss was 2kgs....but get this, it ranged from 1.5 kgs to 4kgs loss, very hard to estimate carcase weight when gut fill can be so variable.
I guess the lesson is if you want to maximise the carcase weight without going over the max, put the lambs in overnight before weighing.
Our 27 lambs killed out 49% of their empty weight

sea12

rangler1 wrote: »

Our lamb group had a couple days on grading two weeks ago, had a guy over from EBLEX in England, He weighed 20 lambs empty on a farm and had a discussion group forum on it and then brought them to the factory the next day and got them killed also 65 of our members spent a few hrs at the factory talking to the EBLEX guy and a tour of the factory.
The 20 lambs were off grass only, but they killed out 49.5% of their empty weight.
We sent 27 the following week, weighed them full and then weighed them after 15hrs fast....average loss was 2kgs....but get this, it ranged from 1.5 kgs to 4kgs loss, very hard to estimate carcase weight when gut fill can be so variable.
I guess the lesson is if you want to maximise the carcase weight without going over the max, put the lambs in overnight before weighing.
Our 27 lambs killed out 49% of their empty weight

That's interesting. Didn't think they would lose that much. 4kg is about 8% of weight

Green farmer

I haven't been to a factory, distance mainly, but do the factories or similiar operators give open days or talks about kill out, grading and carcass conformation. I suppose education to what the market wants can only help.

sea12

Green farmer wrote: »

I haven't been to a factory, distance mainly, but do the factories or similiar operators give open days or talks about kill out, grading and carcass conformation. I suppose education to what the market wants can only help.

Yep that would be a v good idea. You always pick up something new every day.,

ganmo

Hmm so you're assuming they were all 100% full to start? That could be the source of some of the variation.

rangler1

sea12 wrote: »

Yep that would be a v good idea. You always pick up something new every day.,

Darren Carthy (journal) attended one of the days, hopefully he might do an article on the presentations

AntrimGlens

rangler1 wrote: »

Our lamb group had a couple days on grading two weeks ago, had a guy over from EBLEX in England, He weighed 20 lambs empty on a farm and had a discussion group forum on it and then brought them to the factory the next day and got them killed also 65 of our members spent a few hrs at the factory talking to the EBLEX guy and a tour of the factory.
The 20 lambs were off grass only, but they killed out 49.5% of their empty weight.
We sent 27 the following week, weighed them full and then weighed them after 15hrs fast....average loss was 2kgs....but get this, it ranged from 1.5 kgs to 4kgs loss, very hard to estimate carcase weight when gut fill can be so variable.
I guess the lesson is if you want to maximise the carcase weight without going over the max, put the lambs in overnight before weighing.
Our 27 lambs killed out 49% of their empty weight

Rangler, did the Eblex guy make you's grade the lambs on farm and then show you the actual fat score on the line for each lamb? I've never followed any lambs through the line (don't sell to factory) but it would be interesting to know how many fellas can actually grade a carcase properly while the lamb is live on the bridge?

rangler1

AntrimGlens wrote: »

Rangler, did the Eblex guy make you's grade the lambs on farm and then show you the actual fat score on the line for each lamb? I've never followed any lambs through the line (don't sell to factory) but it would be interesting to know how many fellas can actually grade a carcase properly while the lamb is live on the bridge?

Yea we were given cards to write the grade and the predicted carcase weight, we already knew the liveweight, and then we brought the cards to the factory the next day.
He tutored us well on the grades, but we were way out on the carcase weight

AntrimGlens

..and I always would have thought it would have been the other way round, lads getting carcase weight close, but off on fat scores.. just goes to show!

stonemad222

Any word on lamb prices in the factories for the rest of the week

rangler1

AntrimGlens wrote: »

..and I always would have thought it would have been the other way round, lads getting carcase weight close, but off on fat scores.. just goes to show!

Here's a video of the eblex guy giving the demo, he was right on the first 2 lambs, No.3 lamb was a U4, I think he said if it wasn't a U it was a bloody good R, he also said that it was verging into fat score 4.
Gives you an idea, but not great camera work

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fehGs8LMgZ0&feature=youtube_gdata

paddysdream

stonemad222 wrote: »

Any word on lamb prices in the factories for the rest of the week

4.70 seems to be about the run of it.Heard of 4.75 and even 4.80 going but thats all stories,was actually talking to nobody with a docket to show for it.
Weights seem to be rising as 22 seems to be the standard with some paying up to 23 kgs this week.

Mart trade for stores seems to be on fire.Middling 33 to 35 kg mixed wethers and ewe will cost from mid 80s to 90 euro.Framers seem to think lamb price will rise sharply after christmas.Looking at some of what was for sale in the marts recently they will be lucky if they sell everything they buy as there seems to be an awful lot of weak to middling lambs being bought for fancy money.

stonemad222

Good to see factory prices risking.stores seem to be getting dearer every week,hard to see much of a return out of them,a lot of cattle men returning to sheep

Willfarman

stonemad222 wrote: »

Good to see factory prices risking.stores seem to be getting dearer every week,hard to see much of a return out of them,a lot of cattle men returning to sheep

Lambs I bought a month or six weeks ago are performing well. In terms of thrive and financially. Despite the nagar Sayers!:rolleyes:

orm0nd

paddysdream wrote: »

4.70 seems to be about the run of it.Heard of 4.75 and even 4.80 going but thats all stories,was actually talking to nobody with a docket to show for it.
Weights seem to be rising as 22 seems to be the standard with some paying up to 23 kgs this week.

Mart trade for stores seems to be on fire.Middling 33 to 35 kg mixed wethers and ewe will cost from mid 80s to 90 euro.Framers seem to think lamb price will rise sharply after christmas.Looking at some of what was for sale in the marts recently they will be lucky if they sell everything they buy as there seems to be an awful lot of weak to middling lambs being bought for fancy money.

lambs are scarce and factory blockades pending ,

(2 missed calls from an agent to day) dig in sell hard , no doubt the soft sellers will bite

paddysdream

orm0nd wrote: »

lambs are scarce and factory blockades pending ,

(2 missed calls from an agent to day) dig in sell hard , no doubt the soft sellers will bite

Lambs are surely scarce.Last week was the biggest kill ever.Agents ringing around pretty much every day.Talking to a neighbour tonight and he has lambs to kill tomorrow at 4.75 to 23 kgs( inc.QA I assume)


Blockade is (from ifa text) next Monday which is a bank holiday which is hardly of much use only to get a few minutes on the telly on a slow news day.Bit late at this stage methinks.Seems one farm union seems to have been caught with their pants down and are rushing to make a bit of noise.Sounds like closing the stable door after the horse has bolted.

Lamb prices are on the up but will they hold after Christmas?
Have about 120 or so left here but nothing fit for a week or two so no real panic yet.SFP has hit most bank accounts so the pressure to sell will have lessened in many cases.

rangler1

paddysdream wrote: »

Lambs are surely scarce.Last week was the biggest kill ever.Agents ringing around pretty much every day.Talking to a neighbour tonight and he has lambs to kill tomorrow at 4.75 to 23 kgs( inc.QA I assume)


Blockade is (from ifa text) next Monday which is a bank holiday which is hardly of much use only to get a few minutes on the telly on a slow news day.Bit late at this stage methinks.Seems one farm union seems to have been caught with their pants down and are rushing to make a bit of noise.Sounds like closing the stable door after the horse has bolted.

Lamb prices are on the up but will they hold after Christmas?
Have about 120 or so left here but nothing fit for a week or two so no real panic yet.SFP has hit most bank accounts so the pressure to sell will have lessened in many cases.

protests are a right pain, have had the best year in a good few here this year, and am in no humour for this crack...good lamb prices and very little meal used....you'd think there was nothing else in this country only beef, grain farmers are getting a much worse burning than anything in beef