Selecting Finished Lambs – A Practical Guide
1 August 2024It is important to know when your lambs are ready for sale so that you can maximise returns from your flock.
There are two main routes for finished lambs: selling liveweight through a livestock market or selling deadweight direct to an abattoir. The specifications for each route vary slightly and there are pros and cons of each.
Liveweight Sale Through Market
Pros
- Can sell at a wider weight range
- Competition between buyers
- Varied buyers with different outlets
Cons
- No official feedback given
- No set price per kg
- Longer process for the lamb
Deadweight Sale Direct to Abattoir
Pros
- Know the base price before the lambs go
- Feedback – grades, carcass weights, health issues etc
- Shorter process for the lamb
Cons
- Narrower range of weights desired
- Cap on payment after a certain carcass weight
- One buyer, so price is set based on demand and the EUROP grid
Weighing
Regularly weighing lambs and splitting them into groups based on their weight can help you predict when your lambs will be ready for sale. Lambs should be weighed empty, to exclude belly-fill as a factor affecting weights, and weigh crates should be calibrated and checked regularly.
You are looking for lambs to be in a liveweight range of 42 to 48 kg as this will then roughly equate to a deadweight of 16 to 22 kg.
The supermarkets tend to want a consistent product which will fit their standard packaging, so they'll be looking for the mid-range of carcass weights. Butchers would tend to go a little bit heavier and lambs for exporting tend to be a bit lighter.
Lambs that are over 48 kg tend to do better going through the liveweight route as they aren’t subject to a payment cap.
Killing Out Percentage
When selling deadweight, you are paid on the weight of the carcass only. The killing out percentage is the deadweight as a percentage of the liveweight, the higher this is the more return you are getting on your lambs. There are a few things that can affect the killing out %:
- Full or empty rumen
- Breed
- Wool cover
- Entire or castrated male
- Weather (e.g. wet wool)
- Sex
- Horned or polled
- Tail length
- Weaned or still on ewe
- Clean or dirty
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EUROP Grid
As well as weighing lambs you also need to feel to see how fleshy they are and what amount of fat cover they have. Abattoirs base their price on the EUROP grid and many buyers in the market will also have this in mind when bidding on a pen of lambs. The EUROP grid considers the conformation and the fat cover of the carcass. The conformation is graded as a letters E, U, R, O and P where the conformation decreases as you go through the letters. The fat class is based on numbers 1-5, where the higher the number the higher the fat cover. The green area on the diagram below are your target grades when selecting finished lambs to sell for the best returns.
Payment
The price per kg when selling deadweight is based on the conformation and fat class of the carcass using the above EUROP grid.
Base price is set on an R3L carcass.
E & U 1s and 3Hs will also receive the base price.
E & U 2s & 3Ls receive a premium on top of the base price.
As the grade moves further down the conformation and up the fat class from an R3L the price is base less a penalty. This is because as you move up the fat classes more trimming is required and therefore there is a reduction in the amount of saleable meat.
The payment rate will also be reduced if parts, or even the whole carcase, are condemned following post-mortem examination on the slaughter line. Some conditions which may result in full or partial condemnations, include liver fluke, Cysticercus ovis or C. tenicolis tapeworm, pneumonia/pleurisy, abscesses, joint infection, and bruising or trauma. Further payment deductions may be made if sheep are presented dirty or have skin/hide lesions from ectoparasites e.g. scab or lice.
Conformation
The two areas to feel for conformation are the shoulder and the loin. You are feeling for the spinous processes and the profile between the spinous processes and the transverse processes at both the loin and the shoulder.
E - Spinous processes not felt at all, profile convex
U - Spinous processes just felt, slightly convex profile
R – Less prominent spinous processes, straight profile
O – Spinous processes prominent, slightly concave profile
P – Very prominent spinous processes, concave profile
Fat Cover
The three main areas to feel to tell if your lamb is carrying the correct amount of fat are the loin, ribs and dock.
LOIN
Not ready - spinous processes feel prominent.
Ready - Moderate pressure is needed to feel individual bones and ends feel rounded.
Over fat - Individual processes can only be felt with firm pressure.
RIBS
Not ready - Ribs feel like they only have a small amount of fat cover.
Ready - Ribs can be easily felt with a light touch and you can feel fat cover between the ribs.
Over fat - you are not able to detect individual ribs.
DOCK
Not ready - Individual bones can be felt with light pressure.
Ready - Individual bones can be felt with moderate pressure.
Overfat -Individual bones can’t be felt.
Top Tips
- Weigh and handle short keep lambs regularly.
- Talk to auctioneers & buyers to decide the optimum time to market your lambs.
- Offer lambs access to the best forage available on the farm.
- Handle lambs with care to avoid penalties at the abattoir from bruising, injection site abscesses etc.
- Always present dry, clean and healthy lambs for sale.
References: Diagrams & Images sourced from AHDB.
Kirstyn Blackwood & Beth Errington, SAC Consulting Ayr
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