Heda, thank you

I keep forgetting to thank you again for the lambs you delivered in the summer. They are in the freezer now. Some of the best lamb I have had and that is saying a lot after living in Australia for 10 years where it is a staple food. They could have been a little bigger, they needed a bit more time to grow, but we had to process them before we moved.
Shot in the field, so no stress. Hung in the neighbours cool room for a week and it is some of the most tender lamb I have had. Each time we have it I am surprised! Not much fat, nice flavour and TENDER!  
Thanks again Heda!

Coopslave.....How old where the lambs when they were butchered? Sounds like they turned out well even if they did get butchered a little early.

My pleasure Coop! I find the Shetlands (and crosses) really nice as lamb - almost no fat and always tender. Love those tiny little chops especially. So glad they worked out for you. The Crosses tend to be a little growthier than the purebreds, although as a primitive breed there is a fair mix of sizes within the Shetlands. As I think i said somewhere else, I tend to wait for 14-16 months (I've been told "lamb" in Canada is anything under 18 months) to get them on the spring grass for a month, but the alternative of butchering when you did is good too. As it is just my husband and I it is nice to have the smaller cuts! An enormous leg of lamb can be a bit forbidding.

And from an Australian/New Zealander that is a real compliment!

Heda......How many pounds of meat would you get, at the age that Coopslave had them butchered? Actually how old would they have been, and

were they pure Shetlands? Thanks.

Hi Lady Leghorn. They were April 2013 lambs (maybe an early May in there) and they were all 1/2 or even 3/4 Shetland (the other half or quarter "Chilcotin Special" - a little bit of everything). They were recently weaned - I sold them to Coop Slave July 28th.

Not sure how big they were when they were butchered but if you want I can weigh a similar one this week and let you know. Hers weren't butchered that long ago. I'd imagine for lamb you'd get - what - 60% of the liveweight as meat? Maybe 50%?

Hope that helps.

Sheep and geese are probably the two easiest animals I have on the ranch. They basically feed and water themselves all year long and put themselves to bed at night. They get a handful of grain each for being good about going to bed and I close the barn doors.

Thanks Heda. That must be very tender lamb. Love the "Chilcotin Specials" lol. Sheep if in the right set up are very easy to care for. Love

geese too. Maybe "someday" we can have a place again to keep a few chickens/geese etc. I can only hope.

So this year's cross bred lambs average about 20 kilos (45 pounds) now in late October - liveweight.

Thanks Heda, That's a good weight. Not too big, not too small. How many Shetlands do you have? Must be a few by now.

lady leghorn wrote:  Not too big, not too small

but just yummy!

Wish we could have waited until spring and had them a little bigger. They didn't yield a whole lot. The leg was just enough for 4 hungry people so that was pretty good.

Sounds like you enjoyed them though. You can always get some more from her next year,lol. At least they were big enough to butcher before your big move. Have you finished all the moving now?

I do love that chicken house, "very" nice. I would stake it down though, same as tying the garbage cans down. When it really blows, you never know where things will end up.

You've got a great view, to shoot coyotes if they start bothering your hens. Hope you are enjoying your new place. Might look

empty right now, but at least you aren't cleaning up a bunch of junk first before you moved in. That almost continuous wind is a

shocker when you're not used to it. We hardly had any wind in Armstrong. Did you get much wind at your other place?

Don't worry the pens will be anchored.
No wind where we were from, this is different.
I like a house that is a bit empty. I hate clutter.
Slowly settling in!

I hate clutter too, so a bigger house is going to have to be in our future. Just big enough that there is a place for everything, and everything in it's place.

We got rid of so much stuff when we moved to this house ( also everytime we moved out here.) I think it breeds behind closet doors.   Lol.

Enjoy that house, sounds like you really deserve a nice house for a change.

I'm a long way from Coopslave now, sadly. I guess I was a long way before too but we were able to meet part way (Falkland).

Guess I have about 20 Shetlands, about 10 crossbreeds. I'm just working out what ewes will go with what rams - they go in November 1 for late March/early April lambs. Aiming for a closed flock so two bloodlines are good.