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Know How / Sheep / Livestock marketing

A wide range of specifications and premiums exist in the UK prime lamb market and many decisions need to be made on breed, age, weight and finishing regime to meet buyer requirements. Deadweight, liveweight, organic premiums and export weights give producers choice, as does growing demand for hogget and mutton.

Learn how to maximize the value of your lambs for a variety of markets, as well as breeding stock presentation.

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Case studies

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LIVESTOCK MARKETING

Mixed farmer reaps premium price via direct meat marketing

Selling livestock direct to local butchers and marketing produce via a meat box scheme is helping Shetland farmer Jamie Leslie cut out the middlemen to reap a premium price for…

LIVESTOCK MARKETING

How a lamb producer and breeder uses EBVs for marketing rams

David Rossiter is a pioneer of performance recording – he started collecting data in the 1970s when he established the Huish flocks at Burton Farm, in Galmpton, Devon. With his…

SHEEP

How a resilient sheep dairy farm overcame multiple setbacks

Building a resilient farm system, along with strategies for improving mental health and resilience, have helped a Cumbrian business overcome multiple hurdles. Faced with a whirlwind of challenges, Cumbrian farmers…

SHEEP

How hill graziers improved sheep grazing and environment

Managing invasive bracken on the Black Mountains has increased the usable grazing area by 320ha (790 acres). A programme of twice-yearly control treatments, applied over a three-year period up to…

DIVERSIFICATION

How one farmer adds value with ‘worthless’ wool and bracken

Bracken is a scourge for many hill farmers, eating up valuable grazing land, providing an ideal habit for ticks, and proving difficult to control. But a farmer in Cumbria has…

GRASSLAND MANAGEMENT

Farm wins lucrative meat market with eco-friendly system

Peter and Henri Greig are champions of regenerative farming on their small-scale family farm and credit it with creating low input, sustainable farming that has opened the door to direct…

Practical advice

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LIVESTOCK

How hill farmers can tap into new market for light lambs

Hill farmers could tap into new markets for lighter carcasses by intensively finishing lambs to a deadweight of 12-16kg. With producer groups in Ireland already supplying up to 30,000 lighter…

LIVESTOCK MARKETING

Alternatives to selling livestock at markets this autumn

Ongoing social distancing restrictions and the uncertainty surrounding some breeding stock sales mean farmers may have to think about alternative ways to buy and sell their stock. The backend of the…

LIVESTOCK MARKETING

Advice on marketing lambs for the Muslim festival

The Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha (festival of sacrifice) provides sheep farmers with an opportunity to access a growing market. Eid al-Adha is one of the most important festivals in…

LIVESTOCK MARKETING

Video: Guide to selecting lambs for slaughter

Getting the best price for your finished lambs is not just about deciding whether to sell liveweight or deadweight, but about sending lambs that are in the right condition. For…

YOUNG FARMERS

Young sheep farmers share tips on year-round lamb marketing

Britain’s next generation of sheep farmers are taking the lead in promoting home-grown lamb as a healthy and sustainable choice for shoppers. These young industry representatives – aptly named “lambassadors”…

LIVESTOCK MARKETING

6 ways livestock farmers can improve carcass eating quality

Carcass defects and poor eating quality of meat cost the livestock sector millions of pounds a year, yet simple steps could be taken on farm that would minimise losses. Research…

Insights

SHEEP

Why "breed snobbery" could challenge liveweight sales

A desire to change the system, lower the cost base and move towards self-replacing maternal genetics has left some businesses in the cold when selling liveweight, Farmers Weekly has heard.…

SHEEP

EBV proven rams can add £6 a lamb, project shows

Sheep farmers could increase ram values by more than £900 by investing in proven estimated breeding values (EBVs). This is according to the six-year results from the RamCompare project, published…

MEAT MARKETS AND PRICES

Analysis: How livestock auctions fit in today's meat markets

There is a certain nostalgia associated with trading livestock at a live mart – it is, after all, a system that has operated well for more than 200 years. But…

SHEEP

Does the UK have too many sheep breeds?

Over the centuries a spectrum of breeds has evolved in Britain, from fast-growing, prolific lowland types to hardier, single-bearing ewes for the uplands. According to the National Sheep Association (NSA),…

LIVESTOCK MARKETING

What farmers need to know about livestock sales this year

Covid-19 has shaken up the way livestock sales can take place, with social-distancing rules making it difficult to operate as normal in livestock markets. Although the sale of breeding stock…

LIVESTOCK MARKETING

Coronavirus: Online livestock auctions - how they work

Over the past week, we have seen markets close their doors due to the coronavirus outbreak, with others limiting the sale of stock to primestock, cull animals and store animals…

LIVESTOCK MARKETING

Calls mount to add quality measures to Europ grid

British red meat production cannot compete on price, so it must compete on quality, says 2018 Nuffield scholar and director of meat quality consultancy FQM Global, Caroline Mitchell. Speaking at…

LIVESTOCK MARKETING

What happens to wool once it leaves the farm

The UK’s national sheep flock supplies British Wool with 30 million kilograms of wool annually – but what happens to the fleeces once they leave the farm? Farmers Weekly visited the…

BUSINESS

Wool’s environmental credentials could open new markets

The news has been full of “plastics in the sea” stories recently and a huge contributor to this pollution are the fibres washed out of synthetic clothing by domestic washing…