The Poultry Keeper

lilly the pink · Joined: 14 Apr 2005 Posts: 78 Location: Wiltshire

He have lamb available from our rare breed Pedigree flock of Wiltshire Horn sheep. They have been reared on grass without the use of concentrates which produces a slow maturing animal with excellent flavour and low fat content.

The carcasses have been hung for 10 days and butchered and freezer packed.

This is our first foray into home produced meat and feedback so far has been excellent.

If you live near Andover in Hampshire and would like to know more please PM me.

Many thanks

George · Joined: 14 Apr 2005 Posts: 5661 Location: London

Hi Lilly

I think one post about this would have been enough,

Does sound very tasty though,

Good luck with it
All the best
George

lilly the pink · Joined: 14 Apr 2005 Posts: 78 Location: Wiltshire

Sorry George I didn't really know where to put the post so I got a bit overexcited. Wouldn't want anyone to miss out lol.

stephen · Posted: Mon Jun 13, 2005 6:43 am Post subject:

I wish I lived near by... they do sound very tempting Very Happy

worldor · Joined: 14 Apr 2005 Posts: 110 Location: West Midlands

Me too. I've been looking for someone close to home who is providing that service. Good luck with your venture.

lilly the pink · Joined: 14 Apr 2005 Posts: 78 Location: Wiltshire

Thanks guys. Its worth moving house for lol.

We have been working on this venture for a few years now and obviously we are mainly concerned with producing breeding stock to build up the national flock. In this area the Wiltshire Horn was once the most popular breed kept as it was specifically raised for local conditions.

We have only had nine lambs killed which didn't make breeding grade which is pretty good going as well. This year we have had many more lambs and grazing is better too.

The new DEFRA regulations with the single farm payment have made life very complicated for nomadic shepherds such as ourselves and many of us are small scale farmers with rare breed flocks. I hope that we will be able to continue with our project.

Vivienne · Joined: 26 Sep 2005 Posts: 19 Location: Salisbury Plain

Hi Lily, how is your lamb sales going? We are just down the road from you at cholderton, we sell our lamb in a box - Hampshire Down and Hampshire Down/Finn crosses and they do really well. People like to know where their meat comes from and the fact we send them to a tiny slaughterhouse - they only kill 40 lambs a week and are true lovers of animals not a factory style slaughter house. There is a person just up the road from us who produces Wiltshire Horn at Porton, bet you know them. Our lambs are organic and we have a real good repeat customer base now. Keep at it, the best meat always comes from the smaller producer. Regards, viv

lilly the pink · Joined: 14 Apr 2005 Posts: 78 Location: Wiltshire

Hi Viv, Its great to hear from a local person. The meat has gone really well. We will have some more to slaughter shortly. People seem to like it because it has a stronger flavour than the norm and is a bit different. We freeze our lamb and sell it by the half animal. Which slaughterhouse do you use? Last time we went all the way to Wootten Bassett. Do they only do organic? Our lambs aren't organic because the nomadic nature of our grazing doesn't really cater for that and it would be too difficult for us to comply. However, we use as little in the way of drenches and medicines as we can and we don't feed concentrates etc etc. I will have a look in the Wiltshire Horn flock book to see who it is at Porton because thats really not far and chances are we have come across them. I do know someone at Pewsey with Wiltshires. They are becoming more and more popular these days.

Thanks for the reply.

Best regards

Dee

Vivienne · Joined: 26 Sep 2005 Posts: 19 Location: Salisbury Plain

Dee hello, ok this is information for you........ if we have a small batch of lambs to kill, we use Clarkes at Sixpenny Handley, they only kill about 40 lambs a week, or we use Stiles at Devizes. If we are sending a big number of lambs in say 20 + we send them to Lloyd Maunders in Devon. I can personally say, having visited many times both Stiles and Clarkes, that as far as slaughterhouses go... both are small operators and all the people involved in each part of ther process are very animal minded and there is minimal stress for the animals at these places. We would not send any of our animals to a bigger processing plant, both Stiles and Clarkes are very kind to our animals, they-the lambs- know nothing of what is going to happen to them, and i can say that when i have delivered animals to either place, that they are dead before i have left there. That is how quick it is. It takes me longer to get the vehicle washed off than it takes for me to unload them and the business is done. Its ghastly, but very quick. They just dont know anything about it. I hope this helps. If you would like telephone numbers for either place let me know. We have heaps of sheep here and have loads of lambs to go,....... but... we would never send our lambs to anywhere that was not compassionate to our animals... so if i can help you let me know. Also if you would like any of your animals killed at home, i can give you contacts for that.

Lisa · Posted: Sun Nov 13, 2005 7:46 pm Post subject:

summayah · Joined: 14 Apr 2005 Posts: 4289 Location: luton

please Lisa, don't go eating the dog's food ~ it might smell good, but you made it for them......it wouldn't be fair if you then sat down at the side of them and scoffed the lot!

mojo · Posted: Sun Nov 13, 2005 11:42 pm Post subject: hi

hi lisa

shiney hair you could cope with but a wet nose all the time dodgy.....luv moj Rolling Eyes

lilly the pink · Joined: 14 Apr 2005 Posts: 78 Location: Wiltshire

Thanks for the info Viv. We too use Stiles' at Devises. They are very good aren't they. Last time we used Drury at Wootton Bassett and the lambs were taken from there to a butcher in Marlborough who hung and butchered them for us. So they were returned to us bagged and frozen. Trouble is, they didn't label anything so it took a while to sort all the pieces out!

Lisa, it is possible to have animals killed on your premises by a mobile slaughter unit but they must have a special licence to do it. And butchers must have a licence to butcher animals for third parties. Just means the local council still get their cut!

If you are only killing your own animals to eat yourself you can kill and butcher them yourself, provided it's done humanely.

Bendix01 · Posted: Mon Nov 21, 2005 8:15 pm Post subject:

I am interested in getting some smallholder meats. I cook for around 15 people 3 -4 times a year and am always interested in better quality meat. (dont mind a travel if its worth it either). Do you have sites with prices? If not can you IM me with cuts n costs?

MMMM I can taste it already.

worldor · Joined: 14 Apr 2005 Posts: 110 Location: West Midlands

I too would be interested in buying meat direcct from the breeder. How do we go about it though? There is no one near to us so it would have to be delivered via courier I suppose. Does any one know of such a service.