Predicting kill-out percentages and marketing lambs at higher prices

Processors report a significant reduction in the average carcase weight of lambs processed in recent weeks.

This is being driven by two avenues – farmers moving lambs at lighter weights to take advantage of the firm trade and factory agents purchasing in marts being forced to drop down in weights to secure required numbers.

This is having benefits for the trade, with the volume of sheepmeat coming on to the market reduced in the short term and helping to maintain solid appetite. It will also have longer-term benefits, with these sheep gone out of the system earlier.

Variability

Processors also report more variability in slaughter performance post-weaning.

On some farms which faced significant soil moisture deficits and tight grass supplies, they report lambs being more variable in their kill-out, with ram lambs particularly variable.

Some of these lambs have killed in the region of 42% to 43% or even lower, leaving some lambs being drafted at very light weights caught out.

The typical kill-out of young ram lambs at this stage of the year will be in the region of 43% to 45%, with young lambs supplemented on concentrates or finished on forage crops generally killing out 1% to 2% higher.

Recently weaned wether and ewe lambs will typically average 45% to 47% kill-out at this time of year, but, again, there can be significant differences depending on the level of fat cover, age of lambs and finishing diet.

There is still a significant number of later-lambing flocks which will be drafting slaughter-fit lambs before weaning. In such cases, lambs will kill as high as 48% to 50% and, as such, you can have confidence to drop down lower in weights.

Table 1 details the carcase weight delivered at a range of liveweights and kill-out percentages.

The advice from a number of processors in the last week is that if you are in doubt that lambs may kill poorly to set the minimum drafting weight at least 40kg liveweight to prevent lambs dropping below 17kg carcase weight and facing significant price deductions.

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