[Jacob-list] Ram lambs

[Linda]

I would not want to take the lambs off before 8 weeks, minimum.  It's rough on the mother, even if the lamb does fine.

Kathey and I are in Georgia and she's referring to our state livestock newspaper put out by the GDAg.  A few articles 
and lots of ads. The ads and the paper are free.  I just got a call a few minutes ago from a man that saw my ad for a 
double registered Jacob ewe.  First he asked "what's a Jacob?"  Then he said he was just looking for something for his 
dogs to chase, did I have anything cheap. Last week, I got a call from a man that said "I see you have Jacobs, would 
you like to buy mine?" I've throughly enjoyed advertising in the market bulletin and have met great people like Kathey 
and Greg.   But, you sure get some interesting calls.  We had an old Gravely mower for sale when we were first here - 
got over 100 calls.  The funny thing is that my neighbor had a log barn for sale a few weeks later and someone called, 
talked about the barn, and then asked, "you wouldn't have any Gravelys for sale, would you?"  When I get really old and 
just want someone to talk to, I will advertise another Gravely and chat away.  A favorite is, when I've advertised Rex 
rabbits, I will always (no exception) get a couple of calls from people that don't want Rexes, but call to ask if I 
have some other breed.  I've got a friend that raises dairy goats - she's always saying that she'd like to advertise in 
the Market Bulletin, but she's afraid someone might call.  You'll have to get that story from her!

You are close enough to Atlanta that you should get some calls from the ethnic market for lambs, but they generally 
want ram lambs, not wethers.  I sell  a ram lamb every so often, but I'm too far from the market to attract many.  That 
said, I am against selling wether quality rams unless I am sure they are going to someone's table.  

Congratulations on your lambs!  Send pictures when you can.

Linda

On Wed, 14 Apr 2004 12:31:44 EDT, ACAMDA at aol.com wrote:

>So now I need advice - At what age do you sell them?  They are still nursing,
>but much less interested in Mama.  Oldest is 6 weeks old.  I don't want to
>take them to the livestock auction, but prefer to advertise in the paper and
>Market Bulletin.  I've heard there are specialty websites for organic leg of
>lamb, etc.  Has anyone tried anything like that?
>
>I plan to wether them all, as I've heard that this does not affect the quality
>or taste of the meat.  Is this true?  They may not all go in the freezer when
>they leave, but that's a possibility.  My family staunchly refuses to eat
>them.  We'll work on that next year.
>
>How have you had the most success?  I hope to keep one or two wethers for the
>fleece, but since they've eaten everything in sight so far, I'm not sure what
>I'll feed them!
>
>Thanks for your help!
>
>Kathey Sweet Georgia Valley
>
>
>


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