When to ship for the ethnic market

[Liz]

Hi all, I am new here and am very excited to start asking a numerous amount of questions.I see there is alot of expertise. If any one can tell me when to ship before the ethnic holidays. It would be to the sale barn. As with you all we want to make every doller count.The holiday that is coming up is Aug 11/12 depending on the website. That is a wed/thurs one auction sells on mon and one sells on sat.Would it be better to sell in that week and a half before? Also we ship our lambs about 9-10 hours away.We wiegh before they go and the last time they lost about 10 pnds each they were just on pasture, would it be better to bring them in and fill them up with hay?What is the best way to hold their weight?Thank you for any advice.
Liz

[Bill Fosher]

Hi Liz,

Not sure about your area, but here in the Northeast the price of lamb often plummets right before Ramadan because everyone tries to ship lambs then, and there's not really all the much demand.

Ramadan is a month long FAST during daylight hours. After sundown, families visit and have some meals, but the big feast comes at the end of the month. If there's a bit of advice I'd give, it would be to hold your lambs back until early September.

I'll leave it to others to give you advice about prepping lambs to avoid shrink, since my experience is mostly with local markets.

[Bill Fosher]

Incidentally, the dates of many Muslim holidays is based on when the moon can be seen. So in North America, Ramadan begins a day later than in Mecca. Muslims begin celebration of holidays at sundown the night before the date, so Ramadan celebrations in North America will begin at sundown on Aug. 11. Aug. 12 will be the first day of fasting. The fast will be broken 30 days later, on Sept. 10.

The largest liturgical demand for lambs and goats in the Muslim faith is on Eid al Adha, the Festival of Sacrifice, which commemorates Abraham's sacrifice of the ram in the thicket. Muslims who are able to do so are called upon to slaughter a lamb, goat, or calf and give the meat away to those less fortunate than themselves. That will be celebrated Nov. 17 this year in North America.

These dates change every year on our solar calendar, because the Muslim calendar is lunar.

[Liz]

Great info, thanx Bill.Up here in B.C. the demand seems to be a little more than the supply.I have a nice group of ram lambs tails and testicles waiting to make that speciel trip of sacrifice.Can't wait to see how they do.