Comment

THE quality of lambs slaughtered and classified in English abattoirs has held up remarkably well over the past year in the face of the serious marketing disruptions caused by foot and mouth disease and Bluetongue movement restrictions, according to the latest annual carcase classification results from EBLEX Ltd, the industry body for beef and lamb levy-payers in England.

EBLEX classification reports compiled from a representative sample of lambs slaughtered in English abattoirs in 2007 show 58 per cent of new and 52 per cent of old season lambs classified R3L or better over the year satisfying the specification for the main lamb markets. This is a drop of one per cent over the previous year.

The figures indicate producers were selling fatter lambs as the numbers hitting the preferred fatness of "3L or leaner" were down by four per cent. This is partially explained by a parallel rise in average carcase weight of 0.6kg over 2006 indicating producers held onto lambs longer as a result of difficult marketing conditions.

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