Lovegoodstock
Member
- Location
- Buckinghamshire
Alongside GC, RR, things have not changed at all here. Except for the fact it sadly is not at Banbury any more
just had the first couple of batches away and with the best will in the world am only seeing a margin between buying and selling price of £20 and this on the first lots that have finished on grass and arable cover crops so little attributable feed cost , am now giving some thought to the future and with the great possibility of increases in imported lamb in the next years/ loss of export and the supermarkets control cant at this stage see us rushing to buy store lambs next year at anything like last seasons average and we thought we had done well compared to some store prices,and this does not bode well for the uk sheep industry
£20 head is very acceptable, a tenner to cover costs and a tenner profit.
Most cattle fhinshers spending £900/1000 head on a beast reckon to make £20/30 head net profit, you can buy a hell of a lot of store lambs for £1000....
Key is to buy the smaller lambs and never pay anymore than £55 head.
I agree with you on this just basic costs £1.50 transport from purchase plus cost of buying then £ 3.00 selling plus transport to market and resultant costs plus lets say 15 weeks looking after in labour wether home or paid then a contribution towards fencing and other machinery/fixed costs finance vet and med / losses etc and youve got to somewhere near a tenner a head before you feed the little feckersWhere do you get a tenner to cover costs? That would be 10 weeks of tack on turnips round here. Then there's the transport to & fro, the wormer/vac/TE on arrival, the mart expenses/levy on sale and the odd loss along the way. That's allassuming you don't need to put hoppers out as well. Unless they're short keep lambs, a tenner doesn't go far.
Where do you get a tenner to cover costs? That would be 10 weeks of tack on turnips round here. Then there's the transport to & fro, the wormer/vac/TE on arrival, the mart expenses/levy on sale and the odd loss along the way. That's allassuming you don't need to put hoppers out as well. Unless they're short keep lambs, a tenner doesn't go far.
£3.80 killing costs/ £1 haulage from market/ £1.20 misc ( drenches/ labour etc ) £1/ deadstock/ £3/ feeding ( on stubble turnips )
If you need to feed cake then yep it will cost another £5/ head.
£3 won't keep lambs on turnips for long (about a month at 70p/hd/wk). I would have thought you'd be looking at way more for your 'misc' costs too, unless you don't account anything for labour, don't clear out any problem worms, don't worry about scab and know those lambs (& your farm) don't have any TE issues holding them back. Good luck with that.
we can split hairs on basic costs but we should/have to take into account time ,wether management or free or paid labour that could be more useful elswhere or not engaged. Then there are other costs as in finance insurance fencing and depreciation of equipment that should be taken into account which eats into the original posts of £20 before feed ,methinks
so guth you dont take into account that you could invest your cash and get a return even minimal for no work, and you are prepared to take the risk of having no insurance for theft optional I agree or straying or business liability , in todays world I couldnt/wouldnt operate without some form of cover ,albeit its not onerous but is still a cost
being of different views and opinions is what makes the world and the money go round ,but think I will not be as keen to buy store lambs next year ,I reckon i need at least a notional/hoped for gap of £ 30 to strike bat/risk and that is not going to help the hillmen/lamb producers if im looking to buy lambs next year under £40. That is the point im trying to make cos i reckon most folks who have bought stores in the mid/ late £50s and above this year aint happy bunnies
Reality, is that producing lamb in the future in the uk is pretty much a waste of time and money unless you are going to make a profit out of someone elses losses