Maintenance of fences? Not my problem
Maybe the landowning/maintenance is the costly bit?
Making a living from sheep
- Thread starter smj1
- Start date
Maintenance of fences? Not my problem
Maybe the landowning/maintenance is the costly bit?
Northeastfarmer
Member
- Location
- Cleveland
- Location
- Montgomeryshire
Absolutely. It’s certainly those bits that eat into the margin my sheep enterprise makes. However, to rent ground that doesn’t need any fencing, etc, in most parts of the country, the rental figure becomes absolutely nuts. Plenty of places with very poor grass & fencing round here that would cost many times what yours does, per acre. Absolute madness.
I was offered a few fields of couch and thistles last summer, right next door. It was on a short term FBT, so i’d Be responsible for hedge cutting, maintenance, etc and it had (poor) hay taken off it for quite a few years without any nutrition going back on. I declined it at £100/ac, and said it was worth half that, at a push, purely because it was next door. Another neighbour (as expected) was happy to jump in though. Busy fools and/or a broken calculator I would think. Good luck to them.
Hilly
Member
- Location
- Scottish Borders.
200, the headage days taught how to keep more , now less is more .
Hilly
Member
- Location
- Scottish Borders.
kiwi pom
Member
- Location
- canterbury NZ
Would you not be better off just keeping enough sheep for your own ground and concentrate on finding a job that fits in more with time for the kids?
150 ewes wouldn't take much work for most of the year would they?
Maybe if you could rent a big block right next to home it would be ok but renting a few acres here and there is going to raise your COP with all the running round and moving stock.
gone up the hill
Member
- Location
- Devon
What costs do you ignore to achieve £40 head/ profit ewe?
( as you must have just about the most profitable commercial ewe flock in the UK )
- Location
- Ceredigion
1 then
Hilly
Member
- Location
- Scottish Borders.
My neighbour could bring in 20k with 3 . Lol
Hilly
Member
- Location
- Scottish Borders.
They are not Texels lolBut they might come back infertile???
- Location
- Devon
Using AHDB figures, an average COP for each liveweight kg output would be £1.79, not including any labour costs.
Over the year, the British average Liveweight sqq is around £2.20.
41p/ kg x 44kg's = £18.04 "profit" per lamb.
£17k / £18.04= 942 lambs.
If you can produce 160%, that would mean you need a flock of 589 breeding ewes.
Over the year, the British average Liveweight sqq is around £2.20.
41p/ kg x 44kg's = £18.04 "profit" per lamb.
£17k / £18.04= 942 lambs.
If you can produce 160%, that would mean you need a flock of 589 breeding ewes.
Bossfarmer
Member
- Location
- between Perth and Inverness
labour as im here anyway and fit the sheep in when im not busy
farmerm
Member
- Location
- Shropshire
£17K is barely a wage in 2019! Certainly not enough to provide for a family! If the last 20 years are anything to go by... if you can make £17K now the same number of sheep will still only give you £17k in 2029 and £17K in 2029 will be below the poverty line.
texas pete
Member
- Location
- East Mids
Give us a breakdown, Boss..
- Location
- Romney Marsh
That's the breakdown.................... not costing your labour or probably his rent, as he owns the farm !!
Being upland we can’t lamb early as no grass and sell most lambs July to December.
I’m sure we won’t average £ 1.70/kg live.
This week they were a spot over £1.50/k,42-46kg mainly Charolais/Texel cross well fleshed off grass.
It’s not enough!
- Location
- Owaka, New Zealand
Depends entirely how you run your business.
If you're going to breed lambs to fatten to donate to the supermarkets, 1000 ewes
If you spun all their wool, and sold funky mittens and scarves on High Street mid-winter, many many times less sheep - as you wouldn't need FA land, FA overheads, or FA (come to that).
Sheep are profitable, farmers sell them short.
50 ewes could thus earn a you good living but who can be arsed making the easy money, when there's a much harder way?
If you're going to breed lambs to fatten to donate to the supermarkets, 1000 ewes
If you spun all their wool, and sold funky mittens and scarves on High Street mid-winter, many many times less sheep - as you wouldn't need FA land, FA overheads, or FA (come to that).
Sheep are profitable, farmers sell them short.
50 ewes could thus earn a you good living but who can be arsed making the easy money, when there's a much harder way?
farmerm
Member
- Location
- Shropshire
but then what would be the point of producing the wool, if you are going down the wool processing route surely it is 100 times more cheaper to buy the fleece than to grown it!