£91 to raise a fat lamb???

[IH 684]

I laugh when I hear labour costs for sheep. E.g you have a field next to your house with 100 ewes grazing, so everytime you look at them you get paid!!!! Fully understand if your having a sorting day,shearing day, health check day it has to be costed, as does lambing, lets face it if all the days were added up across the year where sheep time filled the day it would be lucky to get to 30 days, sheep as most people know are a fill in time, done around other enterprises e.g drive past going somewhere else check the sheep, out for a walk with the dog check the sheep. If you cost everybody movement in life the weekly shop would run into thousands of pounds, its all about proper time management and a bit of thought.

 

[IH 684]

not quite as harsh as guth....but 'offset' hay and straw doesn't count as you could have sold that....even 2nd grade hay to other sheep farmers.....also you may get away with nil vets fee for a yr but sooner/later they won't sell you med without a visit if only to cover themselves....would you need a truck if you didn't have sheep?

I have sold it in the past, I just break even, its worth me utilising it as a stock feed

 

[JD-Kid]

Given that lamb consumption is dropping 10% year on year, good plan!

agree and thats a prob sheep farmers need to be working on

 

[Henarar]

I think once you have decided you are going farming what you make is your wage it may take two hours one day and twenty the next so it does
if you own the land then that costs you nart
all this got to allow costs for this and that is all very well if you don't thin you make anything cos all these costs are to much and can do better else where and that's what you want to do then get the hell out and let some other bugger have a go

 

[czechmate]

Forage trader, I find it a little foolish. Not to include a rent figure, there is an oppurtunity cost associated with the land, if you weren't farming it you could rent it out someone else, so even if your not paying it you should include it

James

On that logic you should add the rise in value of the land on your output too

 

[Johnny400]

my commercial lambs cost £100 to produce ,same as everybody elses does ! and even thats cheap (have you rung a tradesman on a saturday ? £50 an hour , for a few tools and a van ) and thats as much as the supermarket buyers and gov need to know , ffs dont go arguing with them , if someone tells them it costs £25 , they will pay £23.50 . keep your COP for the market chat and not a public forum

Yes, just done my sums and putting it on public forum that I too need £100 per lamb.

 

[IH 684]

In reality lamb production cannot really be compared, this goes for all farming enterprises. Using myself as an example. All my kit is bought and paid for. All my sheep kit e.g hurdles, racks have been used that many times they can be costed in pennies. My machinery is older. I charge slightly than contractors but still make more profit as the kit is paid for and not financed. A decission has to be made in farming do you farm with older paid for kit or do you get into debt and buy new. I know which I would do.

 

[Derrick Hughes]

If you can live of the smell of a rag then keep sheep it's as simple as that, these £90 guys need to go into milk

 

[Derrick Hughes]

Yes, just done my sums and putting it on public forum that I too need £100 per lamb.

I need £100 ton for straw, so bloody what no one wants to pay that

 

[JD-Kid]

I laugh when I hear labour costs for sheep. E.g you have a field next to your house with 100 ewes grazing, so everytime you look at them you get paid!!!! Fully understand if your having a sorting day,shearing day, health check day it has to be costed, as does lambing, lets face it if all the days were added up across the year where sheep time filled the day it would be lucky to get to 30 days, sheep as most people know are a fill in time, done around other enterprises e.g drive past going somewhere else check the sheep, out for a walk with the dog check the sheep. If you cost everybody movement in life the weekly shop would run into thousands of pounds, its all about proper time management and a bit of thought.

so if i take a rifle with me i can say i'm hunting .. or can i charge for fert spreading and checking sheep at the same time ?? most sheep farmers are in a dark room pulling them selfs on there true costings end of the day it cost X to live and y in income and Z in costs magic wands and smoke will make it sound like it works truth is we do a lot of free hours if employed we would be getting payed for

 

[Grassman]

don't go in the farm account

I think once you have decided you are going farming what you make is your wage it may take two hours one day and twenty the next so it does
if you own the land then that costs you nart
all this got to allow costs for this and that is all very well if you don't thin you make anything cos all these costs are to much and can do better else where and that's what you want to do then get the hell out and let some other bugger have a go

You are right from your point of view as you probably own your land. Not many tenant farmers or ones with even a small mortgage could just put the sfp in another account. Good luck to anyone in the position where the farm is paid for. You or your parents probably worked very hard or was very lucky to get you into a position like that.
But it basically means that for anyone to farm as a tenant will need the sfp or the wife's wages jus to survive.

 

[Derrick Hughes]

These guys costing labour and rent are making excuses for losing money

 

[Grassman]

These guys costing labour and rent are making excuses for losing money

I don't understand that?

 

[Derrick Hughes]

I don't understand that?

If a man has his land payed for what he could get for it if he rents it out only matters as a comparison same as his labour charge, the only thing that matters to him is his end profit, if it's enough to live off and in a good year a bit of reinvestment and he likes his job then fine,
Weather on paper he pays himself £5. Hour or £50 is not relevant to him

 

[Derrick Hughes]

I

 

[Poorbuthappy]

I laugh when I hear labour costs for sheep. E.g you have a field next to your house with 100 ewes grazing, so everytime you look at them you get paid!!!! Fully understand if your having a sorting day,shearing day, health check day it has to be costed, as does lambing, lets face it if all the days were added up across the year where sheep time filled the day it would be lucky to get to 30 days, sheep as most people know are a fill in time, done around other enterprises e.g drive past going somewhere else check the sheep, out for a walk with the dog check the sheep. If you cost everybody movement in life the weekly shop would run into thousands of pounds, its all about proper time management and a bit of thought.

But plenty of peple don't just have a few sheep - they are the only enterprise and they try to keep enough to earn a living from. Difficult to check a 1000 ewes by looking out the living room window. What you have described is a hobby that happens to have a bit of income.

I have sold it in the past, I just break even, its worth me utilising it as a stock feed

So cost it to the sheep at its break even cost. That is a more honest approach.
I think you're only kidding yourself, however I've stated before I can make a living with lambs at £65. Figures of £91 are unsustainable other than perhaps out of season lamb.

 

[endeavour]

FT But what is relevant is the effect silly buggers like you not considering the capital tied up in the land . It is a business investment and must be treated as so.

 

[Paddington]

Thought I wasn't doing that well at a third of that cost, but nobody pays me to look at my own sheep.

 

[Grassman]

There is some rubbish posted on here. The land that is owned and now farmed was bought somehow by someone in the majority of cases. To value that land at nothing seems a very poor situation. A bit like someone giving a £100 k lorry to their lad and saying go haul some goods and make some money. You will only make money because the lorry was free in the first place!

 

[Derrick Hughes]

FT But what is relevant is the effect silly buggers like you not considering the capital tied up in the land . It is a business investment and must be treated as so.

Tell that to the shop who is paying a massive rent and trying to compete with the owner occupier next door