Does the hill shepherd get a fair share of the pie?

[JSmith]

I sold my F1 shetlands before Xmas as stores at about 25-30kg. £49/hd.

I'm happy with that, as at this point they're effectively by products of the maternal line development. Power to the guy who bought them, I hope he makes a fortune. I didn't have the nerve to hold them past Bexit.

Got hammered on cull ewes last week though (£2 Shetland anyone?) Giving very serious thought to becoming FA and sending everything dead in future.

What market was that, sounds very low in the trade no matter what breed it was

 

[Top Tip.]

Sorry I meant what does your sub cheque equate to per lamb sold. It will likely be a lot higher than any lowland man gets for their lambs which offsets selling everything as stores.

The lowland man will have a lot more lambs to sell per acre than the hill man.

 

[LTH]

I don’t know we are mix of upland, lowland, dairy and beef. Subs like we know them are going so not going be able to rely on them like people have

 

[hill shepherd]

Thanks for all the replies, all coments taken on board. I have to say I was delighted with our sales last year and also that the finishers are making bit, hopefully they'll be keen this summer, brexit destroyed the store job in 2019, totally understand why there was no confidence in store lambs. Probably shouldn't use last 2 years as examples, too much uncertainty, just think the breeder does the hard bit so should get the biggest share. Be interesting to see what happens this autumn

 

[LTH]

The lowland man will have a lot more lambs to sell per acre than the hill man.

The hill man breeds the majority of the female replacements for the lowland farm as well increasing production as well

 

[Skintagain]

The lowland man will have a lot more lambs to sell per acre than the hill man.

I know I don’t know who is better off.

Truth is people are going to either have to pack up or change things when subs go. Selling swale stores for £20 and £30 just isn’t feasible.

 

[Derrick Hughes]

You get extra custard to go with your pie [emoji23]
[emoji23]

 

[Nithsdale]

The lowland man will have a lot more lambs to sell per acre than the hill man.

But lowland ground is a hell of a lot dearer to buy/rent so it needs to be a lot more productive to counter the 'rent'

 

[Top Tip.]

But lowland ground is a hell of a lot dearer to buy/rent so it needs to be a lot more productive to counter the 'rent'

You do have options with the lowland ground ,you only have one option with the hill ground.

 

[CopperBeech]

Sadly words like should and fair don’t come into it in farming or we would all work hard and end up happy with our own farm and a comfortable income. Someone once said “survival is not mandatory”, sad but sadly true. You make your decision on the day and then you roll with it. Various factors influence it, and you should always explore the alternatives but for some farms unless they think quick they are boxing themselves into a corner.

 

[Kiwi Pete]

Ewe lamb trade has been pretty good for the last 5 years IMO.

Store trade has consistently looked decent next to fat trade, especially at certain times of year... Those complaining of poor trade tend to be selling lambs which are less desirable. Learn the market and sell what it wants

I always think that, you guys all pr*ck your ears up when NZ lamb value closes in on UK or matches it; but for the other 10 months of the year we don't even look at much over £55/lamb avg, sold lamb store this year for $3.15/kg and thought myself very lucky to hit it at the top, because the sheep weren't even mine - so basically a pure profit apart from labour and opportunity cost

$$$$$

I guess overheads are the main killer of any commodity job, some have accumulated massive weight over time and some run very lean indeed

 

[BrianV]

Hi all, ive been following tff for about a year so thought I'd get involved. Don't want this to sound like sour grapes because I've sold my lambs store but we run a typical hill flock selling mule gimmer lambs and mule & swaledale store lambs. 2020 averages, mule gimmers £102, mule wethers £70, swale wethers £43, 2019 averages mule gimmers £72, mule wethers £47 swale wethers £22. I know brexit and covid have had a big impact on trade last couple of years and I wish everyone who took the risk on stores good luck but does the hill shepherd get a fair slice of the pie?

We sell Scotty lambs & have always found that if you can manage to keep them around the best price is nearly always at the end of Feb beginning of March when most in country hogs have gone

 

[Nithsdale]

You do have options with the lowland ground ,you only have one option with the hill ground.

Very true... but there's breed options on hill ground. You're not stuck to just what's there. Plenty proof in that with how many are switching over to Cheviots

Problem is too many get heavily 'invested' in 1 breed and they'll not change for any reason... then moan about prices

 

[CopperBeech]

Very true... but there's breed options on hill ground. You're not stuck to just what's there. Plenty proof in that with how many are switching over to Cheviots

Problem is too many get heavily 'invested' in 1 breed and they'll not change for any reason... then moan about prices

I buy and fatten stores and also buy draft ewes. My experience is -

Swales = sh*t in every sense
Blackies = Good
Cheviots = Better
Welsh = Variable

 

[Woolless]

I sold my F1 shetlands before Xmas as stores at about 25-30kg. £49/hd.

I'm happy with that, as at this point they're effectively by products of the maternal line development. Power to the guy who bought them, I hope he makes a fortune. I didn't have the nerve to hold them past Bexit.

Got hammered on cull ewes last week though (£2 Shetland anyone?) Giving very serious thought to becoming FA and sending everything dead in future.

Ouch!

 

[Top Tip.]

I sold my F1 shetlands before Xmas as stores at about 25-30kg. £49/hd.

I'm happy with that, as at this point they're effectively by products of the maternal line development. Power to the guy who bought them, I hope he makes a fortune. I didn't have the nerve to hold them past Bexit.

Got hammered on cull ewes last week though (£2 Shetland anyone?) Giving very serious thought to becoming FA and sending everything dead in future.

The Shetland cull ewe is really a byproduct, great wee ewes that go on for a long time but they are cheap to buy for a reason.

 

[unlacedgecko]

The Shetland cull ewe is really a byproduct, great wee ewes that go on for a long time but they are cheap to buy for a reason.

This is true. But £2/kg DW is not an unrealistic price. And they'll kill out at 12-16kg.

 

[hill shepherd]

I buy and fatten stores and also buy draft ewes. My experience is -

Swales = sh*t in every sense
Blackies = Good
Cheviots = Better
Welsh = Variable

It is the swale wethers that are letting the side down for us really, have thought about crossing with a blackie or even a dalesbred to try to improve them just wondering what effect it might have on our mule gimmers because we seem to have them on the right track with plenty of repeat customers

 

[BrianV]

I buy and fatten stores and also buy draft ewes. My experience is -

Swales = sh*t in every sense
Blackies = Good
Cheviots = Better
Welsh = Variable

For a moorland ewe you will be hard bound to improve on the Scotch Blackface, either pure or crossed for breeding the lambs always make a good size.

 

[The Jolly Farmer]

You do have options with the lowland ground ,you only have one option with the hill ground.

Most of the lowland ground used for sheep is permanent pasture unfit for growing crops, our options are the same as you livestock or trees.