Going out of sheep

[unlacedgecko]

And not necessarily farming

No I didn't mention farming.

 

[Wood field]

No I didn't mention farming.

You have served , I wanted to but went in to engineering , I would say to anyone that grew up in farming to see a different side to life whilst they were young enough!
Don’t get me wrong I love farming as I am sure you do , but we are from outside as it were

 

[Kiwi Pete]

Losing enthusiasm at 20 .
Are you going to draw your State Pension?

I had given up the idea of going around lambing ewes "helping" by the age of 8 or 9

this guy sounds like a genius compared to the wise octogenarians who agonise about how to save with the wee lamby with the cold mouth or the wee calf that still won't sook after a month

I'm still stuffed if I know how the practice of "lambing them" is still a thing in this day and age - we have cars that wipe their own windows and turn on the headlights, but yet only keeping breeding stock that can birth their young unassisted is still "not possible" and the only alternative is to just get some help in

No wonder you lot need subsidies

 

[unlacedgecko]

I had given up the idea of going around lambing ewes "helping" by the age of 8 or 9

this guy sounds like a genius compared to the wise octogenarians who agonise about how to save with the wee lamby with the cold mouth or the wee calf that still won't sook after a month

I'm still stuffed if I know how the practice of "lambing them" is still a thing in this day and age - we have cars that wipe their own windows and turn on the headlights, but yet only keeping breeding stock that can birth their young unassisted is still "not possible" and the only alternative is to just get some help in

No wonder you lot need subsidies

Making friends again?

 

[Cowlife]

Hello all,
I have around 100 breeding ewes that run along side the family flock of 500 beltex ewes. I work off farm relief milking and odd full days calf rearing way from home making a decent wage for myself. But as I’ve hit the age of 20 I no longer have the inthusiasm to lamb ewes
Meaning I have to take a month off work to lose out on a good months wages to knacker myself and at the end of it to make nill. So I was wanting to know if I am to go out of sheep would it be worth buying some calves or stirks in to sell as stores or to Finnish. We are ex dairy so have a lot of shed space that doesn’t get used. It doesn’t have to make a fortune I just want something to run around to call my own. Thanks.

If you prefer cattle, get cattle and make them your own. Sometimes you can end up helping at home as a worker when you should be looking for your own thing.
I'd consider paying a bit of rent to parents rather than help lamb there sheep. It's a slippery slope once they get you working for nothing.

 

[BAF]

It took me a long time to learn that lifes too short to be miserable...no it didn't actually but it took me a long time to be able to make myself act on it. Still now I don't particularly enjoy my job but the money and hours suit my lifestyle and give me time to do my own thing and spend time being aggravated by wife and kids I love them dearly really.
You're 20. You've got no ties other than 100 ewes. Get them to a point where you're going to make the maximum return off them and sell them and buy a plane ticket and gtfo of dodge. If I'd have known then what I know now you would not have seen me for dust! Australia/NZ/America/Canada there's opportunities to do anything farming related in all of those places. Your window is closing though. 5 years maybe 10 and its going to be shut most likely. Your parents can't be that old unless the old fella banged one into the old dear just before she went barren so you've got 20 years possibly more before there's any chance of them handing over the reins and that's if you're top of the tree.
Sometimes you've got to be selfish and do what's right for you whether that's move to Scotland ans become a fish farmer or go to South American and become a gaucho or Las Vegas and become a rent boy.

 

[crashbox]

You saying you never lamb a ewe? Or check them at lambing? Ludicrous statement.

In Australia I am told the target is 5000 (yes, five thousand) ewes per labour unit. NZ more like 3000.

By comparison it appears that many in UK make sheep more difficult, by having breeds that don't lamb themselves, and lambing indoors.

Tin hat on.

 

[crashbox]

Australia/NZ/America/Canada there's opportunities to do anything farming related in all of those places. Your window is closing though.

Great advice, you learn so much by going overseas.

 

[unlacedgecko]

In Australia I am told the target is 5000 (yes, five thousand) ewes per labour unit. NZ more like 3000.

By comparison it appears that many in UK make sheep more difficult, by having breeds that don't lamb themselves, and lambing indoors.

Tin hat on.

Infrastructure and genetics are key

 

[Fendt516profi]

@Swaley , you’ve hit 20 and no longer have enthusiasm for lambing . Then you need to put your time in to the things that earn you a wage and what you enjoy
It doesn’t matter if it’s 100 or 1000 if you don’t have the enthusiasm then get rid and earn your money elsewhere
Farming is a funny old game , but no one but you knows what your up against
I keep myself busy with 600 sheep and a handful of cows others will say “what do you do after breakfast “
At the end of the day you could always come back to the sheep job in a few years time, best of luck whatever you decide

How do you keep yourself busy till breakfast?

 

[Wood field]

How do you keep yourself busy till breakfast?

Easy , fences to mend, shite to spread , tractors to er break , coffee to drink , idle chat to be had , at 59 I tend to work for my enjoyment not to chase numbers

 

[ringi]

In Australia I am told the target is 5000 (yes, five thousand) ewes per labour unit. NZ more like 3000.

By comparison it appears that many in UK make sheep more difficult, by having breeds that don't lamb themselves, and lambing indoors.

Tin hat on.

In the UK it is often about making a money from the undersized land to enable continue living in the farmhouse rather then maximising outout from each labour unit.

 

[neilo]

In Australia I am told the target is 5000 (yes, five thousand) ewes per labour unit. NZ more like 3000.

By comparison it appears that many in UK make sheep more difficult, by having breeds that don't lamb themselves, and lambing indoors.

Tin hat on.

True, but on the limited acreage of many uk farms, and the considerable premium achieved in a few Northern marts for those lambs out of Beltex x ewes, even I can see how that sort of ‘hands on’ system stacks up financially…

If you owned 50k acres of Ozzie scrub then I could see how running 5000 single bearing ewes to produce O grade lambs might be profitable. ‘tis a different world, and totally incomparable.

Personally, I prefer somewhere between the two.

 

[ringi]

£10 more "profit" per lamb in exchange for one hour more work per lamb is both economical unjustifiably and totaly senible for someone who wishes to live in the farmhouse and not "report" to a boss.

 

[Kiwi Pete]

Making friends again?

I just struggle with the concept that things evolved for millions of years and it still goes unseen that nearly every human "reaction" gets in the way of progress.

Fine if we want to live our lives that way but what right do we have to create animals that can't survive a year without us?
The utter dependency is minging, I believe is the correct phrase? It only gets worse

 

[Aspiring Peasants]

I just struggle with the concept that things evolved for millions of years and it still goes unseen that nearly every human "reaction" gets in the way of progress.

Fine if we want to live our lives that way but what right do we have to create animals that can't survive a year without us?
The utter dependency is minging, I believe is the correct phrase? It only gets worse

Civilization began when people moved from being hunter gatherers which is pretty much what you describe, to being farmers which meant putting effort in to produce a lot more food than just harvesting the natural surplus.

 

[Kiwi Pete]

Civilization began when people moved from being hunter gatherers which is pretty much what you describe, to being farmers which meant putting effort in to produce a lot more food than just harvesting the natural surplus.

Yep, it began and will crumble for the said same reasons, nobody causing very much at all, while expecting things to improve.

Why put ourself on the mountain that we reached the top of with iron handtools and wood fires thousands of years ago, this civilisation thing if we look at it is rapidly reaching entropy.

While we can look out there and see "no joined up thinking" then trying to have things that weren't meant to make it make it passes by, apparently unnoticed.
People say they want to make money farming but their actions betray their words

 

[jandl]

Everyone has different circumstances to cope with , different jobs also have different priorities, when we were growing the farm I was still doing 3 days a week as a maintenance engineer, I remember a neighbour texting me that the cows were out on the road , I phoned her to see where they were and she said they were on our farm track and the gate was shut , my job meant I couldn’t just drive home and sort them out .
Others can run 500 sheep and work elsewhere, but they don’t often say mum dad and the rest of the family are there watching the flock . To many are to quick to judge

All very true, and relatable as well.
We run 600 ewes and 350 running ewe lambs over the winter and both work full time jobs off farm as well. It’s doable, but only for a very defined period and it’s not much of a life. Bloody hard with no family or anyone else involved on farm - other than half of the ewe lambs being wintered away from the farm and watched by family which is a huge help.
Of the OP’s heart isn’t in it power to him for being honest with himself. Many of us find that bit the hardest of all

 

[Estate fencing.]

In Australia I am told the target is 5000 (yes, five thousand) ewes per labour unit. NZ more like 3000.

By comparison it appears that many in UK make sheep more difficult, by having breeds that don't lamb themselves, and lambing indoors.

Tin hat on.

In nz they get contactors in to do everything, tail, crutch, shear, silage and fencing. But different to us that do that ourselves.

 

[tinsheet]

Sell the sheep life's to short to be doing something your hearts not in!