Going out of sheep

[Al R]

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

Dad had 450 ewes to check on his patch this year a few mile from me, they scanned 180-210% depending on the group, all outdoors, he bought a few triplet and a quad lambs home after they were a few day old but he didn’t pull a lamb.
Different breed on another farm he pulled 20/180.

 

[David.]

If you're not up.for it at 20, you might not be for another 20 yrs; that's how it was for me.
But I wish I'd learned to shear at 20, and gone and had some fun.
Only do what you're happy at, I fell into pigs at 17, because it was convenient for everyone else. They weren't my thing and I was utterly miserable, and consequently made a poor pigman. But you struggle on because everyone is telling you you should be grateful...

 

[Aspiring Peasants]

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 don't enjoy the sheep, don't do them, it's not like there's enough profit to make it worthwhile doing something you don't enjoy.

Growing on young cattle IMO comes down to how good you are at buying them. It's an old saying but true, the profit (or loss) is made the day you buy them

 

[Estate fencing.]

If you ent got the enthusiasm to lamb a 100 ewes will you have the enthusiasm to do a load of calves well?

 

[YELROM]

If you ent got the enthusiasm to lamb a 100 ewes will you have the enthusiasm to do a load of calves well?

He is a relief milker and rears calves so I assume he prefers cattle
Could you start milking again on your home farm if it’s ex dairy?

 

[Frodo]

Its the100 of mine and the 500-600 ewes of the family’s that I lamb but if I didn’t lamb ewes I wouldn’t need to lamb theres

If you don't help lamb the 500 who will?

What is it you dont like about sheep?

 

[Frank-the-Wool]

Get shot of the 100 sheep, but wait until they are scanned in lamb and hopefully sell them for a good price.

You are 20 so I suggest you use the money to go to NZ or Australia or wherever takes your fancy.
You will not have any problems getting work of any type and you will learn far more than staying at home.

The money will be a back up to enable you to do all those extra tourist things such as jumping off a bridge with a bit of elastic on your legs!

When and if you come back you will recoup the money and more in the experience you have gained.

 

[Derrick Hughes]

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

 

[Agrivator]

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 can afford to do so, just keep turning over good-quality store cattle. If they cost £1000 each to buy now, my prediction is that the ones you have in 10 years' time will have a value of £1400. They won't leave much if any spare cash in the meantime, but will build up into a very valuable asset.

And don't make the mistake of worrying about the difference between Buying and Selling.
Each time you sell a beast and buy in a replacement, it'd the difference between selling and buying which is the main concern.

 

[AftonShepherd]

Get shot of the 100 sheep, but wait until they are scanned in lamb and hopefully sell them for a good price.

You are 20 so I suggest you use the money to go to NZ or Australia or wherever takes your fancy.
You will not have any problems getting work of any type and you will learn far more than staying at home.

The money will be a back up to enable you to do all those extra tourist things such as jumping off a bridge with a bit of elastic on your legs!

When and if you come back you will recoup the money and more in the experience you have gained.

In my experience, if the OP could face another lambing he'd make a lot more selling ewes with lambs at foot than in lamb, even with a worse than average mortality rate if the weather was bad.

 

[toquark]

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

No it isn’t. We lamb 180 ewes and don’t take any time off work, they’re still checked twice a day and I’m pretty sure our losses won’t be any higher than anyone else.

If he lambs soft as shite suffolks, he’ll need a month of work (and another month to recover). If he works with the right breed, no time off required.

 

[Devil's advocate]

100 commercial ewes, not too hard.

It must be the 500 Beltex that is putting the OP off. That is one hell of an under taking, I guess that is profitable too, but maybe not for the OP.

 

[DB67]

No it isn’t. We lamb 180 ewes and don’t take any time off work, they’re still checked twice a day and I’m pretty sure our losses won’t be any higher than anyone else.

If he lambs soft as shite suffolks, he’ll need a month of work (and another month to recover). If he works with the right breed, no time off required.

I’m saying his statement that you “shouldn’t need to lamb a ewe” is ludicrous. We lamb a very low % but blanket statements like that is nonsense.

 

[ringi]

In my experience, if the OP could face another lambing he'd make a lot more selling ewes with lambs at foot than in lamb, even with a worse than average mortality rate if the weather was bad.

Including losing his other income to be at home for lambing?

 

[AftonShepherd]

Including losing his other income to be at home for lambing?

Possibly not, only he can do those sums.

 

[cheviot53]

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

I lost enthusiasm for milking cows in my early 20's after doing it at home and for others , moved to sheep and beef and was never happier

 

[Wood field]

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

 

[Swaley]

If you ent got the enthusiasm to lamb a 100 ewes will you have the enthusiasm to do a load of calves well?

I have more interest in cattle always have just see they are with more my time then the sheep are

 

[unlacedgecko]

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 are 20 sell off the ewes and use the money to buy a plane ticket anywhere that takes you fancy. I wish I was 20 again.

 

[Wood field]

If you are 20 sell off the ewes and use the money to buy a plane ticket anywhere that takes you fancy. I wish I was 20 again.

And not necessarily farming