Profit (!) Per Ewe.

SJGC

Member
Livestock Farmer
I was hoping if I found a private buyer it might not be such an issue. In Hereford market last couple of years store tup lambs have been making just as much if not more than clean lambs. But this is usually a later in the season- Nov onwards. Obviously the fact that they are shedders, I’m looking to sell in September and the price of feed may have some impact on the price.
Why do you need to sell shedders in September?
 
Yes, I've seen a buyer at Hexham specifically looking for tup lambs but I'm not sure that I'd want to rely on it for placing big numbers.
That's the point exactly, by not ringing you are severely restricting your selling options which is a bad business decision. Just ring them, it takes seconds and if the ewe's so flighty that it bu*gers off if you go near her, then you need to change to a more maternal breed.
 

JHT

Member
Location
Wales
That's the point exactly, by not ringing you are severely restricting your selling options which is a bad business decision. Just ring them, it takes seconds and if the ewe's so flighty that it bu*gers off if you go near her, then you need to change to a more maternal breed.
There’s a hell of a lot of sheep in our area but I don’t know any farmers that ring lambs at birth unless they lamb indoors.
 

Tim W

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Wiltshire
''Profit per ewe'' ---i think is something many farmers wouldn't know?
I recently visited 6 farms in a day ---only one could quote his COP/lamb when asked, another had to look it up (but he did know)
The other 4 farms didn't know
 

Poorbuthappy

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Devon
''Profit per ewe'' ---i think is something many farmers wouldn't know?
I recently visited 6 farms in a day ---only one could quote his COP/lamb when asked, another had to look it up (but he did know)
The other 4 farms didn't know
They could quote a figure you mean.
Doesn't mean it was accurate.

Not knocking them for having a handle on the figures, but it is easy to make figures say what you want them to. Especially if it's mixed enterprises so difficult to attribute costs.
 

unlacedgecko

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Fife
''Profit per ewe'' ---i think is something many farmers wouldn't know?
I recently visited 6 farms in a day ---only one could quote his COP/lamb when asked, another had to look it up (but he did know)
The other 4 farms didn't know
I'd bet there's a fair few that don't know their profit 😂

To my mind, profit per ha is more important.
 

Tim W

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Wiltshire
They could quote a figure you mean.
Doesn't mean it was accurate.

Not knocking them for having a handle on the figures, but it is easy to make figures say what you want them to. Especially if it's mixed enterprises so difficult to attribute costs.
The 2 that had an answer were on the ball with their data/books and knew exactly what everything cost---the best of them could tell me exactly what a 10p/kg increase in feed would do to his margins or an extra 20p/kg for inspec. lambs etc---they would be accurate within a very small margin of error i think
I was impressed
 

Stw88

Member
Location
Northumberland
How do you possibly cost accurately when you have both cattle and sheep. What percentage of machinery or electric cost do i put to which enterprise? I can easily work out my sheep feed per ewe/ lamb but trying to split fixed costs is impossible.
sometimes these folk that get tied up on figures dont have the best stock as they try to push things too far and forget the basic stockmanship.
 

Poorbuthappy

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Devon
How do you possibly cost accurately when you have both cattle and sheep. What percentage of machinery or electric cost do i put to which enterprise? I can easily work out my sheep feed per ewe/ lamb but trying to split fixed costs is impossible.
sometimes these folk that get tied up on figures dont have the best stock as they try to push things too far and forget the basic stockmanship.
3 enterprises here (sheep, cattle and broilers), plus my daughter has her own 2 enterprises (pigs and layers) which use some of the machinery.
Near impossible to split the labour and machinery costs between it all.
 
How do you possibly cost accurately when you have both cattle and sheep. What percentage of machinery or electric cost do i put to which enterprise? I can easily work out my sheep feed per ewe/ lamb but trying to split fixed costs is impossible.
sometimes these folk that get tied up on figures dont have the best stock as they try to push things too far and forget the basic stockmanship.
I think for each enterprise you can only work out the figures at gross margin level i.e. output less variable costs. What's left is what that enterprise contributes to fixed costs. That's why comparing net profit figures is not particularly helpful because fixed costs can vary hugely from farm to farm
 
The 2 that had an answer were on the ball with their data/books and knew exactly what everything cost---the best of them could tell me exactly what a 10p/kg increase in feed would do to his margins or an extra 20p/kg for inspec. lambs etc---they would be accurate within a very small margin of error i think
I was impressed
On the face of it knowing those figures sounds impressive, but if you think it through what is it telling you? It's telling you that if every other variable remains the same then this is what will happen. However, keeping sheep is not the same as producing widgets in a factory or even producing pigs and poultry. There are hugely more variables in sheep production that contribute to costs. Looking back through my records the biggest influence on feed costs has been the weather, not the feed price. If you'd asked me that question at the turn of the year I could have worked it out and it would have been way out because although feed prices went up, actual feed costs went down because not as much was used as we had grass a month earlier than last year. Who knows what will happen next year!
 

Tim W

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Wiltshire
On the face of it knowing those figures sounds impressive, but if you think it through what is it telling you? It's telling you that if every other variable remains the same then this is what will happen. However, keeping sheep is not the same as producing widgets in a factory or even producing pigs and poultry. There are hugely more variables in sheep production that contribute to costs. Looking back through my records the biggest influence on feed costs has been the weather, not the feed price. If you'd asked me that question at the turn of the year I could have worked it out and it would have been way out because although feed prices went up, actual feed costs went down because not as much was used as we had grass a month earlier than last year. Who knows what will happen next year!
That's all true but i think what saddened me was the fact that 4 out of the 6 who i asked the question of didn't seem to have a clue what it cost them to keep sheep or if the sheep made them money ----this in the face of reducing (& eliminating hopefully) BPS
 

Al R

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
West Wales
That's all true but i think what saddened me was the fact that 4 out of the 6 who i asked the question of didn't seem to have a clue what it cost them to keep sheep or if the sheep made them money ----this in the face of reducing (& eliminating hopefully) BPS
I cost all my ewes at 8p/head/day so £29. Vet/med/feed/minerals come to a total of £7 per ewe.
Lambs are costed at 7p/head/day so for 20 weeks average including finishing the stores etc is around £10 and total vet/med comes to £4/head average.
 

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