Profit (!) Per Ewe.

[saitek1989]

Between £40-£60 per ewe last time I worked out depends on lambing % mostly

 

[JD-Kid]

Between £40-£60 per ewe last time I worked out depends on lambing % mostly

i'd be intrested in the workings including labouring drawings fert regrassing fuel power houseing fenceing dog feed running costs on gear

 

[Cab-over Pete]

We're not going to do any good on our few. Even if we discount labour and new fencing entirely we seem to spend a fair bit on feed and meds.

However, I took that into account when we first started and said as long as we don't spend a fortune it will be fine. When we start to sell our first fat lambs we will start from there.

 

[Strawberry roan]

We're not going to do any good on our few. Even if we discount labour and new fencing entirely we seem to spend a fair bit on feed and meds.

However, I took that into account when we first started and said as long as we don't spend a fortune it will be fine. When we start to sell our first fat lambs we will start from there.

I wouldn't be disheartened cop, you might not feel them vet and med costs as you go through the year with a small flock, especialy if you enjoy working with them and it gets you out the cab but when you cash your thirty or so lambs in next year youl be happy. You might be improving the value of the flock as you go along aswell. It's a slow accumulation of wealth farming surley?

 

[Cab-over Pete]

Yeah, I'm kind of thinking along those lines. We have bought everything in, obviously, with their various problems. The Hampshires are old girls so we have to nurse them along a bit while they give us a few ewe lambs.

Our HD x Lleyn lambs look brilliant, so I hope they will come to something in a few months.

It's a slow burner, but we'll see where we go.

 

[Strawberry roan]

Yeah, I'm kind of thinking along those lines. We have bought everything in, obviously, with their various problems. The Hampshires are old girls so we have to nurse them along a bit while they give us a few ewe lambs.

Our HD x Lleyn lambs look brilliant, so I hope they will come to something in a few months.

It's a slow burner, but we'll see where we go.

It's a bit like your other business , I imagine your classic tractor collection is reflected in your profit on paper but puts a smile on your face every time you see them and are there to be sold if required and are possibly worth more than when you bought them.

 

[Cab-over Pete]

That's the plan!

 

[reverand]

It's a bit like your other business , I imagine your classic tractor collection is reflected in your profit on paper but puts a smile on your face every time you see them and are there to be sold if required and are possibly worth more than when you bought them.

not sure about you roan but my classic tractor collection also happens to be my front line tractor,which doesnt always put a smile on my face

 

[Sussex Martin]

We're not going to do any good on our few. Even if we discount labour and new fencing entirely we seem to spend a fair bit on feed and meds.

However, I took that into account when we first started and said as long as we don't spend a fortune it will be fine. When we start to sell our first fat lambs we will start from there.

It's a learning curve Pete, you will soon learn what meds you need and don't need. You will learn how to deal with problems that you are using the vet for now and will do these jobs yourself. You will learn when it is appropriate to cull older animals before they start costing money. You will gradually build up the kit and experience needed to do the job more cost effectively, jobs that now take you an hour will only take 20 minutes, you will learn when to do the routine tasks before they become a problem. You will learn that a cartridge is a lot cheaper than a vet at times and when to make that call.

 

[Tim W]

I would say that the best figures you can find (based on a reasonable amount of farms and a decent number cruncher) would be those provided by EBLEX----I know lots of folk will disagree but they never seem to come up with a better estimate only their own personal experiences which are of course based on just 1 set of accounts

Me, I tend to be pretty pedantic about trying to cost my sheep enterprise as I feel it is important to know where I am making (and losing money)
Most years I make a small company profit (that's after all costs including my drawings/wages) ---my figures are skewed by the fact that I sell breeding stock at a premium but obviously this has extra costs (individual FECs/BLUP/DNA testing/muscle, fat scanning/marketing costs etc) but I think if I were a fat lamb producer I would make roughly the same ---as using a terminal sire would improve grades and DLWG and reduce my workload considerably

If you want to draw £28k and have a life (holiday /time off) then I would suggest you need 1000 ewes and a decent management system and sensible rents

 

[Cab-over Pete]

It's a learning curve Pete, you will soon learn what meds you need and don't need. You will learn how to deal with problems that you are using the vet for now and will do these jobs yourself. You will learn when it is appropriate to cull older animals before they start costing money. You will gradually build up the kit and experience needed to do the job more cost effectively, jobs that now take you an hour will only take 20 minutes, you will learn when to do the routine tasks before they become a problem. You will learn that a cartridge is a lot cheaper than a vet at times and when to make that call.

We've only had the vet out once in the year. He is coming out this week to blood test our skinny Lleyn, but that's a request rather than running cost.

 

[Tim W]

We've only had the vet out once in the year. He is coming out this week to blood test our skinny Lleyn, but that's a request rather than running cost.

Get him to show you how to draw blood and make sure he leaves a handful of tubes----then you can do your own testing and save a visit fee

 

[Sussex Martin]

We've only had the vet out once in the year. He is coming out this week to blood test our skinny Lleyn, but that's a request rather than running cost.

Not being critical Pete, just pointing out that costs will reduce as you gain experience and it gets easier with that experience. How mant times have you done something with the sheep and thought 'well I won't do it like that again'? I know I have thought that a number of times, next time you do it slightly differently and it is so much easier. It's been close to 30 years since I had my sheep before and it is surprising how little the job has changed and how much I have forgotten over time.
I am however in a different position to yourself, I have no plans to get bigger than a 50 ewe flock, (age is against me) you being much younger can still realistically grow your flock into a viable business if you so wish.

 

[Cab-over Pete]

Thanks Martin, I know you weren't criticising.

You're right, we adapt and change as we go. We have quite a nice little system now. I can't be doing with everything mackled up with string so it all works quite nicely.

Expanding the flock is my exact point of the thread. I would love to do just that and we have local land which could make it easy. Trouble is, I just can't do any more myself. I can't let the sheep affect the spreading business but don't have enough to employ a full time man. Last thing I want to do is get more work for a loss.

 

[Guiggs]

Thanks Martin, I know you weren't criticising.

You're right, we adapt and change as we go. We have quite a nice little system now. I can't be doing with everything mackled up with string so it all works quite nicely.

Expanding the flock is my exact point of the thread. I would love to do just that and we have local land which could make it easy. Trouble is, I just can't do any more myself. I can't let the sheep affect the spreading business but don't have enough to employ a full time man. Last thing I want to do is get more work for a loss.

Is their any young lads/ girls locally, thinking about farming or just entered/ at collage that might be prepared to help?
They can get a bit of practical experience and you get a slave.. Sorry some cheap labour, everybody wins!

 

[Woolless]

I would say that the best figures you can find (based on a reasonable amount of farms and a decent number cruncher) would be those provided by EBLEX----I know lots of folk will disagree but they never seem to come up with a better estimate only their own personal experiences which are of course based on just 1 set of accounts

Me, I tend to be pretty pedantic about trying to cost my sheep enterprise as I feel it is important to know where I am making (and losing money)
Most years I make a small company profit (that's after all costs including my drawings/wages) ---my figures are skewed by the fact that I sell breeding stock at a premium but obviously this has extra costs (individual FECs/BLUP/DNA testing/muscle, fat scanning/marketing costs etc) but I think if I were a fat lamb producer I would make roughly the same ---as using a terminal sire would improve grades and DLWG and reduce my workload considerably

If you want to draw £28k and have a life (holiday /time off) then I would suggest you need 1000 ewes and a decent management system and sensible rents

As a fat lamb prducer you would probably make the same for less work but I suppose the advantage to the way you work is that you'll be increasing the genetic value of the flock year on year. And so hopefully the monetary value when you finally decide to cash in your chips.

 

[neilo]

As a fat lamb prducer you would probably make the same for less work but I suppose the advantage to the way you work is that you'll be increasing the genetic value of the flock year on year. And so hopefully the monetary value when you finally decide to cash in your chips.

Absolutely, if Pete was to scale up, he could devise a system that required less labour input easily enough. Even with the extra 47ac next door, it's only a hobby flock really, and could be run with little extra labour input, so long as the right system was put in place.
I was doing some fag packet figures in my head before Christmas, and I could make similar profit from the farm if I was to sell the pedigree flock and up commercial numbers. I could easily run 500 extra crossbred ewes on the same ground I run 220 Charollais ewes and 100 rams round to yearlings, with a hell of a lot lower costs and a lower labour requirement.

As to monetary worth of adding genetic value, that only becomes real if you do cash them in. Plenty of old shepherds saw their pedigree Suffolk flocks as their pension pot, until they suddenly went out of fashion and their ewes' value plummeted. Lots have spent a lifetime improving the genetics of their pedigree B&W dairy herds, only for the son to come in and decide to cross them with all manner of foreign 'grazing' cattle. They might well be more sensible economically, but that capital value has been halved in one generation of cows.

 

[Cab-over Pete]

The few Hampshires we have will only ever be a hobby, plus it's nice to keep a ram lamb or two for our own use on the Lleyns. We have decided that Lleyns suit us for now so will source a few more in the summer. Once we've found our feet we might try a Romney x or something similar.

We have sold a ram lamb locally and he worked well last autumn in a 700 ewe flock. They are scanning on Thursday so fingers crossed he did the job well. We have someone who wants to buy two shearlings later this summer and they are growing well. We don't see ourselves buying top flight Hampshires costing several thousand, but we will keep maybe 10 ewes and try and improve as we go. We are very pleased with the results so far from our ram bought from The Millfileds Flock in Devon, so hopefully he will throw some nice ram lambs (all ewe lambs so far!).

It's butchers lambs we are going to focus on. Whilst we have a few it's hoped we can sell locally in boxes. Lots of friends have said they will try it. Most of them walk by the field on a busy footpath so they are always asking about them. They could pick their own, but I'm not sure they will be too pleased with that idea!! We have wild mint growing in a thick patch in the field, so we will glam the box up a bit with that, include some recipes and also make sausages and burgers from the more fiddly cuts of meat. I figure these days folks don't want to be faffing about in the kitchen, so they won't be happy with lots of preparation. If we can deliver a box and they can chuck something quick in the oven that day, I reckon that could work. Whether we can sell much like that remains to be seen, but we will give it a go.

 

[Woolless]

The few Hampshires we have will only ever be a hobby, plus it's nice to keep a ram lamb or two for our own use on the Lleyns. We have decided that Lleyns suit us for now so will source a few more in the summer. Once we've found our feet we might try a Romney x or something similar.

We have sold a ram lamb locally and he worked well last autumn in a 700 ewe flock. They are scanning on Thursday so fingers crossed he did the job well. We have someone who wants to buy two shearlings later this summer and they are growing well. We don't see ourselves buying top flight Hampshires costing several thousand, but we will keep maybe 10 ewes and try and improve as we go. We are very pleased with the results so far from our ram bought from The Millfileds Flock in Devon, so hopefully he will throw some nice ram lambs (all ewe lambs so far!).

It's butchers lambs we are going to focus on. Whilst we have a few it's hoped we can sell locally in boxes. Lots of friends have said they will try it. Most of them walk by the field on a busy footpath so they are always asking about them. They could pick their own, but I'm not sure they will be too pleased with that idea!! We have wild mint growing in a thick patch in the field, so we will glam the box up a bit with that, include some recipes and also make sausages and burgers from the more fiddly cuts of meat. I figure these days folks don't want to be faffing about in the kitchen, so they won't be happy with lots of preparation. If we can deliver a box and they can chuck something quick in the oven that day, I reckon that could work. Whether we can sell much like that remains to be seen, but we will give it a go.

You might find some punters for mutton as well? Mutton burgers, in particular, are a real winner with anyone that ries mine.

 

[Cab-over Pete]

I did wonder whether that might be a way of selling the pedigrees which we decide to keep but then don't make the grade at a year or two old.

Is there a "set age" for mutton?