Sheep farm potential

[will6910]

Iv covered and asked this many years ago. I wanted many sheep and many acres. Currently with way things is personally I want to make things at home better first. Question is, how many ewes is a acceptable number to carry on the following system. 38 acres of ground, currently fields spilt into 3-5 acre paddocks. 40 acres of winter grazing next door from November to Christmas. Ewes housed around Christmas. Suffolk x texel ewes. Started to re seed fields this year to help grass

Sorry for a repeat of a question from the past

 

[Highland Mule]

I’ll start the bidding at around 100 ewes. You can buy fodder or make it and sell lambs store or prime as a way of balancing grazing needs and capacity. Perhaps a few less, if they’re big girls.

Oh, and I’d make the paddocks smaller - much smaller.

 

[irish dom]

200 ewes if ran right. Try and split your paddocks when grass is really motoring and get rid of lambs in time by selling stores or creeping lambs. A bit mere winter grass would shorten housing and lower if it can be got reasonable

 

[irish dom]

Oh and stay away from those big terminal bred ewes. Them bitches would eat twice what a wee ewe will eat and produce damn all more

 

[will6910]

Oh and stay away from those big terminal bred ewes. Them bitches would eat twice what a wee ewe will eat and produce damn all more

Have tried lleyns before but never seemed to do well for me. Bred some pure them some to texel. Plan was they smaller and can keep more to acre

 

[Al R]

4.5-5/acre with no inputs to the ground, no creep, no feeding of ewes. Complete forage only diet, sell all lambs by 1st August, lock up fields and make a cut of silage in early September off the land the lambs would have been on and it’s fresh grazing for the ewes for the autumn.

 

[Highland Mule]

Have tried lleyns before but never seemed to do well for me. Bred some pure them some to texel. Plan was they smaller and can keep more to acre

Go mules, and put them to a texel.

 

[will6910]

200 ewes if ran right. Try and split your paddocks when grass is really motoring and get rid of lambs in time by selling stores or creeping lambs. A bit mere winter grass would shorten housing and lower if it can be got reasonable

Issue round here is most winter grazing stops 1st January. Could stretch it a few days but not much

 

[will6910]

I’ll start the bidding at around 100 ewes. You can buy fodder or make it and sell lambs store or prime as a way of balancing grazing needs and capacity. Perhaps a few less, if they’re big girls.

Oh, and I’d make the paddocks smaller - much smaller.

The paddocks that’s about 3.5 to 4 acres gets spilt in half with electric fence. My biggest field 10
Acres got spilt into 4 with electric for spring grazing when it start to get ahead of ewes. Had only 40 ewes and 25 shearlings and then 10
Heifers in spring and when when heifers sold I didn’t get more ewes bought to middle July and They were on diet rations till flushing few weeks ago. So have a awful length of grass built up in all fields at home

For instance this is grass in a section of a paddock I’m not grazinf yet as other half of field is longer

 

[farmerm]

Just curious, how many metres of fencing to put 38ac into 3ac paddocks and over 20years lifespan ( if only ) how much is that per ac/year?

 

[will6910]

Just curious, how many metres of fencing to put 38ac into 3ac paddocks and over 20years lifespan ( if only ) how much is that per ac/year?

Currently I have 8 electric fence reels with 250m wire on each one. Many many posts. Still could do with more at times. Sheep wire fences on outside of fields are nearly done to as posts rotten. Dread to think what Itl cost to permanently fence fields

 

[irish dom]

4.5-5/acre with no inputs to the ground, no creep, no feeding of ewes. Complete forage only diet, sell all lambs by 1st August, lock up fields and make a cut of silage in early September off the land the lambs would have been on and it’s fresh grazing for the ewes for the autumn.

Fair play that's some going. Must be on powerful land

 

[will6910]

4.5-5/acre with no inputs to the ground, no creep, no feeding of ewes. Complete forage only diet, sell all lambs by 1st August, lock up fields and make a cut of silage in early September off the land the lambs would have been on and it’s fresh grazing for the ewes for the autumn.

Not a hope of being able to do that here. By time start January comes and it’s wet all has to come inside. Dairy man wouldn’t want fields messed up. If don’t bring them inside and save grass at home there wouldn’t be any grass at home for ewes and lambs to go out to

 

[andybk]

200 ewes if ran right. Try and split your paddocks when grass is really motoring and get rid of lambs in time by selling stores or creeping lambs. A bit mere winter grass would shorten housing and lower if it can be got reasonable

200! on 38 acres ? more like 75-100 to give you piece of mind , depends on your system, if you creep everything the pressure is off a bit , but a higher cost of production . and you will need some to conserve at some point .also depends if you have a closed flock as you will need to carry ewe lambs forward as well .

 

[irish dom]

Not a hope of being able to do that here. By time start January comes and it’s wet all has to come inside. Dairy man wouldn’t want fields messed up. If don’t bring them inside and save grass at home there wouldn’t be any grass at home for ewes and lambs to go out to

I was reared in the glens. Always amazes me how white and barren it looks compared to down here in the south. But then my dad reminds me that I now live in the tropics. Amazing the difference 150 miles makes to grass growth. Friends in Cork turning out Cows and closing up for bales and I haven't a pick for a few woollies.

 

[will6910]

I was reared in the glens. Always amazes me how white and barren it looks compared to down here in the south. But then my dad reminds me that I now live in the tropics. Amazing the difference 150 miles makes to grass growth. Friends in Cork turning out Cows and closing up for bales and I haven't a pick for a few woollies.

Quite lucky where I am it does grow good grass when treated right. But needs to be saved from end October until spring or winter be a bite for ewes and lambs

 

[HarryB97]

Start at 100 ewes and go from there, most farms are overstocked which causes more problems than it solves. Even though it will look like you are turning over more cash the amount of profit wont be much more as you will be buying in more food, more disease and worm issues and drought years when nothing will grow. You can always buy a few store lambs if the grass gets away from you. Buy some wool shedders to make your life easier.

 

[will6910]

Not keen on the shedders I’m afraid. With having to house so long always found May as well lamb inside and go for higher numbers lambs

 

[HarryB97]

Not keen on the shedders I’m afraid. With having to house so long always found May as well lamb inside and go for higher numbers lambs

You can lamb shedders inside no different to other sheep and they will scan at 180-200% every year. Just because they're a shedder doesn't mean you have to go low input etc, its just a sheep without wool.

 

[Kazak]

We have similar acreage, on old pp, no reseeding, we use to run 160/170 ewes between dry hoggets and breeding ewes...
What we found is that on a “perfect” year all was great, plenty of lambs to sell and plenty of grass about BUT if anything went out of kilter ( late springs. dry summers leading to draught, snow falls, wet autumn... or whatever you can think) was hard to keep the show on the road, ended up very dependent on meal for all those occasions( which were quite common) , eroding the profit and adding a lot of extra work.
We settled now at 100 breeding ewes and 25 ewe lambs kept dry. Sent away in the winter for a few weeks..
Yes you could push up to 190/200 but you would need new grass and all to go a 100%, to do well..
The system works better for us.. if you were to reseed or grow tyffon and the likes b a different story I suppose, but would add to the cost as well...
hard to know ...
Thats my 2pence anyway..