Young farmer starting out

[Wood field]

As @egbert says, draft hill ewes can be much better value. RD Livestock will sell large numbers of Welsh drafts/cull annually. Not sure on this year's prices, but approx £50 won't be far off.

We have had draft Welsh ewes from them, put 100 this year to good Cheviot tups
I think from memory the ewes were £47 inc wormed and dipped plus another pound each delivery
Good cheap way to expand the flock , if I was to do it again, personally I would go direct to farm or market

 

[unlacedgecko]

We have had draft Welsh ewes from them, put 100 this year to good Cheviot tups
I think from memory the ewes were £47 inc wormed and dipped plus another pound each delivery
Good cheap way to expand the flock , if I was to do it again, personally I would go direct to farm or market

If you want more of that breeding I've customers who sell tallybont Welsh ewe lambs.

 

[Wood field]

If you want more of that breeding I've customers who sell tallybont Welsh ewe lambs.

Brilliant thank you , sorry if it’s going off topic …. But I used to get draft hill ewes from the lakes , Welsh Cheviot type cross , always put to a texel and keep our own replacements, the Welsh Cheviot was a kind of cheap experiment looking for a hardy /thrifty younger ewe to go forwards, really pleased with the lambs , for all intent and purpose they look like Cheviot ( with a tell tale ginger patch on the back of the neck )

 

[Hilly]

Now this isn’t good advice but you could apply for low interest credit cards and buy store lambs, sell em fat, pay off the credit debt and keep a few good gimmers for breeding

Mart might lend him them if he has decent credit rate ?

 

[toquark]

Been in almost exactly your position, with a hobby flock then offered the chance at rapid expansion. I started with old mule drafts, lambed them, kept the ewe lambs and the best of the old ewes and went from there. Have since completely changed breed to shedders, but it was a cheap way to get mouths on the grass and money turning over. Minimal overhead, minimal risk. I think that first year, my mortality amongst the ewes was about 5% so you have to bear that in mind, plus they take a bit more feeding than younger stock.

 

[bobk]

Good morning chaps. I’m looking for some advice on starting up on my own. It’s alway been a dream to farm sheep in my own right. I have 30 ewes currently however I feel as this is the right time in my life and my young family’s life to expand. Currently I am full time employee have a very supportive wife who helps in any way she can. I can have a supply of plenty acres of fodder for sheep through the estate that I work and they are very supportive. The problem I have like many other young farmers is cash to expand ewe numbers at any pace. So I’m looking for advice. What would people do? Eg approach the local mart to try and get loans through them, approach a bank? Or is the most sensible way to just keep ewe lambs of my current 30 ewes and work away slow and steady and build up gradually? Interested to hear options. Thanks

Buy what you can afford , find some good tack , take it from there

 

[CopperBeech]

I just went and got a personal bank loan for £10,000 and then worked really really hard

 

[puppet]

Having access to grazing where you work is a bonus. With a full-time job you can put all the extra proceeds into expansion for the next 3 years without any need to borrow. Crosses/mules onto Texel or Lleyn having 45 lambs, keep best 15 ewe lambs, sell the other 30 for £3000 and buy 20 gimmers.
Same again year 2 and soon up over 100 breeding sheep.
Or you can buy some wild broken mouthed Blackies and breed your crosses over 5 years