Some raise or keep sheep as pets, an animal to feed and care for with the reward of a friendly companion. There is no intention of making money or profit from having the sheep. There are others who raise sheep for profit and enjoy working and being with the sheep. Still, there are some who have no emotional attachment from raising sheep, but work at reaping a profit from their efforts.
I belong in the second group of those who raise sheep. I enjoy raising sheep, have names for a few, and work hard to make a profit. I have learned through experience and other sheep farmers there are some secrets to having a profitable sheep farming business.
First, in order to make any type of income from sheep, there has to be lambs. Rams and ewes have to perform properly in order to put lambs on the ground. The ewe mothering ability and milk production are key to getting a lamb strong after birth and growing steady until and after weaning. Lambs is where the money is at with sheep. More lambs equals more money, but only if they sale well.
Secret number two, helps me greatly in producing lambs and having the lambs sale well. The secret is record keeping. I track which ewes lambed, how many lambs they produced. I weigh the lambs at birth and 30 days. While it is easy to weigh a lamb at birth, there is extra work to weigh the lamb at 30 days. The gain in weight the first 30 days is due to the ewe’s milk. After 30 days, the lamb is starting to forage more and not rely solely on the milk of the ewe. If a lamb or lambs is not gaining enough weight to keep with the group weight, the ewe goes on the list.
Keeping a list of ewes who have problems lambing, problems with internal parasites, poor growing lambs are put on a list to be sold. The list is made from records keeping of lambing, deworming, and lamb growths. The sheep farmer can not be emotional about the list. If a ewe or ram is not producing lambs to sell, they are not helping the sheep farmer make a profit, and to care for the rest of the flock.
Third secret I have in having a profit with raising sheep is to diversify. I suggest to anyone starting to raise sheep, get the best ram you can afford to buy. The ram is most important as his genetics will be in the replacement ewes you retain. Raising your own replacement ewes is more beneficial than purchasing replacement ewes. If you keep good records, you can select the replacement ewe lambs from the best mothering ewes you own. By improving the flock with replacing rams with better rams, knowing the history of the ewes, the sheep farmer can then start selling breeding stock as well as market lambs.
I sort and am very critical of the lambs I produce to meeting the breed standards of the breed I raise. I am now in a place of selling breeding stock due to serious sorting and culling, and purchasing the best rams I can afford. There are only a very few of the lambs that are chosen to be breeding stock quality, as I will only retain the top 10% of the lamb crop for breeding stock. The remaining 90% are sold as market lambs. Simply keeping the very best and culling the rest.
Last thought is how do you present your product? When a prospective buyer looks at your lambs, what do they think? Do your lambs have good growth for their age? Are they fat and healthy or a little underweight or sick? Are you attempting to get breeding stock price for a market quality lamb?
When I first started, I sold everything as a market lamb, retaining one or two replacement ewe lambs that were closer to the breeding standard than their mothers. Through time and hard work, I have lambs that are good quality for breeding stock, yet I only sell the very best of each group as breeding stock. I want those looking for breeding stock, to trust that the sheep I am presenting are the very best of my lamb crop. Therefore I only present the very best of my lamb crop for their consideration of purchase. I have health records of my flock to show the sheep are cared for and that I select my ewes based on their health and resistance of parasites along with mothering ability. I want the buyer to trust the stock they are purchasing to do as they were presented.
Reputation and product presentation go a long way when trying to sell breeding stock or market lambs to potential buyers.
Hope your sheep farming goes well and we can all make a profit.
Granny
Granny's Homestead 