Average fleece weight and pricing lamb; Finn Sheep

[NachoFarm]

We contacted a local processor of fleece for our four sheep and she says it's $10/pound for processing into roving. She says the average fleece weight is 3-4lbs. Is that correct? And does the price seem reasonable for the processing?

As for pricing lamb, I've seen such a wide range of prices that I'm not sure which is a good representation of what our local market will bear. I know a lot of factors have to be considered but I'm seeing everything from $5.75/pound to over $12.00/pound. Short of just pulling a number out of my ... how do we determine what is a fair price?

 

[SheepGirl]

You might actually get around 5-6 lbs of wool off a finn ewe. I've never processed wool so I'm not sure what the going price is.

As far as meat--are you selling by the whole or half carcass? Or will you be selling cuts?

 

[NachoFarm]

I think we would sell the whole carcass, probably to my sister in law. So we would obviously give her a deal but it would be good to know how to come to a fair price for the general public as a starting point.

I was surprised at what they charge to process but I guess it'll depend on what I can sell the roving for. If I'm paying $40-50 to have each fleece processed then I would have to find out what people pay for roving and see the difference.

 

[purplequeenvt]

I've been seeing people selling fleeces for $10-$15 (sometimes more depending on the breed and quality) a lb RAW and $2 or more an ounce for roving. I don't know what a normal/fair rate is for wool processing right now.

As for meat....we usually charge a slaughter fee, which is whatever the slaughterhouse charges to kill and cut, plus an amount per lb hanging weight. I think we've been charging $5/lb plus the slaughter fee, but I can't remember for sure.

 

[Roving Jacobs]

3-4 lbs of raw fleece in the grease sounds about right once you've skirted out all of the short cuts and poopy bits. That's about what I get off of my Jacobs, with 5-6 lbs being sort of the upper limit. It will look like a lot more in the bag, Finns have a long staple length and a lot of loft. That price seems reasonable too, especially if it includes washing. I would want to check whether that was incoming or outgoing weight though.

 

[SheepGirl]

Well whatever market price is in your area for the type of lamb you're selling (say a 70 lb lamb @ $150/cwt), double that (so $150/cwt goes to $300/cwt) and that should be your minimum price for the carcass (for hanging weight). You should add in the cost for butchering. And you can also up the price some more so you can make more money. Whatever you're comfortable with charging and whatever the customer's comfortable paying.

 

[NachoFarm]

Well whatever market price is in your area for the type of lamb you're selling (say a 70 lb lamb @ $150/cwt), double that (so $150/cwt goes to $300/cwt) and that should be your minimum price for the carcass (for hanging weight). You should add in the cost for butchering. And you can also up the price some more so you can make more money. Whatever you're comfortable with charging and whatever the customer's comfortable paying.

Maybe a silly question...how do I find out the market price for our area? We're new here. We're new to farms. We're new to sheep. We're...new.

 

[SheepGirl]

If you're in the U.S. (which I don't think you are?) you can go to the USDA/AMS web site and check out your local major auction. I'm not sure if Canada has something similar to that or not.

 

[NachoFarm]

Could you smell my Canada all the way down there?! LOL!
Yeah, I'm not sure if we have anything comparable. We have local auctions but they seem to deal mostly in dairy and beef cattle.