Can you still make money w sheep if you have to buy feed beyond pasture limits?

[Nao57]

Question is as above, and what it seems.

Interested in what you all might have to say about this. Obviously having pasture would be the best thing. But anything affordable is sort of semi-arid hot AZ stuff. That means it will probably not entirely support all the pasturage needed for a small operation.

So could this be done if you have to buy feed?

What do you think?

 

[Mini Horses]

. Dream on!!

Make money? You may cover costs? May get own freezer lamb for free?

That situation will not make money that will support you, income wise....as instead of a job. You may be able to have a positive money but, not much. Especially as a "small" operation.

I make enough with my dairy goats to cover their feed costs. Some years to buy new bloodlines. But never do they "pay for the farm" . But I don't need them to.

 

[Baymule]

What she said. We do what we do for the love of it, not for money, because breaking even is considered success. I was building a pretty good clientele selling USDA lamb meat, but the Covid crunch busted that. So this year's crop of lambs will go to the auction. I have limited pasture, always keep a $65 round bale in front of the sheep, it lasts 13 grown sheep about a month. I feed them also. Right now they are dry lotted because the rye grass, clover and fescue is growing, but not ready to graze yet. I don't have enough pasture to support them. When the winter grasses die back in the heat, I have bermuda and bahia grass for them, but again, it's not enough to support them. We have been here 6 years next month and have had a LOT of work to do, to take it from overgrown briars, brush, saplings, to any resemblance to a pasture, plus very poor soil. So getting pasture established has been an ongoing project.

Raising your own meat has a lot going for it. Finding a few customers that want quality meat is a bonus. It helps on the feed bill. We have 1 pig customer that always buys a pig from us, USDA slaughtered. What they buy pays for our pig, with a (very) little over. So we eat for free. I raise Cornish Cross chickens, we butcher and package them in vacuum sealed bags. It's a lot of work. I have several chicken customers. This enables us to again, eat for free and we supply our daughter's family of 5 with chicken.

 

[Beekissed]

I'd hook up with other small producers in your state via FB and see how they are doing it, if at all. If it can be done there, someone is out there doing it already and can give you some good mentoring.

 

[Nao57]

. Dream on!!

Make money? You may cover costs? May get own freezer lamb for free?

That situation will not make money that will support you, income wise....as instead of a job. You may be able to have a positive money but, not much. Especially as a "small" operation.

I make enough with my dairy goats to cover their feed costs. Some years to buy new bloodlines. But never do they "pay for the farm" . But I don't need them to.

Yeah, I hear ya.

But its just so fascinating to try and make it work right?

Who doesn't want their job to be doing things that are fun, and working for yourself. Its just fun to figure this out even if it seems hard. Your dairy goats idea is fun I think. Although I'm not really into goats and don't want to do those... the idea of doing a small dairy (sheep instead of goats haha) just sounds fun.

 

[Nao57]

What she said. We do what we do for the love of it, not for money, because breaking even is considered success. I was building a pretty good clientele selling USDA lamb meat, but the Covid crunch busted that. So this year's crop of lambs will go to the auction. I have limited pasture, always keep a $65 round bale in front of the sheep, it lasts 13 grown sheep about a month. I feed them also. Right now they are dry lotted because the rye grass, clover and fescue is growing, but not ready to graze yet. I don't have enough pasture to support them. When the winter grasses die back in the heat, I have bermuda and bahia grass for them, but again, it's not enough to support them. We have been here 6 years next month and have had a LOT of work to do, to take it from overgrown briars, brush, saplings, to any resemblance to a pasture, plus very poor soil. So getting pasture established has been an ongoing project.

Raising your own meat has a lot going for it. Finding a few customers that want quality meat is a bonus. It helps on the feed bill. We have 1 pig customer that always buys a pig from us, USDA slaughtered. What they buy pays for our pig, with a (very) little over. So we eat for free. I raise Cornish Cross chickens, we butcher and package them in vacuum sealed bags. It's a lot of work. I have several chicken customers. This enables us to again, eat for free and we supply our daughter's family of 5 with chicken.

Thanks for the great comments. I can't reply to everyone...

Sounds fun what you are doing. I like it.

In the grand scheme of things, it seems like having true freedom to choose your daily schedule etc to be very exciting. (Not choosing to do less I mean, but the idea that you are your own person.)

Thanks for telling me about your setup. I like to learn from ppl.

 

[farmerjan]

@Nao57 understand something else about most of us being able to choose our daily schedule..... Many many of us are "older" ...like retirement age..... and a few that are younger have a spouse that works and can support the family .... often so that they can be homeschooled and not have to pay for child care and such. Many have worked their butts off and have their place paid for so not looking at a mortgage.... or in my case, a smaller mortgage than I was paying in rent......so the livestock enterprises pays for its self most time with the food in your own freezer etc is "free".....
Yes, having the ability to choose to do things at your own pace is very nice.....most of us have worked long and hard years to be at this point. Many of us also work slower than we used to sadly to say. So we need the extra time to do what we might have gotten done in 1/2 the time when we were younger. And many of us are tired of working at that frenetic pace.

 

[Beekissed]

Yeah, I hear ya.

But its just so fascinating to try and make it work right?

Who doesn't want their job to be doing things that are fun, and working for yourself. Its just fun to figure this out even if it seems hard. Your dairy goats idea is fun I think. Although I'm not really into goats and don't want to do those... the idea of doing a small dairy (sheep instead of goats haha) just sounds fun.

I agree....it's fun in the trying! I've been told over and over things that "can't be done" but have done them and even when you tell folks you've done them, they don't believe it. I say go for it!

Most smallholders who are turning a profit are doing it from multiple streams of income on the same piece of land....agritourism, microgreens, CSA, etc. So, if you can find a way to generate more income from the same piece of land, you may turn a profit. Also, there are folks renting out goat herds to clear vacant lots near towns and hair sheep could be utilized as easily and thus increasing your available pasture based feeds while also giving you extra income from the flock. Look into grazing solar farms.

 

[Nao57]

I agree....it's fun in the trying! I've been told over and over things that "can't be done" but have done them and even when you tell folks you've done them, they don't believe it. I say go for it!

Most smallholders who are turning a profit are doing it from multiple streams of income on the same piece of land....agritourism, microgreens, CSA, etc. So, if you can find a way to generate more income from the same piece of land, you may turn a profit. Also, there are folks renting out goat herds to clear vacant lots near towns and hair sheep could be utilized as easily and thus increasing your available pasture based feeds while also giving you extra income from the flock. Look into grazing solar farms.

I wouldn't have thought of goats being able to be rented to clear vacant lots. LOL.

It makes sense. Goats would be way cheaper than a backhoe or digging machines to rent.

I like it.

 

[misfitmorgan]

It all heavily depends on your area.

Here you can not rent goats or sheep or anything else, people laugh at the mention of it. We also have no solar farms so lol. Lamb at the store starts at $12/Lb here but people don't want to pay over $150 for a butcher ready lamb most of the time. If they bought the same 50Lbs of meat in the store it would be $650 minimum but they baulk at anything over $150 off the farm. If you can do like Bay was and sell USDA cuts you will make more overall.