fathers friend wants us to feed lot sheep

[babsbag]

@Bossroo gave you great advice...

 

[Baymule]

Are the sheep you have now profitable or do you operate at a loss. I sell my lambs for $8 a pound hanging weight , plus $90 for cut and wrap. I lost 2 lambs and had to put down a ewe-dead loss. I have 3 wethers to sell, 2 are sold and one is up for grabs. I will have a loss this year. I had a loss last year.

If your Dad is hell bent on this, buy maybe 10 lambs and feed them out for spring. You will need to be a good book keeper to make a profit/loss statement and include EVERYTHING. What are you paid working on a dairy. Keep up with hours devoted to the lamb feeding operation. Include that as an expense. Tell your Dad to get his feet wet and see how it goes.

 

[newton the goat]

Are the sheep you have now profitable or do you operate at a loss. I sell my lambs for $8 a pound hanging weight , plus $90 for cut and wrap. I lost 2 lambs and had to put down a ewe-dead loss. I have 3 wethers to sell, 2 are sold and one is up for grabs. I will have a loss this year. I had a loss last year.

If your Dad is hell bent on this, buy maybe 10 lambs and feed them out for spring. You will need to be a good book keeper to make a profit/loss statement and include EVERYTHING. What are you paid working on a dairy. Keep up with hours devoted to the lamb feeding operation. Include that as an expense. Tell your Dad to get his feet wet and see how it goes.

I think he is honestly thinking of doing this..... urgh this is going to he an interesting winter.... guess im dragging out an old wprk book to keep track of all expenses spent

 

[southernshoreboy]

You have received some good advice so far. Bossroo and baymule advice of starting small and keeping records are the way to go. I would look for a nice dorper ram if you want to utilize your Katahdins and still stick with hair sheep. If your dad decides to buy lambs to fatten for spring they will more then likely be a wool breed like a suffolk, Charollais, dorset cross etc and that is a departure from where you are now. Not that that's an issue, farming is always about adapting. Try not to turn the enjoyment from a small flock into a job. Goodluck

 

[Bossroo]

Just to clarify... Charolais is a beef cattle breed. The others will apply, however most of the wool x bred lambs would be most likely be x bred with a Suffolk and will have speckled faces which are pretty good candidates for a feed lot but will take more feed to reach slaughter weights while the pure bred Suffolk, Southdown, or Dorset lambs would finish at less cost. The Dorper ram over your Katahdin ewes would be your best choice to produce a lamb that would take the least resources in terms of feed, time and labor to be most profitable.

 

[southernshoreboy]

Hi Bossroo you are right Charolais is a beef cattle breed but mine had 2 L's in it, "Charollais" which makes it a sheep breed - I had to google the spelling, not my strong suit LOL. I don't carry them personally but have seen them and read about their traits - some believe they are a better all round terminal breed then the suffolk. "Newton the goat" is from Ontario and they seem to have a good selection of registered breeders in that part of the country. Not sure if Charollais sheep have made it down to the United States yet.

 

[Bossroo]

Southernshoreboy, after googling for the Charollais, you are indeed right ! I learned something new today as i have never heard of this breed of sheep before even after having been in the commercial sheep business for 30 years. Google describes the adult sheep, but they say nothing as to market forces as to sale prices compared to other breed lambs, percentage of lambs that reach slaughter weight and at what age straight from being weaned without the benefit of a feedlot,age and weight of lamb for slaughter after being in a feed lot, grades of carcass, slaugher carcass weight percentage from live weight, carcass quality , cutout percentages or competition taste tests of the lamb carcass. Can you enlighten us ?

 

[southernshoreboy]

Wow thats alot of questions. I first saw Charollais at an auction a couple of years ago and they brought top dollar. Very impressive ram lambs - solid. Here are a few links
With everything you read on the internet or studies you have to take it with a grain of sodium.

http://en.france-genetique-elevage.org/Charollais,386.html
http://www.agriculture.gov.sk.ca/apps/adf/ADFAdminReport/20050709.pdf
http://www.sksheep.com/documents/SSDBBBL1UsingTerminalSiresScreen.pdf
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/sheep/71239000/charollais-sheep-seen-as-breed-of-the-future
http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/livestock/sheep/facts/12-021.htm
http://www.nationalsheep.org.uk/next-generation/ambassador-blogs/2937/case-study-james-hamilton/
http://www.charollaissheep.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Gareth-Thomas-Story.pdf

I don't have any Charollais but I have two rams a suffolk cross and a horned dorset/southdown cross and my wife has a bluefaced leicester and a shetland ram - boy is he a pain in the behind this time of the year.

 

[newton the goat]

Thank you for so much information! Ill do some more reasearch and then let my dad know!

 

[southernshoreboy]

Goodluck to you and your dad. I wasn't pushing Charllois Sheep, hard to beat a lamb sired by a good suffolk and good crossed ewes.