I paid $120 for shearing 40 lbs of wool off of the sheep. That's $3/lb. I sold it for $1/lb so I lost $2/lb, $80, which is $8 per sheep sheared. With 80 lb lambs selling for $2.50/lb ($200/head -- or more should I sell the ewe lambs for breeding) and my ewes having a 129% weaned lamb crop (includes two ewe lambs), that is only $6.20 off of each lamb. If I were to process the fleece I could potentially sell it at a profit. But wool is not something I'm interested in at the moment (I've been thinking about starting a finewool flock and breeding based on micron counts or even a Border Leicester flock for show) so selling it at a wool pool is no biggie. The cost of my shearing is not going to run deep into my profit. However, checking the New Holland auction report, it looks like hair lambs are selling for $6-13/cwt less than wooled lambs. Seems to be about even (a loss of $4.80 to $10.40 just for selling hair lambs).
That said, it's great you're getting into sheep! 8 acres is more than enough (I have 19 sheep and 1 goat kid on 1.5 acres, 9 of them are lambs), and it will probably be easier just to start with pasture unless you are willing to have your woods logged. You may also deal with more predators being in the woods than an established field. However I live near the woods (less than 200 ft away) and the only predator we have so far is a fox (knock on wood) but I have yet to have any predator losses (knock on wood again). There have been bear sightings 3-4 miles away but I think it was a black bear... I'm not sure if they eat large prey?? And there are coyotes according to a boy scout troop from North Carolina that camped in our yard (Uncle's troop that visited D.C.) that heard them howling. I don't know what one sounds like but I don't usually hear anything outside at night except for bugs and the occasional baa. So I'm not sure. My dad is interested in getting one of the exotic large livestock guardian dog breeds (Caucasian shepherd is one I hear him talk about) but I'm not sure on that...
As far as breed selection, check out my sheep breed selector (link in signature). Rambouillets are a fine wool maternal breed and corriedales are a medium wool breed. What is the wool to be used for? That will determine what wool grade you need (fine vs long vs medium vs hair vs carpet) and as a result, what breed of sheep you can raise to meet your need. My flock is white faced medium wools, whose fiber has more worth than a black face medium wool but is cheaper than a finewool. Finewool is the premium fiber--it is used for next-to-skin garments, and is expen$ive (heard of merino?). Check out the publication "Wool Grades and the Sheep That Grow the Wool" by the American Sheep Industry Association, Inc.
Have fun!
That said, it's great you're getting into sheep! 8 acres is more than enough (I have 19 sheep and 1 goat kid on 1.5 acres, 9 of them are lambs), and it will probably be easier just to start with pasture unless you are willing to have your woods logged. You may also deal with more predators being in the woods than an established field. However I live near the woods (less than 200 ft away) and the only predator we have so far is a fox (knock on wood) but I have yet to have any predator losses (knock on wood again). There have been bear sightings 3-4 miles away but I think it was a black bear... I'm not sure if they eat large prey?? And there are coyotes according to a boy scout troop from North Carolina that camped in our yard (Uncle's troop that visited D.C.) that heard them howling. I don't know what one sounds like but I don't usually hear anything outside at night except for bugs and the occasional baa. So I'm not sure. My dad is interested in getting one of the exotic large livestock guardian dog breeds (Caucasian shepherd is one I hear him talk about) but I'm not sure on that...
As far as breed selection, check out my sheep breed selector (link in signature). Rambouillets are a fine wool maternal breed and corriedales are a medium wool breed. What is the wool to be used for? That will determine what wool grade you need (fine vs long vs medium vs hair vs carpet) and as a result, what breed of sheep you can raise to meet your need. My flock is white faced medium wools, whose fiber has more worth than a black face medium wool but is cheaper than a finewool. Finewool is the premium fiber--it is used for next-to-skin garments, and is expen$ive (heard of merino?). Check out the publication "Wool Grades and the Sheep That Grow the Wool" by the American Sheep Industry Association, Inc.
Have fun!
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