Lamb prices

[WolfeMomma]

What are you getting for your meat Lambs right now? I know what I would like to sell them for,
but my area dictates otherwise. Same with breeding stock. Sorry Im not going to sell a registered ewe
with an awesome pedigree and good conformation for $150 , its so frustrating especially with all the prices going up lately.
What are you selling yours for?

 

[Ridgetop]

I do not selling breeding stock at the auction. If I sell ewes at the auction it is because I don't want them in my program, the udder has broken down, or they don't shed properly. They sell with no papers. As culls. I sell only ram lambs at the stockyard auction. I stopped selling finished market lambs since I get as much for a weanling 3 month lamb as a finished lamb. And selling at the stockyard is much easier. I am in southern California.

Lamb prices have been coming up and if you have any ram lambs for sale, be sure to take them between now and the first week of April to catch the Easter market. The price also depends on the size of lambs, whether they are uncut rams, etc. , and breed.

I pull my lambs off the ewes at 3 months old. The ewes go out to the field, the ewe lambs stay in the creep for another 2 weeks, and the ram lambs go straight into the stock trailer for the auction. The auction lambs don't take a back set in weight by going right off the ewes to auction. We don't castrate since they are leaving by 3 months old, and we also don't dock tails on ram lambs. This saves us work, and the lambs bring higher prices for the ethnic market.

You need to check out the sale prices on lambs at auctions in your area. Find out when the sheep sales are and call the next day to check prices. The auction will gladly give you that information. There will be a difference is the lambs are chunky meat lambs, compared to lightweight lambs. Younger lambs often bring the same as older larger lambs which is why we don't hold anything past 3 months anymore. An older lamb will bring as much as a younger one based on bringing cull 6 month ewe lambs that we decided we didn't like in with some 3 month ram lambs.

Another thing you have to realize is that unless you are selling at a show auction, buyers at the stock yard are not looking for papered sheep. They don't care what your breeding program is or how much you have spent on your seed stock, or how good your registered animals are. They are buying meat to fill a market order or looking for cheap breeding sheep for specific purposes. If you sell pedigreed animals at the stockyard auction you get meat prices.

You need to decide on your market and once you have been bringing in good lambs for a while people will look for your market lambs. Don't try to sell good registered breeding stock there. Advertise those sheep in breed magazines, sheep magazines, or take them to shows that have an auction.

Prices on good market lambs are up. I was getting $185 apiece for my 3 month 65-70 lb. White Dorper ram lambs at our local stockyard auction. Last week I got $230 and $210 apiece. This is the time to sell just before Easter. My lambs are out of top quality breeding stock, thick, heavy and meaty. I don't expect to sell my ram lambs for breeding ram prices. I don't sell ewe lambs for meat, I am keeping most of the ewe lambs to increase my flock. I buy good breeding rams from top breeders instead of keeping home bred rams to use. My current flock is over 30 and by the time we move to Texas I hope to be around my desired number of 50 breeding ewes. I breed all year round and prices change but I can't breed everyone at once so every month I take a small load of lambs to the auction.

Hope this helps. You really need to know your market and plan accordingly.

 

[mysunwolf]

I often sell breeding stock at the auction if I need to downsize, because it's less of a headache than dealing with individual buyers. We might get $150 for a ewe, and can get $200 for a very nice 75-80lb lamb. Some have seen prices as high as $3/lb on lambs of that size, but we haven't seen that yet.

I can't get individual buyers in my area to pay bottom dollar for sheep, let alone if I were trying to sell breeding stock. I can't even imagine trying to sell registered animals where we are locally. In the past, I have been able to market dairy ewe lambs at $300/each, but you really have to have a premium animal and find the right buyers willing to travel. It helps to have something unique that no one else has. I know it can be hard with all kinds of registered stock right now--buyers don't have as much money to spend, and prices are high!

 

[farmerjan]

You are quite a way away from us here but in Harrisonburg on Saturday at the one stockyards they sell alot of lambs and goats and such. They are bringing in the $2-3.00 lb range right now with the Easter holiday coming up. They also have a once a month "exotic animal sale" on the 4th Thursday (I think) that is bringing RIDICULOUSLY high prices for some of the "odd ball stuff" that you would take a huge hit on at the regular sale. Go on their website....Shenandoah Valley Livestock Market. Mike Ritchie is the owner and I have known him and his older brother Danny for years. They bought out this market from the previous owner of 50+ years... and have made it into a better market. They have a monthly "beef cow" sale with breds and cow/calf pairs.... they have a monthly dairy animal sale for the dairy cattle buyers... they do graded feeder sales. This "exotic" animal sale addresses the needs of the people wanting stuff for small "farmette" type farmers and the prices have been high.
They have had everything from mini zebu's to yaks to family milk cows that take calves, to ponies to mini-mules; llama's; chickens and rabbits...
The sale is about 1 hr north of us; I am in the Raphine area which is halfway between Staunton and Lexington.
It might be something you would want to take a ride to and see what it is like and maybe find a market for some breeding animals.
But the regular weekly Saturday sale gets several lamb and goat buyers that ship them to Pa and they bring good money. A friend had over 100 nannies and used to take the kids to Pa to the Lancaster area just before some of the ethnic holidays and it got to where he was getting nearly the same price at the "saturday sale" so said it wasn't worth the trip to Pa anymore.

 

[Show Sebright]

What are you getting for your meat Lambs right now? I know what I would like to sell them for,
but my area dictates otherwise. Same with breeding stock. Sorry Im not going to sell a registered ewe
with an awesome pedigree and good conformation for $150 , its so frustrating especially with all the prices going up lately.
What are you selling yours for?

I don’t sell but the one I want will be about 500. No pedigree but he is a show lamb.

 

[WolfeMomma]

I do not selling breeding stock at the auction. If I sell ewes at the auction it is because I don't want them in my program, the udder has broken down, or they don't shed properly. They sell with no papers. As culls. I sell only ram lambs at the stockyard auction. I stopped selling finished market lambs since I get as much for a weanling 3 month lamb as a finished lamb. And selling at the stockyard is much easier. I am in southern California.

Lamb prices have been coming up and if you have any ram lambs for sale, be sure to take them between now and the first week of April to catch the Easter market. The price also depends on the size of lambs, whether they are uncut rams, etc. , and breed.

I pull my lambs off the ewes at 3 months old. The ewes go out to the field, the ewe lambs stay in the creep for another 2 weeks, and the ram lambs go straight into the stock trailer for the auction. The auction lambs don't take a back set in weight by going right off the ewes to auction. We don't castrate since they are leaving by 3 months old, and we also don't dock tails on ram lambs. This saves us work, and the lambs bring higher prices for the ethnic market.

You need to check out the sale prices on lambs at auctions in your area. Find out when the sheep sales are and call the next day to check prices. The auction will gladly give you that information. There will be a difference is the lambs are chunky meat lambs, compared to lightweight lambs. Younger lambs often bring the same as older larger lambs which is why we don't hold anything past 3 months anymore. An older lamb will bring as much as a younger one based on bringing cull 6 month ewe lambs that we decided we didn't like in with some 3 month ram lambs.

Another thing you have to realize is that unless you are selling at a show auction, buyers at the stock yard are not looking for papered sheep. They don't care what your breeding program is or how much you have spent on your seed stock, or how good your registered animals are. They are buying meat to fill a market order or looking for cheap breeding sheep for specific purposes. If you sell pedigreed animals at the stockyard auction you get meat prices.

You need to decide on your market and once you have been bringing in good lambs for a while people will look for your market lambs. Don't try to sell good registered breeding stock there. Advertise those sheep in breed magazines, sheep magazines, or take them to shows that have an auction.

Prices on good market lambs are up. I was getting $185 apiece for my 3 month 65-70 lb. White Dorper ram lambs at our local stockyard auction. Last week I got $230 and $210 apiece. This is the time to sell just before Easter. My lambs are out of top quality breeding stock, thick, heavy and meaty. I don't expect to sell my ram lambs for breeding ram prices. I don't sell ewe lambs for meat, I am keeping most of the ewe lambs to increase my flock. I buy good breeding rams from top breeders instead of keeping home bred rams to use. My current flock is over 30 and by the time we move to Texas I hope to be around my desired number of 50 breeding ewes. I breed all year round and prices change but I can't breed everyone at once so every month I take a small load of lambs to the auction.

Hope this helps. You really need to know your market and plan accordingly.

Thanks for your reply i really appreciate the advice, as i have only been at it for about 3 years now!
I don't sell breeding stock at the auctions ever. Only my meat lambs. Unfortunately as a small farm I can't keep all the ewes I would like to.
Meat lambs sell quick here for the right price, I wean mine at 60 days, is that to small to take to the auction? They are usually 65-70lbs by then.

 

[WolfeMomma]

I often sell breeding stock at the auction if I need to downsize, because it's less of a headache than dealing with individual buyers. We might get $150 for a ewe, and can get $200 for a very nice 75-80lb lamb. Some have seen prices as high as $3/lb on lambs of that size, but we haven't seen that yet.

I can't get individual buyers in my area to pay bottom dollar for sheep, let alone if I were trying to sell breeding stock. I can't even imagine trying to sell registered animals where we are locally. In the past, I have been able to market dairy ewe lambs at $300/each, but you really have to have a premium animal and find the right buyers willing to travel. It helps to have something unique that no one else has. I know it can be hard with all kinds of registered stock right now--buyers don't have as much money to spend, and prices are high!

Agreed ! I work my butt off to sell registered stock and even then it's rare. Usually people don't care about the papers.

 

[secuono]

Some places are $4 a pound.