CntryBoy777
Herd Master
That would be a tough pill to swallow at such a young age....it is difficult for a grown-up to handle....
Teresa & Mike CHS - Our journal
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Mike CHS
Herd Master
We met her parents a bit later and this is her second year doing this. They have taught her what it takes but let her love on them till she knows and accepts that they are out of her control.
Wehner Homestead
Herd Master
I can’t even imagine! My kiddos hate parting with any animal...one of their bottle babies would be a nightmare. DD1 was in the quarantine pen with Blossom tonight and the goat is as tall as she is but was super gentle with her. I don’t think she will ever leave if she lives through this.
greybeard
Herd Master
I've seen it go both ways at cattle sale barns.. Seen them on the catwalk crying and seen them standing in chairs on the front row of the bidding area, arms waving, hollering back for people to bid higher.
That $27 / day for a stock trailer rental is CHEAP!
The last 5 1/2'X16' bumper pull I looked into renting was $75-$85/day everywhere.
Baymule
Herd Master
I love our trailer. It's not fancy, but I don't know what we'd do without it. We also have a flatbed and we borrowed a 8 yard dump trailer 3 years ago, they we still have. The owner of the dump trailer is happy for us to keep it, as it is behind a fence and our Great Pyrenees guard everything. He buys the tags for it every year and gives them to us. He hasn't used it in 3 years, but we sure have!
Mike, what do lambs sell for per pound in your area? I just listed 3 lambs on Craigslist, 4 months old, a guy is coming this morning to buy all 3.
I listed them for $135 each, taking $350 for all 3. Normally I raise them up, take to slaughter and sell the meat for $10 a pound, which is lucrative, but I didn't want to fool with them this year. I had 6 lambs this year, keeping 3.
Mike, what do lambs sell for per pound in your area? I just listed 3 lambs on Craigslist, 4 months old, a guy is coming this morning to buy all 3.
I listed them for $135 each, taking $350 for all 3. Normally I raise them up, take to slaughter and sell the meat for $10 a pound, which is lucrative, but I didn't want to fool with them this year. I had 6 lambs this year, keeping 3.- Thread starter
- #3,206
Mike CHS
Herd Master
3 months old are selling for a flat $200 here and we haul to the butcher for them to take it from there. The auction has been $2.08 - $2.60 live weight. There are a fairly large number of folks selling custom cuts here and they appear to be doing OK but I don't see them moving a lot of product. Yearling stock is gaining favor since so many of us are starting to move mature stock and folks are seeing there is no difference in the taste and the cuts are larger.
farmerjan
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I have a question about weaning the lambs off on Monday then selling on Friday? Do you not feel that they drop a fair amount of weight in those 5 days? We find that we "wean" on the trailer so to speak and the lambs don't lose much weight from home to the scales..... if we are going to wean them at home we do so with at least 3 weeks off the ewes so they are calmed down and eating and regaining that initial weight lost to stress.
The same with our calves. We usually will take the steer calves directly off the cows on Friday morning to the sale. They are used to coming into the barn or the catch pen with their mommas, and are eating grain and such. But they will drop 25 to 50 lbs in that first week of being taken off the cow. The lambs obviously don't drop that much weight, but they do drop a few lbs and that is lost money.
If we are weaning them and not ready to sell, they are usually off the cows for at least 3-4 weeks. Due to the physical difficulties at one pasture, we used to take the calves off on Sat or Sun when we pregnancy checked, turned the cows back out that were preg., then took the calves to the other barn and held them until we sold that following Friday. We did some spot weighing one year and the calves were at least 25-35 lbs, or more, lighter, on Friday. So now we move the cows and calves all off this place, to the barn, where we do the preg checks, and then keep the calves with the cows until we sell what we plan to. Then wean the rest off and keep them there at the barn for 2-4 weeks while the cows are moved away to other pastures. Losing even 25 lbs @ $1.50 lb is $37.50 and is quite a bit. Losing 5 lbs of lamb @ $2.00 lb would be $10 per lamb. Maybe you don't see that much "shrink" as we call it in the cattle.
We have been pulling the calves off and selling them as weaned now, more often than we used to, trying to watch the markets for little upswings and having some more flexibility in selling.
We are like you and try to sell lambs in conjunction with the different holidays throughout the year. We usually have some to go for the holiday in Aug/Sept...maybe Rosh Hashana? We have a friend that has meat goats and he keeps us up on when he is selling kids for what holiday.
The same with our calves. We usually will take the steer calves directly off the cows on Friday morning to the sale. They are used to coming into the barn or the catch pen with their mommas, and are eating grain and such. But they will drop 25 to 50 lbs in that first week of being taken off the cow. The lambs obviously don't drop that much weight, but they do drop a few lbs and that is lost money.
If we are weaning them and not ready to sell, they are usually off the cows for at least 3-4 weeks. Due to the physical difficulties at one pasture, we used to take the calves off on Sat or Sun when we pregnancy checked, turned the cows back out that were preg., then took the calves to the other barn and held them until we sold that following Friday. We did some spot weighing one year and the calves were at least 25-35 lbs, or more, lighter, on Friday. So now we move the cows and calves all off this place, to the barn, where we do the preg checks, and then keep the calves with the cows until we sell what we plan to. Then wean the rest off and keep them there at the barn for 2-4 weeks while the cows are moved away to other pastures. Losing even 25 lbs @ $1.50 lb is $37.50 and is quite a bit. Losing 5 lbs of lamb @ $2.00 lb would be $10 per lamb. Maybe you don't see that much "shrink" as we call it in the cattle.
We have been pulling the calves off and selling them as weaned now, more often than we used to, trying to watch the markets for little upswings and having some more flexibility in selling.
We are like you and try to sell lambs in conjunction with the different holidays throughout the year. We usually have some to go for the holiday in Aug/Sept...maybe Rosh Hashana? We have a friend that has meat goats and he keeps us up on when he is selling kids for what holiday.
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Mike CHS
Herd Master
We didn't compare all of the weights but the two that were 44 pounds on Monday were 44 pounds yesterday. The bigger 85 pound ram lambs were 83 pounds on Monday. We see less stress on the ewes since we let them stay in adjoining paddocks till the lambs are put in the stall the night before we load. The extra feed they get seems to make up the difference for the loss of milk. We creep feed very little till the week before we are going to wean. They don't do the pound a day gains like they did on milk plus we were more interested in getting them off the ewes since the ewes were losing condition faster than the lambs were gaining.
Our next small group of lambs will be ready to go in November and December and are targeted toward a good number of Hispanic Holidays. The majority of our ewes won't be bred again until starting in late October except for 4-6 that kept their condition and they will be put back with a ram starting next month and sold once we're sure they took.
Our next small group of lambs will be ready to go in November and December and are targeted toward a good number of Hispanic Holidays. The majority of our ewes won't be bred again until starting in late October except for 4-6 that kept their condition and they will be put back with a ram starting next month and sold once we're sure they took.
Bruce
Herd Master
You should
I recall that when my dad and step-mother were doing sheep they had goals like you do and managed the flock to make them. Wanted all ewes to twin, get to prime score at the auction. It takes a lot of work. I bet you already know that 
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Mike CHS
Herd Master
We have been lucky in that we have made friends who have also been great mentors which makes the mistakes we have made easier to fix. We don't always do the most efficient thing but our only goal is to make sure our ewes are the best they can be.
We don't always do the most efficient thing but our only goal is to make sure our ewes are the best they can be.
