What direction to go with my sheep?

[WhiteMountainsRanch]

I've found that we have ZERO market here for lambs, well unless you want to get like maybe 50 bucks for one. So anyway I decided on keeping only two ewes and a ram, and selling the rest. My current ram is super old and I am looking to replace him. So I have two options;

1. Keep both blackbelly ewes and get a blackbelly ram

-OR-

2. Keep one blackbelly ewe and a Painted Desert ewe and get a Painted Desert ram




So many choices, please help me decide!!!





Either way I DO know that I want to select some ewelings next year to bottlefeed since I am tired of them being SO skittish!

 

[woodsie]

Same here...I have some great lambs in the field but I can get WAY more for them as butcher lambs than I can for breeding stock....seems the most you can get for a lamb is $100 for a live lamb, if you are lucky.... So off to the butcher they go...I have had zero bites for great looking lambs I was trying to sell as breeder for $160 but I can easily get $200+ butcher fees for processed lambs.

It seems that there may be some market for purebreds here, maybe, but otherwise go for the biggest, fastest growing lambs as most are going to go to the freezer. Is there a size difference between the two breeds?size of lambs would be top factor in my decision making.

 

[Bossroo]

Choice #3... sell off all and purchase meat sheep that sheds their wool ( to save on sheering costs) , such as a Dorper which are one of the top meat producers. I think that then you will be money way AHEAD.

 

[WhiteMountainsRanch]

Hmm... didn't look at it like that before, but good point! I will definitely keep that in mind. However, I think both breeds are roughly pretty similar.

 

[WhiteMountainsRanch]

Choice #3... sell off all and purchase meat sheep that sheds their wool ( to save on sheering costs) , such as a Dorper which are one of the top meat producers. I think that then you will be money way AHEAD.

LoL, if I sell off all I probably wouldn't buy any more sheep at all, just stick with goats, I like them way better.

 

[promiseacres]

I vote painted deserts....Bc they are so pretty! have you looked into other markets? Trophy Horns or hides? The other "local" breeders to me raise intact ram lambs to sell to ethnic buyers.

 

[Ruus]

LoL, if I sell off all I probably wouldn't buy any more sheep at all, just stick with goats, I like them way better.

Then maybe that's what you should do? If they're not making you money, and the resources they're consuming could go to an animal you like better, I don't see a reason to keep any of them at all.