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« on: December 28, 2017, 01:02:28 pm »
Crystal, where do you find brewers grain and how do you feed it?
I feed a lot of almond hulls but they'll run out in a few short months so perhaps brewers grain could fill in the gap. Hulls are cheap right now and the sheep love them. They run around $67/ton. Back in May, when the supply dried up, the price jumped up to about $120/t if you could find them at all. Jim, check to see if they have hulls anywhere near you. You can substitute them for about 50% of your hay.
Anyway to cut costs, including flock reduction, is a great way to help to help your bottom line. The best thing for me has been fall lambing particularly thru LAI. We've improved our flock and the price that we can get for our lambs.
It costs the same amount to feed a high quality ewe as it does a poor quality ewe. The difference is in the marketability of the resulting lambs. Fall lambs seem to be in higher demand and command a better price. If you are using your own ram, Jim, maybe consider using cidrs and breed for fall lambs.
Now I just need to do a better job of taking my own advice.