I figured out, i cant make any money on raising sheep

[shadowran]

well after some thought I figured that I am spending $420 a month on just hay, next I will include grain for lambs which will run a extra $56 per month and than when lambing starts and I feed some grain to the moms that will run another $36 per month and all that does not include fuel costs and since I don't work I don't count labor, so selling lambs at #50 and up each a year I am lucky to break even, but if I sell my sheep what would I do? be heartbroken for sure

[EmsoffLambs]

It is really tough to make money on these guys, Jim, at least in California where feed expenses are so high. If you have good grazing that definitely helps to cut down on the expenses. We further cut our expenses by feeding brewers grain, which is quite labor intensive but we get it for free, so it is worth it for us.  Most small breeders will tell you that they are happy to break even. If the expenses are too high but you love them too much to get rid of them, which I totally understand, just cut back on your numbers. Heck, look into Dorpers. They are hot right now. They get by on almost half the feed and registered lambs are going for as much or more than club lambs. Not sure how long these prices will last, but I don't foresee them dropping in the near future.

[Honey Tree]

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.

[shadowran]

well I have reduced my flock by about half, and I have a few more ewes to go and some waiting to be picked up. I can see some really good lambs that are tightly bred in fact I bred a ewe back to her sire and produced one of the best looking ewe lambs I had in years, so I am keeping her and maybe have her outbred somewhere

[EmsoffLambs]

Honeytree, I get the brewers grain from a couple microbreweries. It is a great feed, high protein, moderate energy. But since it is about 75% water, it is very labor intensive. Very heavy and spoils quickly. Or freezes solid in the winter. We collect it in 35 gallon barrels, which end up weighing over 150 lbs full. It will stay fresh a week tops in warm weather. Lasts longer in the winter, but if it gets really cold it will freeze solid. It's a lot of work but has cut our feed bill by more than half, so it is worth it to us. Wish we had almond hulls here. I hear they are great feed.

[Honey Tree]

How much do you feed?  Does it need to be mixed with other grains or can it be fed alone?  Can you feed it to the lambs as well as the ewes?

[EmsoffLambs]

Like any feed, it has to be part of a complete balanced ration. It averages about 26% protein and most of the starch has been cooked out of it. So it is not really a replacement for grain but really more of a protein supplement. It does allow us to feed a lower quality hay (grass hay instead of alfalfa) plus lets us cut the amount of corn we feed about in half. We feed the ewes up to about 4 lbs of the wet grain a day (which is the equivalent of about 1 lb of dry grain). Basically one heaping shovel full. We feed it to lambs too (keeper ewe lambs and butcher lambs, not show lambs). They won't eat quite as much. The only problem we have had with it is that it is high in phosphorus, which caused some fairly major lambing issues before we started supplementing calcium. Ewes that wouldn't push and prolapsed uteruses. Once we started adding additional calcium, we had no more issues.

[Honey Tree]

We've had a number of microbreweries open around here recently.  I'll have to check around to see if they need an outlet for their grain.  I expect my girls will be thrilled to indulge in it.  If I find a source for it I'd like to check back with you to find out what I need to do to be sure that they have sufficient calcium in their diet.

[EmsoffLambs]

Sounds good. It usually takes them a couple days to figure out that they are supposed to eat it, but once they get used to eating wet feed, they really like it. It is especially good as a lactation feed. They milk really well thanks to the high protein.