A NEW DIRECTION FOR THE OLD RAM

The Old Ram-Australia

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Lucky for us they are all out of our baseline ewes,so it wont matter a great deal in the long run.

Just added up our sheep sales for the month so far 80 head. "Damn" good result!..The photos show a line going on Thursday....T.O.R.
 

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The Old Ram-Australia

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G'day folks,thought the following may be of interest,it has had 365 hits and all the stock i have to sell is "sold".

BRED ON GRASS TO BREED ON GRASS: Is your farm a small one ? (2 acs or more?) Would you like to have a few sheep to keep the grass down? These ram and ewes will" not "grow to 80 kg monsters and need shearing or tail docking.We have a small number of working age rams with ewes (unrelated)to suit if that is what you need.Our farm has not seen Super or Nitrigon for over 20 years.Our ewes "lamb" in the paddock and rear their lambs there.NO handfeeding (apart from hay in the last drought).Packages are for one ram and three ewe lambs of your choice from a group @$800.00....We can deliver up to 200kms at $1.00 per km (one way).All sheep are NLIS tagged and vendor dec will come with them,they will be drenched with Cydecten before leaving our farm...You will be required to supply destination details before we leave farm to comply with Safemeat regulations...Photo shows Rams ,ewe photos will be added when i take themTwo of the rams are in the centre of the photo.In the first instance contact via e-mail or phone ******1670 + click to reveal ..after dark.....As you can see i have now added examples of the ewe lambs for the packaged

T.O.R.
 

Baymule

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Brilliant marketing strategy. I'm sure there are, as there are here, many people with a few acres who wish to raise their own meat. Indeed, I am one of those with a few acres, at 8 acres it's not like I can keep a flock of a thousand sheep. You are giving those people something they desire to have, to fit both their small farm and their budget. Awesome.
 

The Old Ram-Australia

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G'day , here is a new post i just put up on FB.

How much grass do you need?

In recent times livestock farmers are beginning to understand that success with animals relies on farming their grass asset sustainably and economically.

So here is a little test:

  • Would producing more animals or reducing your overheads increase your net profit?
  • Would you make more profit if, you sold 100 average lambs/calves or 50 really excellent ones?
  • Which path would increase your profit, make the landscape fit the animals or make the animals fit the landscape?

  • In the first case I believe that the latter will give you the best result, because the former will require more capital, more work and more inputs .But I hear some of you cry what if I invest in better genetics? Better genetics can assist insome circumstances, but high performance comes at a cost and by that I don’t mean just the cost of the animal’s .High performance means better pastures, weed control, fertilizer, and regular moisture and better pasture species.This forms a circle of links each one dependent on the previous to form a loop and once entered is hard to escape.

  • In the second case it really depends on your target market. For most small farmers “finishing “stock can be a challenge without expensive inputs.
  • In our case we produce forward store lambs on grass and when they enter a finishing program will in most cases “outperform “ others because the response to the high protein finishing ration will be greater. Just out of interest, our cost to produce is around $5.50 per kg carcass weight, based on 100 % turnoff from the breeding flock and this season we have av over $10.00 per kg….
  • The option is something some of you may wish to explore, however I have on occasions heard the comment” if I knew how much they cost to produce I probably wouldn’t, lots of sheep production is more a lifestyle choice rather than a business “, but every farm should be treated as a business.

  • In the third case, we have chosen (B) for the last 12 years and it has proved to be the most rewarding (IMO) emotionally and financially. In recent times in Australia there has been a shift from wool cutter wethers in the drier parts to breeding the Hair types in the drier parts and finishing on “better country” to the East or South, but for small producers that is not an option due to the cost of land on the better country .In today’s economy many small farmers (under, say 500 acs) do need off farm income to get by in the” tough times”, which by the way seem to occur on a more regular basis.
When we made the shift from the British Short wools to the Hair types the thing that “struck” me was that the individual breeds had strengths but the gene pool was not that wide and that our environment was not quite right for success (IMO) and so we have embarked on a program which has 8 female breed and 5 male breeds in an effort to produce a “hardy” Composite which will perform on our farm and most likely
throughout the district. Finally always have your mind open to any emerging opportunity.....T.O.R
 
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