My commercial lambs I listed online as available at 3weeks old in January and February. All 3 were sold with deposits in hand within 2 weeks. No one else in area had lambs on the ground yet. Cute pictures sell!
That's great! Having lambs available when no one else does is great marketing. Are these lambs for ethnic slaughter at 3 weeks, or do you have to hold them for the buyers for several more months? Do you sell as entire or wether? I prefer selling for slaughter because of repeat business. LOL I used to have several locker lamb customers, but with hay costs what they are here, I can't sell private treaty slaughter lambs (100 lbs.) because of feed cost to raise to 5 months. I get almost the same price at 12 weeks (weaning) at auction without putting 2 months more feed in. If you have pasture grass, holding the lambs until heavier weight is not a problem cost wise.
And then I want to keep them all……. I need lambs that I don’t like, so I’ll sell them, get the money and buy more fence wire, feed, hay…….. it never ends. Oh, I forgot, buying 2 registered ewe lambs the end of April…..When they are old enough to breed and have lambs, ya’ think I’ll sell their lambs? NOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!
Considering all ram lambs as walking lamb chops makes it easier. Harder when they are pets. Selling all ram lambs is easier for us because that is what we did with the dairy goats. In dairy animals the bull or buck babies are garbage. Bull calves were just tossed in the old days, now the calf man picks them up and raises them for steers. In Chino the calf man had a contract to pick up all bull calves and also for all medicated milk. Medicated milk would have been dumped by the dairy but the calf man picked that up and used it t to feed the calves. Buck kids have gone up in value too with the ethnic market.
I sell all ram lambs for meat unless I have an order for a registered stud ram lamb. I only keep ewe lambs to increase the flock. Now I am culling ewes more heavily for slow growth, too much wool, lack of shed, etc. I am starting to judge between my rams as to who is producing more of the type I want, and will eventually dispose of other good registered rams for not producing exactly what I want. All of Lewis' lambs now on ground have good hair coats. Hopefully the rest due this month will too. His yearling daughters have shed out almost 100%. At 7 years old he is a proven keeper stud until he starts missing the bullseye on settling ewes. Then he will have to go. I hate it when the favorites and best producers get old and have to be culled, but that is what has to happen eventually when raising livestock. Moyboy produces heavy meat and thick, long bodies, but I am worried about amount of shed.
Start ups are difficult. Spent a lot to get here...
Start ups
are difficult and very expensive - we spent the past 30+ years getting set up here. Now we have to start over in Texas with the fencing. Our property is fenced properly here, we have multiple fenced paddocks, a small barn, storage containers and sheds, have the materials to put up other shelters, and we have all the equipment here - it is just in a different state. If we had grass pasture year-round here, we would probably not relocate. It will cost a LOT to do the fencing we need for the dogs since it needs to be 5-6' high on the perimeter. The interior pasture fences don't need to be as high, and we will try to get the grants for those. At least we now have sufficient ewes, but we have to transport them. And hope they don't die from Barber Pole!
At least for a while. Start ups are difficult. Spent a lot to get here... But I work to pay for it -- so there ya go.
my job is flexible.
