Teresa & Mike CHS - Our journal

[drstratton]

We brought all of the sheep in Wednesday to check them over and wormed those that needed it. We pulled all of the lambs off of the ewes except for a pair of twins that still need a month of nursing. Penny (the bottle lamb) is being a big help since the other lambs aren't used to coming in when called but Penny answers to my call and the rest of the lambs follow her when she runs over to me. I'm putting out a small bit of feed before I call to get them used to it.

Now she's earning her keep...lol

 

[Mini Horses]

Bottle kids can be valuable for just training others.

 

[Baymule]

Bottle babies are a lot more work and expense, but they sure are fun.

 

[Mike CHS]

The temperature was down to 34 this morning so even I had to wear long pants to work some lambs for the sale. We took a load of 20 this morning which is about what our trailer maxes out on. There was no way to know but we didn't have to wait to unload so we almost had time to go home and get another load but it would have been pushing the time window.

 

[Mike CHS]

Lamb prices have decreased some in the last month but they were still about the highest we have ever seen so we were pleased. The next sale is in three weeks so we will take another load of lambs for that one.

 

[Baymule]

That's good that you got such good prices. Prices usually dip this time of year and they seem to be holding fairly steady.

 

[Mini Horses]

Supposedly, the "cattle availability" and issues in Australia re sheep. So lamb is supposed to hold or increase. Who knows! Just glad the prices were good A lot depends on where you are, where the meat buyers are -- yeah, location!

 

[farmerjan]

Glad that they did good for you. Do they sell by the lb or by the head there..??? Or does it matter how big and what time of year?? If they weighed them what was a ball park figure on the weight and how old were they??? Your sheep are really nice, so I expect they were in very good shape and weights for their age anyway.

 

[Mike CHS]

Glad that they did good for you. Do they sell by the lb or by the head there..??? Or does it matter how big and what time of year?? If they weighed them what was a ball park figure on the weight and how old were they??? Your sheep are really nice, so I expect they were in very good shape and weights for their age anyway.

They go by the pound here. We had several that were 55-65 pounds but even those went for $3.60 a pound. The rest were spread out from there up to 107 pounds for the oldest. Our market here is more flexible than many but they have more dedicated buyers coming in from the east coast.

 

[farmerjan]

That is really good. I am going to make it a point to watch the sheep this Saturday when we take the last of the calves to market. There are some dedicated buyers that come down from PA to the Saturday sale, and they always have alot of sheep and goats... It is the best place to sell them unless you want to go all the way to the sale in New Holland Pa now.
This afternoon, we are taking the cull cows... they seem to do a little better on Wed than on Saturday's... maybe because they get on trucks and are at the kill plants Thursday and Friday... plus it is the bred cow sale and we will watch that too... not really looking for any but you never know... since all the ones checked preg but one, we are about where DS wants to be number wise as far as cow #'s. But, you never know when there is a deal to be had... although I don't see many deals, especially this time of year, with grass coming on... and alot of people not seeing the possible long term effects of the economy etc.