Hi All, We bought a few Katadhin cross sheep (cheap)to raise for our own meat. We generally as a rule raise each year 2 cows, 5 or 6 pigs, and 3 to 4 goats. We thought we'd add sheep as well, my question is, how economical are they to raise for personal use? We have found pigs to be the most cost effective, then the cows. The goats (Nubian) we like for using their milk to feed the other animals. Thanks, CJ

-- CJ (cjtinkle@getgoin.net), October 03, 2001

Answers

Our experience has been that they are about the LEAST economical critter to raise for meat - but they are definitely worth it! There isn't much on this planet that tastes better than roast leg of lamb. YUMMY!

-- Cheryl in KS (cherylmccoy@rocketmail.com), October 03, 2001.

Thanks for the answer Cheryl. I kinda figured they weren't going to be overly economical, but like you I adore lamb! I have a neighbor who raises sheep, and she'd told me to butcher a lamb at about 40lbs...but gosh he looks like he might be all of 2 meals!

-- CJ (cjtinkle@getgoin.net), October 03, 2001.

Gosh, it's been awhile, but I think we butchered ours at about 120- 125 pounds. I'm not certain though - it's been too long, and I've slept since then! :-)

-- Cheryl in KS (cherylmccoy@rocketmail.com), October 03, 2001.

It depends on how you raise them...ours were cheap-we did not grain them though-they grew slower on pasture but it was free.

Oh and ours are a wool breed too-the meat breeds might well be different.

Our expenses were minimal-we had to purchase the elstrator (but of curse that can be used on other things), but basically our only expense was butchering.

I hear that Joel Salatin is doing a thing on sheep-and will talk about it in November if I remember in Columbia MO (there is some sort of conference-can't remember) I think really it depends on how you manage them.

And you still can't buy goo dleg of lamb for cheap in this country anyway-so if you like lamb-then go for it! :)

-- sarah (heartsongacres@juno.com), October 03, 2001.

No you can't make money off of sheep. I raise them. Now I have suffolks which is a meat breed, I raise them to 7 mts at about 100 pounds and ask 100.00 for them (that includes shipping) somepeople say you can get them cheaper at an auction and I say go for it. They haven't the foggiest idea on how much it takes to get a sheep to 100 pounds. the lambs are on 2 plus pounds of feed a day plus pasture. Worming alone costs and lambs have to be wormed every 28 days. When are sheep lamb (which this might be my last year, I lost so much in the last few years) which is the entire months of Feb. & Mar. it is checking the barn at 2 in the morning, 6 in the morning and staying home all day. The ewe has to be monitor and fed well. Because I hadn't been in the barn at the correct moment I lost 9 lambs that I needed to pull and it was too late. Now the market wants testing of scrapie and health records for out of state, which will affect me because I sell quite a few going out of state and do not want to add any more money to the losses. I do and anyone else who does it is for the love of the animal! Our government wants us to buy from other countries is all I can think of and of course people want the animal for nothing.

-- Debbie (bwolcott@cwis.net), October 03, 2001.

Okay, one last question. Is there some type of health risk to us if we don't worm our animals? We never worm any of our livestock. We've never had any problems with them. They may have worms, I don't know. They taste great, and are medication free. We don't vaccinate anything either. Any comments on this? thanks, CJ

-- CJ (cjtinkle@getgoin.net), October 03, 2001.

We buy lambs in the spring and slaught them about 7 months later. We don't want to keep sheep through winter.

They are grass fed. I figure that it costs about $2 per pound to buy, raise and pay for slaughter.

Plus, they keep down the growth in that field.

Sheep are nice to have around. I miss them after slaughter.

This year we had to worm for the first time. We also lost a lamb to parasites. Everyone is surprised that this lamb lived through it.

-- walt (longyear@shentel.net), October 03, 2001.

Ha, here I thought I only had one or two questions! Why don't you keep sheep throught the winter, are they not cold hardy? We were intending on wintering them like we do our cows, goats and pigs, in those metal port-a-huts. We fill them up with straw and everyone seems to do just fine here in southern MO.

-- CJ (cjtinkle@getgoin.net), October 03, 2001.

Living far enough north you don't have to worm CJ. You should at least be running yearly fecals on your breeding stock. What the boer goat breed did for the diary goats, if you cross them you get much faster meat kids to butcher, Dorper did for the sheep breeds, the meat on these lambs is exceptional. We recently saw the breed at a show. Like the Boer/cross the Dorper/cross lambs are 2 and 3 times the weight of their counterparts, which gives you your 100 pounds to buther weight in 4 months rather than 10.

Sheep seem to be more delicate than goats, I know that of sheep and goats ran together the larger parasite loads will always be in the sheep. Course they are also cheaper to medicate. Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh TX (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), October 03, 2001.

You picked one of the tastiest breeds for meat! The meat if very lean, which I generally don't give a rip about, but lots of people find sheep fat unpalatable. I raised Katahdins for several years; they are quite parasite-resistant, don't have to shear them, were plenty hardy even up in northern Wisconsin. Ours got good quality hay in the winter, very little grain. We never used chemical wormers, utilized rotational grazing and natural wormers. They do grow slower than the big breeds, and the carcass is smaller, but that may not be a factor if they are crosses.

-- Earthmama (earthmama48@yahoo.com), October 03, 2001.

Just for comparision, NZ frozen lamb is about 29.5 cents (US) per pound. So how does that compare with what you pay at the supermarket?

See, http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/12250/newsDate/3- Sep-2001/story.htm concerning NZ and Aus meat exports.

-- john hill (john@cnd.co.nz), October 03, 2001.

Good grief, John, you can't even get no-brand cheapo chicken legs for that here on a good sale, let alone lamb. I don't buy lamb as we can't afford it, cheap hamburger is usually $1.39/lb. or $1.49/lb. in bulk packages and that's the cheapest red meat we can get. Lamb is several dollars a pound -- now do you understand why most Americans don't eat it!?!

-- Kathleen Sanderson (stonycft@worldpath.net), October 03, 2001.

Well Kathleen, I hope I read the figures right.

-- john hill (john@cnd.co.nz), October 03, 2001.

Boo Boo Alert! I obviously went wrong somewhere converting kilograms to pounds! I think the more accurate figure for NZ frozen export lamb is about $1.18. Sorry about that :-(

-- john hill (john@cnd.co.nz), October 03, 2001.

The best thing about raising your own lamb is the ability to slaughter at what ever weight you want. We like chops and leg steaks large so we have grown them to about 180 pounds (Suffolks) and have never had problems with the meat having a strong taste or smell. My sheep friends thing I'm nuts, but it works. Don't limit yourself to the industry standards of 120-125 pounds. But be prepared, your butcher will fuss over the size.

One of the best things about raising your own is you get to do it how ever you want.

-- jennifer (schwabauer@aol.com), October 03, 2001.

Sorry folks my sheep are dumb as a door nail.And a pain in the butt to keep in the fence.But I have it inmy head I need them and at least 2 of every type farm animal to be a real farm .I know makes no sense.But i also love lamb.

-- Patty {NY State} (fodfarms@slic.com), October 03, 2001.

Katahdins are a great choice. Lamb of hair breeds tends to be much lower in cholesterol, thus much better for you. When I switched from wool breed lamb to barbados, my cholesterol levels dropped significantly (although I must admit that I stopped eating pork, but also switched to goat milk at the same time). My barbados ewe requires grain only during the last month of gestation and during lactation. The lambs are yummy and although they appear small, the amount of meat I get from them is quite high as compared to their live weight. If you time lambing for when there is spring grass, you will find that your lamb is much more cost effective.

-- Sheryl in Me (radams@sacoriver.net), October 03, 2001.

We just harvest our lambs one leg at a time. We alternate which side we take of course, and wait a few months between lambs so they don't all fall over at the same time.

JUST kidding, of course...although I do check to see if there's any 3- legged lambs running around, just before Easter! ;-)

-- sheepish (WA) (the_original_sheepish@hotmail.com), October 03, 2001.

Sheepish, we find that the lambs adapt quite well to alpine meadows if we take two legs off one side.

-- john hill (john@cnd.co.nz), October 04, 2001.

I am going to send our first lamb to the butcher at 5 months since the pigs are going I wanted to get rid of him too (freezer) . Am I wrong to do him up so early? he's a suffolk/cheviot cross and not too big at all.

-- Alison in N.S. (aproteau@istar.ca), October 04, 2001.

nah five months is not to early... in fact I knw some people who say young is better-the lanolin production hasn't come on full force yet- and that seems to be the thign linked to the stonger flavor of lamb. And it varies breed to breed.

1-19 for lamb? wow! We see it here for 7-8 per pound on sale!

We actually have found that our parasite load is less on the sheep than with the goats...but I think that has more to do with pasture and rotation and thigns like that.

Oh and for those wondering about keeping sheep through the winter-if you are not breeding, then keeping them only for the times you can feed pasture is what makes the most sense economically-why feed something boughten hay unless you have to? Many people prefer to not keep sheep for breeding-and only have them for market.

Again it depends on what your goals are..:) And everyone is different.

Good luck with the sheep CJ!

Sara

-- sarah (heartsongacres@juno.com), October 04, 2001.

Wow! Thanks everyone for all the information! Back to wintering your sheep over.....wouldn't it be cheaper to feed hay to a couple of sheep through the winter than to buy lambs in the spring? Plus, they wouldn't be bottle fed...which means no formula cost. CJ

-- CJ (cjtinkle@getgoin.net), October 04, 2001.

I have slaughtered at 4 mts (rams that I have decided not to fix) and they are delicious. At 5 mts on the rams start raming and I believe are able to get the ewes pregnant at 7 mts. I have to take my lambs (ewes) in at 7ths because I don't want them to be pregnant. Last year I let 9 ewe lambs get pregnant and seven of them lost the babies at almost full term (horrible experience). This year I want only the oldies and yearlings getting pregnant. Now, I sold this girl and she goes Sat. to the buther of their choice and she was marked last night so I think she might be but by only a few days. Somehow that still bothers me. She is just 7 mts in another week. I believe she weights 100 - 110. The boys I slaughtered at 4 or 5 mts weighed in at 85 pds and I got 40 pounds of each. I am telling these people they will probably get 50 pounds. They are paying 100.00 which includes me hauling the lamb to the butcher, plus 40 for the butchering so 50 into 140 is almost 3 bucks a pound, This lamb should taste wonderful because I did feed her out.

-- Debbie (bwolcott@cwis.net), October 04, 2001.

Is it cheaper to feed a couple of ewes in the winter than to buy lambs in teh spring...

Well that depends (doesn't everything? :) If you can get hay at a reasonable cost, then yes you probably can di it cheaper...unles you buy lambs at market(where it usually is cheaper-or at least it is in our area) You feed grain usually the last four weeks of gestation, and there is the potential for birthing problems (as with any livestock)...but if you want the experience-then I would consider it.

Again it depends on your goals...for example we raise our sheep for wool and some homestead meat. We may eventually raise breeding stock (which is where you can make some money-but it is best to not plan on making any at first anyway). You have to arrange for ram service (or you can use a ram lamb from one of your ewes (and of course then you make the decison to keep his momma out of the line up that year or not).

You gotta plan of course for lambing-if you lamb in the dead of winter (which if you want to take advantage of Easter markets you probablywill lamb in January), you need heat lamps as well. (and it is helpful to have them even ifyou lamb later for those unexpected cold snaps in spring, or hte chance of a momma who doesn't want to be a momma...and then there are the other supplies (whoich can be a long list or shorter depending on your philosophy of shepherding, and feed and hay.

There are some details of course I have left out..but if you want to give it a try-then try it! If you don't like it, or it doesn't work out-well you still have meat to slaughter in the end. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. (coure if you look at life in the glass half empty mode, then that would be nothing ventured, nothing lost.)

Sarah (just pretend you didn't see me misspell my own name before!)

-- Sarah (heartsongacres@juno.com), October 04, 2001.