Is there a realistic income in sheep farming

derferjam

Hi All
I have really only recently got into farming I do not have the cattle crush or cattle sheds to get into sucklers or stores and have not got the money to even build one.

So I was wondering what is the best type of farming to get into to make a living out of it.

I have over 60 acres of land some of which is reseeded some of which is bog and more which is old meadow seed.

Only about 40 acres is fit for tillage.

I was thinking of sheep as I do have a bit of experience with them but I really don't know enough of the financial end of it.
All help welcomed...

1chippy

it wouldnt realistically be enough land to make a living, but if you have the right mindset and work it well its a pretty good starting point. personally i couldnt find the enthusiasm to keep sheep but if you wanted to get into cattle, a few light bucket fed heifers, a bit of time and a cheap crush and you could throw together a suckler herd over a few years. no matter what way you go about it, getting into farming will take years to pull a return unless you are able to stick a huge amount of capital in to start with.

Farmer Pudsey

derferjam wrote: »

Hi All
I have really only recently got into farming I do not have the cattle crush or cattle sheds to get into sucklers or stores and have not got the money to even build one.

So I was wondering what is the best type of farming to get into to make a living out of it.

I have over 60 acres of land some of which is reseeded some of which is bog and more which is old meadow seed.

Only about 40 acres is fit for tillage.

I was thinking of sheep as I do have a bit of experience with them but I really don't know enough of the financial end of it.
All help welcomed...

Lowland sheep is second in profitability to dairying ran well. However it is very labour intensive during the spring at lambing and a bit of work drafting weighing dosing during the summer. If you have 40 acres of tillage quality land this can carry 5 ewe's/acre. If the rest is all bog it will depend on the quality it will carry 0-2/acre. You are looking at 200-250 ewe's.

Sheep is not overly expensive to get into and ewe lambs bought in September can be lambed in the spring (however too late now as tupping is nearly over). If you wanted to start this year it may be possible to buy ewe's in-lamb.

However fencing is critical and a few small sheds ewe and lambs for first few days. A few of the more experienced shepherds will give a bit more detailed advice.

grassroot1

Sheep farming is no more or less profitable than any other stock farming. There are farmers making money or going broke in all systems. Sheep have the advantage of lower capital requirement. Use the fact that you have no sheds to your advantage (no capital tied up) you can out winter the sheep and lamb outdoors in april. First thing you need to do is go to a sheep farm and work with sheep to see how it goes especially at lambing. You really need to like sheep to make it profitable and enjoyable.

mikefoxo

What size flock do people think would give a decent wage? Assuming the shepherd is 100% (or as near as any of us can get)

derferjam

I have a good bit of experience with lowland sheep farming in that i have drenched, dosed, hoofed, pulled lambs from ewes and fostered lambs.
any idea what sort of capital i'd need to build proper handling facilities.
thanks for help

razor8

Il go first and hazard a guess at 700/800 and all land owned and not rented

at that you would need to be sell 1.5/1.6 lambs per ewe. It take anything from €60 to €80 to keep a ewe for the year not including costs such as sheds/machinery etc. thats my tuppence anyway!

razor8

derferjam wrote: »

I have a good bit of experience with lowland sheep farming in that i have drenched, dosed, hoofed, pulled lambs from ewes and fostered lambs.
any idea what sort of capital i'd need to build proper handling facilities.
thanks for help

thats a very open question. How many sheep, is it a fragmented farm, ie need for Mobile unit

it could be as cheque or expensive as you'd like, grant available at the moment for drafting gate, penning, turnover crates etc

AnFeirmeoir

Teagasc say sheep is second only to dairy for profitability . I think the BETTER farms are looking at €450 profit per acre or something like that. Your 60 acres may well be suited to sheep you say 20 is bog 40 is tillage quality . That sounds pretty good to me . So is 27k or so a decent wage ?

If you like sheep go all in for it. Concentrate on stock, not facilities for the first couple of years. Buy facilities when you have some income from the sheep

Maybe by the time you reach your max stocking rate there will be renting options for u. Or maybe Land for sale nearby .

If you don't like sheep don't go near them

Dickie10

First thing I would do is get onto the fencing and sheep equipment grant asap, closes on dec 31. this is 40% on fencing a few gates stuff you will defo need even to start with I wouldn't worry bout sheds for now but fencing is a must. try and go to a few sheep farms to get a layout of pens and stuff before you do too much. Look into the difeerent breeds of ewes and pick ones suitable for outdoor lambing in april, don't automatically go for mountain breeds though there can be nice tame breeds suitable to outdoor lambing like lleyns or leicsters

derferjam

Thanks everyone for all the help really needed and thankful for it.

I have been talking to my local Teagasc advisory office and we filled out the application for mobile sheep handling unit and fencing as I really need three places to be addressed for fencing, one being at road side so way too big a risk.
On the handling unit mobile teagasc grant is 40% and they have valued the unit at 9500euro

Is that a realistic price as I have not had the time today to get prices for anyone that sell's these units?

Anyone got a opinion on what they would make of crossing a sufflock ram with border leicster ewes?
Ease in outdoor lambing
Kill out rate
Hardyness

Anyone know how much per metre or yard or foot sheep wire with single strand barbed wire is? Sheep wire to comply with Dept standards

AnFeirmeoir

derferjam wrote: »

Thanks everyone for all the help really needed and thankful for it.

I have been talking to my local Teagasc advisory office and we filled out the application for mobile sheep handling unit and fencing as I really need three places to be addressed for fencing, one being at road side so way too big a risk.
On the handling unit mobile teagasc grant is 40% and they have valued the unit at 9500euro

Is that a realistic price as I have not had the time today to get prices for anyone that sell's these units?

Anyone got a opinion on what they would make of crossing a sufflock ram with border leicster ewes?
Ease in outdoor lambing
Kill out rate
Hardyness

Anyone know how much per metre or yard or foot sheep wire with single strand barbed wire is? Sheep wire to comply with Dept standards

Agree with the fencing het it done. The mobile unit seems to have an extra 0 . From what I know the top of the range ones are still under 3 k . You must be getting something more at that price.
Everyone's different but I wouldn't be rushing in with the equipment . No harm applying for the grant I suppose anyway . I think you still have 2 tears to buy after approval

Don't know anything about leister ewes but Suffolk cross anything is probably a good start. .

Sounds like your going for it ! Best of luck but mind your cash flow

razor8

100m Roll of tornado wire is around the €100 mark and barb wire is around €35 for 200m as far as i remember, cresoted post are around €6/7 per 4" post. Its expensive job but worth it. i did the work myself but would be alot quicker get a contractor in

Bleating Lamb

Everyone has their own preferred breeds but while they are very prolific sheep the Leicester ewe is a ' soft ewe'.....hard fed.

J.O. Farmer

The Suffolk ram on Leicester ewes should be good quality sheep. Suffolk lambs can be dirty behind though but fatten not bad. Are you looking at blue or border Leicester. Some might say I'm mad but how would a horned ram work on those ewes. It's normally done with a Leicester ram on horned ewes for mule and greyface ewes. It would work the other way. Them ewe lambs are highly sought.

J.O. Farmer

The Suffolk ram on Leicester ewes should be good quality sheep. Suffolk lambs can be dirty behind though but fatten not bad. Are you looking at blue or border Leicester. Some might say I'm mad but how would a horned ram work on those ewes. It's normally done with a Leicester ram on horned ewes for mule and greyface ewes. It would work the other way. Them ewe lambs are highly sought.

Dickie10

lleyn ram would give him lovely lleyn x ewes to build a flock but perhaps leave that for a year or two. tornado wire is best I wouudnt touch anythi else. I always found texel x lambs very hardy and quick to suck, if there not overfed there as easy as anything else to lamb. and great lambs for midseason. id get ewes scanned too , I know a kiwi who does ours for 80cent, very accurate and all his own gates etc. u will save money on feeding and not overfeed singles and be able to watch for early lambs and trebels

derferjam

Is there a comeback if someone claims that sheep are lamb at a certain % rate and come lambing the figures don't add up?

tabby aspreme

I doubt if there would be much comeback if scanning% is wrong, if there was a problem with abortion or the ewes were dogged the figures would drop it may not be the scanner who's at fault, its important to scan at the correct time, 80-90 days after the ram goes in if you scan too late all they can tell you is if the ewe is in lamb or not, lad I use is very accurate and can do 200+ /hour