profitability of early lambing system

farmer10

How much profit can be made lambing your ewes in December & January to finish the lambs for easter? How much meal does it use for both ewe & lambs.

Green farmer

All I can tell you is it ain't much fun standing around cold shed in January. Ain't much better trying to keep ewes milking in February with bare fields. I lamb 1st April. Smaller money but not sure if extra money you'd get for January lambs cover extra costs.

sako 85

This probably isn't much help because I've no exact figures, but I'm sponging 30 today to lamb them early next year. I let a ram out early last year (natural Service no sponging) 10 ewes held in lamb and lambed down 19 lambs. best price achieved was €135. I'm sponging this year because last year was too spread out. I still haven't decided weather to give the injection of PSMG or not.

arctictree

Would ewes naturally conceive this time of year without sponging?

AntrimGlens

I would usually have lambed about fifty around xmas/jan to hit the easter market as it helps me split the flock for housing and helps cash flow. Have decided that this year was the last year to do it. As I've said before theres not enough difference in the price of a hogget and spring lamb to justify the extra expense and workload that goes into early lamb.
It was grand up until two years ago, when our group had a contract with a food group who would buy the lambs up to 25kg, pay 15p above base rate and no cut in fat class. I was getting lambs away in April at £135 (e165), but this contract was lost and the best I achieved this year was £91, last year was £104 and the price of a hogget seems to be improving the other way.

Took me about £10 of meal to get them away, and i haven't costed the ewes meal bill yet or silage, but i know its not paying so thats the finish of it here, but then everyones farm is setup different. I wouldn't have much early grass and the early lambers would have it cleaned for the march lambers.

sako 85

arctictree wrote: »

Would ewes naturally conceive this time of year without sponging?

I think some would, particularly if the lambs have been weaned off them for a while. my issue last year that lambing the early lambers was too spread out, I'm hoping that 25 of the 30 will hold in lamb and that they will lamb in 5 days (hoping being the operative word)

jt65

just a few pointers,

location , how early is your grass , waste of time without grass when lambs are 2 weeks old

here we close late oct onwards in rotation

moved from late dec/ early jan lambing to mid to late jan
reason.. grass availability and factories , too many hoggets in the system and hard to get a decent price for lamb

we aim to have about 80% moved by mid may,

ewe type
3rd crop onwards , younger ewes tend to have smaller lamb crop if lambed early also any problem ewes will be culled by now, (no time for ar$ing about with hailstones lashing on the roof) a modest house with a camera cuts out a lot of work.
breed ; we use suffolkXtexel with some belclare, these would usually be the second cross off a mayo mule... X bred vigor is vital and makes life easy

Ram, need something that will won't die at first downpour
we use Hampshire Down and vendeen
heard ppl laugh at the HD woolly heads but that tuft of wool retains a lot of body heat

costings don't have figures but I'd be happy with €30 per lamb above mid or late season

it's vital to keep lambs moved to beat the price drop & I can't emphasize enough the importance of having quality grass

sako 85

jt65 do you think there will be less Hoggets in the system after Christmas this year considering the good grass growing summer we've had?

farmer10

Thanks for your views on it. I lambed early february last few years indoor & started in april last year outdoor lambing. Couldn't believe how much easier it was lambing out & I ended up having less losses. Just created the thread because was asked would I consider lambing them early for easter market but as you say it just not worth the extra labour & costs involved. Could anyone tell me how much €/kg do you need for early lamb for it to pay? I guess the only real good thing about lambing early is you have money at easter.

sea12

Well you know the saying. When every one is is going east you should go west. A lot of farmers pulling out of early lambing next year. Might be less lambs around and better prices. Or there could be a glut of hoggets with all the store lambs being bought from not usual sheep farmers.

farmer10

Green farmer wrote: »

All I can tell you is it ain't much fun standing around cold shed in January. Ain't much better trying to keep ewes milking in February with bare fields. I lamb 1st April. Smaller money but not sure if extra money you'd get for January lambs cover extra costs.

Aye youd want to be getting a good bit extra for all of that!

grassroot1

At the current cost of concentrates and sponging early lamb is a none runner, I only do it as we are tied into a pedigree flock system, and as above lambing ewes in Jan is the pits.:(

jt65

grassroot1 wrote: »

At the current cost of concentrates and sponging early lamb is a none runner, I only do it as we are tied into a pedigree flock system, and as above lambing ewes in Jan is the pits.:(

deffo not an non runner

we don't sponge and buy meal in bulk collected ex merchant

it's a lot more specialized that late lambing and if you don't plan early grass & line up suitable ewes and tups you are pi$$ing against the wind

Green farmer

I suppose there's loads of different ways to try and make a few bob from sheep. breed pedigrees /others early lambing/ mid season lambing / hill sheep/ lowland sheep/ feeding ewes/ store lambs/ buying ewes and lambs at foot/ selling ewes with lambs at foot.
Cannt do it all, find a niche and do the best you can. I've got as far as ruling out early lambing personally. Hope one of the others systems works out. I'll try them all , until I find a way that suits me !!!

Username John

Early lamb can be profitable - but it must be done right, lambs away ASAP, and cheap meal if you can get it.

But, its risky, if you miss the right time with the lambs, you'll get not great money for (expensive) creep-fed lambs.

IMO this means you have to justify it. I think JT has cows as well, so it suits him to have the lambs away early.
I know some lads who lamb in a few batches, first batch in jan time frame - which makes good use of time / labour and also housing.

But to make it profitable, you need to be very good at grass management, close up fields in time in the autumn, and keep good fresh grass in front of em all the time. If you don't, then you'll be looking at em too long, and to price will be gone.

Birdnuts

Username John wrote: »

Early lamb can be profitable - but it must be done right, lambs away ASAP, and cheap meal if you can get it.

But, its risky, if you miss the right time with the lambs, you'll get not great money for (expensive) creep-fed lambs.

IMO this means you have to justify it. I think JT has cows as well, so it suits him to have the lambs away early.
I know some lads who lamb in a few batches, first batch in jan time frame - which makes good use of time / labour and also housing.

But to make it profitable, you need to be very good at grass management, close up fields in time in the autumn, and keep good fresh grass in front of em all the time. If you don't, then you'll be looking at em too long, and to price will be gone.

You certainly need alot to go right, including the right type of land in the right location. My place in the West has the advantage of being by the coast so the growing season kicks in earlier than most. However land is usual too wet to utilize grass fully early in the season. Tried it one year and safe to say won't be doing it again. Lads a few miles away have the advantage of sandy soil which warms up quick and can be utilised all year round(bar rare summer droughts). Most of the early lamb in that wider area is produced by these lads but even with these advantages they are not guaranteed to have a better bottom line than folks finishing lambs alot later in the year.

farmer10

I think april born lambs would leave as much don't think ill be trying early anyways too much extra costs & workload for no greater return

jt65

have the early lambers on good grass for last couple weeks

ran them in this in this morn and the majority are in tipp top condition

pulled a few not quite up the mark and they will be held on better grass for some time

yhe rams were checked over last week , feet checked , crown jewels inspected & any excess wool and hair removed

will be letting off them in about 10 to 12 days time

hope it's rewarding next spring