what stock for samall holding??

Charlie George

have 12 acres farmland and at the minute i buy calves early in year and sell them on as weanlings at end of year,trouble is i dont seem to be making a whole lot and was wondering what kind of cattle(breed and sex)should i get should i get heifers in calf or should i buy calves,winter them for a couple of years and into factory,buy weanlings and keep for one winter and sell off at mart?,not from farming stock origionally but dont mind the work.

Kovu

You could look into buying 18 months old heifers, putting them incalf & selling them on as springers.

If you go down the line of wintering stock, the costs quickly rack up.

Miname

You'll find it hard to make a turn on calves, unless your a dodgy dealer. at 12 acres i presume sheds are limited so would 20 ewes ran with a ram and lambing down in the spring every-year not be a handy option. low cost low maintainance .

Willfarman

If you could access some winter grazing you would manage 30 or even 35 ewes.

Future Farmer

Charlie George wrote: »

have 12 acres farmland and at the minute i buy calves early in year and sell them on as weanlings at end of year,trouble is i dont seem to be making a whole lot and was wondering what kind of cattle(breed and sex)should i get should i get heifers in calf or should i buy calves,winter them for a couple of years and into factory,buy weanlings and keep for one winter and sell off at mart?,not from farming stock origionally but dont mind the work.

Hi,

Where in the country are you based?
How many calves could/do you carry (what's the ground like)?
Could you cut silage on it all?
Any dairy farmers near you?
What are your hours off-farm?

FF

Charlie George

Future Farmer wrote: »

Hi,

Where in the country are you based?
How many calves could/do you carry (what's the ground like)?
Could you cut silage on it all?
Any dairy farmers near you?
What are your hours off-farm?

FF

Based in Limerick,take about 12 calves,perfect ground,i usually cut every second year,a few dairy around me,working shift work during the week and usually get big farm work done during the weekends.

_Brian

Charlie George wrote: »

Based in Limerick,take about 12 calves,perfect ground,i usually cut every second year,a few dairy around me,working shift work during the week and usually get big farm work done during the weekends.

The margins on suck calves has been squeezed down in recent years due to lads paying stupid prices for them.

Lads in sheep seem happy this year but you'd need facilities for wintering and yeaning tem down.

Username John

_Brian wrote: »

The margins on suck calves has been squeezed down in recent years due to lads paying stupid prices for them.

Lads in sheep seem happy this year but you'd need facilities for wintering and yeaning tem down.

This is unrelated to anything - but is 'yeaning' a word ye'd use up the country Brian? I had to look up what it meant

_Brian

Username John wrote: »

This is unrelated to anything - but is 'yeaning' a word ye'd use up the country Brian? I had to look up what it meant

Indeed, I could just about tell one end of a sheep from the other, but I thought that was a widely used term ??

Gard1

we ran 35/40 ewes on 6 acres for years with their lambs. It was tight for grass at times alright but you shouldn't have a problem running 50 ewes on 12 acres. Assume 1.5 lambs per ewe that 75 lambs. I would think you would have a better return from them than the calves. Only thing is you would need a sheltered field or shed for lambing season. IMO ewes lamb better when they are out in a sheltered field

Username John

Miname wrote: »

You'll find it hard to make a turn on calves, unless your a dodgy dealer. at 12 acres i presume sheds are limited so would 20 ewes ran with a ram and lambing down in the spring every-year not be a handy option. low cost low maintainance .

_Brian wrote: »

The margins on suck calves has been squeezed down in recent years due to lads paying stupid prices for them.

Lads in sheep seem happy this year but you'd need facilities for wintering and yeaning tem down.

Charlie George wrote: »

Based in Limerick,take about 12 calves,perfect ground,i usually cut every second year,a few dairy around me,working shift work during the week and usually get big farm work done during the weekends.

I know nathing of calves, but I know a bit of sheep...

Do you have any interest in sheep Charlie George? If you dont like em, then I dont think there's any point in entertaining the idea of getting em.

Do you have a shed you could use for lambing?

On 12 acres, you could run somewhere between 25 and 50 of em (it kinda depends on what system you want to run)
Lamb em down in Springtime (I take 2 weeks holidays for lambing)
After that its keeping grass in front of em, plus routine work, which is weekend work really.

You'd need good fencing...

Username John

_Brian wrote: »

Indeed, I could just about tell one end of a sheep from the other, but I thought that was a widely used term ??

Not one I'd use, but I wouldn't be the most knowledgeable on a lot of things... the only other time I heard it before was on the dodge ram farmer ad

Gard1 wrote: »

we ran 35/40 ewes on 6 acres for years with their lambs. It was tight for grass at times alright but you shouldn't have a problem running 50 ewes on 12 acres.

40 ewes on 6 acres seems very high, did ye have em in for a good bit over winter, or just buy in a lot of feed?

Gard1

Used to house them middle of February in shed before lambing from 1st March. We had a little paddock beside the shed about 1/2 acre which they would get out to when lambed but first of them would be back out on the 6 acres by Paddys day and the stragglers wouldn't get there till April!! Used to leave the hay racks out from Christmas on and would give the ewes a few nuts (but nothing crazy)