Interested getting into sheep farming

Lady lou

Towards sucklers/Dairy/tillage where you need big machinery to operate.
I know a lot of people say it isn't profitable but say it's better than sucklers.

I think with sheep farming has its advantages I.e No repayments on tractor, slurry speader, diet feeder, parlour, Roadways, slatted units or whatever else! No worrys about Cows calving, aggressive Bulls, and a lot more child friendly operation maybe.

It's cheaper to buy sheep than cattle. Less shed space needed.
Equipment is cheaper
Easier to out-winter
Easier operation to run Part-time to say sucklers/dairy
Small tractor that will lift a bale of hay/straw for you and a quad and trailer/fert spreader.
A small square baler and you could have your own straw/hay and feed/bed by hand while in pens.


Cons:
Cost of fencing( I could apply through the grant)
Hardship with sheep breaking out/Herding/Dying.
Maggots,
Foot Rot,
Health problems,
Disease/Abortion,
Sheering(contract out)
Cost of buying handling equipment

What else am I missing here?!

iron man

Sheep are very labour intensive and very quick to give up the ghost..

ganmo

you totally forgot about lambing

Lady lou

ganmo wrote: »

you totally forgot about lambing

Didn't forget about i just didn't mention it. Obviously that's a given.

IH784man

You'd want to set it up right from the start,have you experience with sheep?

Lady lou

Not a expert but have a little bit.would have to learn a lot as I go.

Lady lou

Is there many full-time sheep farmers here that are happy with there system?
Any tips or advice?

tom_k

I'm going to address a few of your cons:

Lady lou wrote: »

Cons:
Cost of fencing( I could apply through the grant)
Hardship with sheep breaking out/Herding/Dying.
Maggots,
Foot Rot,
Health problems,
Disease/Abortion,
Sheering(contract out)
Cost of buying handling equipment

What else am I missing here?!

Fencing - good fencing is vital for sheep. I'll assume you have land already and have fences/boundaries in reasonable order. Lowland breeds, I find, will stay where they're supposed to if they're not hungry with reasonable fencing/walls. I'm not aware of current grant aid for fencing.

Hardship etc. - Sheep breaking out - see Fencing/herding is necessary with all stock, as others have said sheep are labour intensive/dying - see Health problems

Maggots - A single application of Clik should see you through the maggot season. Alternatively sheep can be dipped or other spray-ons used.

Footrot - Regular footbaths along with culling will improve foot health. There's also a vaccine (Footvax) available but it's not cheap.

Health problems - Adequate nutrition, a good dosing regime (worms/fluke), vaccinations (Heptavac P, Scabivax etc.), identifying and addressing mineral requirements (e.g. boluses), careful stock selection and culling will minimise health problems. Naturally some will still die, it comes with the territory.

Disease/Abortion - Most diseases can be controlled using the measures outlined above. Vaccines are available for the most common types of abortion, again they're not cheap but keeping feed uncontaminated, practising good hygiene and breeding your own or buying replacement stock that you're sure of should mean you won't need these vaccines.

Shearing - Contract shearing is well worth the money IMO and wool sales should offset the cost. You might even have enough left over to buy yourself an ice cream

Handling equipment - Look into TAMS grant aid for this, as I recall you'll need 50 sheep to qualify, but can qualify for up to 60% if a "Young trained Farmer".

When I got into this, a lot of people thought I was mad, but it's working out fairly well - a lot done, more to do. With sheep it's easy to "dip your toe in the water" with a few ewes for relatively little expense, if it's not for you then you can walk away from it.

The above lists are not exhaustive by any means, I've to go back out now and resume lambing duties.

Lady lou

Thanks Tom. That's very helpful. Any other info just let rip . When did you start. Are you farming full-time?

Username John

Lady lou wrote: »

Thanks Tom. That's very helpful. Any other info just let rip . Are you farming full-time?

What's your situation Lady Lou, if you don't mind me asking?

Full time or part-time farming?
What kinda fencing do you have now?
Machinery?
Sheds?
Good / bad grass?
Early / dry / wet ground?
What's on the land now?

I would say the biggest thing is to work out whether you like working with em or not...

You don't need much to get started. I wouldn't worry about handling equipment for a start - a pen to hold em, few gates will do you for a start.

See how you get on with a few ewes this year...
I'd try to spend as little as possible first year. No point in investing money and then realising you don't like working with sheep...

Also - hard to know what kinda system would suit you. You could be working this out as well...

Just my two cents...

tom_k

Lady lou wrote: »

Thanks Tom. That's very helpful. Any other info just let rip . When did you start. Are you farming full-time?

I started properly about three years ago but I've been part time since I was born in the 1970s

I consider myself full time although I'm also self employed which allows me a fair bit of flexibility.

As Username John rightly said, start small and see if you like them - some people can't stand working with sheep. Also if you gave us a small bit of info about what you've got to work with at the moment I'm sure others on here would be able to give the benefit of their knowledge - I'm a long way from being an expert.

Again agreeing with John, don't spend only what you need to at the start, I was tempted to splash out on a few things but I'm glad I didn't, opting instead to improve the quality of the stock and buying gear only as i needed it.

If you have any sort of pen/ enclosure at the moment that'll do fine, same with housing. I made up pens with a few lengths of timber and scrap materials to start with. Never underestimate the power of pallets and twine - looks dog rough but grand to get you going.

Lady lou

Hi lads thanks for the advice

Where currently just have a small hobbie suckler herd.
Would like to get a few sheep all the same.
Don't have much housing to increase sucklers and would think sheep might suit us better.
We would need to do slot of fencing to get started alright as arnt set up for sheep.
Would we be mad to start with a few sheep with boundary fencing of two temporary electric wires as boundary fencing?
I never thought I would be interested in farming.
The last thing I wanted to do when I was young was farming but for some reason the last few years I have gained a interest even though everyone says there's no money in it. I still want to do it. Should I listen to them.?ha

ganmo

I wouldn't use 3 strand electric as a boundary, for internal fences they can work(i've even seen 2strand used) well as long as they don't learn that they can run through them quickly.

Siamsa Sessions

As the lads above said, start with a few and see how you go.

Put them in the best fenced area you have, or fence off a small field. They don't need an awful lot of ground/grass to keep them going. High stocking rates would 12/13 sheep per hectare, or 5 per acre in oul money.

Do your own background reading too. There's plenty of technical information out there:

(1) Teagasc: http://www.teagasc.ie/sheep/

(2) AHDB Beef & Lamb: http://beefandlamb.ahdb.org.uk/returns/systems-and-costings/ (sheep publications start half-way down the page)

tractorporn

Lady lou wrote: »

Hi lads thanks for the advice

Where currently just have a small hobbie suckler herd.
Would like to get a few sheep all the same.
Don't have much housing to increase sucklers and would think sheep might suit us better.

We have ran sucklers along side a early lambing lowland flock and find that it works well together, the lambs provide money when there are no cattle to sell. Like you say its an easier way of expanding numbers without huge investment.
Just so you're aware you wont have the same level of grass in spring when you have sheep as they are generally left outside over winter and clean up any grass that's left over or starts to grow. Apart from that pick breeds that suit your land, no point having Texel's up a mountain for example, some breeds have better worm resistance, better feet, easier lambing etc. so research your breeds and your market.
Best of luck with it.

Lady lou

What's the going rate now for in-lambs ewes? Or ewes with lambs at foot.
I'll probably buy as young as possible and lowland type.
What should I look out for when buying? Thanks.

Siamsa Sessions

Lady lou wrote: »

What's the going rate now for in-lambs ewes? Or ewes with lambs at foot.
I'll probably buy as young as possible and lowland type.
What should I look out for when buying? Thanks.

Depends on breed, age, etc. of sheep, and where in the country you are. Head to the nearest mart to get a proper idea.

Accourding to the Journal this week, young ewes with 2 lambs are hitting around €250. Work back from there then for aged ewes and ewes with single lambs. Not an awful lot of in-lamb ewes around the marts apparently.

solerina

Just be warned that contract shearing can be very hard to come by in certain areas. I know a lot of our neighbours who always contracted out having been having increasing trouble getting it done in recent years. Check there is someone available in your area !!

Floody Boreland

solerina wrote: »

Just be warned that contract shearing can be very hard to come by in certain areas. I know a lot of our neighbours who always contracted out having been having increasing trouble getting it done in recent years. Check there is someone available in your area !!

You could also consider a wool-less breed.

http://www.easycaresheep.com/

Ashill5

Hi Lady Lou,

Like yourself, I hope to get into a few sheep, but I was thinking of buying in about 20 Lowland store lambs & finishing them over the winter and see how it goes.

While I have a good bit of fencing to do, it will be cheaper than putting up another shed if I was going to buy extra cattle.

I might be wrong but once they will have enough grass in front them, properly dosed, mineral buckets, I would hope that there wouldn't be too much more work in them unlike lambing ewes.

And most important, they might leave a bit of profit.

Any advise though would be gratefully appreciated.

sheepfarmer92

Sheep farming is the most profitable farming system at the minute considering the way dairying is gone at the minute, you need to like sheep to farm sheep, I am full time farming them with my father, a lot of people complain about the work in sheep, you have to have decent fencing and some form of handling system that you can improve on year on year as you grow your flock, once you have that in place, its not too hard, if going for lambing ewes, id buy some ewes that had lambs before that would be easier managed for your first year, if buying stores, you have to buy them cheap enough if feeding over the winter to get any sort of a profit and keep them well dosed

Lady lou

sheepfarmer92 wrote: »

Sheep farming is the most profitable farming system at the minute considering the way dairying is gone at the minute, you need to like sheep to farm sheep, I am full time farming them with my father, a lot of people complain about the work in sheep, you have to have decent fencing and some form of handling system that you can improve on year on year as you grow your flock, once you have that in place, its not too hard, if going for lambing ewes, id buy some ewes that had lambs before that would be easier managed for your first year, if buying stores, you have to buy them cheap enough if feeding over the winter to get any sort of a profit and keep them well dosed

Good man. What sort of numbers are you farming or stocked at?!

I went ahead and purchased a few Suffolk x Ewes with lambs at foot.

sheepfarmer92

I'm farming 1200 ewes on 350 acres half owned half rented, not so bad they should be good quiet ewes, hope they are lucky for you!

kk.man

I've bought stores for last few years found them very profitable...kept a few hogget ewes this year just to see how they sell the back end..guess what some have lambed to my surprise and others dry...I am bitten..am going to establish my own flock now....you never loose money with sheep..not expensive to establish...Yes I think they will overtake dairying in the short to medium term

Username John

kk.man wrote: »

I've bought stores for last few years found them very profitable...kept a few hogget ewes this year just to see how they sell the back end..guess what some have lambed to my surprise and others dry...I am bitten..am going to establish my own flock now....you never loose money with sheep..not expensive to establish...Yes I think they will overtake dairying in the short to medium term

The issue with profitability and sheep is, as you have kinda referred to above - they are very easy to get into...

And that factor alone, will always mean that when prices get very high, and people see money to be made, they'll jump into sheep and that's solve the high prices

If you like working with them, there is a bit of money to be made in em...
If you don't - then no amount of money they make will be worthwhile