HOW TO MAKE MONEY FROM YOUR SHEEP

I hate to break it to you, but you're unlikely to get rich farming. However, I'm also not on the hard line that you'll be broke either. If you keep sheep, there are lots of ways to make money - enough money to do more than break even.

I should say upfront that as with everything, it's important to keep your outgoings as low as possible. You won't make money from your sheep if you're buying in vast amounts of feed, spending loads on veterinary fees or are lured in by the most expensive sheep around. For this reason I highly recommend you research the best breeds, consider rotational grazing to keep maintenance costs down and go into shepherding with some husbandry experience under your belt. If you’re considering sheep, then I have some supply recommendations here.

With all of this in mind, here's some ways to make money from sheep.

SELLING LAMBS

The most traditional way of making money from sheep is to breed your ewes and then sell the lambs. You can take them to market where other farmers and abattoirs will buy them or, if you have the contacts, cut out the middle man and conduct private sales.

To make money with this method you need a decent flock size. Lamb prices vary but if you're lucky to make £100 a lamb, you'll need 10 lambs to get the first £1,000. This means you'll require at least five ewes having twins.

Use breeding ewes for lambs

BUY STORE LAMBS

To make your overall sheep keeping cheaper, you can buy store lambs, fatten them up and then sell them to an abattoir. Instead of keeping sheep all year round and having the associated costs, you can have sheep for just a few months of the year. There's no stress with lambing or keeping ewes.

The downside is you have no owned stock and the price of store lambs will differ year to year.

SELL MEAT BOXES

Regardless of whether you're breeding your own lambs or buying in stores, instead of selling to abattoirs you can create meat boxes and sell privately.

This is where your advertising skills and your unique selling points come into play. Perhaps you're raising rare breed sheep as I do. Or your sheep are fully raised on pasture with no additional cereal or soy feeds. These can be key points that will draw in potential buyers ... people that want to support your farm and your farming ethics. Many consumers will happily pay a lot more for locally reared lamb with high welfare than an abattoir would.

RAISE BREEDING STOCK

You've probably read stories of rams selling for thousands, sometimes tens of thousands of pounds or dollars. Though most of us are unlikely to ever reach such dizzy heights, there can still be good money to be made on top pedigree rams. Even if one ram makes a few thousand, it's a great win. And pedigree ewes, though not making the big bucks, can still pay for themselves if you sell them as older ewe lambs or shearlings.

The key to this method is to choose the right breed. Rare, heritage breeds are unlikely to make the big bucks simply because there aren't enough owners around to push prices up. Commercial breed tups such as Suffolk or Texel, for example, is where the money lays.

If you're lucky, head to auction and watch that bidding price soar.

Leicester longwools are bred specifically for their fleece.

WOOL

Selling wool isn't going to make you rich but it's a nice side hustle. In the UK the majority of wool gets sold to the wool board, but you can sell privately too. This is ideal if you've got a smaller flock and would like to sell to local craftspeople and spinners.

If you're thinking of trying to option, do you research and pick a breed that has a sought after fleece. Ryland, for example, come in a range of colours and people like them for their natural hues. Meanwhile, Jacobs are also know for having great wool for spinning.

Breed for award winning rams or to hire out.

RAM/TUP HIRE

Another nice side hustle is to loan out your ram for hire to service other people's flocks. This is often a good option if you have a particularly nice ram as it means you can sell him the following season as proven. There are various methods for making money this way; sometimes its simply a pay-for service. Other times you might like to agree on keeping a percentage of the resulting lambs allowing you to either sell these later on or use them for your own meat boxes.

I hope this has given you a few ideas of ways to turn your sheep into cash. I truly believe you can make sheep pay for themselves at a minimum. But with a little effort you can turn a good farming profit.

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