SageHill Ranch Journal

[SageHill]

So - they sold right before Orthodox Easter - could that be a reason for the great. $ ?
I know you said to aim for holidays, and I missed a bunch but was lucky to hit a few days before orthodox Easter. Still learning - oh and it was Cinco de Mayo too. So ???

 

[farmerjan]

I am sure the timing of the sale with a holiday didn't hurt. But if they were in good shape and it was apparent they were in good flesh, it helps to sell them too.

 

[Ridgetop]

A lot of the sheep I see at the sales are kind of thin and raunchy looking. Your good prices are not only because of hitting the sale in time for holidays, but because your sheep are in good condition and fleshed out. That is one reason I don't wean before taking lambs to auction - taking a milk fed lamb just off mama means a rounded out plump looking carcass. Weaning causes a loss of weight (stress and lack of mama's milk) before the youngster can make it back up on feed.

 

[SageHill]

A lot of the sheep I see at the sales are kind of thin and raunchy looking.

As we were getting ready to leave after dropping them off a trailer full of mostly sheep and some goats started to unload. They all looked terrible. I mean really bad. Made me feel good about the few I'd dropped off. Like patting myself on the back that I must be doing something right. I'm definitely still a newb at this end of the sheep thing, just seeing that was good. One of these days I'd like go up and watch the auction.
I can definitely see that taking them off the ewes and up to auction will get the best return. The only way holding on to them that would gain would be to a private sale because they taste so good. Even then I'm not sure it would be worth any increase in $. Time, cost, effort and risk probably wouldn't be worth it. I'd have to have a different set up.

 

[Ridgetop]

I used to raise wethers to 5 months old and 100 lbs. on alfalfa with a small amount of barleycorn. I sold them to a neighbor for $200 and delivered them to the butcher for the customer. The neighbor raved about the flavor and tenderness. One year the customer complained that the price was too high. I calculated how much it cost me to raise a wether to 100 lbs. It cost more than $230! I gave the customer the rundown on the cost of alfalfa and barleycorn. He withdrew his complaint, but DH and I decided that we would just sell our ram lambs at 2 months old at the auction for $120-140, and if we raised another wether we would eat it ourselves. No cost of barleycorn, no docking or wethering rams either. All they get is CDT and their scrapie tag. No fuss, no muss, no complaints! LOL

 

[Baymule]

I’ve been down that road too. Trying to deal with people just isn’t worth the trouble. Load ‘em up and go to auction. Easy, no stupid people.