We're getting ready........for lambing
Here is our checklist to be completed by early February Purchase hay square bales for lambing jugs: done Purchase heat lamp bulbs: done Repair tilt table: done Purchase & install rolling stop ga...
Forum Discussion
I’ve not written about this time of year in the shepherding calendar; it is market time.
This is when we sell most of this years lambs and those ewes which for whatever reason we are no longer keeping as part of our breeding flock. The dogs help bring the flock into one of our barns where we have a chute system for weighing, trimming hooves, recoding ear tag numbers, and sorting sheep into groups: ewes staying for breeding, ewes going to market, ewe lambs being added to the breeding flock, lambs going to market, and lambs going to our butcher. The dogs enjoy packing the flock to the start of the single file chute.
We try to time our trips to market to just proceed various holidays where lamb is consumed (Rosh Hashanah is next week). We take our best “product” for the times we think will bring the highest price per lbs. Today we took 38 lambs. Grant loaded them on the trailer. Lee came with us to the stockyard to unload the trailer.
38 lambs filled our trailer leaving just enough room for the lambs to move around but not enough for them to be tossed around while traveling. When I opened the trailer back door the lambs packed themselves as tight as possible to the front of the trailer. Lee needs to get get to the other side of the group with only two possible routes: over their backs or under their bellies between their legs (Lee goes under). Once we can get a few to go out the back of the trailer the rest will follow.
Two more loads of sheep to market and 4 lambs to the butcher. Our payday (one time each year) from our 60-70 breeding ewes does not cover our mortgage (which is why I don’t call myself a farmer). I cannot imagine having to budget an entire year on one big payday.
In the next week or two we start our calendar with breeding time.
This is when we sell most of this years lambs and those ewes which for whatever reason we are no longer keeping as part of our breeding flock. The dogs help bring the flock into one of our barns where we have a chute system for weighing, trimming hooves, recoding ear tag numbers, and sorting sheep into groups: ewes staying for breeding, ewes going to market, ewe lambs being added to the breeding flock, lambs going to market, and lambs going to our butcher. The dogs enjoy packing the flock to the start of the single file chute.
We try to time our trips to market to just proceed various holidays where lamb is consumed (Rosh Hashanah is next week). We take our best “product” for the times we think will bring the highest price per lbs. Today we took 38 lambs. Grant loaded them on the trailer. Lee came with us to the stockyard to unload the trailer.
38 lambs filled our trailer leaving just enough room for the lambs to move around but not enough for them to be tossed around while traveling. When I opened the trailer back door the lambs packed themselves as tight as possible to the front of the trailer. Lee needs to get get to the other side of the group with only two possible routes: over their backs or under their bellies between their legs (Lee goes under). Once we can get a few to go out the back of the trailer the rest will follow.
Two more loads of sheep to market and 4 lambs to the butcher. Our payday (one time each year) from our 60-70 breeding ewes does not cover our mortgage (which is why I don’t call myself a farmer). I cannot imagine having to budget an entire year on one big payday.
In the next week or two we start our calendar with breeding time.
