[morri2]

Hello all!  We have just been offered the chance to rent 70 more acres (yipee!!) at a price (Hmmm!)  We will need to stock the land asap and at the moment we don't have anywhere near enough stock to graze that much land.  Thus we were considering buying some older ewes (cull ewes perhaps), say around 80, to start us off while we build up our other flocks.  Can anyone tell me how much I could expect to pay for a flock of this size and type, and where the best place to purchase might be (ie: local market, other market, private, website etc etc).  Many thanks! 

[princesspiggy]

im not a sheep expert but cud u not look for stores at market to turn fatten up and turn around quick until u decide what breed u want to focus on? or are stores only sold at autumn time?

[woollyval]

MMMMM hope you are sitting down! Sheep are making record prices at the moment so even culls are very expensive! To get an idea of prices in the SW google Greenslade taylors website then look up Sedgemoor livestock centre and open 'market reports' this will tell you what prices everything made at the last umpteen market days.....its very useful as Sedgemoor is a huge centre that handles thousands of sheep and cattle each week. Good Luck!

[shep53]

Depends on how deep are your pockets , cull ewes are ave 70 +£ so you may buy lean small hill ewes for 40+£ fatten and resell . Maybe can buy draft hill ewes in sept/oct smaller types 60-80£. you can make a deal with your local mart to get store lambs fatten them and take back to mart to sell receiving a share of the profits

[princesspiggy]

id have thought theyd be £80 each too, a quick way to spend a fair few grand ..phew 
good luck

[Anke]

If you don't want to lamb 80 ewes next spring then stores this autumn would be best, or hill lambs for their first winter if your pasture is quite good. Maybe if you cannot afford to buy 80 sheep (I couldn't!), then maybe get a hill farmer to send down his ewe lambs and get paid on the weight gain? Not sure if this thing goes on, but here it is done sometimes with young cattle. I also have cattle here for their summer holidays only, and get paid per head per week. Saves me topping as I do not have enough sheep here either... and yes I am trying to buy some ewes as well...

[shep53]

Wintering hill ewe lambs need first class fencing, arrive sept/oct go home mar/apr /may paid for on a headage basis per week. some farmers also take grass for store lambs or ewes on the same basis

[morri2]

Whew!  looks like I'm in for an empty bank account (not that there's much in there now  )   Stores was something we looked at but decided the crazy idea of lambing 80 ewes would be more profitable.  Hill lambs or native hill sheep to lamb in spring sounds a good idea as they appear to be considerably cheaper than cull ewes.  I will have a look at the local markets and see whats coming up.

Cheers!!

[lachlanandmarcus]

If the fencing is OK and you are looking for grass eaters more than commercial sheep for the first lot, then my unreg Shetlands cost only £25 each as shearlings (might be a bit more now given cull prices but still would be half or less than a commercial). They are a tough breed too, so would be ideal for surviving in the winter. Worth considering something similar. OK you wont get so much for them but given the input price...same difference! And they will do the same job and be hardier.

hope you find some good sheep.

[PDO_Lamb]

I shall have un-registerd Shetland ewelambs for sale later in the year. Have just sent off the cheque to pay for my long distance transport proficiency test so I may even be able to deliver them if I pass. At present I am limited to Journeys under 8hrs say 350 miles max with stops. The long distance test will allow up to 9hrs driving plus satutory stops (say 450 miles max) and even overnight stops to get the length of the country.

[OhLaLa]

Would somebody please give me more info on 'cull ewes' : inc age etc etc

[Anke]

Shetlands are a good point, unregistered especially, but you would struggle to get 70 or so of them from one source. If you have to cobble them together from different breeders you will need to make sure they are wormed/fluked/scab treated etc when they arrive, otherwise you would just have lots of problems in your first year. See what price they are on the Isles just now? If reasonable price you may get them shipped, and you could have a larger group from there.

If you get good sized Shetlands you could use a larger tup to get "heavy light" lambs without any additional feeding for late Nov/early Dec sales. (Thats what I do with mine - last year 1.80/kg). And they would amost certainly have twins in the majority, and only need minimal feeding and really only rarely require assistance when lambing, even outside (which is what they prefer). But you need good fencing!

PS.: I have none for sale, as I am having to breed all my shetland and X shearlings given the cost of buying in new larger breed/commercial ewes and I am in a similar situation in having to increase the flock or loose a field...

[woollyval]

Would somebody please give me more info on 'cull ewes' : inc age etc etc

A cull is anything that is not wanted for breeding for example a very old ewe, one who has had mastitis, one who is a bad mother or any other reason for getting rid of one. They are bought by the meat boys in the market and usually go straight for slaughter as meat pies, kebabs etc etc......

[Victorian Farmer]

i sold some 18 months old to huntey they made £85 to 100 .you need to go to the sales in November and December and bye ewes in lamb. ITT took me 3 yeres to get 200 iv naw got 203 lambs from this spring lambing alone .when building a flock all money made needs to go back in vets fees  looking after them feed etc.and the goal is to have a pedigree flock, bids for pedigree sheep start att £150 +

[shep53]

morri2  be cautious in an ideal world you should buy all the sheep from one farm to minimize disease risk. At auctions store/ewe lambs  shearling ewes and draft hill ewes are sold every autumn by the same farmers in big lots, be carefull of small lots and ewes ,why is someone selling 10 2crop ewes from a big flock?? cull prices are high but breeding sheep are higher so sometimes ewes which lost a lamb, are poor mothers,poor milkers,prolapsed can be sold as breeders