[Foobar]

Following on from Tim's comments about Profit in the Lambing Percentage thread...


What methods do folk use to work out their profit, or other financial factors like cost per lamb, cost per ewe etc.


I record all my outgoings and sales in spreadsheets, and I try to split it all into "lambing crops", so I know how much each lamb has cost me (as this varies year on year).  Trouble I have is working in the costs of things like Rams or medicines that might be used over more than one year.  I want to upgrade to using a database (either a bought in one or, as I am that way inclined and not wanting to spend money, I might write my own), but I need to work out the best way to record the data I need in order to analyse it in the way that I want.  All my sheep are EIDd so I guess it would be possible to work out exactly how much each individual lamb costs me, if I record the medicine administration details in my db.


I would be interested to hear what everyone else does, and what software they use (if any).

[bazzais]

It def sounds like a great idea for someone who wants to develope a phone app doesnt it?

Trouble is - I'd have to get a phone

[Marches Farmer]

Maybe you need a separate category to distinguish things specific to this year's lamb crop (colostrum, Orojet, Ovivac P Plus) and things that can carry over to next year (marker spray, wormer, pour on) and designate a nominal percentage of that to be added to the current year's cost.  Or just lump the whole lot in together, on the basis that non year-specific costs will roll on through the years in a "swings and roundabouts" way?

[Hillview Farm]

I do spreadsheets too but I'm not 100% sure what to include, my first year I broke even with all my start up costs except the cost of the ewes in the first place but made my eyes water when I added it all up!

[Tim W]

I use Farmworks by Shearwell for recording sheep data. Which is great but a bit expensive if you don't have lots of sheep

Costs ---I just use an excel sheet for profit/loss accounting and pull data from this at the end of a period to calculate COP and profit

[VSS]

Tricky to work out exactly how much each individual animal has cost - and probably not a great deal of benefit in doing so as all individuals have different issues.

The is probably more use in working out costs/margins an average per animal basis. If you are selling lambs fat, a cost per kilo of lamb sold is a pretty useful guide, especially as the price you get is usually on a per kilo basis