[YoungRasher]

we got just over 200% to market this year from 90 mules.

[Marches Farmer]

I think it's a rather loose term and mostly boils down to "horses for courses".  No-one would want triplets on high ground.  Some use how many lambs born then ignore post-lambing losses .....

[Tim W]

Lambing %age is irrelevant ---what matters is profit

I can achieve 250% but I will loose lots of money doing it

[mowhaugh]

I would agree with lambs weaned compared to ewes put to the tup.  I think this is the most realistic way of working out profit/loss etc.

[Tim W]

I would agree with lambs weaned compared to ewes put to the tup.  I think this is the most realistic way of working out profit/loss etc.

Not at all---
If I raise 160% on grass alone I will make more money than raising 200% with indoor lambing/creep feed/feeding ewes overwinter/high vet bills etc
it's the same as getting a high price for a lamb, it's the margin that matters in a business

[Rosemary]

Lambing %age is irrelevant ---what matters is profit

I disagree. I think these things are useful indicators of performance between similar units and in single units across years. If your lambing % was 100% on a lowland farm with commercial type ewes, you would have a problem. If % ages indicated higher than average neonatal losses, then you would want to look at your practices in that area.

Of course margins are the most important thing if profit is your motive but it's still useful to know how your flock is performing compared to other similar enterprises.

[mowhaugh]

I would agree with lambs weaned compared to ewes put to the tup.  I think this is the most realistic way of working out profit/loss etc.

Not at all---
If I raise 160% on grass alone I will make more money than raising 200% with indoor lambing/creep feed/feeding ewes overwinter/high vet bills etc
it's the same as getting a high price for a lamb, it's the margin that matters in a business

Yes, I know what you are saying, but I didn't mean to compare, say, my unit to yours, I more meant that for instance I know people who get their scanning percentage fixed in their head and hang on to that, thinking that that is the level at which their sheep are performing, rather than taking into consideration empty sheep, lost lambs etc. etc. which all drain the profit.  Maybe I have spent too much time with sheep,  but I prefer to think on the black side of figures, then I am not disappointed.

Slightly off topic, but I calculated last week in 2012/13 it cost us £16.20/ewe to the tup to get all of our sheep (including tups, hoggs overwintered etc.) through the year - has anyone else calculated this?

[Tim W]

My COP is £64/lamb ----includes my hours @ £15/hr

[Tim W]

Lambing %age is irrelevant ---what matters is profit

I disagree. I think these things are useful indicators of performance between similar units and in single units across years. If your lambing % was 100% on a lowland farm with commercial type ewes, you would have a problem. If % ages indicated higher than average neonatal losses, then you would want to look at your practices in that area.

Of course margins are the most important thing if profit is your motive but it's still useful to know how your flock is performing compared to other similar enterprises.

Profit is my motive because I have to make a living at it---it's not a game or hobby
Flock performance is very important I agree and I use EID/a good database & BLUP to keep track of it
I can analyse the data to give all sorts of information but none is as important as profit

[Small Farmer]

Our llanwenogs produced 2 lambs each without trouble or intervention and they were fast growers to 40kg .  But one of our GFDs decided to go for four lambs and that by itself stuffed-up the economics by needing two emergency vet call-outs, loads of attention/bottle feeding etc and small slow-growers.

[Marches Farmer]

My children bought lambs from me with their birthday money some years ago so now a fair proportion of the flock is theirs.  They take their profit every year but I work out the cost of raising each lamb that gets to weaning and subtract it from the sale price.  I include vet costs, wormer, vaccine, disposal of fallen stock, lick buckets, haymaking and feed.  I don't include straw because this is shared by all the stock, or capital items like buckets or hayracks, which will last for ages.  Last year profit was down because we had to feed the ewes for several weeks after lambing because the grass was so slow to start growing.  I don't factor in labour as we work together as a team all year.  If one of our hire rams is theirs they get the full amount.

I'm with Tim on profit - if you raise a small number of high quality stock on a small acreage and find the right markets you can make more profit than someone with a lot of stock on a big area.

[devonlad]

 - if you raise a small number of high quality stock on a small acreage and find the right markets you can make more profit than someone with a lot of stock on a big area.

I wish it was that simple.  This coming year    will be the first time we can even contemplate the possibility of breaking even with sufficient ewes in lamb to cover the costs of the last 3 years. Probably because we fuss our lambing percentage is the same for live birth and finished. If they're born alive they stay alive (so far).but We have ewes who owe us for all the abs and drenches and cake and hay and in one case an emrrgency vet bill from 2 1/2 years ago that she has yet to repay. Her firzt lambs are  now In  lamb so next dec we might get something back from her. She's a good sheep but at a small scale there is no margin for anything out of the ordinary.  It  can take years to get it back.  It's the main reason that we have for the first time put this year's lambs to the tup. Otherwise it takes too long to start recouping.

[Tim W]

- if you raise a small number of high quality stock on a small acreage and find the right markets you can make more profit than someone with a lot of stock on a big area.

This is the crux of the matter. Farmers are generally terrible marketers ---they rear a crop but then accept the price they are offered either at market or to the abattoir buyers. The trick is to develop a market of your own & add value to your crop
You also need to look at your operation as a business without sentimentality ---if a ewe doesn't perform get rid of her, NO excuses.
If it's a hobby and you can afford to put cash into it then that's a different matter

[firther]

averaged 160% this last year which was down from 200% on the previous. didn't mind though as apart from a still born all lambs were healthy and we were caught up In all that snow lol

[jaykay]

With my Shetlands, it's been 175% for the two years I've had them.

With the Rough Fells it was around that too.

I count lambing % as lambs got to weaning / yows put to the tup.