by
Susan Schoenian
Date of last revision:
28-Dec-2005 0:00
Click HERE to download as a MS Word file.
Sheep are a multi-purpose animal, raised for meat, milk, and wool. They are
also valued for their skins and hides. Increasingly, sheep are being used to
control unwanted vegetation.
One of the first and most important decisions a shepherd must make is to decide what aspect of sheep production to focus on. While most sheep are multi-purpose, there are breeds which are better suited to meat, milk, or wool. Production practices will also vary according to the emphasis of the flock.
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In
the United States, meat production is the |
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Hair
sheep are the fastest growing |
In the United States, most sheep and lambs are meat-type animals kept mainly for the production of lambs for meat or dual purpose breeds kept both for the production of lambs for meat and wool.
Meat sheep producers sell either slaughter lambs or feeder lambs. Slaughter lambs are usually purchased for immediate slaughter. While the average slaughter weight of lambs in the United States is about 135 lbs., lambs sold to the ethnic markets tend to be much lighter (< 100 lbs.). In some parts of the U.S., there is a market for slaughter lambs at most any weight.
Feeder lambs are lambs kept for the purpose of feeding for slaughter. Feeder lambs range in weight from 50 to 90 lbs., with the demand usually being the highest for 60-70 lb. lambs.
In a meat sheep enterprise, the primary factors which determine profitability are percent lamb crop, lamb growth rates, and market prices. Unless feed costs are very low, it is difficult to make a profit from a ewe that produces just one lamb.
Click HERE for a Sample Sheep Enterprise Budget (Excel Spreadsheet).
Commercial lamb feeding is a traditional sheep enterprise in the U.S. and is becoming more common place in other countries. In some parts of the U.S. lamb feeding is a seasonal enterprise, occurring primarily in the fall and winter. In other areas (e.g. Texas, Colorado, and the Corn Belt), lamb feed lots are a year-round business.
In a lamb feeding enterprise, feeder lambs (50 to 90 lbs.) are purchased and fed to finish weights of 100 lbs. or more. The major cost in finishing lambs is feed. Lambs can be finished on a variety of diets: complete pelleted rations, whole grain rations, or high-forage diets. Cheap gains can often be put on lambs on pasture or grazing crop aftermaths.
Click HERE for a Sample Feeder Lamb Budget (Excel Spreadsheet).
The declining value of wool relative to meat, along with the decreasing number of sheep shearers, has contributed to an expansion in hair sheep production, not only in the United States, but other countries as well. It is estimated that approximately 10 percent of the world's sheep population is hair sheep. While a 2001 study placed U.S. hair sheep numbers at only 3 percent of the sheep population, informal surveys suggest much higher proportions of hair sheep in the population. USDA NASS will begin assessing hair sheep in the next Ag Census.
Hair sheep naturally shed their coats (mixtures of hair and wool fibers) and do not require shearing, crutching, or docking. Hair sheep tend to be more resistant to internal parasites (gastro-intestinal worms) and other pests than wooled sheep. In addition, hair sheep breeds possess many desirable reproductive characteristics, such as early puberty, out-of-season breeding, and prolificacy. Hair sheep are promoted as an "easy-care" alternative to wooled sheep and traditional production systems. Hair sheep ewes often lamb on pasture. Lambs are commonly grass-finished.
Because hair sheep production continues to grow, there is a strong market for hair sheep breeding stock. Many hair sheep producers sell their ewe lambs as breeding stock and their male lambs for meat.
Click HERE to read [PDF] "More Profit With Hair Sheep" (Source: The Kerr Center for Sustainable Agriculture).
Click HERE to read "An Update on Hair Sheep in the U.S." (Source: Maryland Small Ruminant Page).
Wool was the first commodity to be traded internationally, and is the product the public most commonly associates with sheep. However, the importance of wool (as a product) relative to meat has declined dramatically. In the early 1900's, the majority of income from a sheep operation was from the sale of wool. Today, it is the other way around. While wool tends to be more important in range-type operations and there is a subsidy for wool, lambs still contribute the majority of income to the operator.
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Sheep producers can increase the income they receive for their wool by marketing fleeces directly to handspinners or by processing wool and marketing value-added products. Image:
Maryland Wool Pool |
Selling wool in the commercial wool market has limited profit potential, but niche marketing wool can pay big dividends. For example, while wool sold commercially may bring only 75 cents per pound, fleeces sold to hand spinners could bring as much as $15 per pound. Many producers process their own wool into yarn, roving, blankets, or crafts and market value-added products. There are several cooperative ventures in the U.S. to add value to wool.
Fleeces sold to hand spinners need to be of high quality. Feeding, housing, health care, and handling are all critical to the production of good quality wool. Fleeces should be skirted. Skirting is when you remove the undesirable parts of the fleece. Parts which should be removed from a fleece include belly wool, tags, stained wool, coarse wool, cotted wool, and short wool. Some producers will put covers on their sheep to prevent the fleeces from getting dirty and guard against the sun's ultraviolet rays, which may cause fading at the tips of colored fleeces. Wool also grows more under covers. A sheep's coat will have to be changes repeatedly as the fleece grows under it.
Click HERE to read "Producing Wool for Hand spinners" (Source: lifestyleblock.co.nz).
Visit
these farms than specialize in wool production:
Morehouse Farm Merino (New York)
Sheepy Valley Farms (New York)
Maple Ridge Sheep Farm (Vermont)
Thirteen Mile Lamb and Wool Company (Montana)
Homestead Wool and Gift Farm
(Wisconsin)
Redbud Wool Farm (California)
Lismore Sheep Farm Wool Shop
(Nova Scotia)
Sheep have been milked for thousands of years and were milked long before cows were. The world's commercial dairy sheep industry is concentrated in Europe and the countries on or near the Mediterranean Sea. The industry is in its infancy in the United States, but growing. Most of the U.S. sheep dairies are located in the Upper Midwest (Wisconsin and Minnesota), California, and the New England states.
Sheep's milk is usually made into cheese. Some milk is made into yogurt and ice cream. Fresh sheep's milk is seldom consumed. Milk can be sold to a processor for conversion to cheese or the milk can be processed by the producer and marketed as a value-added product.
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Milking facilities and equipment are the biggest expense associated with sheep dairying. Image:
Spooner Agricultural Research |
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In small operations, sheep can be milked by hand. Image: Republic of Moldova |
While any breed of sheep can be milked, there are specialized dairy sheep breeds, much like there are specialized breeds of cattle and goats for dairy production. Examples of dairy sheep breeds include the East Friesian of Germany, Lacaune of France, Chios of Greece, British Milksheep of the U.K., and the Awassi and Assaf of Israel. These breeds will produce from 400 to 1,100 pounds of milk per lactation. Dairy sheep breeds are not widely available due to strict regulations pertaining to the importation of live sheep, semen, and embryos. Hopefully, their availability will improve in years to come.
U.S. breeds which are best adapted to dairy production are Dorset and Polypay. They only produce 100 to 200 pounds of milk per lactation. Crosses between domestic breeds and specialized dairy breeds averages 250 to 650 pounds of milk per lactation.
The nutritional requirements of dairy ewes is significantly higher than ewes being raised for meat and/or wool. Total feed requirements will depend on lactation length. Some feeds can impart undesirable flavors to the milk (e.g. fish meal) and should not be fed in large quantities during lactation. Dairy ewes have the highest water requirement of any class of sheep at approximately three gallons per head per day.
While the weaning age of non-dairy flocks averages 60 to 90 days, dairy lambs are weaned at 30 days of age or younger, so that the ewes can be milked when they are still producing adequate amounts of milk. Milking facilities and equipment will be the biggest expense in a dairy sheep operation. The type of milking parlor may vary according to the size of the operation. Producers milking less than 50 ewes may utilize a platform for milking, whereas a "pit" parlor is desirable for larger operations. After milk is cooled, it can be shipped to a processing plant or frozen for later use. While fresh milk may result in a product of slightly higher quality, frozen milk has been shown to produce very acceptable products. The ability to freeze milk on the farm and deliver large quantities to the processor at infrequent intervals allows the establishment of sheep dairies great distances from a processing plant.
In a dairy sheep operation, milk is one of three major products, the others being meat and wool. Lamb and wool can be a major source of income from a dairy sheep operation.
Click HERE for Dairy Sheep Resources at the University of Wisconsin.
You can purchase a CD-ROM entitled "Principles of Sheep Dairying in North America" from HERE.
Visit
these dairy sheep farms on the web:
Old Chatham Shepherding Company (New York)
Willow Hill Farm (Vermont)
River Terrace Farm Dairy (New Zealand)
Shepherd Gourmet Dairy (Ontario)
1797 Farm (Maine)
High Weald Dairy (England)
Many sheep farms specialize in the production and sale of breeding stock. Breeding stock includes ewes and rams, purebred registered animals as well as commercial crossbreds. Customers for breeding stock may be other seedstock producers or commercial sheep producers.
In areas where there is a large commercial sheep industry, producers may find ready markets for rams. One avenue to sell rams is to participate in Central Ram Performance Testing Programs. In a ram test, rams are evaluated for rate-of-gain, feed efficiency, structural correctness, and breeding soundness. Inferior rams are usually not allowed to sell. Consignment sales, production sales, and private treaty sales are other means of selling breeding stock.
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Record
keeping is an important aspect of seedstock production.
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Club lambs are big business! |
Record keeping is an important aspect of seedstock production. The National Sheep Improvement Program (NSIP) is a computerized performance record keeping system for small ruminant producers. NSIP allows the comparison of sheep from different flocks under different feeding and management systems. Producers can also do their own on-farm record keeping. There are various computer programs available for this purpose.
Nowadays, it is recommended that breeding rams, especially those sold to other seedstock producers, be blood tested for scrapie genotype. Rams with suseptible genotypes (e.g. QQ) should probably not be sold for breeding, if progeny will be kept for breeding. QQ rams can be used to produce club lambs or as terminal sires in commercial flocks where all lambs will go to slaughter. Scrapie is not a genetic disease; however, an individual's genotype determines whether it will get scrapie if it is exposed to the infective agent.
Producers of breeding stock are also encouraged to enroll their flocks in the Voluntary Scrapie Flock Certification Program (VSFCP). The VSFCP is a monitoring program for scrapie administered by USDA-APHIS. It involves an annual flock inspection, record keeping, and ear tagging. After five years of scrapie-free monitoring, a flock can be certified as "scrapie-free."
Click HERE to learn more about the Voluntary Scrapie Flock Certification Program and/or to locate sources of breeding stock which are enrolled in the program.
Some sheep farms specialize in the production and sale of club lambs. Club lambs are "feeder" lambs (ewes or wethers) that 4-H and FFA members purchase to develop as market lambs to exhibit at county and state fairs, regional and national shows. Market lamb projects are usually "terminal," meaning they start with the purchase of a lamb and end with the sale of the lamb usually for slaughter. While any lamb can be shown in a market lamb class, certain breeds will be more competitive. Heavy muscled lambs that finish between 100 and 135 lbs. are usually the most competitive in the show ring. Hampshires, Suffolks, and crosses between these two breeds are the most common type of club lamb, as well as the most competitive. Dorsets, Southdowns, and Shropshires can also make good club lambs. Some shows separate lambs by weight increments, while others separate lambs by breed. Some shows collect carcass data on lambs and award additional prizes to youth participants.
Since 1999, a lamb carcass contest has been held in conjunction with the State Fair of Virginia. Click HERE to read a summary of the Virginia State Fair Lamb Carcass Evaluation Study.
Club
Lamb Links
Club
Lamb Page
MyLamb.com
Club
Lambs Web Ring
Club Lamb Management
Guide
[PDF]
4-H Show Lamb Guide
NOTE: Some states (e.g. Maryland and West Virginia) have tail docking rules for 4-H lamb shows. Lambs must have a minimum tail length (usually 0.7 inches) in order to be shown at a 4-H sponsored show. Therefore, breeders selling into this market must dock lambs in accordance with the rule. Docking lambs at the distal end of the caudal tail fold is the recommended tail docking practice and results in a 99 percent probability that the lamb will meet the minimum requirement for tail length.
