Well, after a tough season with lambs (we have lost 2 recently right before they are all supposed to be butchered) Joe and I have been discussing what to do differently next season. Honestly, we are small and can’t afford to lose the number of lambs we lost this year – period.
So the question came up – and I will be honest with all of you, I seriously just want to feed them and move them through quicker – should we grass-feed or feed some grain etc. Well I think our plan will be to raise them as we raise other animals that we do for butchering, mostly pasture but add grain to keep up their health.
Plain and simple, this season our lambs are 100% grass-fed and are 30lbs+ less than what they should be. This is because of the pasture and the drought. No rain means that the nutrient content of the pasture went down significantly – usually at 15% protein and this season, probably 6-8%. So to keep their health up, as much as I would LOVE to say 100% grass-fed I probably will have to adjust that to meet the health needs of growing lambs.
Pretty much the thing is that we need make SOME money with the lambs to pay for the original breeding stock and replacements we get. 2 years into this, and we haven’t made the money back from our 1st sheep purchase!! Then on top of that I have added and replaced sheep and STILL haven’t made the money back – just added more debt.
So – back to the drawing board this winter to figure out what our plan is.
