The Surprising Income from 3 Years of Backyard Sheep
Hey there sheep lovers! In this video, I'm showing you all the expenses, purchases, sales, savings and everything in between to show you the real costs of sheep farming on a small scale. From my first sheep, to my last sale, I'm sharing got all the tips and pitfalls to help you make your farm a success.
Happy homesteading!
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- Storey's Guide to Raising Sheep ► amzn.to/3EhO3gO
- The Backyard Sheep: An Introductory Guide to Keeping Productive Pet Sheep ► amzn.to/2Zr8fxi
- Premier1 42" Sheep/Goat Fence (double spike) ► amzn.to/3b9Z1Z4
- Premier1 35" Sheep/Goat Fence (single spike) ► amzn.to/3mbjPFT
- Premier1 Electric Netting Starter Kit ► amzn.to/2XMIqrb
- Sheep Minerals Premix (best for pregnant or overwintered sheep) ► amzn.to/3jDKM3z
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--TIMESTAMPS--
• Breaking even!: 0:00
• Disclaimers: 1:16
• Spent: 2:10
• Saved: 5:58
• Sold: 8:02
• Profits!: 9:52
• Mystery expense: 10:28
• Lessons learned: 11:50
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Thank you for the music!
Creek Whistle by Steve Adams
Check out their awesome youtube channel here:
/ @ncalib
Thank you for the photo!
Photo by Pixabay
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We practice REGENERATIVE agriculture on a small scale.
better soil | better plants | better animals
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• INSTAGRAM ► / highmountai. .
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ABOUT THE HIGH MOUNTAIN HOMESTEAD
Hi! I’m PJ, and my family loves the homesteading life! It’s something my wife and I have always wanted to do, but we grew up with ZERO HOMESTEADING EXPERIENCE!!!!!
We grew up in beautiful southern California, 15 minutes away from the beach. As amazing as that was, we both dreamed of a life closer to land and animals. After getting married and moving to Utah, our family slowly grew. We had become a family of four living in a townhome with a small backyard filled with potted plants.
In 2019 we dipped out feet into homesteading on 1 ¼ acre lot in Utah. In 18 months we were ready to do this for real. So in 2021 we packed everything up (including our sheep) and moved to North Carolina to 12 acres and we love every inch of our homestead!
We raise Dorper sheep and have big plans for:
• grass-fed lamb
• fullblood Dorper breeding stock
• meat chickens
• laying chickens and ducks
• heritage breed pork
• honey
• row crops
• perennial food forest
• and more
I hope you join us on our journey, subscribe and ring the bell if you haven’t yet.
• SUBSCRIBE ► / highmountai. .
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DISCLAIMER: This video and description contains affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links, I’ll receive a small commission. But don't worry, it doesn't cost you anything extra!
#sheepfarming #raisingsheep #dorpersheep
Money saved is actually even more than money earned since money earned is taxed
You forgot to include how much you saved on MOWING! Hiring someone you would have cried and doing it yourself 10 acres all of that gas and oil and blades! You have reaped more than you thought! You saved/made closer to at LEAST 15-20k over three years. These lawn people are crazy these days!
Good point! I appreciate the insight, thanks! 😄👏
We have taken a lot of cattle, pigs and sheep to the processor(s) over the years. The one question they have never asked me is "are these animals registered stock?" 😁
I totally agree about the taste of lamb. I would like to buy some land and raise sheep. It has been my favorite since childhood and was my requested special yearly birthday dinner. That and a double chocolate cake!😋😋😋😋
Lamb and double chocolate cake sounds like a delish birthday treat!
It was so good! @@homesteadingwithPJ
Thank you for sharing your numbers. I am in Montana and it is pretty crazy the difference in prices! We recently brought sheep home so we had to modify our cow fence. We started with our back pasture which is approximately 15 acres. The perimeter was all barbwire, in some places as little as 3 wires and in other places as many as 7 wires. We were able to get a great deal on a pallet of barbwire ($1,480) so we made the fence 8 strands all the way around. So far, so good, no sheep have escaped, we shall see how it does after lambing season! After watching your video I feel very lucky we were able to do it for so cheap!
That's a great deal. I've never heard of sheep with barbed wire, but I suppose if you have 8 strands, that should be secure enough. Best of luck to you!
Awesome journey
I subscribed from watching two videos where you gave information on what to expect, good and bad. I also appreciate the number breakdown. It’s realistic. Thank you.
Thank you, glad to hear it!
I feel like as the years go on, you'll start seeing a decent return. Establishing a good flock takes time and learning is expensive.
Learning seems to be the most expensive part!
@@homesteadingwithPJ I'm learning that too 😅
Great information!!!!!
Thanks for the video. This is very helpful.
Great video and congratulations!
Really informative and entertaining vids, keep it up. I raise sheep myself for over 12 years now, and I too know some guys, who raise but DO NOT eat lamb meat, which is absolutely nutritious and tasty. Me personally I eat only lamb mostly with some bacon occasionally and I love it. One thing is clear to me after more than 12 years experience-you still learn new things all the time. Anyway, subscribed and looking forward to new vids.
Thanks so much for the kind words! Lamb and bacon sounds like a good life to me 😀
Here is another new thing for you - sheep milk and cheese. Much better and tastier than their goat equivalents.
excellent!
PJ, Thanks for what you do with your channel, it is very interesting. You might consider adding to your balance sheet that your own personal time is a labor cost, since you spend time rotational grazing, and drenching for parasites. If you spend 1 hour a day, 365 days a year, and your time is worth at least $35.00 an hour, then you are losing $12,775 in personal labor costs per year of raising sheep, or lost opportunity where you could be making money doing something else. You probably make more than $35.00 an hour in the real world. On the other hand, if you had a sheep breed that you never needed to deworm, never needed to trim their hoofs, never needed a vet, that lambed outside and did not need a barn in the winter, no rotational grazing needed, no additional hay as you only raise the number of sheep your land can carry year round, then your return on investment would be much, much higher. And your headaches and burnout would not be problem. And with a no input sheep breed, you could one day ramp up to 1,000 head of sheep on a larger farm, which would be impossible with the personal labor inputs you have now and still keep your job. All you would need to ramp up to 1,000 head is more dogs on more land for raising more sheep. You would only need to count the cost of your dog food for predator control. That is all the inputs you would have. Also, with a less labor intensive breed you would be able to take a two week vacation and have your neighbor feed your dogs for you. With rotational grazing, lambing pens, checking for parasites, etc. you really can't leave for long periods. You are tied to the farm. Dorpers sell for more money, because they have more inputs and cost more to raise. Dorpers are not the right pick for the SouthEast USA with the humidity and worm loads we have here. They are good for a commercial full time farmer, maybe, but I still think they are overpriced, per pound. They are just bigger sheep, but it is how they taste that counts. Wagyu beef comes from a smaller cow in Japan, and is considered to be much better beef than the larger USA cows. Bigger is not always better. I have been raising sheep since 2010, and it took a while to figure this out. I have never wormed my sheep, rotated their grazing, put them in a barn, or done anything to them. They are "hands free" sheep. And I am free too. Take care, and I hope you do well. John Hurt
Very good perspective, and you're right about bigger isn't always better. Although I think hair sheep taste better than wool sheep. So Dorpers would win in both regards, taste and size. But yeah, I'd love to switch things up and get some St. Croix lambs to see how they finish out. My neighbor has some that he's crossing with some of my old Dorper rams. Should be cool to se what he gets out it.
When looking at it from a business standpoint, which we should for profit, I would skip the vet and buy more sheep.
Agreed. Lesson learned!
I want to get some sheep this year… if I can find some. I’m in western NC
Hey Pj. I appreciate this video a lot! As some one who has been doing sheep for 2 years now i can relate to what you were talking about. I have 2 katadhin ewes and 1 ram. As of now there "bag" seems to be filling up so hopefully ill have some lambs running around soon! I just in the past few weeks ran my numbers much like you did. I just purchased A cow that is pregnant and a calf. I haven't broke even yet.😐. According to what a came up with i will break even in a year or so. However i have it set up as the farm. So i might have broken even on sheep but not with chickens and cows. If that makes sense....in a way its like the cows are dragging down the profit from my sheep and chickens. In a couple years hopefully i will be making money off everyone! I don't really know why i wrote this but thought i would share! Thanks for this video. PS Were do you sell your lamb meat at?
Cows will take quite a bit longer to break even,(unless you get a good deal) 9 month gestation and typically have 1 calf each year but the market is on the rise. Sheep having the 5 month gestation really speeds things up plus the twins help. (One of my ewes had triplets a few days ago) if you feed the lambs well they can breed at 7-12 months old when they're ready while we breed the cows at 14-15 months old. The sheep just multiply like rabbits while the cows seem to stand still lol.
@@CrawfordFamilyFarm yea however I could sell three sheep and not got half the profit for 1 cow.
In Ohio you can comfortably run a cow and calf on 2 acres and 5-7 sheep on 1 acre. So conservatively 1 calf vs 10 ewes 150% lambing. So 1 calf vs 15 lambs average on the same land. Every other year the ewes may lamb twice. Sheep are more work but as long as they stay high in the market they're worth it.
@@CrawfordFamilyFarm Yes, you are right. I see why people do more sheep than cow. But in my area and my land is better suited for cows. Plus sheep can be kind of difficult to sell. However, I do like sheep to cover the cost of hay during the winter time for other animals.
Thanks for sharing your experience. Good to know about cows. I sell my meat direct to families. So technically I don't sell "meat" I sell a live animal and do the family a courtesy and drop that live animal off at the butcher for them. If they want I'll pick up their meat when I do my own.
Do you know if there's an app where people can invest in small farms?
I'm planning on getting sheep and wonder they be able to drink in a fishing pond? I know it's a stupid question...TY
Not stupid at all! I've seen people around me do that with cows. I think the water must flow, like a fountain or an aerator. Also, it needs to be large enough so that feces from the fish do not contaminate the water source.
Way more than I have spent on my goats.
Do you have any ewes to sell ?im in va.
I wish, but not right now.
Im sure youve been asked this a million times, but what age do you process them?
I like to process between 10-14 months for intact rams.
@@homesteadingwithPJ Why don't you castrate your meat ram lambs? Do you separate them to keep them from breeding your ewes? Thanks for the video.
You wonder how some people don't eat lamb, but all English-speaking nations fall into a very similar category - that of the people who don't use sheep milk and cheese! You would consume goat milk and cheese, but not their sheep equivalent?? What a wasted HUGE opportunity to get an additional food and income! And that provided that sheep milk is a far superior product than goat milk! Do a search. It's like another little, but big thing - eating green onions, but not green garlic :))) You're welcome!
You're so right! Sheep dairy is the KING of all dairy. The most butter fat, which means the best cheese you'll get!
This is new info to me! I never learned that sheep dairy is superior and highest butterfat. I don't think I've ever tried it!
I spend $300 per month easy on hay
How many sheep?
@@Nportiazulu 30
$12 per pound?? How about $4 per pound national average
I said at farmers market prices. I've never sold at meat lots, the $3/pound number sounds like live animal pricing.
Where I live, lamb, goat and sheep meat is super expensive. Not just anyone can afford it.
@@homesteadingwithPJ oh ok, missed that…may I ask how you do this? You get the lamb processed then sell the meat piece by piece?
@@ericjpricelawman This was under my "saved" category. i.e. lamb meat that I did not have to buy for my family, because it was in my freezer. So I figure that instead of "buying" the lamb, I "saved" $12/pound. At my farmer's market ground lamb is somewhere around $12-14/pound, and cuts can start at around $20 (and up) per pound. So I'm being pretty conservative on what I "saved". I don't sell lamb direct, however I've heard that many will sell customers a live sheep and do them the courtesy of dropping it off at the butcher for them. They then pay the butcher to process it, and pick up their meat. That way you sell a live animal, and give a customer a wholesale price based on the animal's weight.
Here Walmart ground lamb is $6.00/lb. Idk what it was 7 months ago But I do know I'd much rather buy meat that wasn't coming from who knows where and processed with additives.