Willoughby Livestock Sales Sheep (2024)

FAQs

What is the best way to sell sheep? ›

The easiest way to sell lambs and sheep is to take them to a local or regional livestock auction.

Lamb is produced from younger animals, typically less than a year old, and mutton is produced from older animals. Most lambs are brought to market at about 6 to 8 months old. A lamb weighs about 140 pounds and yields approximately 46 to 49 pounds of edible lean retail lamb cuts, semi-boneless.

Sheep ( pl. : sheep) or domestic sheep (Ovis aries) are a domesticated, ruminant mammal typically kept as livestock.

There are many advantages to marketing livestock through a public livestock auction, sale barn, or stockyard. It is convenient and easy. There are usually regular weekly sales. Sometimes, there are special graded sales or sales that cator to the increased demand for sheep and goats prior to various religious holidays.

While this will vary, a younger (two-to-four-year-old) productive commercial (non-registered) ewe can usually be purchased for $200 to $250. Depending on their age, lambs can be bought for $75 to $150. Older ewes (five years and up) are usually less, but they will have fewer productive years left.

Slaughter. Most lambs/sheep are slaughtered at 10 weeks to 6 months, though some may be 14 months old.

Age Most members select a market lamb at 2 ½ to 3 months of age when the lamb weighs between 40-75 pounds. Look for a lamb that will be between 5-7 months at county fair. Project market weights that reach an end weight of 115-140 pounds are the most desirable in the sheep industry.

At the time of the sale, market lambs will weigh between 100 and 150 pounds with an average weight of 140 pounds. Market lambs sell for between $2.50 and $4.00 a pound with an average price of $3.25 per pound.

Ewes usually produce one to three lambs annually (gestation period of five months). Lambs are ready for market anytime from weaning up to six months after birth; therefore, it is possible to receive a return on your initial investment rather quickly.

If the placenta is not expelled after 24 hours, there may be a problem. The ewe will eat the placenta because her instincts tell her to hide evidence of lambing to protect her offspring from predators. The placenta should be discarded to prevent the spread of disease and scavenging by dogs.

Why do farmers skin dead lambs? ›

If the ewe has lost her own lamb(s), skinning the dead lamb to create a 'jumper' for the foster lamb is a very effective technique, providing the tail is left on and the skin covers the anus of the foster lamb, and is reasonably well fitting.

During the day the ewes can see their lambs but as night falls they can't see each other so well, and they need to talk with each other by baaing continuously to check that all is well, or to help the lambs locate their mothers.

Lamb is the meat from young sheep. It should be distinguished from mutton, which is from adult animals. The two categories together are referred to as sheep meat. Sheep, raised for both meat and wool production, form a significant part of the economy of many countries.

SHEEP WORDS. Page 1. A female sheep is called a ewe. A male sheep is called a ram.

Traditionally, lamb retail sales are greatest during the Christmas and Easter holiday seasons.

At $75 per cwt, and assuming wool brings $10.10 per ewe, gross annual income per ewe can average $106.98-if 129 lambs can be marketed from 100 ewes. Variable costs, including feed and labor, range from $74.45 to $77.03 per ewe. Fixed costs, including interest, average $12.77 per ewe.

The world's most expensive sheep has just been purchased for $490,000. Double Diamond is a Texel sheep that just broke the world record for price sold. A sheep sold for a record 350,000 guineas – or around $490,000 in American money – at an auction in Scotland this week.

Sheep producers sell sheep by auction or directly to slaughterhouses, restaurants or retail outlets. Some producers sell lamb at farmer's markets. Sheep producers raising purebred sheep sell breeding stock to other producers. A market is necessary for selling wool and sheep's milk.