Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Selling or leasing breeding stock or selling club lambs (to 4-H groups and
other youth programs for showing) may provide an opportunity for profi t,
particularly if you've invested in some purebred or registered animals. But
even if you have grade animals that you've bred for certain superior traits,
they may be quite marketable as breeding stock or show lambs for nonbreed
sanctioned shows.
There's also a unique aspect of the live-animal business that may be
worth investigating: sheep as weed-control or fi re-suppression work crews!
Shepherds, with a fl ock of sheep, a portable electric-fencing system, and a
portable solar fence charger, are fi nding good money in selling the services of
their four-legged mowing crews. In many western states, where overly mature
grass becomes a fi re hazard, individuals and government entities are hiring
shepherds to keep the grass young and vegetative, thereby reducing the fi re
hazard.
Ram Rental
Providing breeding services to people who have just a few sheep for “lawn
mowers” and do not want to keep their own ram is a little business all in itself.
We've been on both ends of ram rental over the years and have found it to
be a convenient and reasonable method of making a little extra money off a
ram we already owned or for getting some new blood into our sheep without
having to go out and purchase another ram. If you have a ram you're willing
to rent, look for folks in the area with four or six sheep; microfl ock owners
typically do not want to be bothered keeping a ram and would much rather
pay for the use of yours. The rental, for money or for a choice of one of the
lambs, can help pay for the maintenance of an extra ram that you might want
to keep to give yourself more breeding options.
Purebred or Specialty Breeding Stock
When raising purebred or registered sheep on a small scale, you should try to
realize some profi ts from the sale of breeding stock, though for most breeders
in the class, those sales won't offset the extra expenses incurred in maintain-
ing registered stock. Purebred and registered sheep cost more initially, and
receipts for the sale of wool and meat aren't substantially higher than what
you'd receive with less-expensive breeding stock. Maintaining a registered
fl ock involves extra expenses — in both time and money — for record keeping,
registration fees, and advertising. You need experience with sheep or good
