Selling
Selling online: The most profitable way by far is to sell lambs yourself. Proven ewes and ewe lambs usually sale quickly. Ram and ram lambs are a different story. At the time of this writing the sale a quality ewe lambs are around $200+ and a ram lamb for $150+.(I’m not referring to registered stock). In the past 2 years(2023/2024) I’ve seen a lot of people selling their ewes for $125-150 and rams for $100. Be careful where you buy from though.
Market sales: I’ve watched the market for the past 5 years. November-Jananuary seems to be the best time to sale. There are some spikes throughout the year but Nov-Jan seem to be the highest. You’re local feed stores or Co-ops would probably know where your local selling stations are, if you are unfamiliar with selling to such. There is a Selling Station for market within 20 mins of the farm. The Graded Sale in Columbia, Tn has the potential for the most money. This is not a location I have pursued being 2 hours away. At that point a four hour drive per trip plus time waiting in line, it’s not worth the time and gas to take just a few sheep. There is also always a chance bids are low that day. Lets say cost for live weight is $2.25/pound: You have a 6 month lamb to market at 50#, making it worth $112 dollars at market. They will pack on more weight with the help of grain feeds but at cost. This year I’ve seen the price of sheep(prime) from $1.50 to $2.95 per pound.
One of the biggest advantages of market sales are not having to deal with people. Examples: ‘I don’t have the money right now but if you hold them I’ll come back and buy them’ or they set a time to come to the farm and no one shows up. If you sell enough animals you will see what I am talking about. Luckily, most people are not like this. One other note, wool sheep are a harder sale due to people not wanting to shear. We keep a few wool sheep for ourselves.
Buying: There are lot of small herds for sale that you can usually buy up pretty cheap. Just remember, most the time they are not selling because they are making a good profit. If you see a lot of different ear tags on lambs, walk away. They are usually a collection of several different farm culls someone bought at an auction. You may bring something back to your farm that has longterm effects. Long legged skinny sheep don’t pack on weight good(unless they have a lamb on them). I have walked away from several farms after looking at there stock, it’s okay to be picky. If they don’t like it, o well. Save there number in your phone as shit stock or bad sheep so you don’t contact them in the future. Just beware if you are constantly buying/selling new stock you will get something on your farm you don’t want eventually. Be picky, buying from reputable sellers is worth paying more in the long run.
