RAI$ING $HEEP I$ $O FUN

I took the sheep to the auction today.

This is my first direct experience working with sheep, and I really wasn't sure what to expect. Lamb Prices are not something I've made a point to keep track of throughout my life. Typically to estimate the value of something I'm selling, I'll look up what others are asking and dock about 15% to 20% figuring a buyer will dicker. I saw that some were asking about $1 per pound for fat lambs in the local want ads, so if I could get $0.80 to $0.85 per pound I'd be doing well.

I also wasn't quite sure how to estimate the weight of a lamb. I know how to weigh a horse with a measuring tape, but all I know about sheep is that they are a lot of wooly fluff. I guessed that they looked heavier than they really were and just took a SWAG that they were about 100 pounds each. What I thought they were worth was really irrelevant because at auction they are going to sell for whatever a buyer is willing to pay. It doesn't matter what the seller thinks. I just have to do some figuring so that I have hopes that can be dashed when I don't get what I expect.

I learned from the pig loading experience (an hour and a half of chasing crazed pigs all over my half acre pasture all the while reminding myself that pork tastes a whole lot better when it's not beaten and bruised). I had been pre-conditioning the lambs by feeding them grain in the horse trailer. I loaded them this morning in the dark in less that 60 seconds.

At the auction, I was the first seller there at about 7:30 am. Everything had "Closed" signs on it, but I roused a rough-looking old cowboy type out of the coffee shop under the auction pit. He directed me where to back in and admired the ease with which I chummed the lambs into their assigned pen with a hand full of grain. Then I dropped the trailer off at Dad's house and went to work.

I went back after work to pick up the payment. The place was about as busy as when I showed up this morning. This time instead of a well worn cowboy in the coffee shop, there was a classy looking mature lady in the office. Lucky for me, since that's where my check was. I told her my name. She could tell I wasn't a regular and teased me that my lambs may not have sold at all. I knew that would have been a disaster since I'm flat out of feed. Not to mention the fact that Dad's trailer that I used to haul them this morning was already off on other adventures. She shuffled through a pile of envelopes and handed me a check.

I was just happy that they sold at all by that time. I looked at the check, and it was for just over $550 after the auctioneer's commission, and the inspection fees, etc. Not bad. The lambs weighed in at 640 pounds for the six of them, and I got $0.89/lb. for them. I'm so pleased with myself for figuring it out that closely. I was sure that I was going to get something like $300 for them all.

I have to admit that raising sheep was more fun that I thought it was going to be. I had grown up calling them range maggots, and believing that cattle ranchers were far superior to sheep herders. They were really fun to have around, especially with the kids. The pasture is in better condition now than before we got them. They ate the noxious weeds, and didn't dig up the roots of the grass. Plus, we got well over twice what we paid for all the inputs.

In all honesty my wife did nearly all the work. She feed them bottles when they were younger, she watered them most of the summer with the kids' "help". She chased them when the neighboors let them out of the pasture. All I did was feed a little hay the last few weeks and take them to auction.

I may even buy lambs again.