Farmer Focus: Best sheep profit won’t pay for retirement
James and Belinda Kimber © Kathy Horniblow A margin of £163 a ewe and a loss of £500 a cow got people asking questions.
First, these are gross margins done by the University of Reading. Second, the sheep margin is our best – based on 527 commercials and 200 pedigree ewes – and the suckler cow figure is perhaps our worst to date.
Our average prime lamb price was £117, with 1.6 lambs sold a ewe. Add in 50 ram lambs at £404 apiece, 40 breeding gimmers at £287, and pedigree cull ewes at £179, and that gives an average lamb value of £138.
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We got away without buying fertiliser, got a good deal on 28t of creep at £275/t, and bought less soya as we scanned lower than the normal 200%. We had lower costs and 24% more output on the previous year.
We stocked at six ewes to the acre, rotationally grazing high-sugar grass and clover reseeds. Mind, this includes 30t of creep.
We bought ewe lambs at £85-£90 in 2018 and four crops later culled them for £162. And because we had taken on land to run more commercial sheep, we culled nearly 40% of the pedigree flock this year, which boosted income.
Costs were £66 a ewe, including 100% of the quad bike costs, 75% of the straw, silage and tractor costs, and 80% of the reseeding costs.
Rent on 48ha (two thirds poor permanent pasture, 16ha of good reseeds) was £99/ha. Construction of the muck store and silage pit was split 50:50 between cattle and sheep.
The profit the sheep leave is not enough for my dream retirement to Barbados, but possibly enough to ask a therapist why I flog myself!
What made the cows look bad this year was some sub-standard semen that failed to get cows in-calf, adding a cost of 20 extra inseminations and oestrus synchronisation (at £15 a time).
The health scheme costs £80 a cow and we invest in biosecurity to keep wildlife out. We also spent £180 a head on creep. I’ve found less of a market for naturally done bulls compared with tups.
Because I like clean cattle, I spend £32.40 a day on straw over a seven-month winter, but it’s paid for if it helps sell a bull or two. Plus, we only used one bottle of antibiotics on 40 cows and followers.