Jump to content
BC Boards

Bill Fosher

Registered Users
  • Posts

    2,030
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Contact Methods

  • Website URL
    http://
  • ICQ
    0

Profile Information

  • Gender
    Male
  • Location
    Westmoreland, NH

Recent Profile Visitors

2,550 profile views

Bill Fosher's Achievements

Newbie

Newbie (1/14)

  1. Bucks County has a washable process. You put the hide in the washer on the gentle cycle with a certain kind of detergent (Woolite, maybe?).
  2. Maja, For me? Not really. I managed to sell a few for $120, out of which came a consignment commission. I gave most of them to family and friends as gifts. I have 20 or so, plus a deer hide, ready to go now. I am not in a big rush to spend the money, but I also don't want to see them just rot.
  3. Last time I used Bucks County (about three years ago) it was $60 per hide plus shipping. They do not accept credit cards -- they will either ship COD or send you a bill and ship your hides out after they get your check. My all-in costs, not counting the time I spent prepping the hides and salting them, were about $85 per hide.
  4. It doesn't get very cold here, Julie. We only have a few days where it stays below zero, and it seldom dips below -20, even at night. I love those days when the snow squeaks under your boots. Makes me feel alive and vibrant.
  5. I wouldn't be raising sheep in your environment. I would be dead. We've had six days over 90 F this year so far, and I thought I was going to die during each of them. We have even hit triple digits once.
  6. That may be true in your circumstances, Julie, but it is not a good rule of thumb. In systems like mine, where the majority of the cost of production of a lamb is in the cost of keeping the ewe over the winter, nearly all of the margin (if indeed there is a margin) comes from post-weaning growth. Selling a 65-lb weaned lamb at $1.25/lb nets me $81.25 (less if I have to pay trucking, yardage, and commission), and I probably spent about that much just keeping the ewe last winter. Selling a finished, 125 lb lamb at 90 cents a pound nets me $112.50. Assuming that the lamb gains a half a pound a day, that means he's earning me about 25 cents a day while he's growing out, and really the only cost is my labor. Economies of scale are very important here -- it takes virtually the same amount of labor to raise 10 lambs as it does raise 400 post weaning. Ten lambs earning 25 cents a day means $2.50 a day; 400 means $100 a day. When I have to start feeding supplemental concentrates and hay, the math changes pretty quickly, but I can justify them by selling to more upscale markets that pay a significant premium over market price for quality.
  7. Oh, but the drama for those few minutes!
  8. If you're there every day anyway, switch to hand feeding. It's better for the dogs, it'll make them more effective guardians (they'll be guarding the sheep and not the self-feeder), and you'll be better able to get your hands on them when need be. Five months is a little young to go to once a day feeding, but it would probably be okay. I've kept sheep that far from home, and I know what a pain it is to go there when the weather is rotten or when the only thing you need to do is feed the guard dogs, but I think it's part of the deal.
  9. Hi Julie, Just as you predicted, I did notice this thread and I do have an opinion. Big surprise on the second part, eh? ;>) If you can get the shipping done right quick, you're probably good as far as their welfare during the trip. But you need to be aware of the amount o stress that travel, change of diet, and change of surroundings can have on sheep. If the ewes are used to rides on trailers, the trip itself will probably not be a big stress on them. If not, it could be huge. A five hour trip also probably means a change of climate as well, which would be a stress even if the climate is "better." The main things you want to watch for are signs of pneumonia and metabolic disorders. Find out what they've been getting for feed and change it as little as possible as gradually as possible. We bought a group of 150 ewe exposed lambs and shipped them 12 hours including an international border crossing vet check in the third month of their pregnancy without difficulty. 90 of them lambed, which is about what the source flock predicted. I have trucked ewes within a couple of weeks of lambing without ill effects. In my opinion, the most risky time to the pregnancy is in the first month or so.
  10. Candy, I think it's mostly a matter of patience. Anything that is tangled can be untangled if you are Zen enough about it. However, after 15 years, the plastic stays will no longer be straight, so the effort at untangling probably won't be rewarded by a functional net. Is there a substantial section that is not tangled that you could cut out and use as a short piece?
  11. With just four left, it might not take as long as I predicted. If those four are showing bags now, you'll probably be done in three or four weeks.
  12. Could be due to one of the abortion diseases. I'd isolate the ewe ASAP and watch the others carefully.
  13. Meghan, When I am contemplating producing ram lambs for breeding, I know which ones I intend to keep before the father and mother are introduced. The only question is whether a ram lamb will be produced from the mating. As a practical matter, this means that if I want to keep a ram lamb out of ewe 4001 and ram 7008, I make sure that 4001 is in 7008's breeding group. When 4001 lambs, if she has a ram lamb that meets my criteria for birthing ease, litter size, and has no obvious structural defects, then he is left entire. In the end, he still may or may not make the team, but at least he has the gear needed if he grows well, etc. I recently purchased a ram lamb from a very advanced breeder who uses a genetic program called Lambplan to estimate the breeding value of her sheep based on the traits they express and their genetic background. Based on this, we can predict that lambs sired by this ram will gain about 4 more pounds post weaning than the average of the rest of her flock and have an additional 2.5 mm of eye muscle depth. That's pretty impressive, and I'm hoping that I will see it in my next lamb crop!
×
×
  • Create New...