INTRODUCTION

High net farm incomes can be realised by farming with sheep. However, careful planning, a fair amount of capital and above average farm management are pre requisites for high profits from sheep farming.

Each farmer needs to work out the best sheep system for his farm.

The sheep system to be discussed in this leaflet provides guidelines and is suitable for adaptation to the individual farm.

THE OVERALL SYSTEM

The ewe could be run on veld or kikuyu for the summer months and on maize stalks or kikuyu foggage for the winter months.

Lambing down in autumn would be on kikuyu or irrigated Italian ryegrass/clover. The ewe would return to kikuyu foggage or go to maize stalks once the slaughter lamb has been weaned at a mass of 18 kg.

The following depicts the activities and the timing of activities of a possible slaughter lamb system.

• Mate: 9 October - 30 November (ewes on veld or kikuyu)
• Lamb: 9 March - 30 April (on kikuyu or irrigated ryegrass/clover)
• Wean: June/early July at 18 kg (ewes to foggaged
• Kikuyu: lambs remain on irrigated ryegrass/clover)
• Market lambs: September/October at 40 kg (off irrigated ryegrass/clover)
• Stocking rate: 25 to 30 ewes plus their lambs per hectare of irrigated ryegrass/clover

Once the lambs have been marketed, i.e. by 15 October, the irrigated ryegrass/clover pasture could be used for:

• steaming up the ewes in order to improve fecundity;
• sheep speculation purposes;
• growing ryegrass seed for home "consumption";
• steaming up beef cows, prior to calving, or for calving down purposes;
• grazing by beef long yearlings.

These five options are discussed in greater detail under the heading "post marketing strategy".

SUMMER GRAZING FOR THE EWE

The ewe could utilize veld during the summer. There are two important points to bear in mind when running sheep on veld.

• Firstly, sheep are selective grazers and can selectively graze, or rather overgraze, the desirable veld grasses, leading to possible degradation of the veld. The stocking rate of sheep on veld is of cardinal importance.

• Secondly, sheep should never constitute more than 50 % of the animal units that graze on the veld.

Thus, for example, a Highland Sourveld area may have a grazing capacity of 1 animal unit (AU) per ha (i.e. 6 sheep/ha for the grazing season). However, 50 % of the 1 AU/ha should be sheep and 50 % should be cattle. Therefore, graze no more than 3 sheep/ha of veld.

Since most farmers have paid for the land they do not see the allocation of veld costs to the ewe as an actual cost. However, the farmer who has to borrow the capital to buy the veld is subject to interest charges and thus the interest charge per sheep per year. Table 1 gives the cost of carrying a ewe through summer, based on the land value of veld.

TABLE 1. The effect of land value on the cost of carrying a through summer 

^* Interest rates vary over the year and from year to year

Kikuyu

Should the ewes be run on kikuyu, say at a stocking rate of between 27 and 60 x 50 kg ewes/hectare, the cost of the kikuyu pasture per year should be costed against the ewes. Assuming a topdressing cost for kikuyu pasture of R500/hectare, at 60 ewes per hectare of kikuyu, the cost per ewe would be R8,33/year.

Variable costs
In addition to grazing costs, yearly variable costs should be allocated to the cost of "running" a ewe.

Depending on the price of wool, the income from 4 kg wool derived from 1 ewe could return the following:

Thus the income from the wool could cover the variable costs of the ewe.

Obviously the costs and gross income varies from farm to farm and year to year. The object of the above exercise is to make the farmer conscious of costs pertaining to the ewe. By keeping accurate updated records the individual farmer can work out the costs and income on his farm.

The winter feeding of the ewe plays an integral part in the overall profitability of the sheep enterprise.

A maize crop yielding 4 tons of grain/ha could carry 6 ewes/ha for 120 days of the winter on the maize stalks once the grain has been harvested. This is a relatively cheap winter feed since the stalks are a by product of maize grain production. The cost of production of the maize has been costed against the grain enterprise.

The rams should be allocated a defined area of irrigated ryegrass/clover or fed on kikuyu foggage plus a concentrate.

Lambs born between 15 March and 30 April are grazed with the ewe on kikuyu and then on irrigated ryegrass/clover. When the lambs reach 18 kg live mass the ewe is removed from the irrigated ryegrass/clover. The ewe is then fed on maize stalks or kikuyu foggage. The lambs remain on the irrigated ryegrass/clover until they reach marketable mass, that is, about 40 kg.

The stocking rate norm for sheep on irrigated Italian ryegrass/clover should be from 25 to 30 ewes, with at least 30 lambs per ha. The limiting factor is the feeding of 30 lambs during the mid-winter period (June and July), whilst on the ryegrass/clover.

Gross income
The gross income/ha from the lambs is depicted by the following formula:

Where G.I. = gross income/ha

N = number of lambs/ha

P = price/kg live mass

W = final live mass (mean for all lambs)

For example: [30 lambs x (R3/kg x 40 kg)] + [30 lambs wool x (1 kg x R6)] would result in a gross income of R3 780/ha.

Variable costs
The variable costs involved in slaughter lamb production are represented by the following formula:

Variable costs = R + V + T + L + M + S

Where R = Irrigated ryegrass/clover cost/ha

V = Veterinary costs/ha

T = Transport cost/ha

L = Labour cost/ha

M = Miscellaneous costs/ha

S = Shearing costs

For example, assuming R1 950 for the ryegrass/clover pasture and R1 242 for the other variable costs for 30 ewes and 30 lambs) the total variable costs would be (R1 950 + R1 242) R3 192.

Gross margin per hectare
From this example the gross margin per hectare would be:

gross income less variable costs would be
= (R3 780 - R3 192) = R588
Profit per hectare = R588

Sheep on pasture

By the middle of October all the slaughter lambs should have reached 40 kg live mass and should have been marketed.

What could be done to utilise the irrigated ryegrass/clover after the 15th of October?

There are several possibilities, some of which are briefly discussed.

• Speculation, per hectare of irrigated ryegrass/clover

Lambs could be purchased: say 70 lambs of 26 kg. Naturally the purchase price is the key to the profitability of the speculation exercise. The average daily gain of the purchased lambs should be of the order of 170 g. Thus about 85 days are required for the purchased lambs to reach a marketing mass of 40 kg.

Cost of the speculation (per ha)

	Costs/ha
70 lambs x 26 kg x R2,50/kg live mass	R4 550
Veterinary and dosing	R   310
N (topdressing of pasture)	R   100
Transport x 2 + marketing costs + labour	R1 410
Shearing costs	R     98
TOTAL	R6 468