When it comes to raising livestock for meat, sheep can be a relatively affordable option for homesteaders compared to other animals like cattle.
While there are certainly upfront costs involved in getting a flock established, once you have your infrastructure and flock in place sheep can provide a low-cost source of high-quality meat.
In this article, I’ll break down the typical costs you can expect when raising sheep for meat on your homestead. Keep in mind that costs will vary depending on the size of your flock, facilities, feed prices in your area, veterinary costs and other factors.
This breakdown is based on estimates for a small flock of 10-15 sheep.
Start-Up Costs:
- Sheep (ewes and ram): $100-150 per head for registered breeding stock. You can pay less for unregistered stock or lambs. Plan to start with 3-5 ewes.
- Fencing supplies: $1,000-2,000 to fence in a 1-2 acre grazing area with net wire fencing, T-posts and gates.
- Shelter: $500-1,000 to build a basic 3-sided shed for shelter. Not required but provides protection from weather.
- Feeders and waterers: $100-200 for movable feeders and automatic waterers.
- Tools: $100-200 for clippers, shears, medication supplies, fencing tools, etc.
Annual Operating Expenses:
- Feed: $100-300 per year depending on forage availability. Grain or hay may be needed to supplement pasture, especially in winter.
- Veterinary care: $50-150 per year on average. Expect some costs for vaccines, parasite treatment, occasional medical care.
- Fencing/facility maintenance: $50-100 per year for repairs, replacing worn materials.
- Breeding/lambing supplies: $50-100 as needed for things like lambing pens, obstetric lubricant, identification tags, etc.
- Shearing: $5-10 per head if hiring a professional shearer. You can do it yourself for free with a little practice.
- Registration fees (if applicable): $25-50 annually for record keeping if breeding registered stock.
- Lambing/kid losses: Plan for 5-10% mortality rate among newborns each year until you gain experience.
Meat Production Income:
- Lambs for meat: $100-150 per lamb marketed at 50-80 lbs live weight depending on breed, quality, and market. A productive ewe can lamb 1-2 times per year. With 10 ewes, expect 20-30 lambs per year for the freezer/income.
- Cull ewes: $50-100 each depending on age and quality if sold at a livestock auction or to a processor. Plan to replace 1-2 per year on average.
As you can see, with the initial infrastructure investment factored in, costs average out to around $3-5 per pound of lamb produced over the life of the flock when you consider meat income.
And those costs decrease significantly each year as your flock grows without needing to purchase additional ewes. Within 3-5 years, a homestead flock can become largely self-sustaining with only annual maintenance costs and supplies.
Sheep can be a very affordable source of high-quality meat when raised on a small scale. Of course, your time and labor are a factor as well but raising sheep is enjoyable for many homesteaders. I hope this cost breakdown helps you determine if adding sheep to your homestead is a good fit! Let me know if you have any other questions.