Economics of Sheep Dairying
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The Economics of feeding Dairy Ewes-2023- Courtney Vriens, Vriens Nutrition Consulting, Ms. Vriens talks about the importance of nutrition in a dairy ewe and the monetary costs involved.
Virtual Tour of a Shepherd’s Creek Dairy Farm – 2019 – Butch Cargile. A history and virtual tour of Shepherd’s Creek Dairy Farm that discusses their breeding program (including artificial insemination), feed, disease prevention, and economics.
Agricultural Adaptation to Climate Change: Improving Resilience in Diary Systems – 2019 – Joshua Faulkner, PhD, Research Assistant Professor, Farming and Climate Change Program Coordinator, Center for Sustainable Agriculture, University of Vermont Extension. A paper that offers a description of climate change, how it will potentially affect agriculture through temperature and precipitation changes, and practices that can help adapt to or mitigate climate change.
Metabolic & Nutritional Needs of High-Producing Dairy Animals – 2019 – Butch Cargile, DVM, MS. A presentation highlighting ways to improve profit through feed costs of dairy animals, overviewing common metabolic disorders, and discussing milk components (casein and butterfat), all as related to nutrition.
Using H-2A Workers on Our Seasonal Sheep Dairy Farm – 2019 – Bee Tolman, Meadowood Farms. A presentation on the struggles of finding enough labor for sheep dairy farms and how the H2-A program has been a solution for their farm. It also discusses the process of getting started in the program.
Overview of the H-2A Program – 2019 – Todd Miller, Head Honchos LLC. A presentation on the H-2A program and how Head Honchos helps employers to organize participating in the program. It also goes over details of what employers will have to do/provide in order to participate.
The Economics of Dairy Sheep Operations - 2018 - Detailed budget models for two types of dairy sheep operations — intensive high-input and small low-input. Includes information on expected expense and revenue lines, such as feed consumption, milk production, etc. Offers expected returns to labor and management according to milk price and milk yield.
On-Farm Processing: Ice cream and yogurt to the New Jersey Shore - 2018 - Costs of setting up a sheep dairy with on-farm processing.
The Economics of "on-ranch/farm Processing - 2018 -Costs and process of setting up a sheep dairy with on-farm processing in Montana. Equipment choices, surprises, and what they would do differently if they had to do it all over again.
Building a farmstead Cheese business with Cash - 2018 - The cost of establishing a sheep dairy in Idaho with an on-farm processing facility for cheesemaking. Being realistic in estimates of revenue from cheese sales; careful selection of marketing locations.
Using the numbers: How performance recording contributes to genetic gain and economic opportunities in sheep dairying - 2018 - One of the world’s leading sheep geneticists explains the principles of genetic selection, and how performance records can become tools for genetic improvement in dairy sheep operations. How the heritabilities of desirable traits in dairy sheep, such as milk yield, fat and protein percentages, somatic cell counts, and lactational persistence, can be used to generate EBVs (Estimate Breeding Values). How genetic gain in these traits can impact farm profitability.
Perspectives on Surviving & Growing in Dairy Sheep Production - 2015. Bill Halligan. The challenges and perspective of operating a sheep dairy with information on trials and tribulations, successes, finding a market & breeding quality animals.
Perspectives on Surviving & Growing in Dairy Sheep Industry - 2015. Brenda & Dean Jensen. A look at a sheep dairy & creamery operation, Hidden Springs, and how and why they chose to produce theirown cheese.
Finding & Keeping Good Farm Labor - Management Practices & Labor Laws - 2015. Jennifer R. Blazek. A guide to hiring and maintaining farm employees including training and leadership information.
Extending the Grazing Season with Irrigation, New Forages, and Renovation – 2014 – Woody Lane. A presentation on different types of forages that can be planted to extend the amount of time that they are producing forage for the sheep to eat and an example of an irrigation system that can be put in to help forage.
Large Sheep and Goat Dairies in Europe – 2014 – Yves Berger. A presentation on some European sheep and goat dairies as examples of the management of flocks with over a thousand animals.
Milking Intervals for Dairy Ewes – 2013 – David L. Thomas, Emily J. Olund, Michel Baldin, Philip W. Holman, Yves M. Berger, and Tom W. Murphy, University of Wisconsin-Madison. A presentation on profitability of milking intervals for dairy sheep. It looks at research on overall milk loss from milking once daily as opposed to twice daily milking, and at potentials for longer milking intervals or mid-season interval changes as a way to reduce this profit loss.
Dairy Cattle Nutrition - Lessons for Sheep Producers - 2012 - Robert E. James. An overview of what dairy sheep producers can take away from nutrition research in dairy cattle: with a specific look at diet formulation, mixing and delivery of the ration and actual consumption by the animals.
ECONOMICS OF DAIRY SHEEP OPERATIONS - 2009 - Yves Berger, Spooner Agricultural Research Station. Discussion of the economics in sheep dairying including a spreadsheet developed by UW-Madison - http://www.ansci.wisc.edu/Extension-New%20copy/sheep/index.html
FARMER GRANT OPPORTUNITIES WITH NORTHEAST SARE - 2009 - Carol L. Delaney, Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education. An overview on how and why individual farms should apply for SARE grants. Article highlights previous sheep dairies that have been awarded SARE grants
EXAMPLE OF A RECENT SARE GRANT APPICATION THAT WAS FUNDED - 2009 - Perry Ells, Ellsfarm. Opportunity to read a funded SARE grant. The entire grant is included.
ECONOMICS OF CONVERTING A COW DAIRY TO A SHEEP DAIRY - 2008 - Gary W. Rogers, Geno Global. Financial considerations for converting a cow dairy to sheep
MARKETING BY EWENITY DAIRY CO-OPERATIVE - 2007 - Elisabeth Bzikot, Chair, Ewenity Dairy Co-operative, Conn, Ontario, Canada. Marketing lessons and history of the cooperative
SHEEP DAIRY FARM ECONOMIC ANALYSIS COST OF MILK PRODUCTION UPDATE - 2007 - Tom Kieffer and Dan Guertin Wisconsin Sheep Dairy Cooperative Strum, Wisconsin, USA. An update from 2006 ON THE developMENT OF a simple, standardized method to calculate the direct cost of milk production using the information provided by 4 farms.
REALISTIC EXPECTATIONS FOR MILK YIELD AND PRICE OF MILK - 2007 - Yves BergerSpooner, Ag. Research Station, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Spooner, Wisconsin, USA. A discussion on how ewe age, lamb management and supplementation can affect milk yield and price
SHEEP DAIRY FARM ECONOMIC ANALYSIS – COST OF MILK PRODUCTION - 2006 - Tom Kieffer and Dan Guertin Wisconsin Sheep Dairy Cooperative. Argument for standard recordkeeping and direct cost of milk production.
Farmer panel on labor - 2005 - Works. Bob Works of Peaked Mountain Farm disucsses labor (high level summary only).
Profitability of small ruminant farmstead dairy processing operations - 2005 - Parsons. To address the lack of systematically collected information on the profitability of farmstead dairy processing, a study was completed, which included cow, sheep, and goat operations that made fluid milk, yoghurt, cheese, and ice cream. The authors describe the study methods, why the study farmers chose to do what they do, balance sheets, income statements, and value components of the business.
You want to milk what? Important considerations to ponder before starting a sheep dairy - 2005 - Ghia. Michael Ghia of Ewetopia Farm draws on his own experiences to lay out some general things you should consider before committing to milking sheep.
Farming and the income tax system. Is it a business or a hobby? - 2004 -Eckerman. Darlene Eckerman, from Eckerman Tax Services, helps us understand the tax system as it applies to dairy sheep farms, covering the difference between a business and a hobby, record keeping, employment, business structure and other topics.
Economics of winter milking for medium to large dairy sheep operations - 2002 - Berger. In this article, Yves Berger looks at winter milking for larger operations looking to make better use of their large capital investment by having ewes lamb in the spring, autumn and winter. He covers the implications of winter lambing and milking (e.g., feed and labor), and does a budget analysis.
Supplemental feeding of dairy sheep and goats on intensively managed pastures - 2002 - Clement. In this paper, Bruce Clement summarises a three-year study looking at feeding grazing dairy sheep and goats three different levels of a formulated supplement. They compared live weight, milk yield, pasture analyses, and animal health, and perofrmed an economic analysis.
Marketing lambs, cull ewes and wool from the sheep dairy flock - 2002 -Melchior. The authors give advice on how and where to sell animals and wool to maximise income from them.
Introduction to dairy sheep farming - getting started - 2002 - Tolman. Bee Tolman gives an overview of how the Tolman Sheep Dairy Farm got started, covering business planning, time, overhead control, investing in milk-recorded stock, the details, working off-farm, adding value to your milk, and learning from others.
Management of a dairy sheep operation - 2001 - Kieffer. Tom and Laurel Kieffer describe the journey they took in changing lifestyle to go sheep dairy farming in Wisconsin. They cover the challenges, genetics, health, facilities/equipment, and economics.
Effect of reducing the frequency of milking on milk production, milk composition, and lactation length in East Friesian dairy ewes - 2001 - McKusick. Milking efficiency is a function of milk yield and labor. There was no difference in milk yield, fat yield and percentage, protein yield and percentage, somatic cell count, and lactation length between ewes milked every 12 hours or every 16 hours.
Using light in a dairy sheep operation - 2001 - Kleinpeter. Ken Kleinpeter shares his experimentation with light control to extend their supply of fresh milk across the whole year by increasing the number of out-of-season lambings.
The Australian sheep dairy industry: history, current status and research initiatives - 2001 - Bencini. Roberta Bencini from Australian gives an overview of the Australian scene, including the breeds used by dairy sheep farmers, the domestic market, lamb management, the potential of Awassi sheep, and the development of dairy products.
The effect of three times a day milking at the beginning of lactation on the milk production of East Friesian crossbred ewes - 2000 - de Bie. Ewes milked 3 times a day from parturition produced 12.6 liters more milk (15%) during the first 30 days than the ewes milked 2 times a day, but their fat and protein concentrations were lower and there was no difference in somatic cell count. When they were switched from being milked 3 times to 2 times a day, production and fat and protein concentrations reverted to the same as ewes milked 2 times a day from the start. These effects and the economic return depended on the percentage of East Friesian genetics.
An update on Coopérative Latiére Ovine du Québec (Co. L. O. Q.) - 2000 - Fillion. Coopérative Laitière Ovine du Québec is a cooperative that represents most of the dairy sheep producers in Quebec for the sales of their milk to different processors. The authors summarise how and why the cooperative was formed, its priorities, and what it does.
Effects of Three Weaning and rearing systems, Milk Production and Lamb Growth - 1999 - McKusick/Berger/Thomas Academic review of studies focused on D1/Mix/D30 systems for production and economic viability
Farming to Love the Children: The Unfair Advantage of Small Ruminant Dairying. Lessons Learned at Northland Sheep Dairy. - 1999 - North. Issues of farming organically vs modern farming practices.
Unfairly Advantage of Small Ruminant Dairying - 1999 - Major obstacles, feeding, systems, Alternative Agriculture, Sustainable Sheep Dairy Systems, Genetics, Intensive Grazing System, Manure Management, Pest Control
An Economic Comparison Between a Dairy Sheep and a Non-Dairy Sheep Operation. - 1998 -Berger Comparison of economics between a dairy sheep vs a meat sheep operation
Dairy Sheep Basics for Beginners- 1996 - Thomas - Characteristics of dairy sheep, ewe traits, reproduction, lamb growth, lactation traits, sheep housing, feeding, milking facilities & equipment, economics
The Economics of Producing Milk From Dairy Sheep - 1995 - McNally Article focuses on results of a small survey of producers with contrasts between pasture and confinement operation viability. Highlight: Industry is still struggling with the same issues of profit and efficiency.
The Potential for a Dairy Sheep Industry in the Northwest - 1995 - Jordan and Boylan Discussion of Sheep Dairying in Europe, and argument for doing so in US.