Store lamb finishing for profit
- What can I afford to pay for store lambs this year?
- If my lambs grow at a certain rate, how long will it be until they are finished?
- How much is this grass and meal costing me each day?
- What’s the lowest price I can accept for my lambs and still break-even?
These are important questions which can be answered using the College of Agriculture, Food and Rural Enterprise (CAFRE) LAMULATOR © - a simple cost calculator for store lamb finishers.
Store lamb finishing can be a profitable system taking advantage of a rising price for lamb in the Autumn and early winter. However profitability is largely dependant on the ability to;
- buy lambs at a competitive price
- finish at as low cost as possible
- maintain minimum losses
- sell into a high priced market
A simple cost calculator has been devised to allow finishers to estimate the break-even buying and selling price for store lambs and evaluate the effects of feeding costs and lamb growth rate on the systems margins.
If you are in the business of store lamb finishing, you can quickly calculate the break-even buying or selling price in relation to the variable costs of production (feed, grazing, veterinary, transport). Three different systems are considered;
- Grass finishing
- Grass and meal finishing
- Intensive meal finishing
This calculator makes a range of assumptions in relation to lamb growth rate on different diets. These assumptions have been validated by previous research work but individual circumstances, breeds and feeds may lead to higher or lower growth rates and hence a variation in feed utilisation. No fixed costs such as machinery depreciation, building charges or interest on borrowings have been included in the calculator and hence should be added to the calculation according to farm circumstances.