Lambs are one of the most popular animals in the world, as they offer plenty of traits to owners, which makes them more appealing than other animals in the farmyard.
Compared to other animals( like the mule cost, goat cost), lambs sit on the top for being expensive. One of the reasons why lambs are so expensive is that they are raised on pasture rather than factory-farmed. Even in the food form, lambs are considered to be tastier than beef. Only a few countries have adopted the eating of lambs. Especially in the United States, where lambs cost more than beef. Some countries only eat pork, beef, and chicken.
The supply of this meat is done in higher numbers compared to the numbers in lamb. The popularity of lamb in some countries has made the lambs far more expensive than any other form of meat in the market.
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How much does a Lamb Cost?
Lambs can come with the price tag of $100 or $150, this takes various factors to reach the final price of the animal. One of the factors that play a huge role in the decision of setting the price on lambs is weight. Most lambs are purchased based on the weight of the pound. Every pound will get calculated with its number to decide the final price of the lamb. For example, if the lamb weighs 100 pounds, then each pound will be calculated $1.75 setting the final price of the lamb to $175.00.
The daily maintenance of sheep or lambs won’t be easy, but the requirements of the sheep will be much more different than any common animal on the farm. This is one of the reasons why some people are reluctant to add ships into their farmyard animals.
Why do lambs cost so much?
Every animal takes time to reach the market weight, when they reach the point, they get auctioned in the market. Compared to most other meat in the market, lambs are older. The time it takes to reach the market age, the owner of the animal will have to add more investment and resources to the animal to grow and stay healthy.
Time and Money cost for growing a Lamb
Time And money are two of the biggest factors that chime in when it comes to raising lambs. Most animals will take a decent amount of time before they reach the butchering weight.
Only when these animals reach the weight, do they get sold in the auction. For a boiler, it will need 46 days to reach the final look, for pigs 5 to 6 months, goats will require 4 to 6 months and finally, cattle will need 14 to 18 months to reach the market weight. While lambs are not certainly not older than cattle when it comes to reaching the market weight. But they will require a decent amount of time to grow.
Cost for Create a suitable environment For a Lamb
This is where most of the cost lies in taking care of lamb compared to other animals in the market. A cattle, chicken, or pig can be put together in a confinement to get all their resting needs. But for lambs the same idea of cows, the chicken will never work for them.
Lambs require an open area setting rather than factory farm elements to grow well without any trouble.
Lambs are sensitive creatures, they will mount a lot of stress if they are forced to live in a closed area. The factory farm setting is not considered an ideal environment for the lambs to stay healthy.
Stress plays the biggest role in the longevity of a lamb, if they gain more stress in their environment, then their growth process would slow down at an incredible rate and at the same time, some might die in these conditions.
Lowering the stress level is how you will make the sheep survive and grow to be a healthy animal. As one can expect, keeping up a fresh environment for one specific type of animal will come with a variety of costs attached to it.
More Space more expensive !!
Lambs are very sensitive to stress, cramping them into small space will result in creating a good environment for the lambs to be in. This cramping in a small space formula works well for animals who can live in the environment without showing signs of bad health.
But it doesn’t necessarily translate to lambs. Lambs require more extensive facilities and medications to put them in a good mood.
This is why you see expensive lambs in restaurants or live ones in auctions. They are not easy to maintain compared to other farm animals. A lamb that grew inside of confinement or farm-style space, will result in a lower price at the store and poorer quality of meat for us to consume.
Cost Details per lamb for creating a suitable environment for them to live in
- Shearing -$5.15
- Ram replacement – $5.00
- Bedding – $5.15
- Hauling – $12.38
- Livestock Protection – $5.00
- Cleaning up barn – $7.00
(Data – source)
Lower Numbers Of lambs higher price
The maintenance cost for cows, chicken, and pork are less than compared to sheep. As these animals are factory farmable. Anyone with a bit of information about farming can easily run a smooth farm containing all these animals.
This is why the price of beef, pork, and chicken is very low compared to sheep. The entire factory farming made the meat cheaper to produce. Hence people are more likely to pay less for beef, pork, and chicken.
It has more to do with the lifestyle of people in the city or country. Most countries that find lambs favorable will have a lower price tag on them.
USA cost of Lambs
For example, in the United States, Lambs are much more expensive compared to other types of meat products in fact 1kg of lamb can cost you around 6-10$. Since people here are more prone to eat beef, pork, and chicken compared to something exquisite as a lamb.
According to many person, lambs are tastier than the rest but people have their minds made up on the animal that they want to consume.
The demographic of meat consumers come into play dictating the price of lamb in a city or state. If there are fewer people who are into lamb meat, then the price of lamb meat will be at an all-time high.
As no restaurant will want to lose money on getting more lamb meat since there are only a few people who will be interested in buying the product off the shelf.
Restaurants in these cities will pack their store with the food that sells compared to the food that doesn’t even though it is good.
Lower meat amount
Lambs can’t be packed in a small environment, this is why the maintenance cost of lambs is pretty high compared to other farm animals. Another reason behind the high lamb meat production is the meat yield per lamb. The meat that gets out of the lamb is lower compared to common animals in the world. The meat yield from goats is the same as the meat that comes from sheep.
- A chicken will yield 70% meat
- Pigs will at 65%
- Beef cattle with yield 60% of their meat
- While lambs and goats will only go as high as 50%
Carcass of Lambs Cost
Lambs are valued on their weight too, but most of the carcass of the animal will get into the count. The carcass on the sheep or lamb will be 50% of its weight. The good news is out of the carcass, 75% of meat found in the carcass will be sellable meat.
In most shops, you will see lamb carcass hanging in the cooler, but they will be filled with bones and other stuff, this version will not get sold to the customer.
Since the carcass contains 50 pounds of lamb meat, out of the 50 pounds 75% of it will go to the food department.
Requirement Cost for sheep
Food will also play a necessary part in the growth of sheep. The daily requirement of the sheep must be met regularly for them to have a great and healthy body.
Water cost for lamb
Sheep will need water, but the requirement of the water will differ from various factors as well. During the growth period of lamb, they will consume more water. The rule also applies when sheep or lambs are under heat stress or consume salt content in their diet or if they travel long distances. These conditions will reflect how much water the sheep will consume per day. Generally, sheep will consume 2 – 3 lt of water for survival.
Food cost lamb
Compared to sheep, lambs require Dry matter 5% of their body weight, where sheep will consume 3% of their live weight. The sheep will require a 10% protein-based food product to get their body perfect for wool production.
Sheep can use minerals and vitamins to help them grow effectively. There are only 15 minerals that are considered essential for sheep development. Some of them are Sodium Chloride, Calcium, phosphorus, cobalt, copper, zinc, and more to create a healthy structure in a sheep.
Every component plays a role in providing the sheep essential ingredients to keep their health perfect and more productive. Especially for the lambs, as the first four months of lambs are more crucial, they will grow faster than human children. Make sure to provide them enough food to meet their dietary needs. Avoid adding grain, as it will make them have more weight problems later down the road.
Food Cost Details per lamb
- Hey – $37.08
- Grain – $25.49
- Salt and Minerals – $5.93
- Feed – $28.80
- Pasture Maintenance – $6.00
Health care Cost lamb
While lambs are easy to care of.
The shelter, needs to follow some guidelines to make the place ready to have some lambs or sheep in them. The housing needs to be sanitary, a good quality pasture, access to nutritious food, freshwater.
Before buying sheep, you need to make sure if the lamb has been vaccinated or not. They need to get vaccinated for rabies, tetanus, and clostridium and this can cost you around $25 depending of your location.
Sheep are known to have dental issues, when they age the problem will get more frequent, as you will see more jaw movement when they are eating. Here a quick dental check from the vet will put the problem away.
- Vaccinations per lamb will cost – $1.60
- Deworming for lambs will come around $2.40
Another vet charges will somewhere between $5.15 per lamb.
Living Space Requirement Cost lamb
When you are planning to build a pole barn or building with a perfect amount of space for the sheep or lambs. Make sure to fill the floor with dirt rather than a shed.
There will be times when the lambs will slip on the floor, having dirt on the floor will prevent that from happening.
The shelter that you are building for the lambs will need to have a good ventilation system with no direct drafts.
If you dont have any ventilations system, if you have to install a new one can cost you from $500 to $2000 or more depending of the size of the space.
Adding hydrated time will help you take out the moisture in the area, which will prevent the bacteria from spreading to the shelter.
Fence Cost lamb
Another aspect of sheep handling will be Fences. The recommended height for sheep tends to be 4ft high with no climb, the fence supposed to be woven-wire, and here the cost to build it one go from $10 to $75 per linear foot.
The fence needs to be strong to fend off predators. But a daily check-up is required by the owner to see if there is any hole made on the fence. Avoid adding field fences for sheep or they will have large square openings. Any predator can go through them easily and the sheep’s head can get easily stuck in them.
Liveable climate Cost lamb
The land needs to complement the sheep, every 5 to 6 sheep in the land have one acre of it for themselves.
These measures will help the sheep from overheating in hot weather or warm areas. In hot weather, the sheep should have direct access to water and the barn at all times. Overall, sheep are very calm and peaceful creatures.
They are very sensitive animals that you can have on the farm, sheep are known to be very suspicious. They will get spooked easily if you yell at them or start talking to them in a rougher voice. Never put a leash on the lamb or it will build up stress in their body. It doesn’t matter if they are outside, they should never be in a tether.
Conclusion
These are the costs that come with lambs maintenance. They are far more different compared to other animals on the farm ( as for example a buffalo cost ). Proving their nutrients will be very helpful in raising them to healthy adult sheep that will fit huge money in the market.
Food, water, and shelter are the key major requirements that need to be met before selling them in the market. As these elements will pay a crucial role in the development of the lamb and their market appeal.
