Sheep are grazers, I know that because I know sheep, but as you guys know, I must get bigger as I make the switch from logging to farming. But as I am crunching the numbers I keep coming back to a 100% confinement operation as being much more profitable then a grazing situation. This is Maine so there is NO WAY I can winter graze, and while I can do some stuff to extend the grazing season on each end, it really comes down to my land base.
Every acre I have of open land is pasturable/hayable and tillable.It is because back in 1900 most of the land base here was open land, but now has reverted back to being 90% forest. Yes I am clearing much of it back again, but the big rocks, boulders, and terrain has already been shaped making it much easier to make tillable again. In other words, if I had some crappy land that could only be pasture it would be one thing, but all of it is capable of growing feed (corn/hay/etc)
I can rotationally graze between the fields as I do now I know, but every time I do the math, it seems like the "cut winter feed/graze" option nets about 150 sheep, where as the "100% winter feed" option, nets 250 additional sheep.
You guys (and gals) are MUCH smarter than I am, but am I missing something? It just does not seem like confinement only would net such a higher return?
Confinement
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