Pricing for direct market/ethnic sales

[seanmn]

was wondering how some of you folks that sell directly to consumers charge for lambs. I had one sundanese man at work wanted to buy a lamb from me and to make a long story short he nearly fainted when I told him the price...The lambs were dorper/dorset cross at about 120-130lbs and I told him I needed 115 to 125 per head....I think he was thinking more along the lines of 50 to 75 dollars per head... I wanted to sell him one to try and get some direct maketing going....but if I can get more at the sales barn why should I sell at that price? not to mention loading them up and taking them to his house....

[DocM]

I've kept copious notes on how much my lamb costs to raise, and anyone would be hard pressed to raise it for less than .75 a lb. At that you're barely breaking even. I charge $1 a pound on the hoof. I'd also charge for gas to deliver. Don't get in the habit of NOT making money, if supporting your sheep is your goal. He may be used to paying $50 for a little spring lamb.

[6e]

I agree with DocM. With the cost of feed and all........I charge $1.00 a pound on the hoof for "market" lambs. More if the lamb is to be for breeding and comes with his papers.

[seanmn]

Don't get in the habit of NOT making money

Thats how I see it too....I did that years ago with meat rabbits and I kick myself for it...

[Ross]

Do check your local prices. Lambs here over 80 lbs run 1.60+ CND but that's still almost 1.30/lb live USD. You should get what they are worth, plus trucking.

[kesoaps]

We've got a guy here who balked when the neighbor told him $50 for a lamb! She called me to ask if that was too much to ask, and I told her I'd been charging $75 for lambs 10-12 weeks, so go back and tell him she was raising her prices!

[Bearfootfarm]

Ive been getting $125-130 per head. No one has complained about the price and I dont fool around with trying to weigh them. I dont deliver either, unless they want to pay extra, but most come prepared to transport them themselves. Figuring in the 3 ewes I sold as breeders last year, I averaged $167 per lamb. These are Dorper /Katahdin crosses

[sheepish]

Last year we got an average of $110 per leftover lamb at the stockyards in September, $120 for the 40 smallest lambs at about 2 months old, $150 for freezer lambs and $275 for breeding stock lambs. That was an average of $175 per lamb.

We won't sell live for any less than the stockyard price. We select the lambs they can choose from. If they want to pick from the entire lamb crop, they have to pay breeding stock prices.

If potential customer balks at the price we are asking, we have a neighbour who charges $125 per live lamb and we just send them there.

[linda in se ny]

We get $130 a head for lambs 6 mos and younger selling mostly to Greeks who want to roast the whole lamb. we don't weigh them either--some of them want a smaller lamb and they have no problem paying. We are about 75 miles outside of NYC and if you go to an ethnic butcher shop there you may not get quality and the prices are exorbitant. We have enen been told by people coming to buy from the city that we should charge more. On the other hand you get people who don't understand what it costs to raise an animal or the amount of work involved.

[GrannyCarol]

You all make me glad that I live in a small rural farming community... if I get sheep I won't sell my lambs, if they are butchered we'll eat our own, but I can buy a lamb at the butchers ready to go for $75. I think I'll go after that Sounds SO good!

[Jan in CO]

We sold ours for 1.25 per pound, live weight last year. I think DocM is correct in doing what he does, keeping notes on what it costs to raise them. If anyone complained about the cost (no one did), I would also send them packing. They can go to the livestock auction and take their chances on what they are getting, or buy from the farmer and get healthy animals. If nothing else, we'll eat them ourselves. Jan in Co